Heytesbury Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to school and attend regularly. The school is a tight-knit community where pupils feel like part of a family. The new 'family lunches' are proving popular with pupils.

They enjoy eating their lunches in mixed-age groups and discussing the 'sticky question' of the day. This promotes a sense of fellowship and belonging between age groups.

The school's Christian values are at the heart of pupils' experiences.

Pupils understand these values and know how they shape their daily life. These values are central to the curriculum vision. However, in many subjects, the curriculum is not yet ensuring pupils know more and remember more over time.
<...br/>As a result, pupils, including children in Reception, do not learn as well as they could.

Pupils are clear about the new behaviour policy. They understand the steps leaders have taken to ensure all pupils meet teachers' expectations.

Pupils enjoy the different rewards they can earn and feel motivated by these.

Pupils feel that bullying is rare. If issues arise, they say that most adults deal with them well.

They feel safe, knowing they can share any worries with staff.

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

Leaders at all levels have an ambitious and inclusive vision for pupils. However, this vision is not yet realised through the quality of education offered at the school.

Significant staffing changes have hampered the pace of improvements.

With the support of the trust, new leaders have designed a curriculum that matches the expectations of the national curriculum. However, in many subjects, they have not yet identified the specific subject knowledge they want pupils to learn.

This is also true for the early years areas of learning. Topics studied by pupils are sequenced in a sensible order. However, pupils' understanding of concepts does not develop well over time.

For example, in history, leaders want pupils to understand power and influence. Leaders have not sequenced the knowledge pupils need to understand these concepts over time. As a result, pupils do not understand how power and influence have shaped different time periods.

In the early years, children have access to lots of resources and opportunities to learn through play. Nevertheless, staff do not always enable children to practise and consolidate learning. This is because staff's choice of activities is not precise enough.

Subject leadership is underdeveloped. While subject leaders have identified the topics to be covered, they are not aware of how well pupils learn in their subject areas. Pupils' learning in many subjects is limited.

As a result, they cannot always recall learning from previous years or topics. Teaching does not always match pupils' starting points. This means they are unable to build on what they already know.

Some older pupils feel unprepared for the next stage of their education in the wider curriculum.

Leaders have prioritised pupils' reading. Pupils enjoy reading for pleasure.

Children in Reception enjoy joining in with rhymes and familiar stories. Older pupils have a wealth of high-quality texts available to them. They enjoy this choice of books, and like having the opportunities to recommend good reads to each other in 'book talk' sessions.

Pupils in Reception get off to a strong start with their phonics. They accurately segment words and blend sounds. This enables them to read words and sentences with growing fluency and confidence.

Pupils in key stage 1 use their knowledge to write increasingly accurate words and sentences. Regular checks on learning enable teachers to adapt teaching to match pupils' needs in phonics. Effective support helps those who have gaps to catch up.

Leaders ensure that pupils have their needs identified accurately. As a result, plans for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are specific and measurable. These are used well in English and mathematics to match learning to pupils' individual needs.

However, it is not clear how these are used in the teaching of other subjects or the early years curriculum.

Pupils learn about relationships and bodily changes through a well-sequenced curriculum. They have a good knowledge of other faiths.

They understand some of the protected characteristics, and how these might lead to discrimination. Pupils show respect for people who have different beliefs or opinions to them.

Leaders engage well with staff and parents.

Many parents value the nurturing, family atmosphere. Staff feel supported by leaders, including in the trust.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Keeping pupils safe is leaders' priority. Regular training makes sure that all staff are knowledgeable about safeguarding. Staff record concerns in detail.

These are shared with leaders so they can act swiftly. This means that pupils and families get the right help at the right time.

Leaders ensure that the recruitment and employment of staff is well managed.

Leaders and staff follow all processes thoroughly. Leaders, including in the trust, have good oversight of records. They regularly review practice within the school so that improvements can be made where necessary.

Pupils have a good understanding of keeping safe, particularly when using the internet.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In many subjects, leaders have not identified the specific knowledge they want pupils to learn. As a result, pupils do not build well on the knowledge or concepts that they already know.

Leaders should identify the sequence of knowledge they want pupils to learn so that pupils know more and remember more over time. ? In the wider curriculum, teaching is not always accurately matched to the needs of all pupils. This means that some pupils are not suitably challenged and that others, including some with SEND, are not always well supported in their learning.

• Subject leadership does not check effectively on what pupils learn. As a result, leaders are unaware that pupils do not always learn the intended curriculum and sometimes feel unprepared for the next stage of their education. Senior leaders must develop subject leaders' ability to evaluate the implementation of their subject curriculums accurately.

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