King’s Stanley CofE Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The school is welcoming, happy and inclusive.

It has high expectations of pupils' learning and behaviour. The school's values of respect, resilience and responsibility are woven through all that it does. Pupils are proud ambassadors for the school.

They enjoy school and behave well. Pupils are respectful, polite and sociable.

Pupils feel safe.

Staff forge caring, supportive relationships with pupils. As a result, pupils trust adults to sort out any problems. They say they can talk to adults if they have any worries.

The school provides a broad and interesting curriculum. Most pupils achieve well. However, in a minority of subjects pupils do ...not build the deep knowledge the school intends.

Pupils' enthusiasm is ignited by opportunities to develop their interests. The 'countryside curriculum' develops pupils' love of the outdoors and practical skills, such as den building. It fosters team-building and resilience.

Pupils enjoy activities that develop their talents, such as indoor rowing, gardening and sports clubs. Pupils value learning to play instruments, such as the violin or ukulele. They relish having the chance to shine in concerts and at sporting events.

Parents' views are typically positive about the school and many comment on how children are at the heart of everything the school does.

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

The school provides an ambitious, well-planned and sequenced curriculum in most subjects. Pupils develop secure knowledge and skills in reading, writing and mathematics.

A high proportion of pupils achieve very strong outcomes. Children also achieve well in the early years foundation stage.

Reading is prioritised.

Children begin to learn to read as soon as they start school. Highly effective teaching enables pupils to become fluent, confident readers. Pupils who find reading difficult are provided with extra help.

This improves their fluency and helps them to catch up. Pupils find the range of books on offer at the school fascinating. This helps them to develop their skills and their love of reading.

Pupils become absorbed when they listen to books that adults read to them.

Staff explain clearly and model what they want pupils to learn. They recap previous learning to help pupils to recall, so that they retain their knowledge.

Pupils routinely practise, secure and apply what they have learned. For example, children in the early years skilfully thread beads and use tweezers to develop their fine motor skills. In addition, this helps them to develop their pencil grip.

The important knowledge and skills the school expects pupils to learn have been identified. However, in some foundation subjects, the curriculum and assessment are less well established. The order in which the curriculum is taught does not always enable pupils to develop the knowledge they need for what comes next.

Teaching does not take sufficient account of what pupils already know and can do. So misconceptions are not always picked up and corrected. When this occurs, learning does not precisely match pupils' needs, and learning slows down.

Occasionally, pupils become unsettled.

Pupils are curious to find out about the world around them. They are particularly motivated to learn when activities spark their interests.

For example, children in Reception eagerly learn how to use hoses and brushes to clean play equipment. Activities such as throwing parachutes and bouncing balls are used effectively to assist with children's physical development.

Pupils understand the school's 'golden rules'.

As a result, they demonstrate positive attitudes to learning. The school provides highly effective support for pupils who have difficulty managing their emotions. This helps them to regulate their emotions and focus on their learning.

Most pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) achieve well. The school provides well-tailored and highly effective pastoral and academic support for pupils with SEND. This enables pupils to learn the same curriculum as others.

It also supports better attendance.

The school supports pupils' personal development well. For example, pupils consider those less fortunate than themselves when they help out at the food bank.

They raise funds for the air ambulance. Pupils learn about other cultures through the school's link with a school in Kenya. Trips and visits enrich pupils' learning.

For example, pupils visit the local canal to find out about Stroud's role in the woollen industry. They visit a museum, to learn about the work of the famous local scientist, Edward Jenner.

The school supports staff to manage their workload and well-being.

This has a positive impact on teaching.

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 foundation subjects, the curriculum is not as well established as in others.

In these subjects, teaching sequences do not build the deep knowledge pupils need to prepare them for what comes next. As a result, pupils do not learn as much as they should. The school must ensure that pupils build their knowledge securely so that they achieve highly in all subjects.

• In some subjects, teaching does not check what pupils already know. This means that pupils' misconceptions are not picked up swiftly, and this slows pupils' learning down. The school must ensure that assessment is used effectively so that pupils build on what they already know and remember.

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