Kirkbride Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy attending this school. Their behaviour is exemplary. Leaders have high expectations for how pupils treat each other.

Pupils are kind and caring. They are respectful and polite to each other and to staff. Leaders manage the rare incidents of bullying well.

Pupils have confidence that they will be listened to by adults. This helps them to feel happy and safe.

Pupils understand the six school values of trust, friendship, honesty, ambition, respect and kindness.

They value the opportunities to demonstrate how they fulfil each value in their everyday lives and through the school celebration assemblies.

Staff have high expectations of... pupils' achievement. Recent improvements to the curriculum show that pupils are learning more than they did in the past.

They know and remember more of what they have been taught.

Pupils thoroughly enjoy the wide range of trips and visits that they experience. These have been carefully organised by leaders to ensure that pupils find out about the world beyond their small rural village.

This includes residential trips to London, taking part in a singing event in Manchester and visits to a range of religious buildings.

Pupils appreciate the variety of clubs that are on offer. This includes a range of sports clubs, a cookery club and a singing group.

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

In recent years, leaders have made considerable and far-reaching improvements to the curriculum. It is ambitious. The curriculum matches the needs and interests of pupils well, and it prepares them for life beyond their own community.

Leaders have thought carefully about how knowledge should be ordered to help pupils build on their learning from the early years to Year 6. They have paid particular attention to how the curriculum supports pupils who are taught in mixed-aged classes. This ensures that pupils, regardless of their age, study all aspects of the subject content that they should.

This helps pupils to achieve well.

Teachers have adapted well to the demands of the new curriculum. However, some teachers are further ahead in implementing the new approaches in some subjects than in others.

This means that pupils' learning is a little uneven in some areas of the curriculum. Leaders are at the early stages of checking how well the new curriculum is being delivered. They are not fully aware of this variation across subjects.

Teachers use assessment strategies effectively to find out where pupils have gaps in their knowledge or misconceptions. They reshape their teaching to help pupils to overcome missed or forgotten knowledge.Leaders have prioritised reading across the school.

There is a suitable phonics programme in place. All staff have been well trained so that they deliver the programme effectively. Pupils enjoy their phonics sessions.

They can sound out and blend sounds well to read unfamiliar words. This helps them to become confident and fluent readers. Leaders check how well pupils are keeping up with the phonics programme.

They provide timely support to make sure that pupils who find reading difficult catch up quickly.

Leaders have ensured that there are clear and effective processes to identify pupils who may have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Children's needs are identified early, starting in the Nursery Year.

Appropriate specialist staff are involved in the assessment and support of pupils throughout their time in the school. Typically, teachers provide suitable support so that pupils with SEND learn well.

Children in the early years experience a well-designed curriculum.

Teachers are confident in organising activities in the classroom that support children to gain the knowledge that they need across all areas of learning. However, the same opportunities are not in place in the outdoor area. These do not help children to build on what they already know and can do.

Pupils benefit from the regular visitors to school who help them gain a secure understanding of diversity in modern society. This helps pupils to understand the importance of respect for others, regardless of differences. Pupils contribute to their local area through a range of projects, including linking with the local parish council to support the community garden and performing a nativity play outdoors.

Pupils are proud of the important role that their school plays in the local community.

Pupils behave well. They listen to their teachers, and they work hard.

Classrooms are calm and purposeful. Pupils can learn without distractions.

Leaders have carefully considered staff's well-being and workload while making significant changes to the quality of education.

Staff appreciate that they are considered when decisions are being made.

Governors have restructured their approach to gathering information about what is working well at the school and what needs to improve further. They recognise that they have not provided enough challenge in the past.

This has led them to seek support from external partners to shore up their expertise and insight. However, this is still a work in progress.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff know their pupils and families well. There is a positive culture of safeguarding in this school. Leaders have made sure that all staff have appropriate training to spot any potential concerns quickly.

There are effective systems in place to report and record concerns. Leaders work with a wide range of appropriate organisations to support pupils and their families.

Pupils can explain how to keep themselves and others safe.

They know how to protect their identities online and how to behave appropriately to one another when using social media.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The implementation of the curriculum is further ahead in some subjects than in others. This mean that pupils' progress through the curriculum is not as secure in a few areas.

Leaders have not checked how well the curriculum is delivered in these areas to make sure that teachers receive the support that they may need with the new approaches. Leaders should ensure that they gain a stronger oversight of how the curriculum is being delivered so that they can be assured that pupils know and remember more across different subjects. ? Early years staff have not provided a full breadth of activities in the outdoor area.

These opportunities do not link to the curriculum as well as the indoor provision. This means that children are not able to deepen their learning when accessing this provision. Leaders should ensure that developments are made in the outdoor area for the early years curriculum so that children can consolidate their learning.

• Governors are in the early stages of building their expertise and knowledge. This means that they are not fully equipped to hold leaders to account. Governors should ensure that they develop the skills that they need to gain a greater insight into the quality of education that pupils receive.