Holy Trinity CofE Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are enthusiastic about school and motivated to learn. Leaders encourage pupils to be friendly, forgiving, and to believe in themselves. One parent or carer, whose comment was typical of many, said: 'The staff work tirelessly for the good of the children.

The children are happy and engaged in learning.'

Leaders have high expectations for pupils and their academic achievements, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The new headteacher is working conscientiously to refine the curriculum.

Pupils are safe and happy here.

Pupils can take on extra responsibilities, including in the role of house captain and eco-...ambassadors. All pupils raise money for charity, including the school's partner school in Malawi.

Pupils in the choir recently sang in St Paul's Cathedral and pupils regularly perform on musical instruments in assemblies. Leaders have organised clubs, including tennis, football and street dance. All pupils in Years 4 and 6 attend residential camps in Dorset and Wales.

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

Leaders have designed a broad and balanced curriculum. In most subjects, subject leaders have created a programme of study that builds pupils' knowledge gradually over time. The new headteacher has focused on building on sustained strengths in reading and mathematics.

This is reflected in the strong outcomes for pupils by the end of Year 6 in these subjects in 2022. Leaders are working gradually across other subjects to sharpen subject leaders' curriculum thinking. This includes leaders' work to outline key vocabulary that pupils need to learn across subjects each year.

In the early years, leaders have identified the vocabulary that children need to know in literacy and mathematics.

Typically, teachers deliver the curriculum in a way that supports pupils to build on their prior knowledge. In some subjects, such as mathematics, teachers regularly check that pupils understand and remember what they have been taught.

However, in some other subjects, teaching does not identify and address pupils' misconceptions as systematically. This means that pupils sometimes forget or do not understand some important knowledge that they have been taught.

Leaders prioritise reading.

They make sure that pupils have access to a wide range of reading books. Children start to learn to read from their first class in Reception. Any pupils who need extra support receive it quickly.

These pupils receive daily support and practise reading out aloud to an adult regularly at school. This means that these pupils catch up with their peers as they build their fluency.

Leaders make sure that pupils with SEND study the same ambitious curriculum as their peers.

Leaders ensure that pupils with SEND are identified and generally receive support in class. However, support to meet the specific needs of pupils with SEND is not identified and communicated precisely to staff. As a result, adaptations to teaching and resources for pupils with SEND are not tailored as closely to pupils' specific needs as they could be.

Following feedback from parents, leaders are working with parents of children with SEND to keep them better informed than in the past about how their child is doing in school.

Leaders have high expectations of pupils' behaviour and pupils are keen to learn. Teachers uphold these expectations in class.

When teachers correct pupils' behaviour, pupils respond quickly and positively. In Reception, where expectations are particularly high, children move between activities quickly and without fuss.

Leaders have recently introduced a new and improved personal development curriculum which is carefully thought through.

For example, children in Reception practise using money in the role-play shop. Pupils are then taught about what banks do in Years 1 and 2 and they discuss how to manage their finances and budget. By Year 6, leaders organise an enterprise day, where pupils create and sell their own products.

Teachers said that they felt valued and that their well-being and workload are taken into account when leaders make decisions that affect them. For example, leaders make sure that staff take on additional responsibilities only when they are ready and able to do so. School leaders ensure that new staff are provided with the training that they need in order to deliver the curriculum in line with leaders' high expectations.

The governing body knows its statutory duties and carries these out appropriately. They engage and consult with parents, pupils and the school's staff.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders have ensured that there is a strong culture of safeguarding within the school. Staff understand that safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. They know what signs to look out for to identify that pupils may be at risk of harm.

This includes an understanding of local safeguarding risks. Leaders ensure that any concerns staff have are reported and recorded appropriately. Where necessary, pupils receive any help that they may need, from school leaders or external agencies.

Leaders also ensure that pupils are encouraged to keep themselves safe in school, at home and online.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, teaching does not systematically identify when pupils do not understand or have forgotten what they have been taught. The curriculum in these subjects does not contain sufficient time for teaching in order to check that pupils understand and remember key knowledge and skills.

Pupils sometimes struggle to understand new information because they are unable to connect it to what they already know. Leaders should ensure that teaching systematically checks that pupils understand and remember what they have been taught. This includes identification and correction of any misconceptions that pupils may have.

• Leaders have not outlined the specific support and adaptations to teaching and resources that pupils with SEND require and communicated it to staff. This means that the adaptations to learning are not routinely tailored to enable pupils with SEND to know and remember all that they should. Leaders need to define more precisely the adaptions to teaching and resources that pupils with SEND require so that pupils with SEND are successful in all their learning.