Greythorn Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Greythorn Primary School continues to be a good school.

The headteacher of this school is Tae Carpenter. This school is part of the Flying High Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school.

The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO), Christopher Wheatley, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Neil Robinson.

What is it like to attend this school?

Greythorn Primary School is an ambitious and inclusive school. The school celebrates and values its diverse community.

Pupils are happy. They feel safe and well cared for. One pupil stated: 'Teachers always push us to be the best we can be.

If yo...u ever feel down or sad, the adults here will always listen to you and help you.' Staff model the school's clearly defined values and pupils understand and follow them.

The school's curriculum content includes knowledge and skills that go beyond the expectations of the national curriculum.

Leaders have high expectations that all pupils will achieve well and make strong progress. Leaders' aspiration for disadvantaged pupils is equally high.

Behaviour is a real strength of the school.

Classrooms are calm and purposeful. Pupils consistently show high levels of engagement. They listen intently and display positive attitudes towards their learning.

Pupils are polite and respectful of each other and staff. Pupils take pride in the range of extra responsibilities they can take on. The school considers pupils' character education when planning these responsibilities.

For example, the school's pupil parliament has the opportunity to work collaboratively with other pupil parliaments across the Flying High Trust.

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

Children get off to a strong start in the Reception Year. They have rich opportunities to explore, take learning risks and learn through play.

Relationships between staff and children are warm and nurturing. Children show high levels of independence, self-control and resilience. Adults skilfully respond to children's comments and ask further questions.

They extend children's learning through skilful interactions without disrupting children's own play interests. 'Model Monday' provides children with a walk through of provision activities that are available each week. This helps children to understand the tasks on offer and they remain focused for increasingly sustained periods of time.

Children are well prepared for key stage 1.

The school's approach to early reading is highly effective. Staff are well trained to deliver the phonics programme.

Reading books are sent home, which match pupils' knowledge of different sounds. This helps pupils to practise blending sounds together and to decode new words. Pupils achieve strong outcomes in reading.

The school's diverse community is reflected in the high-quality texts which leaders have chosen. Leaders promote a love of reading. Teachers encourage book recommendations and read to pupils daily.

Pupils enjoy reading and can talk about their favourite books and authors with confidence.

The mathematics curriculum is ambitious. The school follows a mastery approach and there is a clear focus on developing pupils' reasoning and problem-solving skills.

Teachers expect pupils to explain their mathematical thinking and reasoning fully. They encourage pupils to use mathematical vocabulary in both their oral and written responses. Teachers demonstrate and model calculation methods clearly.

This helps pupils to work with increasing independence and confidence. Lessons consistently include opportunities for pupils to think at a deeper level. Pupils enjoy mathematics and achieve well.

The wider curriculum is organised through an enquiry-based approach. All subject curriculum plans are ambitious. The school has identified subject-specific expected end points that are aspirational.

Leaders have recently introduced new concepts to help pupils make connections in their learning and embed key knowledge. Some of this work is in its early stages and not yet complete. The checks that teachers make to ensure that pupils have remembered new learning are not fully embedded.

As a result, the depth of pupils' knowledge in some of the foundation subjects varies.

Support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is highly effective. Teachers use a range of appropriate adaptive teaching strategies to ensure that pupils' needs are met.

As a result, the majority of pupils with SEND access the same ambitious curriculum as their peers. Leaders work effectively with external agencies.

The school prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain.

Pupils talk about diversity with respect and tolerance. One pupil stated: 'Tolerance is where everyone can be different but everyone still counts. It doesn't matter who you are, you respect everyone.'

The school nurtures pupils' talents and interests. Many pupils regularly access a wide range of clubs. When planning these wider opportunities, the school prioritises disadvantaged pupils.

Leaders support staff well. Staff say their workload and well-being is considered. They value the opportunities they have in school and across the trust to develop their professional development and explore career progression.

Those with responsibility for governance fulfil their statutory duties.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

¦ Assessment in the foundation subjects is in the process of being refined to reflect the school's revised curriculum end-point expectations.

As a result, there is currently some inconsistency in the depth of pupils' knowledge in relation to the aspiration of the curriculum. Leaders should ensure that assessments align to revised curriculum endpoints so that pupils know and remember more of the intended curriculum.

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 an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in July 2018.

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