Eldon Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The sustained high turnover in staffing and the fractured relationships between the school, some parents and carers and the local authority have overshadowed pupils' experiences at this school. These issues have made a considerable contribution to the decline in pupils' education. While pupils are safe, some told inspectors that the many changes to their teachers and staff have made them feel upset.

While the school expects all pupils to do their best, pupils do not achieve as well as they should. Many issues, including staff grievances and parental complaints, consume the work of the school. Consequently, the school has been distracted from ensuring that pupils learn all that... they should across a broad range of subjects.

Pupils behave well. The school sets high expectations for pupils' behaviour from the early years. For example, children in the early years line up beautifully at lunchtime.

Caring staff and supportive pupil anti-bullying ambassadors resolve rare incidents of bullying quickly and effectively.

Pupils enjoy a wide range of clubs. For example, they take part in morris dancing, board games and mindfulness activities.

They benefit from well-organised 'super learning' days. Visitors, such as police officers and sports coaches, help pupils to become active young citizens. Pupils especially enjoy the opportunity to broadcast information about school life from the school's own radio station.

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

The school has faced considerable staff absence and extensive changes in staffing and leadership over an extended period of time. This continues to have a negative impact on pupils' experiences at the school. Currently, the school does not have the capacity that it needs to resolve the issues that it faces.

It is not able to arrest the decline in pupils' achievement across the whole curriculum.

Pupils, parents and staff have experienced considerable unrest. Parents have mixed views about the school.

While some reported that the school is welcoming and supportive for pupils, others do not. High staff turnover, combined with parents feeling unheard, has caused some pupils and their parents to lose faith in the school.

Relationships between the school and the local authority are broken.

This further hinders the school's capacity to improve. The school continues to be subject to a number of allegations which are yet to be resolved. This hinders the school's focus on pupils' learning and their achievement.

The school has designed an interesting and engaging curriculum. This identifies the knowledge that pupils will learn from the early years to Year 6. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), study a broad range of subjects.

The considerable changes in staff mean that the delivery of the curriculum is highly variable between and within classes and subjects. Typically, in English and mathematics, pupils build their knowledge well. This is reflected in the end of key stage tests and assessments.

Overall, more pupils leave Year 6 attaining the expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics than in other schools nationally. However, in many other subjects, pupils do not learn all that they should. At times, the content of the subject curriculums is not taught fully.

As a result, some pupils complete isolated tasks that do not enable them to build their knowledge securely over time. In some subjects, pupils find it difficult to recall prior learning. This means that these pupils are not as well prepared for the next stage of their education as they should be.

Some staff use assessment strategies well to identify gaps in pupils' knowledge. They use this information successfully to help pupils to improve their learning. However, this is not the case across subjects and year groups.

At times, pupils' mistakes are not identified quickly or addressed effectively. This slows their progress through the curriculum.

In some subjects, subject leadership is underdeveloped.

Furthermore, the school does not have a sufficiently detailed understanding of how well the curriculum is working across subjects and classes. As a result, the school has not identified quickly enough the weaknesses that have a negative impact on some pupils' achievement.

In the early years, children, including two-year-olds, have been shielded from the impact of the recent events at the school.

The provision for these children has been more stable. Consequently, the early years curriculum is delivered as intended. This ensures that children are appropriately prepared for the demands of the key stage 1 curriculum.

The school has successfully prioritised reading. Pupils learn phonics from the start of the Reception Year. Prior to this, in the Nursery class, staff develop children's listening and attention skills effectively.

The school identifies any pupils who require extra help to improve their reading knowledge. These pupils receive effective support to catch up with their peers. Most pupils become fluent readers.

The school ensures that pupils with SEND are identified quickly and accurately. When required, pupils receive helpful specialist support. However, these pupils experience the same variability in curriculum delivery as others in the school.

This means that they do not achieve as well as they should.The school provides pupils with an interesting offer to enhance their personal development. Pupils learn how to stay safe online.

They also learn about a range of faiths and cultures. For example, pupils experienced the festival of Diwali in Eldon House. Pupils benefit from exciting leadership roles.

These include promoting learning as a subject ambassador.The school is calm and orderly. Pupils behave well in their lessons.

They listen attentively to their teachers. The school monitors pupils' rates of attendance closely. It supports pupils with low rates of attendance, or those who are persistently absent, to attend school more regularly.

Governors are committed to the school. They have a suitable insight into pupils' welfare. However, governors have not acted swiftly enough to prevent a decline in pupils' achievement across the curriculum.

Furthermore, governors have done too little to rebuild bridges with parents and the local authority. Many parents reported that communication has not been effective enough. This has damaged trust between some parents and the school.

Most current staff stated that the school considers and supports their workload carefully. However, the school has not successfully protected some staff, including senior leaders, from harassment.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The school, including the governing body, lacks the capacity required to resolve the ongoing issues embroiling the school, and to bring about the necessary changes to pupils' learning at the required pace. This has led to a decline in the quality of education that pupils receive. The school should strengthen leadership capacity at all levels, so that improvements are rapid and sustainable.

• The relationship between the school and the local authority is fractured. This hinders resolutions to staff grievances and distracts the school from making sure that pupils benefit from the intended curriculum. The school should repair the relationship with the local authority to bring about swift and appropriate resolutions to staff and parental concerns.

• Communication between the school and parents has not been effective. This has led to a breakdown in trust between the school and some parents. The school should review and enhance its avenues of communication so that trust and transparency are improved.

• Governors have not ensured sufficient oversight of the education that pupils receive. Furthermore, they have not resolved the ongoing staffing and parental issues sufficiently well. This has a negative impact on pupils' learning.

The school should ensure that governors provide more effective support and challenge to fully resolve matters and reset the school's focus on pupils' education. ? The curriculum is not delivered equally well across and within subjects and year groups. This prevents pupils from learning all that they should.

It hinders their readiness for their next stage of learning. The school should ensure that, despite changes in staffing, the curriculum is implemented consistently well across classes and subjects. ? Subject leadership is not as effective as it should be.

Consequently, the variability in the curriculum that pupils receive has not been identified quickly enough. The school should ensure that subject leaders receive support and guidance to monitor their areas of responsibility effectively. ? The school's strategies to identify gaps in pupils' learning are not used consistently well.

As a result, pupils' missed and forgotten knowledge is not addressed quickly enough. This means that some pupils' learning is not secure, particularly in subjects other than English and mathematics. The school should ensure that staff identify and resolve gaps in pupils' learning effectively.