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Grange Primary School continues to be a good school.
What is it like to attend this school?
Pupils are at the heart of leaders' decisions. The school's motto of 'Living, learning, laughing' is not just part of the school's uniform.
It is what drives staff to make sure that pupils achieve well and enjoy their childhoods. Parents and carers value the school's family-centred feel. A typical parental comment was that: 'This is a lovely school with great staff, a great community feeling and great inclusion for all.
My children love this school.'
Pupils get lots of opportunities to try new things. They enjoy university workshops, gymnastics festivals and interactive ex...periences in the imagination station.
Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do not miss out. They told me how much they enjoy growing vegetables in the garden and running the school's radio station. Pupils enjoy coming to school.
They say that, 'This is the best school.'
Staff work hard to make sure that pupils are polite and respectful. Most pupils behave well.
Pupils enjoy earning bronze, silver and gold stars for working hard and following the school's rules. Some pupils say they have been bullied. They say that when this happens, staff deal with it quickly and it does not happen again.
What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?
The headteacher and deputy headteacher have very quickly become a cohesive team. They work with honesty and integrity when checking what works well and what needs to get better. They are ambitious for all pupils to achieve their very best.
Leaders make reading a top priority. Children in the early years get off to a good start learning to read. They enjoy learning phonics knowledge and practising it during play.
Phonics lessons are taught well. Teachers work hard to develop pupils' vocabulary. They teach words such as 'automatic' and 'lair'.
Teachers model effective strategies, such as 'Fred talk' and 'special friends', to help pupils read words. Pupils who fall behind get good support to catch up. Most pupils read books that are well matched to the phonics knowledge they have.
However, some teaching assistants do not use effective strategies to help pupils read unknown words when listening to them read.
Leaders are determined to develop pupils' love of reading. Teachers read daily stories to pupils.
Pupils read books in the imagination station. This is a 3D virtual experience where pupils can read along with stories such as 'The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe'. Pupils enjoy visiting the school library each week.
Subject leaders have an expert understanding of the curriculum. They know what pupils need to learn and when. For example, in science, pupils learn about micro-habitats in Year 2, before they study biomes in Year 4.
In physical education (PE), pupils in Year 1 learn how to throw and strike balls. Year 6 pupils use these skills in team sports while discussing the best tactics to win a game. There is more work to be done to ensure that teachers develop expertise in the foundation subjects.
Some teachers do not know the key knowledge that they need to revisit so that pupils remember it long term.
Teachers deliver effective lessons. They explain learning well and work hard to correct pupils' errors.
Teachers connect ideas across subjects to help pupils understand lesson content. For example, Year 5 pupils learn about the human body in science. They link this to learning in relationships and sex education about puberty and body changes.
Pupils' work across the curriculum is of a good quality. In most subjects, pupils achieve well.
Staff in the early years make sure that children develop the knowledge and skills they need to be well prepared for Year 1.
Children have many opportunities to develop physically. They enjoy swinging, climbing ropes and balancing on tracks.
The provision for pupils with SEND is a growing strength.
The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) is very knowledgeable. Together with teachers, she ensures that the curriculum is adapted well to meet pupils' needs. Pupils with SEND work alongside their peers and gain the same knowledge as them.
Leaders and teachers work hard to ensure that pupils behave well and develop character and resilience. Pupils take part in the 'steps to summit' project. Classes compete against each other to earn steps to climb a virtual mountain without giving up.
Governors are committed to the school. They are beginning to hold leaders to account effectively in some areas, such as finance. However, there are some occasions when they rely too much on what the headteacher tells them.
They do not always check well enough the impact of leaders' actions.
Staff are proud to work at the school. They describe themselves as 'one big team'.
Staff feel that they have a manageable workload and are well cared for by leaders.
Safeguarding
The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
Leaders ensure that the safety and welfare of pupils are paramount.
They have extensive knowledge of vulnerable pupils and their families. They act quickly to protect pupils. They make timely referrals for early help and are tenacious in seeking the right support for pupils.
Staff are well trained and vigilant. They know the signs that a pupil may be at risk of harm. Pupils say they feel safe in school.
They spoke highly of the work of the well-being leader. She provides effective nurture support to pupils and families in times of crisis.
What does the school need to do to improve?
(Information for the school and appropriate authority)
• Some teaching assistants do not use effective strategies to improve pupils' reading.
Some pupils do not receive the support they need to decode words fluently. Leaders should ensure that staff have the expertise needed to teach pupils to read fluently. ? In some subjects, teachers do not know which knowledge or concepts are the most important and need to be revisited regularly over time.
Some pupils do not remember these concepts or have a deep enough understanding of them. Leaders should identify clearly the most important knowledge and concepts that they want pupils to gain so that they are well prepared to continue study into key stage 3. ? Governors are sometimes overly reliant upon what leaders tell them.
This prevents them from being able to check well enough the impact of leaders' actions. Governors should assure themselves of what school leaders tell them so that they can hold leaders to account more effectively.
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 a section 8 inspection of a good or outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that a good school could now be better than good, or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection.
Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.
This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good on 6–7 July 2016.
