Glazebury Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy to belong to this small school with a big heart. They know that they are cared for. Pupils are confident that staff will listen to them and take their ideas and suggestions on board.

Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), respond well to the school's high expectations of what they can achieve. Typically, pupils are attentive in lessons. They have high aspirations and know why it is important to come to school each day.

Pupils achieve well across a range of subjects.

Children in the early years, including those in the two-year-old provision, settle into well-established routines with ease. They becom...e independent and they quickly learn how to cooperate and take turns.

Pupils behave well. They are polite and respectful to each other and to adults. Pupils appreciate opportunities to celebrate their positive attitudes, for example they relish being invited to the special high tea.

Pupils are kind-hearted. They care deeply about others and the disadvantages that others may face, such as homelessness or ill health. This prompts pupils to act as courageous advocates for good causes, for example, by organising events to raise money for charity.

In this way, pupils become active citizens, who make a positive difference in their community.

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

The school has designed a well-thought-out curriculum that is ambitious for all pupils. In all subjects, the important knowledge that pupils should learn has been carefully identified and organised from the Reception Year to the end of Year 6.

In this way, the curriculum builds on what pupils already know in a logical and coherent order.

With the support of the trust, the school has provided high-quality training to enable teachers to deliver the curriculum effectively. However, in the early years, the school has not built the expertise of some staff who teach and support children's learning equally well.

This means that some staff are not clear about how to build children's knowledge across each area of learning. There is an unevenness in the youngest children's development as a result.

In most subjects, teachers use their detailed subject knowledge to design activities that help pupils to know and remember more.

They carry out regular checks on what pupils have learned. Pupils recall their prior learning readily. This makes it easier for them to understand and learn new information.

In one or two subjects, the school is still devising the most suitable methods to check that pupils have learned the knowledge in the curriculum. In these subjects, some teachers do not regularly revisit and strengthen pupils' previous learning.Some pupils do not build their knowledge as securely as they do in other subjects as a result.

The school has placed reading at the heart of the curriculum. Pupils enjoy listening to their teachers read to them. Teachers select books that help pupils to reflect on important issues, such as equality.

Pupils thoroughly enjoy reading and they establish positive reading habits.

Staff across the school are well trained to teach pupils to read. Children start to learn how to use phonics to read words as soon as they begin in the Reception Year.

Typically, staff ensure that the books that pupils read match their reading knowledge well. Expert staff provide well-tailored support for those pupils who need extra help with their phonics. This helps these pupils to develop their fluency and confidence in reading.

Almost all pupils develop secure reading knowledge by the time they leave Year 2. This prepares them well for the challenges of the key stage 2 curriculum.

With the support of the trust, the school has improved its strategies for identifying pupils with SEND.

Typically, staff provide appropriate support to enable pupils with SEND to fully access the curriculum. However, some staff are not sure how to support pupils with more complex SEND. This means that, on occasion, some pupils with SEND do not achieve as well as they could.

The school goes beyond the expected to prepare pupils for life after primary school. For example, it involves parents, carers and members of the community in careers days. This encourages pupils to aim high for their future lives.

Pupils learn to embrace diversity. They explained to inspectors how 'We are all the same but different.' Pupils spoke about topics such as relationships with others and how to keep themselves healthy with maturity and sensitivity.

These same attitudes are clear in the way that pupils behave. This helps to make the school a calm and purposeful place to learn and play.

Trustees and members of the local governing board carry out a range of activities to assure themselves that the school's systems are working well.

When making decisions, such as how to feedback on pupils' work, trustees carefully consider the impact on staff's workload. As a result, staff feel valued and enjoy working at the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The school has not ensured that some staff know how to meet the needs of pupils with complex needs consistently well. From time to time, a few pupils with SEND struggle to access the curriculum as well as their peers. The school should ensure that staff know how to provide the most effective support for pupils with different types of SEND, so that these pupils achieve as well as they could.

• The school has not ensured that some staff who teach in the Nursery class have the expertise to design learning that builds on what children know and can do already. This means that some children are not as well prepared for the Reception class as they should be in some areas of learning. The school should ensure that all staff are provided with suitable guidance, so that they can deliver the curriculum across the early years equally well.

• In one or two subjects, the school has not ensured that teachers regularly revisit the most important knowledge that pupils need for subsequent learning. Occasionally, this hinders how well some pupils build their knowledge over time. The school should ensure that teachers support pupils to embed important knowledge into their long-term memories in these few remaining subjects.