Illogan School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The school is much improved. Despite the turbulence of significant staff and leadership turnover since the last inspection, pupils now receive a good quality of education. The school has raised its expectations of what pupils should learn and how they should behave.

This starts as soon as children arrive in Reception, where they quickly settle into their new surroundings.

The school uses the 'Be here, be you, belong' motto to underpin its work. This has created a sense of shared vision.

Pupils feel safe and happy at school. They play well together at social times. They say bullying is rare.

Adults help them to sort out any worries they may have.
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The school shares its site with a special school. This helps pupils learn to be compassionate and caring.

They develop their knowledge of faiths and cultures different to their own through curriculum topics and carefully chosen texts. Pupils experience residential visits in key stage 2 to develop their independence. The school plans a variety of trips to deepen pupils' knowledge of the curriculum, such as a visit to a zoo to learn about habitats.

Pupils have a voice in the school through roles such as the school council and 'eco-warriors'.

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

Illogan, in the words of one trustee, has 'come out of the other side' of an unsettling time. This, combined with the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic, meant that outcomes in the 2022 national curriculum tests were low.

Pupils in the past did not learn as well as they could have done.

However, key decisions made by the trust during this period have resulted in pupils now learning well across subjects. Despite the loss of many staff, the trust maintained an unrelenting focus on the curriculum.

The trust has established a well-sequenced, highly ambitious curriculum from early years to Year 6. It carefully identifies the small steps of knowledge that pupils should learn. Therefore, new members of staff know how to build on pupils' previous learning.

The curriculum's level of detail means that it supports teachers to teach it well.

In addition, the trust trained staff to become subject leads to ensure careful oversight of the curriculum's implementation. Subject leadership is now a significant strength of the school.

Frequent checks mean subject leads know the strengths and areas for development of their subjects. For example, they know that procedures for checking precisely what pupils have remembered are not as developed in some subjects. Their effective actions mean the curriculum continues to improve rapidly.

Leaders have started work on improving the outdoor space in the early years so that children can develop their learning across the whole provision. However, this work is not yet complete.

The school has addressed the weaknesses in the reading curriculum from the previous inspection.

Staff have been well trained and, as such, their approaches to reading are highly effective. This means they are adept at quickly spotting pupils' misconceptions and supporting those who have fallen behind. Through targeted support, these pupils catch up and keep up.

The school has revised its behaviour policy so that staff and pupils better understand it. This has impacted positively on pupils' behaviour. Suspensions have significantly reduced.

The school works closely with families to help ensure that pupils attend school regularly.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities have their needs well met. The school has clear processes for early identification of pupils' additional needs.

It ensures that these pupils participate fully in the life of the school.

Pupils experience a well-planned personal development programme. Through the 'Illogan Heart Strings' the school has identified the experiences that pupils should encounter and when.

However, this work is at an early stage. The personal, social and health education curriculum helps pupils learn about different types of relationships and consent.

The staff team has high regard for the school's leaders.

Staff feel positive about the school's direction and are proud to work at Illogan. Teachers in the early stages of their career feel well supported.

The trust has reviewed the information that governors receive in order to better hold the school to account.

In addition, the trust has worked alongside the relatively new governing body to ensure it makes the right checks on the school's work. As a result, governors know the school well.

Parents and carers feel cautiously optimistic about the school.

Some had lost confidence in its work, but say that Illogan is now much improved. They would like the school to maintain its stability into the future.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some subjects are still developing systems for assessment. Therefore, the school is not sure of how well pupils learn in these subjects. The trust and the school need to ensure that assessment systems show how well pupils are learning across the curriculum.

The outdoor environment in the early years does not yet match the high ambition of the curriculum. Consequently, this space is not used fully for children to learn well. The trust and the school need to ensure they complete the work needed on the outdoor environment so that it is purposeful and conducive to children's learning.

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