Fairholme Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils' needs, and those of the wider school community, are the driving force for all that leaders do.

This starts with parental engagement, promoting attendance and ensuring pupils and families have what they need to get the most from what the school has to offer.

Leaders expect all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), to achieve well. The broad and balanced curriculum helps pupils to develop their knowledge and understanding across different subjects.

Typically, pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education.

The school's values of respect, honesty, responsibility, kindness, self-belief ...and aspiration underpin everything the school does. Pupils and staff alike know and understand these values.

They are realised, and relationships are strong. Pupils are happy and safe and behave sensibly, showing care and consideration for others. There is an appreciation of the importance of being safe, respectful and ready to learn.

Pupils are proud of their school. They know they are listened to. There are a wide range of roles available to help build responsibility, including head boy and girl, attendance champions, positions on the eco-council and anti-bullying ambassadors.

Elections for these roles provide pupils with an understanding of democracy and help to prepare them for life in modern Britain.

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

The school has developed an ambitious curriculum that sets out the knowledge pupils need to learn and remember. The curriculum is organised logically, with regular opportunities for pupils to revisit and recap previous learning.

This helps them to understand and learn more complex ideas over time. For example, in mathematics, children in early years practise counting and recognising numbers. This helps them to add, subtract, multiply and divide as they get older.

Similarly, in history, learning about 'now and then' supports more abstract ideas such as chronology and legacy later on.

Developing a love of reading has been a key priority for leaders, not only in school but within the community. Teachers are well trained and deliver the phonics programme and reading interventions with precision.

Those at risk of falling behind are identified quickly and supported to catch up. Pupils practise reading using books that are closely matched to the sounds they have learned. This helps them to read with accuracy.

Reading fluency, however, is taking longer to establish for many due to the barriers with spoken language. This is reflected in the national outcomes for reading.

Many children arrive in early years with significant gaps in their development, most notably in speech, language and communication.

Vocabulary development, therefore, is a whole school priority. In early years, children are well supported to develop their language. From their low starting points, children learn to express their ideas, and staff help them to speak in full sentences.

The approach to developing language, however, is not as systematic as it needs to be for children to catch up. While the early years curriculum is well thought through, the important knowledge and vocabulary children need to secure to prepare them for what comes next is not consistently clear. Consequently, there are some ideas and words that children are not familiar with when they begin Year 1.

This, along with children's lack of fluency in spoken language, continues to impact their reading and writing fluency and to understand more complex themes as they get older.

Pupils with SEND are accurately identified and supported well. Adults are knowledgeable regarding pupils' specific needs.

They know the strategies required to help, and they make suitable adaptations to enable these pupils to access the same learning as their peers where this is possible. Oversight of the impact of this work is still being developed. This means the strategies and interventions that make the most difference are not consistently identified and developed further.

Pupils behave well. This is because there are clear and consistent routines and expectations. Most pupils have good attendance and punctuality.

The school has focused on increasing this further and reducing persistent absence. This is having an impact. There is highly effective support in place for those whose attendance needs to improve.

The offer for pupils' broader development is a strength of the school. It has been designed to promote important ideas, develop language and address all aspects of safety and safeguarding. Building strength of character and aspirations for the future is also a key focus.

For example, through the design and technology curriculum, pupils are introduced to career opportunities with links to local businesses. Similarly, aspiration and a sense of belonging are also promoted through the school 'house' system, with pupils earning points through various school activities and events.

Staff are overwhelmingly positive about the support they receive to manage their workload and well-being.

Despite senior leaders being relatively new in their posts, there is a well-thought-through plan in place to continue to drive improvement. This has been created with the support and oversight of an experienced governing body.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In early years, some of the knowledge and vocabulary that children should secure to prepare them for future learning is not explicitly identified. As a result, children do not fully understand some important concepts, and language, in readiness for their learning at the start of Year 1. The school should ensure that the early years curriculum and vocabulary builds sequentially, with a clear alignment between early years and what comes next.

• The school's oversight of the impact of interventions for pupils with SEND is not well developed. This means that the school is not clear on what is making the most difference for these pupils. The school should ensure that interventions for pupils with SEND are carefully tracked and evaluated to ensure greater impact.

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