Langho and Billington St Leonards Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud to be part of this vibrant school community.

They strive to follow the five 'pupil promises' and four core values that make up the school badge. This is exemplified in how positively pupils approach their learning. It is also evident in the way that pupils take good care of each other and make sure that no one is left out.

Pupils respond well to the school's high aspirations for all. Staff help them to develop traits such as self-assurance and resilience. Pupils build up a wide body of secure knowledge.

This helps them to achieve well. Pupils in Year 6 are amply prepared to embrace the new challenges of Year 7 and beyond.

Pupils valu...e the strong friendships that they develop at school.

They learn to understand and respect people's differences. Pupils benefit from the effective support that staff provide to broaden their horizons. Pupils willingly participate in opportunities to serve others in their local and wider community.

For example, they support a nearby refuge for young people who are homeless and a developing school in Uganda.

Pupils recognise that following the school rules helps them to be the best they can be. Most pupils behave well.

They learn how to regain their composure when they begin to feel overwhelmed.

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

The school's ambitious and well-designed curriculum captures the interest of its pupils. It is focused on making sure that pupils can recall key information with ease.

Teachers ensure that all pupils learn their class's curriculum as well as they can. Pupils listen attentively to their teachers during lessons. They respond well to the effective strategies that teachers use to enhance their learning.

Pupils are proud when they are rewarded for making the right choices about how to behave. This helps to motivate them to focus on their learning.

In most subjects, pupils achieve well because staff know what to focus on.

Teachers make sure that pupils learn key knowledge in a logical order and practise this regularly until it is secure in their long-term memory. However, in a small number of subjects, and in the Nursery Year, some of the intended learning is not as clearly defined. As a result, in these aspects of the curriculum, teaching does not support pupils' learning as effectively as it could.

The rate at which pupils acquire new information slows at times because of this.

Teachers check carefully that pupils have a firm grasp of their learning. This is particularly true in reading.

Where the curriculum is clearly defined, teachers address misconceptions or gaps in pupils' learning swiftly. When the intended learning is less clear, some pupils develop misconceptions that go unnoticed.

Reading is at the heart of the curriculum.

Children in the early years learn about patterns of sounds in words through well-loved stories, songs and rhymes. Teachers share high- quality classic and contemporary texts with their classes. These inspire older pupils to read books from new authors and genres.

Pupils become accomplished readers as they progress through the school.

Pupils who are at the early stages of reading receive expert support from staff. This helps pupils to quickly build up secure phonics knowledge.

Children in the Reception Year use their phonics knowledge effectively to work out what words say. Pupils practise their reading regularly with books that contain the sounds that they know. The small number of pupils who struggle with reading benefit from additional support from skilled staff.

By the end of Year 2, most pupils can read fluently and accurately. This helps them to focus on their learning across the curriculum.

The school provides effective support to help teachers accurately identify pupils' additional needs, including any that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have.

This helps staff to provide the most appropriate support for these pupils to access the curriculum and the wider life of the school. Pupils with SEND achieve well and make the most of all the school has to offer.

Pupils respond well to the numerous opportunities that the school provides for their personal development.

For example, pupils benefit from carefully planned character-building activities. Many of them carry out leadership roles that support other pupils or the wider work of the school. Some of these pupils work with staff to make improvements to the school.

Activities such as these help pupils to build self-confidence, and they prepare them well to make a positive contribution to society when they are older.

The governing body and the school have a clear, shared vision. They strive to ensure that all pupils achieve as well as they can.

The school makes sure that teaching staff are well supported so that they do not feel overwhelmed by their workload. Governors do not make sure that this is consistently the case for leaders. At times, some leaders complete time-consuming tasks that have little impact on the quality of education that pupils receive.

This means that sometimes they have less capacity to focus on more important activities.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a small number of subjects, and in aspects of the Nursery Year's curriculum, there is a lack of clarity about what the school expects pupils to learn.

As a result, pupils do not learn as well as they could. The school should ensure that all teachers know what to focus on with their classes so that pupils build up their knowledge equally well across the curriculum. Some of leaders' time is taken up with unnecessary tasks.

This adds to their workload. It also prevents them focusing on further developing the quality of education that pupils receive. Governors should ensure that leaders have the support that they need to focus on their strategic roles when this is needed.

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