E P Collier Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud of their multicultural school. They appreciate how staff care for them and support them with their learning. New pupils, who often arrive with limited English, are warmly welcomed by other pupils and staff.

They settle quickly and swiftly make friends. As one parent reflected, 'This is a diverse, friendly and supportive school where every child can flourish.'

Staff are determined for pupils to achieve well and to develop positive attitudes to learning.

Pupils appreciate the importance of studying different subjects so they can use this understanding in their future career. As a result, they are motivated and work hard.

Pupils behave... well.

They are respectful and polite, and this contributes to the calm and welcoming environment. Pupils play well together in the playground. They say that bullying does not often happen and they are confident to talk to adults in school about any problems.

Staff are quick to resolve any worries. This means that pupils feel safe and confident in school.

Pupils enjoy different opportunities, such as the clubs for fencing and archery.

They take pride in their leadership positions, such as being on the school council or the eco-committee. Older pupils love the residential visit where they experience canoeing.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders strongly promote personal development.

Staff help pupils to develop a deep understanding of life in modern Britain. They value how their school is made up of people from many different backgrounds and are respectful of different faiths, beliefs and family types. In art, pupils study themes such as the journeys made by refugees, and in history, pupils learn about changes in the past that impact on their lives today, such as segregation.

Pupils know and understand the school values of equity, honesty, care, empathy, respect and courage. One pupil explained, 'Equity is when everyone gets what they need so it is fair.'

Leaders ensure that staff have expert knowledge to develop children's communication and language from the start of Nursery.

This ensures that children are well prepared to learn phonics from the beginning of Reception. Leaders have prioritised strengthening the teaching of early reading over the past year. This is now supporting pupils effectively to become fluent and accurate readers.

Pupils read books that are closely matched to the sounds that they have learned. Struggling readers are given helpful extra support and time to practise, which helps them to keep up.

Staff routinely read aloud books that celebrate diversity and promote an appreciation of the wider world.

They help pupils to extend their language by reading a broad range of texts. As a result, pupils develop a love of reading.In other subjects, leaders have made sure that the curriculum is coherently planned.

Staff clearly explain new learning and introduce ambitious vocabulary. They provide a range of resources that support pupils' learning effectively, especially in mathematics. Teachers split up the key content into smaller chunks and give pupils time to practise and refine their learning.

Staff carefully check pupils' understanding and use this information to inform their teaching. In a few lessons, the work that staff provide does not precisely focus on the most important content that pupils need to learn. This makes it harder for pupils to recall and build on the essential knowledge and skills over time.

Almost all pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported to achieve well. The long-established, strong support for pupils in the speech and language provision enables pupils to be successful. In the rest of the school, staff identify pupils' needs quickly.

They usually adapt their teaching effectively so that pupils learn well. The support for a small group of pupils with more complex needs is at an earlier stage of development. Leaders are working to strengthen this to enable all pupils to achieve their best consistently.

From early years onwards, pupils enjoy positive attitudes to learning. They concentrate well in lessons and work well together. For example, children in Reception share resources and independently tidy away after themselves.

Leaders have recently sharpened their work to improve pupils' attendance. This is having a positive impact, but attendance is not yet good enough, especially for disadvantaged pupils.

Many of the governors are new, but they have a good understanding of the school's strengths and areas to develop.

They know how well pupils are learning in English and mathematics and are developing their knowledge to challenge leaders sufficiently about the rest of the curriculum. Governors and leaders support staff effectively to manage their workload. Staff are proud to work at the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders make sure that staff are well trained to help them understand their safeguarding responsibilities. Staff diligently report even the smallest concern.

Leaders swiftly refer to external agencies to get pupils and families the help that they need.

Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe in the community by studying road, rail and river safety. They learn how to stay safe when online and know to keep personal information private.

Leaders and governors make sure that safer recruitment procedures are closely followed. This includes making sure that the required checks are completed before adults start working or volunteering at the school.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some pupils do not attend school regularly enough.

This means that they are missing out on important learning. Leaders should continue their work to focus sharply on working with families to improve attendance so that all pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, attend regularly. ? Some provision for pupils with SEND lacks consistency.

This means that a few pupils do not learn as well as they could. Leaders should ensure that they continue to strengthen the provision for pupils with more complex SEND to ensure that all pupils learn consistently well. ? In some lessons, staff provide work that does not precisely focus on the most important content.

This makes it harder for pupils to learn key knowledge over time. Leaders should ensure that staff emphasise the essential knowledge and skills they intend pupils to learn and remember across the curriculum. Governors should develop clear oversight of how well pupils learn this key content.

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