Goose Green Primary and Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Goose Green Primary School is a safe, happy place where pupils achieve well and become confident, respectful citizens. As one parent put it, 'The school is incredibly nurturing and caring, taking into account the wider family and home situations, encouraging respect, kindness and fun along the way!' We agree with the many positive views expressed by parents, carers and pupils.

The school benefits from the calm and inspirational leadership that the headteacher provides. He inspires other leaders and staff to do their very best. Leaders have put together careful plans to make sure that pupils achieve well in a wide range of subjects.

Leaders have high expectations and p...lans are ambitious. Teachers try their best to make lessons enjoyable and interesting. Pupils enjoy topics which are planned around well-chosen children's literature.

With help from leaders, teachers plan carefully to make sure that they meet the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those who are disadvantaged.

Staff support pupils to behave well at school. Pupils have a good sense of right and wrong.

They try to live by the school values and celebrate acts of kindness by displaying them on the school's 'kindness' trees. Pupils said that bullying is not an issue at the school. They are confident that staff would deal effectively with bullying if it did occur.

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

Leaders have worked successfully together to make sure that pupils achieve as much as possible academically and socially. Governors and trustees support school leaders in their ambitious planning for pupils. Work across other schools in the Communitas Education Trust has helped to share good practice and improve the quality of education.

Leaders support each other to develop their own skills and those of the teachers. Senior leaders have provided valuable training and support for subject leaders. Subject leaders are now ably leading their subjects to ensure that teachers are implementing the curriculum effectively.

Senior leaders are now in a position to refocus their work to ensure that all groups of pupils achieve highly.

Since the school became part of the trust, leaders have made significant improvements to the teaching of reading, writing and mathematics. They have also made sure that pupils benefit from learning in a range of other subjects.

In the early years, children quickly build on their early reading and their mathematical skills. They enjoy their learning indoors and in the outside spaces. They are very well prepared for their move to Year 1.

Staff make sure that pupils develop a love of reading through the books and stories they choose. Staff take great care to choose books which support the pupils' learning across the curriculum. Phonics is taught well.

Staff select reading books for individual readers which develop their skills well. Leaders have rightly decided to invest in more books to inspire and interest readers of all abilities.

Pupils do well in mathematics and in writing because teachers have strong subject knowledge and have been very well trained.

Pupils enjoy mathematics because the lessons challenge them to think and reason. This leads to high-quality work, which can be seen in their books. Teachers think carefully about interesting purposes and themes for pupils to write about.

Pupils enjoy writing tasks which are linked to the class reading books that they have enjoyed. Pupils enjoy music and their success in artwork can be seen across the school.

Pupils with SEND achieve well from their starting points.

This is because leaders have helped staff to precisely understand their needs and to plan activities that support them. Leaders make sure that pupils who are in danger of falling behind receive catch-up sessions which target any gaps in English and mathematics.

Leaders are developing plans to help teachers develop further their skills in teaching history, geography and religious education.

Previously in these subjects, teachers focused on improving pupils' reading and writing skills. They had not consistently ensured that pupils gained the required subject knowledge in these subjects. Teachers' plans had not highlighted the specific knowledge that pupils should be taught for their age group.

Consequently, there are gaps in pupils' knowledge.

The school provides a range of clubs outside the school day, including sports, art and music. Leaders are looking at ways of making sure that all pupils have access to the clubs that they want to attend.

Pupils learn about a range of cultures and beliefs and they show tolerance and respect for people who are different to themselves. They understand social responsibility and show this by raising money for charity.

Older pupils show a good understanding of how to keep fit in mind and body.

Pupils attend well and behave well in classrooms, on the playground and around the building. The number of exclusions has been dramatically reduced since the school joined the trust. There have been no exclusions during this academic year.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders and staff take their responsibility for the protection and care of pupils very seriously. They keep a close eye on pupils and seek advice from leaders even if they have the smallest of concerns about a pupil.

Leaders challenge external services to help get the appropriate support for pupils and their families. If vulnerable pupils leave the school, leaders do not rest until they know that pupils are safe and well cared for in their new school community.

Pupils told us that they feel safe at school.

They understand the potential risks online and outside of school very well. They have been made aware of stranger danger.

Leaders keep careful records in relation to safeguarding.

Governors fulfil all their duties in regard to this aspect of the school's work. Staff and governors receive appropriate and up-to-date training.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

Leaders are in the process of reviewing and developing their plans for the foundation subjects: history, geography and religious education.

They are supporting teachers in being more precise in identifying the specific skills and knowledge that pupils should learn within each subject. This will help ensure that lessons in these subjects focus on the relevant subject knowledge. This is necessary because teachers tend to focus on developing pupils' English skills when they are teaching these subjects.

They do not ensure that the subject knowledge is understood by the pupils. . Senior leaders have provided excellent support and training for phase and subject leaders.

They have worked well in collaboration with these leaders to develop their roles. Subject and phase leaders are now more than ready to take full responsibility for their areas of expertise and no longer need the same level of guidance. The headteacher and governors therefore need to review roles and responsibilities to ensure that senior leaders are refocused on addressing other aspects of the school's own plans for improvement to further raise pupil achievement.

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