Lanercost CofE Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud to be a part of this inspiring school. They carefully follow the school's motto of 'care, believe and achieve'. Pupils are happy, feel safe and enjoy spending time with their friends.

Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), meet the high aspirations that the school has for them. They achieve exceptionally well.

The vast array of opportunities on offer to pupils is highly impressive.

Pupils contribute their own ideas regarding the clubs that they would like, such as gardening, cookery, lacrosse and orienteering. They benefit greatly from a well-thought-out enrichment programme that builds on the schoo...l's curriculum. For example, pupils thoroughly enjoyed a recent visit to a local river and the opportunity to meet and talk to an architect.

Pupils are nurtured and well cared for. They behave extremely well during lessons and at social times. Pupils spoke enthusiastically about the school being a welcoming place, where they can be themselves and where they are treated fairly.

Pupils have a strong sense of justice. They understand the importance of equality. Pupils recognise that the differences that exist between people help to make the world a more interesting place.

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

Relationships between pupils and staff are built on mutual respect. The school takes time to get to know pupils and their families well. It establishes links with parents and carers from the moment that children start in the Nursery class.

Parents are involved in many projects and school activities such as learning celebrations and design and technology projects. This helps them to support their children's learning at home.

Pupils value their education.

They look forward to attending school, particularly after time away during school holidays. Pupils' behaviour during lessons and at social times is exemplary. They know that there are trusted adults in school that they can talk with to share any worries that they may have.

Year 6 pupils explained that they especially appreciated extra time to explore any questions that they had ahead of their move on to high school.

The school places reading at the centre of everything that it does. This begins from the moment that children start in the Nursery class.

Children enjoy time in reading areas and also in the school's library. They learn stories and rhymes and enjoy retelling them to their friends. The school ensures that staff deliver the phonics programme exceptionally well.

Staff make sure that the books that pupils read are carefully matched to the sounds that they already know. Over time, pupils develop into confident and highly competent readers. This helps them to access the full curriculum and contributes to their learning across all subjects.

Staff are positive role models. They foster pupils' love of reading remarkably well. Pupils particularly enjoy listening to stories that are told by different people, including staff, visiting authors and the local librarian.

The curriculum is highly ambitious. It enables pupils, including those with SEND, to shine in each subject. The school has carefully constructed its curriculum so that it clearly identifies the knowledge that pupils should know and remember from the Nursery class to the end of Year 6.

The curriculum utilises the rich resources available in the local area to extend and to develop pupils' knowledge even further.

Staff deliver the curriculum in a way that ignites pupils' curiosity and builds a thirst for learning. Pupils develop a rich body of knowledge across a range of subjects.

The school provides teachers with resources of exceptional quality to support the implementation of the curriculum. Staff spoke of the high-quality training that they receive, which supports them in developing their practice. They also spoke of how working as part of a close-knit team helps to ease their workload.

The school carefully checks that staff deliver the curriculum well. It makes sure that teachers introduce new learning at exactly the right time. Teachers do this expertly.

They check what pupils know and remember from the curriculum before moving on to new learning. As a result, pupils excel academically and are well prepared for their next stage of education.

The school's wider offer to develop pupils' character, talents and interests is exceptional.

For example, pupils enjoy drawing and art club. They are proud of their artwork that is on display at the local railway station. Pupil leadership groups, such as the school council, art and reading ambassadors, give pupils a voice for change.

They raise money to improve their own environment, including fundraising to develop the school's outdoor area.

Staff and governors are incredibly proud to be a part of this inspirational school. Governors diligently fulfil their statutory duties.

They provide support and challenge so that everyone can meet the high expectations they set. Everyone associated with the school is invested in a common purpose to provide a high-quality, ambitious education for pupils.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.