Kingsway Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Kingsway Primary is a welcoming and friendly school.

Pupils enjoy coming to school to see their friends and to learn new things. Staff and pupils know each other well. Pupils have positive relationships with their teachers.

Pupils said that they are happy at this school.

Pupils' well-being is at the heart of this school. Staff support pupils with any concerns that they may have.

They spend time listening to pupils worries and help them to sort out their problems. There is very little bullying in school. Any incidents are dealt with effectively by staff.

This helps pupils to feel safe in school.

Staff expect pupils to work hard and b...ehave appropriately. Pupils rise to these expectations.

They conduct themselves well in lessons. They are polite and friendly towards everyone in this small school community. They are kind and considerate of each other.

For example, pupils look out for their friends if they are upset.

Leaders have high expectations for pupils' achievement. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Pupils access a curriculum which covers a broad range of subjects. Across these subjects, pupils achieve well. Children in the early years, including in the Nursey class, are also well prepared for their next steps in learning.

Pupils have many opportunities to contribute to the smooth running of the school. They embrace being a member of the school parliament, which helps to decide how the school improves.

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

Leaders have made effective improvements to the curriculum since the previous inspection.

From the early years to Year 6, leaders have set out an ambitious curriculum, which identifies exactly what content pupils must learn in different subjects. Leaders think carefully about the order in which pupils learn new topics and concepts. Careful curriculum thinking enables pupils to successfully build up new knowledge overtime.

As a result, in many subjects, pupils achieve well. Children in early years are prepared for the demands of the Year 1 curriculum.

Teachers use their specialist subject knowledge to help pupils to learn well.

They carefully present new ideas to pupils. They select appropriate activities to help pupils to learn.

In lessons, teachers are quick to correct pupils' misconceptions.

Added to this, in many subjects, teachers use leaders' assessment systems well to identify what pupils know and remember from previous learning. However, in a few subjects, leaders' assessment systems to check how well pupils are retaining information are underdeveloped. In these subjects, sometimes assessment systems do not allow teachers to check that pupils have retained learning in their long-term memories.

Consequently, gaps sometimes emerge in pupils' understanding. This hinders how well a few pupils build up their knowledge over time.

Pupils with SEND receive effective support.

Staff identify and assess the additional needs of pupils with SEND carefully. They use this information to ensure that pupils with SEND receive the support that they need to access the same curriculum as their peers. Typically, pupils with SEND achieve well across the curriculum.

Reading has a high profile throughout the school. Leaders place books at the centre of the school's curriculum. Leaders ensure that appropriate texts, including non-fiction texts, underpin all aspects of the curriculum.

As a result, pupils are surrounded by high-quality books. They develop a thirst for reading.

Children in the early years, including in the Nursery class, are also exposed to books.

They develop their vocabulary by learning nursery rhymes, and by listening to adults read books and poems. This helps children begin to recognise letters and sounds that they need to learn to read.

Leaders ensure that pupils begin to learn to read as soon as they can.

The school's phonics programme develops pupils' knowledge of phonics successfully. Pupils get sufficient opportunities to practise the sounds that they are learning. The books that are chosen by staff are well matched to the sounds that pupils know.

This helps to build pupils' confidence and fluency in reading. Staff receive effective training to help them to support pupils who find reading more difficult. Pupils catch up to their peers if they fall behind.

Children in the early years receive effective support to enable them to become confident learners. They are settled and concentrate on the task at hand. This positive behaviour continues as the pupils move throughout the school.

The learning environment is calm and orderly. Pupils apply themselves well. Lessons do not get disrupted by anyone's poor behaviour.

Pupils learn about how to keep themselves physically and mentally healthy. They engage in a wide range of extra-curricular activities. They have plentiful opportunities to learn about different religions and faiths.

Typically, pupils show a sufficient understanding of wider different British values and the protected characteristics. However, some pupils' understanding of life in modern Britain is patchier. This is because the curriculum to support the wider personal development programme is relatively new and some staff do not deliver this aspect of pupils' learning in a consistently effective way.

Governors hold leaders fully to account. Leaders and governors have acted decisively to improve the quality of education for pupils. They provide staff with the training that they need to bring about further improvements.

Leaders and governors consider carefully how policies will impact staff workload and well-being. As a result, staff report that they feel supported by leaders and governors.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Safeguarding is a key priority for staff, including within the early years. All staff understand their role in keeping pupils safe in school. They use their training to be alert to any signs that a pupil may be at risk of harm.

Staff diligently follow the school's reporting system to make leaders aware of their concerns. Leaders work effectively with external agencies to ensure that pupils and families receive the timely support that they need.

Leaders ensure that pupils learn about how to keep themselves safe.

Pupils understand about how to protect themselves when online. They know what they need to do if they come across something which upsets them.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a minority of subjects, leaders have not defined their assessment systems clearly enough.

This means that sometimes teachers do not know what knowledge pupils have retained over time in a few subjects. As a result, on occasions, pupils develop gaps in their knowledge and understanding which go unchecked. Leaders should ensure that they refine their assessment systems in these final few subjects, so that teachers know exactly how well pupils are learning over time.

• The school's curriculum to develop pupils' wider personal development is not consistently well delivered by some staff. This means that some pupils do not have the depth of knowledge they should about British values and the protected characteristics. Leaders should ensure that staff receive the training that they need to implement this curriculum consistently well, so that pupils develop the wider knowledge and skills that they should.