Holy Trinity Lamorbey Church of England School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Parents and carers speak very positively about how the principal has significantly improved the school.

They particularly emphasise that there is much better communication and that their children are happier.

Staff take care of pupils and support them if they have any worries. Pupils behave well and are kind to one another, including at break times.

Leaders, reflecting their high expectations, prioritise reading. For example, younger pupils build up confidence with their phonics knowledge. The school provides effective daily support for pupils that need to catch up with their peers.

The school has a well-established personal, social, health and educa...tion (PSHE) curriculum. Staff teach pupils lots about how to stay safe, including when they go online. Leaders arrange for guest speakers to visit the school, for example the fire brigade comes to work with children in early years.

Pupils benefit from a range of experiences that are woven into each half term. These include visits to places of worship such as a mosque and synagogue. These experiences help pupils to make sense of what makes families different to each other.

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

Leaders make sure that pupils learn a broad curriculum. Their ambition for pupils can also be seen in their changes to some subject curriculums. Some changes are very recent and are not yet embedded, for example in computing.

Leaders find ways to give pupils the targeted support needed to help them close any gaps in their reading and/or mathematics. Overall, pupils' mathematical understanding has much improved. Leaders' work to develop the quality of pupils' writing is still ongoing.

In many subjects, there is clear understanding of what pupils should learn and when. However, in a few subjects, the school has not clearly identified what they want pupils to know and remember. This means that teachers are not clear about precisely what they must teach and then check that pupils have understood.

In most subject areas, adults have the subject knowledge needed to deliver the curriculum. They select activities that help pupils to apply their learning. For example, in Year 2 science, pupils worked with real plants to help find out how water, temperature and light affect their growth and health.

However, sometimes, adults do not carefully check that pupils have understood what they are being taught. This means that errors and/or misconceptions go unnoticed. Occasionally in the early years, adults do not consistently promote children's communication and language as well as they should.

The school fully supports pupils in learning to read. Staff are quick to start teaching phonics from Reception. They build on children's knowledge of sounds from their time in Nursery.

Leaders have put significant investment into the school library. It is a welcoming space, well stocked with books. Most older pupils enjoy reading, including their use of the 'book bus', as well as the library.

Leaders work in a range of ways to identify and support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Even while awaiting a diagnosis, or specialist advice, the school tries to meet pupils' needs through providing additional resources and/or adaptations. Leaders check that pupils receive the therapeutic care that they should.

Children in the early years are given lots of support with their emotional development. Pupils who are now in Reception have built up resilience and positive learning habits from their time in Nursery.

Pupils are polite, friendly and have positive attitudes to learning.

Staff deal with the occasional low-level disruption well. Leaders manage attendance well, successfully reducing the persistent absence of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

While pupils enjoy their half-termly experiences, leaders know that the school's current offer of extra-curricular activities is too limited.

Some pupils do not get to develop their talents and interests to the full. That said, pupils are given opportunities to be active citizens, for example in school leadership roles and in fundraising for the charities that they vote to support.

Trustees and the local governing body know the school well overall.

They are working to improve their understanding of the quality of education in subjects other than English and mathematics. The trust offers a range of support to the school, including in relation to curriculum development, for example through subject networks.

Staff across the school are highly positive about the changes that have been made.

They value the principal's 'open door' approach. Everyone is right to be positive about the direction the school is moving in.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a few subjects, the school has not precisely identified and sequenced the key component knowledge that pupils should be taught. As a result, as pupils move through the curriculum, they do not build up the depth of knowledge and skills that they should. The school should review their curriculum thinking in these subjects, ensuring that staff have clarity about the component knowledge that must be explicitly taught.

• Occasionally, some adults do not check that pupils have understood what they are being taught. When this happens, misconceptions and/or errors in pupils' knowledge go unnoticed. The school should review their training for staff to improve the quality of checks on pupils' learning and enable staff to then adapt their teaching as required.

• The school's current offer of extra-curricular activities is too limited. It does not enable enough pupils to develop their individual talents and interests to the full. Leaders should review their offer and ensure that more pupils take part in activities that enhance their broader development.

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