Garfield Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The school's motto, 'Today's children, tomorrow's future', is deeply embedded in the daily experience of all pupils and staff.

Pupils are welcomed with kindness and care. Their cultures, along with the variety of languages that they speak, are celebrated regularly, promoting a fully inclusive school environment. Pupils are rightly proud of their diverse backgrounds, which contribute to a rich learning community.

Pupils particularly enjoy their involvement in the school parliament, where they gain valuable insight into important social responsibilities. They participate in activities that promote leadership and decision-making, which fosters their understanding of fund...amental British values. Pupils also enjoy collaborating on projects that benefit their school community, for example litter picking.

This hands-on engagement nurtures essential values, like empathy, democracy, equality, inspiration, and care for the environment.

Pupils understand their rights and responsibilities. They show kindness, respect and consideration towards adults and their peers.

In early years, children are inquisitive and engage happily in cooperative play. Classrooms are calm, and pupils work purposefully during their lessons. This is because leaders have high expectations for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

As a result, pupils achieve well and are prepared for the next stage of their education.

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

The curriculum is broad and ambitious. Leaders have carefully considered the important knowledge and skills that they want pupils to learn.

These have been logically sequenced so that pupils learn and remember more over time. For example, in geography, younger pupils learn about the water cycle, understanding processes like evaporation and precipitation. Older pupils build on this, confidently explaining how water availability influences agricultural practices by linking natural systems to human activities, such as commercial and non-commercial farming.

Over the past year, the school has made significant changes to the curriculum. This means that in a few subjects, the school's curricular thinking is not as fully developed. On occasion, some staff do not have sufficient expertise to ensure that pupils learn the planned curriculum well.

Consequently, some pupils have a less secure understanding of important concepts.

The school has identified and prioritised the specific areas of the curriculum that contributed to low 2023 national assessment outcomes at the end of Year 6. The school has taken decisive and rapid action to address gaps in pupils' learning.

A clear example of this is the effective work to prioritise reading, including the introduction of a well-organised and structured phonics programme. Children develop their phonics knowledge as soon as they start school. Staff implement the programme with fidelity across all year groups.

Teachers ensure that the books are aligned with the sounds that pupils know. Those who fall behind receive targeted support to help them catch up quickly. Pupils have access to a well-stocked library, where they can choose books that engage and interest them.

Older pupils particularly enjoy reading works by Shakespeare, for instance Romeo and Juliet.

Similarly, in mathematics, children in the early years enjoy learning to count to seven and beyond by listening to the story of 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'. They begin to understand the concepts of less than and more than.

Pupils in Year 6, build on their strong foundations in mathematics by securely applying their knowledge of the order of operations to solve complex word problems. Misconceptions are typically addressed. Staff ensure that pupils understand key concepts by providing clear explanations and examples.

The school accurately identifies the needs of pupils with SEND. Staff plan and adapt resources to ensure that all pupils access the same ambitious curriculum as their peers. The needs of pupils with SEND are thoughtfully considered and, through appropriate in-class adaptations, they make progress through the curriculum from their starting points.

Pupils particularly benefit from thoughtful approaches, such as the 'drawing stories' initiative, which support their well-being and impact positively on their learning.

Pupils learn and behave well. The listen attentively to staff and their peers.

As a result, learning is rarely disrupted. Attendance is high. The school has robust systems in place to monitor absence and works closely with parents and carers to support pupils to be in school regularly.

The personal development of pupils has been carefully considered by leaders. The school has created a list of 50 experiences that it wants every pupil to have by the end of Year 6. For example, pupils learn about artificial intelligence, grow vegetables, visit museums and care for the environment.

As a result, pupils learn how to be respectful, responsible, and active citizens.

Governors know the school well. They are ambitious for all pupils, including those with SEND and those who are disadvantaged.

The governing body has a clear understanding of the school's strengths and areas for improvement. This enables it to hold leaders to account for their work appropriately. Staff say they feel valued and leaders are considerate of their well-being and workload.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Recent changes to the curriculum have resulted in a few subjects still being in the early stages of implementation. Additionally, staff training in these areas has not been as comprehensive as it has been for other subjects.

This means that pupils' understanding of concepts does not build as securely in these subjects as it does in others. Leaders should develop subject-specific training to help staff develop their expertise. Support and guidance should be focused on enabling teachers to implement the planned curriculum effectively and ensure that pupils learn and retain important concepts.