Fleet Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Fleet Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy school. They are happy and safe. Leaders make sure that pupils are polite and friendly and that everyone is made welcome.

Staff know the pupils and local community well.

The curriculum enables pupils to learn a wide range of subjects. Music and the performing arts have a high priority.

Pupils love to showcase their talents in assemblies, music and in concerts. All staff have high expectations for pupils. They are determined that pupils enjoy learning and achieve well.

This includes those pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).<...br/>
Pupils are well behaved in class. They are eager to learn and enthusiastic in responding to teachers' questions.

Bullying is never tolerated and when it does occur, pupils said it is always dealt with quickly.

Leaders create lots of high-quality opportunities for pupils' wider personal development. Pupils enjoy talking and writing about outings and visits to museums, theatres and places of worship.

Leaders and staff organise a wide range of opportunities within school to enrich the academic curriculum, such as sports, arts and music clubs. Pupils actively support a wide range of local and global charities.

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

Leaders have put in place a broad and creative curriculum.

They also ensure that all pupils have strong foundations in reading and mathematics. Subject leaders have strengthened the curriculum for these two subjects.

Leaders make sure that encouraging pupils' reading skills is one of the school's main priorities.

They have recently introduced a new scheme for the teaching of phonics. They have also invested in new resources and books. Staff use books that are carefully selected, so that pupils practise reading with letters and sounds that they know.

Leaders ensure that most staff are trained to teach and promote reading well. Most pupils are helped to catch up and keep up if they fall behind. However, a small number of staff are less skilled in modelling the sounds pupils need to learn.

As a result, there are a few occasions where pupils develop misconceptions. Pupils of all ages love story times and listen intently. Older pupils said that they enjoy reading a wide range of different texts and stories.

Leaders have made sure that the early years curriculum is engaging and fun. The teaching of mathematics begins in the Nursery where children start to learn to count. For example, teachers use books and classic stories, such as 'The Owl Babies', to help children to count to three by making, then painting, three feathers and three nests.

Mathematics is well planned and sequenced in every year group. Teachers' subject knowledge is strong. In art, for example, children learn to mix water colours in the early years.

This provides the foundation for future learning, so that in Year 3, for example, pupils learn about the artist Georgia O'Keefe. They paint and blend colours to illustrate book covers.

In some subjects, such as in mathematics and science, teachers check carefully what pupils know and remember.

In other subjects, checks on pupils' learning are less systematic. Occasionally, this means some pupils develop gaps in the key knowledge that they need to remember.

Leaders skilfully adapt their teaching to ensure that pupils with SEND can access the same curriculum as their peers.

Teachers work closely with teaching assistants to meet pupils' individual needs. Pupils with SEND are also helped to become independent learners. Over time they achieve well.

Pupils keep focused during lessons. There is little disruption to learning. Pupils work well together.

Leaders also make sure that pupils are taught about important concepts, such as democracy, respect and tolerance. When pupils are taught religious education, leaders organise visitors to come to the school. to speak to pupils about their beliefs.

Leaders also arrange visits to local places of worship, including churches, synagogues, mosques and the local Buddhist centre. This helps pupils to build up detailed understanding of holy books, festivals and places of worship.

Pupils have many opportunities to develop their talents and interests beyond the classroom.

Pupils in Year 6 attend a residential centre in the Gower Peninsula. They take part in geography field work and outdoor learning. In art, they use a range of mediums to create high-quality displays to reflect their learning from the visit.

Staff feel well supported by leaders. Their mental health and well-being are carefully considered by leaders, who take action to ensure workload is manageable. The governing body provides the right balance of support and challenge to school leaders.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff receive regular safeguarding training and are aware of their safeguarding responsibilities. As a result, they are confident in knowing when a pupil may need further help.

Leaders pick up reported concerns quickly. They work well with external agencies and the local community to support pupils and their families.

Leaders ensure that pupils develop a secure understanding of potential risks that may affect their safety.

They are taught how to keep themselves safe, including when online. Pupils said that they have at least one adult they can talk to about any worries or concerns that they may have.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Most staff have expertise in delivering the new phonics scheme.

However, a few are less secure, which occasionally leads to misconceptions. Leaders need to ensure that all staff are provided with phonics training to ensure that the school's new phonics programme is implemented consistently well.

• In some subjects, teaching does not check what pupils know and can remember before moving on to new learning.

Sometimes, this means that pupils find it difficult to learn new content when they do not have secure understanding of underpinning concepts. Leaders need to ensure that teachers identify any gaps in pupils' learning before intro-ducing new content.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 an ungraded inspection and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

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

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in February 2012.