Emmanuel Community School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy attending this school because they have friends to play with.

Pupils talk positively about the enrichment activities on offer, such as sewing, choir and football club. Pupils also have opportunities to perform to the community as part of the school choir. These opportunities are planned to help pupils to develop their talents and pursue their interests.

Pupils are taught the importance of helping others. Members of the gardening club are given opportunities to look after the flower beds in the local community and to 'litter pick'.

Expectations for behaviour are not consistently high.

On occasion, inappropriate behaviour goes unchallenged... by staff. Some pupils do not demonstrate positive learning behaviours. The lack of a consistently purposeful learning environment prevents pupils from learning the curriculum well.

Pupils feel safe and are kept safe at school. They know that if they have a worry or feel sad, they can talk to a trusted adult who will help them.

Leadership at all levels is ambitious for pupils to succeed.

This can be seen in the school's curriculum goals. However, the school has not made sure that pupils learn this curriculum consistently well. The quality of education for pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), is not as effective as it should be.

Pupils do not remember some knowledge securely. Outcomes in recent statutory assessments at the end of Year 6 are low.

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

Early reading is given priority here.

Children learn to read right from the start of joining Reception. This is because leaders want children to read fluently as soon as possible. Staff have been trained in early reading.

They have secure subject knowledge, which means that there is a consistent approach to phonics teaching. Staff provide opportunities for pupils to revisit previously learned sounds. Books are closely matched to the sounds that pupils know.

As a result, pupils read with developing fluency. However, there are times when teaching does not check closely which sounds pupils know securely. This means that, in some instances, pupils who are finding learning phonics difficult are not getting enough of the right help to catch up.

The school has put in place a logical, well-structured curriculum. Leaders have identified what key knowledge and skills pupils are to be taught and when. In doing so, they have thought through how pupils' knowledge should develop incrementally over time.

For example, Year 6 pupils confidently play the ukulele as a class ensemble because they have been previously taught about pulse and chord progressions. However, in some subjects, the way the curriculum is taught does not support pupils well in making progress in their learning. Sometimes, teaching does not explicitly explain the key skills and knowledge that pupils are expected to know.

In addition, as with reading, checks on pupils' understanding are not used to support learning effectively.

Inconsistencies in the curriculum also affect the quality of learning in early years. For example, sometimes the curriculum introduces too much content at once, and this causes children to become confused.

In addition, there are times when language is not modelled well. Some children miss out on opportunities to hear and practise using new vocabulary.

The school wants all pupils to achieve well.

However, the school does not have effective processes in place to identify and address weaker aspects of the curriculum. Approaches to checking that pupils are learning what the school expects are underdeveloped. This means that, sometimes, pupils have gaps in their learning and struggle to recall previously taught subject content.

Those responsible for governance do not hold leaders to account as effectively as they need to.

Pupils with SEND are identified effectively. They learn alongside their peers.

Leaders and teachers work regularly with external professionals. They seek guidance on how best to support pupils to make progress towards their individual targets. However, the school is not checking sharply the impact of the curriculum on the learning of pupils with SEND.

This means that these pupils do not learn as well as they could.

Children in early years behave well. They learn to share, take turns and play nicely together.

They are also taught how to manage their feelings because adults take the time to listen to how they feel. However, behaviour in other year groups is not consistently good. The school has not established high enough expectations and a consistent approach for managing behaviour.

This means that, in classrooms, pupils' learning of the curriculum is sometimes interrupted by silly behaviour.

The school is clear that attendance is a priority. However, the school currently lacks clear and helpful analysis of attendance information.

This is hindering efforts to reduce absence further.

The wider curriculum is broad and well structured. Pupils learn about the language of consent and being able to say 'no' or 'stop'.

This begins in early years, where children are taught, for example, to say, 'Stop, I do not like that.' Pupils are also taught about healthy and unhealthy relationships and that families can look different.

While there are strengths in the provision to support pupils' personal development, some important aspects are not well developed.

The school teaches pupils about the importance of being kind to and showing tolerance towards others. In practice, pupils are not guided consistently well on how to adopt these principles as they play and learn with their peers. This reduces the quality of the school's work to nurture pupils' all-round development.

Staff are proud to work at this school and value being part of the school community.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Across the school, the delivery of the curriculum does not consistently support high-quality learning.

This is because some key subject content is not covered or explained sufficiently well. Checks on pupils' understanding are not focused enough on responding to gaps in learning, including in early reading. All of this means that some pupils, including those with SEND, do not learn the curriculum consistently well.

Over time, pupils develop gaps in knowledge, skills and vocabulary. The school needs to improve how well the curriculum is implemented, focusing especially on making sure that teaching enables pupils to understand and recall key ideas in a subject. The school should also establish effective approaches to assessing pupils' learning of the curriculum and, in particular, ensuring that any difficulties pupils may have are addressed promptly.

• The school does not have a secure understanding of the areas of weakness in the curriculum. Therefore, actions taken to develop the curriculum are sometimes not made swiftly and precisely. The school should take appropriate and effective steps to monitor the impact of the curriculum and to put in place the necessary targeted actions to address any weaknesses identified.

• The school's expectations for behaviour are not consistently high. Inappropriate behaviour sometimes goes unchallenged, and the learning of the curriculum is interrupted. The school needs to ensure that expectations for behaviour are high across the school and make sure that approaches to managing poor behaviour are applied consistently.

• Sometimes, pupils are not guided on how to show respect for those who are different to them. This is because the school is not making sure that its expectations for how pupils should treat each other, especially those who are different to them, are consistently followed. The school needs to do more to help pupils understand and appreciate difference, and put into practice what they learn about being kind, respectful and fair towards everyone.