Edgebury Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy here. They enjoy coming to school.

Typically, parents and carers described the school as a 'friendly' community. They appreciate leaders' efforts to be visible and stay in contact with families.

The school has a broad curriculum.

Leaders have high ambitions for all pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They work hard to identify and tackle any potential barriers to learning. Leaders support pupils in their learning, and pupils achieve well.

The school rightly prioritises early reading. Pupils enjoy reading, and this underpins the wider curriculum.

The school encourages pupils to ...'be safe, be respectful, be ready'.

Adults promote respectful working relationships. If any bullying occurs, the school takes action to work with pupils. The school reinforces and continually teaches its expectations for pupils' behaviour.

As such, typically, behaviour is calm and sensible.

Leaders provide meaningful opportunities for pupils to contribute to wider society. For example, pupils talked with pride about the trees planted by the eco-council in the school's grounds.

Extra–curricular clubs, such as piano tuition and sports clubs, are well used by pupils. As pupils move up through the years, residential trips aim to help pupils to develop their personal and social skills, including their independence and resilience.

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

The school provides a broad curriculum that matches the aims of the national curriculum.

Leaders have driven rapid curriculum developments. The governing body is knowledgeable and understands the priorities of the school. Leaders have ensured that staff have received training to help them to develop the subject curriculum further.

Leaders take into consideration the workload and well-being of staff when making decisions. Curriculum thinking starts in the early years. For example, leaders help children to start thinking about numerical patterns through purposeful play in Reception.

This supports pupils' early understanding of number bonds in Year 1.

When designing the curriculum, leaders take into account the needs of pupils with SEND. They make sure that appropriate activities and resources support pupils with SEND to access the same curriculum as their peers.

If pupils with SEND require additional time or support from adults to understand key concepts, they receive this help in the classroom. Leaders carefully review the impact of this personalised support.

Generally, subjects are planned and sequenced well so that pupils build their understanding of key knowledge and concepts over time.

For example, in Reception, children are taught concepts such as 'under' and 'over' through listening to familiar stories. This directional language acts as an essential foundation to pupils' more complex learning in geography in later years when they start to use maps and compass directions. However, sometimes, curriculum thinking is not as well thought through to enable pupils to expand and deepen their knowledge as securely over time.

There is a sharp focus on early reading. Staff are well trained in the school's chosen phonics programme, and children start the process of learning to read in Reception. Books sent home closely match the sounds that pupils are learning in school.

Leaders encourage pupils to practise reading at home. Teachers make careful checks of pupils' understanding of early reading. This means that any gaps are quickly identified.

If any pupils require additional support to help them to keep up, then interventions and support in class are promptly provided. Pupils enjoy visiting the school library, and leaders promote the habit of reading.

Teachers are knowledgeable.

They promote pupils' use of subject-specific vocabulary through helpful classroom resources. Teachers provide pupils with useful opportunities to discuss any new subject content. Typically, they revise what pupils have learned previously so that pupils have the chance to embed key knowledge.

However, sometimes, teachers' checks on pupils' understanding of subject-specific knowledge are not refined or purposeful, and teachers do not have as full a picture of what pupils know and understand from the curriculum.

Leaders and staff continually promote and make clear their expectations for pupils' behaviour and conduct. In lessons, teachers positively reinforce these high standards.

Leaders reward pupils for their positive conduct. School assemblies collectively celebrate pupils' appropriate behaviour. Learning mostly proceeds uninterrupted.

The school encourages pupils to understand and respect different cultures and backgrounds to their own. The student council raises funds for charity. External visits, such as outings to museums, enhance pupils' understanding of key topics.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Sometimes, curriculum thinking is not equally well developed across all areas of the curriculum to enable pupils to expand and deepen their knowledge to the same extent across all subjects. The school should ensure that the curriculum in all subjects is designed and sequenced so that pupils build and retain key knowledge cumulatively and securely over time.

• Sometimes, teachers' checks on pupils' understanding of subject-specific knowledge are not refined or purposeful. Consequently, teachers do not have a full picture of what pupils know and understand. The school should ensure that staff routinely check pupils' recall of subject-specific knowledge and act swiftly to address any misconceptions.

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