Kingsley Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Kingsley Primary School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

What is it like to attend this school?

Kingsley Primary School is very welcoming: all are included. There is a strong sense of community.

The school ensures that all pupils are included. Many pupils at the school have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). These pupils learn well alongside their peers in mainstream classrooms or in the two specially resourced provision for pupils with SEND that operate within the school.

Pupils feel safe and happy in school and enjoy their learning.

Pupils behave well in school. Starting in the Nursery... class, children quickly settle into the school's routines.

Pupils are very tolerant and understand each other's needs. They know and respond well to the school's expectations for behaviour. This helps to ensure that the atmosphere around the school is calm and orderly.

The school ensures that all pupils have a range of experiences beyond the classroom. For example, pupils attend trips to the beach, theatre and zoo. They enjoy these opportunities to learn about the world beyond school.

Pupils also benefit from the part they play in community events, such as litter picking and singing events at local care homes. There is a wide and varied range of extra-curricular activities on offer, including the popular performing arts club, chess and table tennis. Pupils make good use of these.

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

The school has high ambition for all pupils. The school has designed a curriculum to match this ambition, which identifies what it wants pupils to learn from early years onwards. Staff have secure subject knowledge and the school provides training to ensure this is the case.

The school has set about reviewing and evaluating curriculum areas in a systematic way. This has taken into consideration teacher workload. As a result of this, some aspects of the curriculum and its delivery are newly implemented.

For example, in physical education (PE) there is now a focus on the consistent development of gross motor skills in key stage 1. Pupils are now better prepared for their learning in PE in key stage 2. Some aspects of other areas of the curriculum are also newly developed such as in spelling and writing.

Some pupils do not make expected progress in these areas. The school is monitoring and evaluating these changes to check that pupils are making expected progress through the intended curriculum.

Teachers support pupils to remember what they are learning and provide opportunities to retrieve their prior learning.

Staff check what pupils know through questioning and quizzes and adapt their teaching if necessary to plug any gaps.

In early years, children are settled and happy. The interactions between adults and children support children to develop well.

Children are exposed to early mathematics through planned play activities and through small-group sessions. Staff use their knowledge of children's mathematical gaps to plan focused activities to ensure they develop the knowledge they need.

Staff identify the needs of pupils with SEND effectively.

Additional provision in the resourced provision units ensures that pupils who cannot access learning in the classroom receive an appropriate curriculum. Staff carefully design activities to match pupils' needs. Staff have had recent training to support pupils with speech and language needs.

This has proved successful with many pupils now able to access sessions of increasing length.

The phonics programme is well established in the school. Pupils who are not keeping up with the programme have targeted intervention.

This helps pupils to catch up with their reading knowledge. Older pupils enjoy reading.

The school instils positive attendance habits with parents, carers and pupils.

Staff know families well and provide tailored support to ensure that pupils attend regularly. While absence for some pupils is high, the school is doing what it can to reduce this as quickly as possible. This includes working with external agencies where needed.

Pupils learn a range of values that develop their character such as respect and kindness. This helps pupils gain a clear understanding of the fundamental British Values. Pupils know that it is important to be tolerant of all.

Leaders know the school well. Governors hold senior leaders to account for the quality of education that the school provides. The majority of staff feel well supported by the school to manage their workload and well-being.

Most staff are proud and happy to work 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)

• Some pupils do not make expected progress in some areas of the curriculum.

The school is refining its approach to some curriculum areas. As aspects of this are new, the school does not know how securely pupils are deepening key knowledge in all subjects. The school should evaluate and strengthen its monitoring systems so that all pupils progress well through the curriculum from their starting points.

Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted's website. From September 2024 graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade.

This school was, before September 2024, judged good/outstanding for its overall effectiveness.

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection. This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school's work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection. A graded inspection is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good for overall effectiveness in January 2019.