Grimes Dyke Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Grimes Dyke Primary School is a special place where helping pupils and families to develop a sense of belonging to 'Team GD' is valued. Pupils are happy and safe here. Pupils are known well and cherished.

This teaches pupils how to be kind to each other.

The school places great importance on teaching pupils to learn and play together. It utilises the exceptional outside provision to support pupils to develop an understanding of themselves and respect for others.

Wellies are an important part of the school uniform. Pupils talk with great enthusiasm about working with their friends across all age groups to make dens in the woods, dig and build in the huge sandp...it or whizz around the track on the scooters and wheelies.

There are high expectations here.

The school helps pupils to develop a positive attitude to learning. In lessons, pupils behave well and focus on their learning. Teachers make learning fun and interesting.

However, the curriculum in some areas does not yet identify the important knowledge that the school wants pupils to know and remember. The school has started to take action to remedy this. However, some of this work is still in the early stages.

Therefore, while pupils' outcomes are improving, they are still not high enough in some areas.

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

The school has recognised that some pupils do not achieve well enough. It has taken steps to address this.

It is currently reviewing how learning is organised and what important knowledge should be included in the curriculum, across a range of subjects. These improvements are needed to support teachers to design lessons that help pupils build knowledge over time. Currently, while they are ambitious for pupils and have strong subject knowledge, teachers do not have sufficient support from the curriculum to ensure learning builds progressively.

This results in pupils having a varying recall of what they have learned. There are also inconsistences in how teachers check how well all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are remembering their learning. This leads to some pupils having gaps in their knowledge.

Reading is prioritised throughout the school. Pupils are starting to develop an enjoyment of books due to the interesting texts that they read in class. Leaders have carefully chosen texts that support pupils' learning across a range of subjects.

This inspires pupils to want to learn more, although opportunities to embed learning through this approach are not consistently implemented. This impacts on how well pupils achieve over time. Staff are well-trained and use the school's chosen approach to teaching phonics consistently.

Staff quickly identify any pupils who are finding reading difficult. However, the school does not put in place effective wider support to ensure these pupils quickly gain the knowledge and skills they need to become confident, fluent readers.

Staff know pupils well and accurately identify pupils' needs.

In most instances, staff adapt learning activities to ensure these match pupils' needs, although this can be inconsistent. The school has introduced 'The Hive' provision to support pupils who need bespoke learning plans. Staff working with these pupils are skilled and provide effective support.

This helps pupils to learn both while in 'The Hive' and when they work in their mainstream classes.

Children in the early years get off to a flying start. The curriculum is carefully designed to ensure that all aspects of the early years framework are given great focus.

Children in the Nursery are well supported to share ideas and learn to play together. In Reception, staff focus on teaching children to engage with learning through careful listening and promoting physical and sensory skills. Children's future learning benefits from this.

The school has an accurate picture of the attendance and punctuality of pupils. Leaders recognise attendance is not high enough. They have put in place rigorous processes to follow up any absence from school and work closely with the families of children who are persistently absent.

Lateness is not accepted, and pupils are reminded regularly of the school's expectations.

The school prioritises pupils' personal development. It recognises that families are important and extends its support to them in many ways, including through family residential weekends away.

For pupils, the school provides many varied opportunities to discover interests, such as exploring science and nature, or talents, such as roller skating. Pupils are encouraged to try out new things, work with others and be independent. Through these opportunities, pupils learn to respect others and understand equality and the importance of protected characteristics.

However, pupils' knowledge and understanding of other important areas, such as British values or different faiths and cultures, is not secure enough. This is recognised by the school and is being addressed, but this work is still in the early stages.

The importance of belonging to 'Team GD' extends to the governors of the school.

They are committed to and passionate about ensuring that the school improves further. Governors have a clear understanding of the school's priorities and understand their role in holding leaders to account. Staff show the same passion and commitment to the pupils in the school.

They value the support they receive to manage their workload and well-being. There is a shared drive here to ensure that pupils thrive both personally and academically.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, the school has not sufficiently identified the essential knowledge it wants pupils to know and remember. This means that teachers are not clear about the important subject knowledge they should teach. The school should ensure that all subject curriculums are more specific about the key knowledge pupils should learn and when, so that teachers are better equipped to implement lessons that support pupils to develop greater understanding over time.

• Systems to support teachers to check learning are underdeveloped in some areas. This means that teachers do not consistently check pupils' understanding to see if they are remembering key subject knowledge, and they do not adapt learning to ensure that it matches pupils' ability and understanding. The school should ensure that staff have the skills and knowledge of how to identify gaps in pupils' learning and address misconceptions.