Knuzden St Oswald’s Church of England Primary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school. Leaders and governors have taken decisive action to reverse the decline in standards so that the school now provides a good quality of education. The headteacher and her enthusiastic assistant headteachers have brought about considerable improvements.

The school's Christian values are at the heart of all it does. Governors know the school well and make a valuable contribution to school improvement. Improvements in the quality of teaching throughout the school have resulted in the vast majority of pupils making good progress.

Leaders and staff use assessment information to check progress and plan for the needs of pupils. The teaching of p...honics is strong. Nearly all pupils meet the expected standards by the time they leave Year 1.

Pupils enjoy coming to school. This is evident from their good attendance, which is above the national average. Pupils say that learning is fun.

This is because : the curriculum is broad, balanced and inspiring. Leaders are diligent in carrying out their responsibilities for safeguarding and pupils feel safe in school. Personal development and welfare are good.

Pupils are great advocates of the school's five key values: 'politeness', 'respect,' 'self-control', 'patience' and 'kindness'. However, playtimes and lunchtimes can be disorganised. Leadership and teaching in the early years are very effective.

As a result, children have a good start to school life and make good progress from their starting points. Although outcomes are good overall, not enough pupils, especially the most able and some middle-ability pupils, are achieving at greater depth and the higher standards in English and mathematics. Opportunities to extend and challenge pupils to understand and think more deeply about their learning are sometimes missed.

Staff also sometimes fail to take advantage of chances to move pupils on in their learning more quickly. Some pupils do not enjoy reading as much as they should.

Information about this school

Knuzden St Oswald's is smaller than the average-sized primary school.

The large majority of pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is below the national average. The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is just below the national average.

The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website. In 2016, the school did not meet the government's current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6. However, it has met them in previous years.