Gladstone Road Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Gladstone Road are happy and are enthusiastic ambassadors for their school.

They offer a warm welcome to visitors and speak with real affection about the staff at the school. Some pupils in Year 5 are chosen as well-being ambassadors. They speak very proudly about the support they offer to other pupils across the school.

One ambassador told an inspector, 'We look after people if they're ever sad and give them a friend.'

Leaders have worked to improve the curriculum across school since the previous inspection. Subject leaders are knowledgeable and passionate about their subjects.

They have high expectations of what pupils can achieve. Pupil...s enjoy a range of educational and residential visits, both locally and further afield. These visits are linked to the learning in school.

Year 6 pupils recently returned from an educational visit to London. The school's head pupils talked with enthusiasm about this visit.

Behaviour at the school is positive.

Pupils and adults consistently display high levels of respect for one another. Bullying is very rare. Where pupils' behaviour falls short of leaders' high expectations, staff take action to address this.

Pupils at this school feel safe and know how to stay safe. Staff and parents agree.

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

Leaders at all levels have developed and reviewed an ambitious curriculum over the past 18 months.

Subject leaders have a clear understanding of the knowledge that pupils need to learn. Many curriculum subjects are well established. Pupils show high levels of interest and enthusiasm in lessons.

However, some of the approaches to implementing the curriculum and the assessment of how well pupils are learning are not consistently embedded in some foundation subjects.

Teachers and leaders make adaptations to the curriculum to allow pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to access the same lesson content as their peers.

Leaders ensure that the early years provision forms the foundation for all other learning across the curriculum.

The well-designed curriculum for the youngest children gives them a varied range of experiences that help to prepare them for future learning. In Reception, adults provide a purposeful environment for play and learning inside and in the outdoor learning environment. Activities in many areas promote and extend learning.

Children benefit from a language and number-rich environment. This means that they develop their vocabulary and number skills well.

Leaders have ensured that the teaching of phonics is effective.

This allows pupils, including those whose first language is not English, to become fluent and capable readers. Children are taught phonics from their first days in Reception and quickly develop key skills to help them with their reading. Where pupils in key stage 1 need extra help with phonics, adults deliver focused interventions.

Pupils talk with enthusiasm about reading. They demonstrate a genuine love of reading. They enjoy access to a well-stocked library.

There are many opportunities for reading and accessing high-quality books built into the school day.

Pupils enjoy a carefully planned curriculum to develop their character. Pupils benefit from the school's work to promote equality, diversity and tolerance.

Pupils show high levels of understanding and empathy for others. The school offers a wide range of extra-curricular clubs, which children enjoy. Pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils are well represented in these clubs.

Leaders identify barriers to participation in clubs and seek to remove these wherever possible, including offering all clubs free of charge.

Leaders at all levels have a clear view of the strengths of the school and those areas that require further work. This includes a board of committed and knowledgeable governors who have a comprehensive overview of the school.

Governors have built up a strong board with well-defined and clearly understood roles. They have a clear strategic plan and offer appropriate challenge to school leaders to support the continual drive for improvement. Teachers feel supported by leaders.

They believe their well-being and workload is given priority by leaders.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

There is a very strong culture of safeguarding at this school.

All adults working in school, including governors, receive appropriate training to keep pupils and each other safe. Pupils have an excellent understanding of how to keep themselves safe. They understand the systems that leaders have put in place to keep them safe.

Staff at the school have a good awareness of the local risks and how to help pupils avoid them. Leaders ensure that pupils who are at risk get the help they need and take appropriate, rigorous action to ensure pupils' safety. Recruitment processes in school ensure that the necessary safeguarding checks for staff and volunteers are robust.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The implementation of the curriculum is not fully embedded in a small number of foundation subjects. Some of the work given to pupils does not give them sufficient opportunity to achieve the aims and ambitions of the curriculum. Leaders should ensure that they support teachers to implement leaders' full curriculum design with consistency across all subjects.

• Assessment of what pupils have learned is not as strong in some foundation curriculum subjects as it is in others. As a result, the ways that teachers check what knowledge pupils can recall in preparation for future learning is less established in some areas of the curriculum. Leaders should ensure that the systems to check on what pupils have learned accurately inform future learning.