Edward Feild Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Edward Feild Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils and families gather each morning on the playground before school and talk excitedly about the day ahead. Pupils are happy to attend this school.

They are polite and courteous. From the moment children join the school they learn the importance of good manners. Pupils live out the school rules, which includes the mission to 'Do and say kind things'.

Pupils feel safe at school. They say that bullying is very rare. Pupils trust staff completely to deal with bullying on the rare occasions it does occur.

Pupils value the fact that staff support those children who som...etimes make mistakes in their behaviour. They understand right from wrong. One pupil explained, 'I wouldn't say they are naughty people, but they just sometimes do naughty behaviour.'



Pupils know that staff have high expectations for them. The school values underpin these expectations. Pupils earn house points for perseverance, and they wear their stickers with pride.

Pupils cherish opportunities to act, sing and dance. Recently, over 100 pupils took part in the school production of the Tempest. This taught them about classical literature and staging a musical performance.

One pupil said, 'I loved it – the costumes, the makeup and the props. It was amazing!'

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

Leaders have created an ambitious curriculum for all pupils, which begins in the early years. The underpinning principle of 'Learning for life, caring for all' is obvious around the school and in the interactions between staff and pupils.

Pupils consider aspirational careers from the minute they find subjects they enjoy. For example, one pupil told the inspector she wants to be a pathologist after dissecting a heart in science.

Leaders have ensured that staff are well trained to deliver the curriculum.

In many subjects, including English and mathematics, leaders have identified the key knowledge they want pupils to learn and remember. In the early years, the teaching of early mathematics is strong. Children learn to be fluent with numbers through cross-curricular links with other subjects.

For example, children learn in design technology about measuring and use this to compare volumes of liquids.

Staff appreciate the recent developments designed to reduce their workload. For example, co-planning ensures that teachers teach the lessons that will best support the pupils in their class, and it reduces teacher workload.

In some subjects, for example design technology and reading, teachers check what pupils know and can remember before moving on. This supports pupils to achieve well in these subjects.

Early reading and phonics are curriculum priorities.

Staff who teach the phonics scheme are skilfully trained. Leaders plan to train all other staff in the new academic year. Children in the early years love practising their phonics.

Older pupils relish taking home their reading books, which have been precisely matched to the sounds that they have been learning that week in class. Everyone works hard to develop reading fluency and accuracy. Fiction and non-fiction books are common in classrooms and inspire the pupils to love reading.

Story time is a favourite activity among many pupils.

Leaders have ensured that staff are aware of the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Learning activities chosen by teachers are not yet designed to support these pupils to achieve to the best of their ability.

The curriculum in some subjects does not yet challenge all pupils to achieve as well as they could. Sometimes, the focus is too much on task completion, rather than careful consideration of the specific learning that the pupils need to complete.

Pupils' behaviour in the school is exemplary.

They are eager to learn. Sometimes, pupils work quietly, concentrating on the work in hand. At other times, there is a vibrant buzz in the classroom.

Pupils engage enthusiastically with their 'talk partners', and in doing so, they learn to share ideas respectfully. They help each other learn by exploring ideas and deepening their own thinking about their learning. Personal, social and health education lessons teach pupils what it is like to grow up in modern Britain.

Pupils learn to respect the views and beliefs of others. Pupils also learn to celebrate similarities and differences in each other's emotions. This helps them learn how to respond to challenges and conflicts.

There are a wide range of activities designed to promote pupils' wider personal development. The wider range of clubs and trips paused by the pandemic are gradually restarting. Many pupils represent the school in sporting activities.

Singing and music are popular. Pupils learn the importance of being inclusive. For example, they learn sign language in assembly to help communicate with family members who are deaf.

Leaders focus on providing activities in the local environment. Pupils can learn to canoe in the nearby lakes so they can gain new skills and learn how to be safe in the water. They recently learned how to be safe when meeting dogs during the school holidays.

Staff feel that leaders, including governors, care about their well-being. They value the opportunities given to them for professional and personal development. They have a strong sense of pride working at Edward Feild.

Staff value the inclusive nature of the school. Leaders and governors provide strong leadership. Governors support and challenge leaders appropriately to get the best out of the resources available to the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

There is a strong culture of safeguarding. Leaders ensure that staff receive regular training.

Staff know how to raise concerns, and they use the school reporting system to ensure that no information about a potential risk, no matter how small, is missed.

Leaders and governors are vigilant in dealing with safeguarding concerns. They follow up concerns diligently.

Leaders work in close partnership with local services. They provide appropriate support for vulnerable pupils and their families.

Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe.

Some pupils learn road safety through the cycling proficiency scheme. All pupils learn how to keep themselves safe online.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The curriculum across all subjects is not always closely matched to the needs of all pupils.

Curriculum thinking does not enable all pupils to achieve as well as they can. Leaders need to provide training to staff to ensure that the implementation of the curriculum enables all pupils to achieve their very best outcomes. ? Assessment of what pupils learn is not yet used accurately across the school, apart from in the teaching of early reading and design technology.

Teaching is not always informed by what pupils reveal they know and can remember. Evidence that teachers collect from checking what pupils understand in lessons should be used consistently, across all subjects, to plan the next steps of teaching.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called a section 8 inspection of a good or outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the section 8 inspection as a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in May 2017.

Also at this postcode