Larkspur Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

At the heart of Larkspur Primary School are strong relationships between staff and pupils. Staff know pupils and families well they focus on supporting pupils' emotional needs.

Pupils are safe in school, have trusted adults and everyone is valued and included. Pupils enjoy coming to school.

The school has an ambition that all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), receive a high-quality education.

In some areas, including in the early years, these high expectations are not realised. Pupils' achievement does not match the school's intentions. There is work to do to ensure that all pupils have the breadth, and depth, ...of knowledge they need to be ready for the next stage of their education.

Pupils rise to the high expectations that adults have for their behaviour. They move around school calmly, demonstrating 'wonderful walking' consistently. At social times, pupils play well together in the playground and treat each other with respect.

Pupils behave well in classrooms and demonstrate positive attitudes to learning.

The school provides a range of experiences to broaden pupils' horizons. Pupils enjoy these opportunities, which include visits to local museums, farms and music venues.

Pupils are especially proud to wear badges that show their leadership responsibilities. These include sports leaders, school councillors, eco champions and bookworms who look after the library.

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

The essential curriculum knowledge pupils should know and remember is now identified in most subjects.

However, the quality of learning activities varies between subjects and year groups. Pupils are not able to secure curriculum knowledge sufficiently well in all subjects. This means they are not fully ready for the next stage of their education.

Under the new Headteacher the school's knowledge and understanding of its strengths and weaknesses are developing.

The school has prioritised improving the delivery of the curriculum in mathematics. For example, the school has worked with specialist advisers to provide training to improve teachers' understanding of how best to deliver the mathematics curriculum in mixed age classes.

This has resulted in initial improvements in pupils' knowledge and skills, including those with SEND. However, the standards achieved by some pupils remain too low over time.

Weaknesses in the writing curriculum hamper the quality of pupils' written work, especially for those pupils at an early stage of writing.

These pupils are not as well prepared for the demands of the key stage 2 writing curriculum as they should be.

The school has developed a love of reading that extends from the early years to Year 6. Pupils spoke eagerly about the books that they read independently and in class.

Pupils of all ages are keen to finish their reading books and earn stamps which result in a visit to the 'Larkspur Café' for a hot chocolate reward. Pupils benefit from a well-ordered phonics programme that staff deliver well. Pupils practise their reading with books that, for the vast majority of pupils, are closely matched to the sounds that they know.

Staff provide intervention to pupils who need to catch up with their peers. Most pupils become confident, fluent readers by the end of key stage 2.

The school uses systems to identify pupils with SEND.

Staff support pupils with SEND to access the curriculum. The Maple Classroom provides bespoke learning for a small number of pupils who need enhanced support. This is a nurturing, calm environment where pupils feel safe and access a suitable curriculum.

Maple pupils also enjoy being with their peers at social times.

The school has rightly identified concerns about the quality of provision for the youngest children in the Nursery and Reception classes. The school has acted quickly to improve provision, especially in the outdoor area.

However, staff do not always exploit opportunities to model talk and learning for children. This means that staff do not help children to acquire some of the knowledge that they need in readiness for key stage 1.The school is aware that attendance and punctuality are ongoing issues.

Recently, the school has refined systems already in place to further improve pupils' attendance and to reduce the number of pupils who are persistently absent. However, some pupils do not attend school as often as they should or arrive on time.

Pupils follow a comprehensive personal development curriculum which prepares pupils well for life beyond the school gates.

They learn about healthy relationships and have a secure understanding of aspects such as consent and privacy. Pupils learn how to maintain their physical and mental health well.

There is a strong team culture among the staff at the school.

Staff feel supported with their well-being. However, governors have not challenged and held school leaders to account for the decline in the quality of education.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The school has not ensured that pupils develop the knowledge that they need to be effective writers from an early age. As a result, some pupils do not have secure foundational knowledge in writing. The school should ensure that the writing curriculum enables pupils to develop the skills and knowledge they need to become successful writers over time.

• Sometimes, learning activities in the early years and adult interactions are not matched closely to the children's learning needs. This means children are not fully engaged in their learning and do not learn as much as they could. The school should ensure that activities for talk and learning are precisely matched to the intended curriculum and that adults take all opportunities to interact with children so that children are prepared for key stage 1.

• Some pupils do not attend school often enough, while others do not arrive on time at the start of the school day. This means that these pupils miss out on important learning across the curriculum. The school should continue to develop the recently implemented systems to ensure that parents understand the importance of regular pupil attendance and punctuality.

• Governors do not hold the school to account as effectively as they should. As a result, school leaders' actions have not been challenged sufficiently, resulting in a decline in the quality of education across the school. The governing body should ensure that it is equipped to provide effective challenge to improve the quality of education that pupils receive.