Kings Copse Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud of their inclusive and caring school. The school's values of respect, independence, resilience, collaboration, motivation and curiosity are embedded into daily life.

Pupils respect the school's clear rules and routines, which helps them to feel safe. They know that adults will listen and help them with any worries. Pupils learn to play together kindly and look after each other.

New pupils quickly make friends. As one pupil commented, 'The best thing about Kings Copse is that it's really friendly.'

The school has high ambitions for every pupil, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Pupils with vi...sion impairment are supported effectively to access the curriculum. Most pupils live up to the school's expectations by working hard and behaving well, both in lessons and at breaktimes. Leaders have responded quickly to ensure that pupils' current achievement is much stronger than the weak 2023 published results in writing and mathematics.

Pupils benefit from a broad range of interesting experiences. This includes different leadership roles, such as being a member of the school council or a cyber ambassador. They take these roles seriously.

Pupils keenly learn about the challenges that vision impaired people face and how to best provide support.

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

The school has robustly reviewed the curriculum following weak 2023 published results. It has carefully identified what pupils need to learn and in what order.

The revised curriculum is ambitious and designed thoughtfully to help pupils build their knowledge gradually over time. Pupils are now achieving much more strongly in reading, writing and mathematics. However, pupils do not develop as deep an understanding as they could in some other curriculum subjects.

Across the school, most teachers have secure subject knowledge and present content clearly. Staff encourage pupils to talk about their learning to encourage deeper thinking. They carefully check pupils' understanding well and focus on the most important content that pupils need to be able to recall.

Staff are quick to identify and address misconceptions, especially in mathematics. Pupils produce quality work in many subjects that supports them to secure their learning and remember more over time. However, at times, staff do not have consistently high expectations of pupils' written work.

As a result, their work in some subjects lacks pride and is not reflective of their high level of understanding.

Teaching is adapted well for pupils with SEND. Staff use careful identification to ensure that these pupils receive help that is appropriate to their needs.

As a result, most pupils with SEND are making good progress from their starting points. Lessons are adapted strongly to help pupils with vision impairment access the curriculum effectively, including with the use of Braille. Carefully considered adaptations ensure that these pupils succeed across the whole curriculum.

Leaders have a determined focus on teaching pupils to read. Teachers follow the agreed phonics programme closely and ensure that books are well matched to the sounds that pupils know. As a result, pupils generally learn to read quickly.

Staff use extra sessions effectively to support any pupils who begin to fall behind. Leaders recognise that there is still some work to do to ensure that all staff are equipped with the required expert knowledge to teach reading effectively.

Children in Reception settle in very quickly due to the high-quality care and support that staff provide.

They are taught to recognise and manage their emotions successfully. Throughout the rest of the school, pupils benefit from a calm and purposeful learning environment. They demonstrate positive attitudes to learning.

Staff are quick to support pupils if their behaviour does not meet the school's expectations.

Personal development is promoted well. Leaders at all levels are keen to support every child to fulfil their aspirations and to become good citizens.

The school has designed a programme of opportunities that encourages pupils to develop their interests and talents. Pupils enjoy different opportunities in the local area, such as performing at the local church. They build a secure understanding of world faiths and cultures and learn how to keep safe online and in the local community.

Staff generally feel well supported to fulfil their roles. Most staff welcome how the school reduces unnecessary workload so they can focus on teaching pupils. Governors provide effective challenge and support to the school to focus on continued improvements.

Most parents and carers are also positive about the care that pupils are given. One parent commented, 'My child has blossomed since starting at the school.'

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The school has inconsistent expectations of pupils' written work. This means the quality of work is sometimes not as good as it should be. The school should ensure that staff maintain high expectations and that these are consistently met across the curriculum so that pupils' written work reflects their detailed understanding.

• The teaching of phonics needs refining. As a result, some pupils do not pronounce sounds correctly, and this impacts on their ability to blend sounds accurately to make words. The school should ensure that all staff are equipped with the expert knowledge to reach reading effectively.

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