Lincoln Gardens Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils love attending this friendly and safe school. Leaders have high expectations for pupils.

Leaders are committed to the school being an inclusive and welcoming place. They are successful in their aims. Leaders have strengthened the curriculum that pupils experience.

This is improving pupils' achievement. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those who are disadvantaged are well supported and increasingly achieve well.

Staff take time to teach pupils how to be successful learners by encouraging pupils to follow the 'Lincoln Gardens code'.

As a result, pupils display positive attitudes to learning. Classrooms are ali...ve with the buzz of enthusiastic pupils working hard.

Leaders provide strong support for pupils and their families.

Pupils feel confident that staff will help them if they have any worries. One pupil, who represented the views of many, said, 'Pupils feel safe and free. All worries are gone at school.'



On the playground, pupil play leaders organise games for younger pupils, while the 'Blue Cap Crew' help other children to resolve occasional fallings-out. Rare reports of bullying are well managed by staff. Pupils celebrate the achievements of their friends in the weekly 'Out of This World' assembly, while their friends applaud their efforts.

This is an inclusive and welcoming school where pupils are happy.

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

Children get off to a strong start in the early years. Staff take time to teach children the routines and expectations of school.

Leaders have adapted the curriculum in the early years to address some gaps in children's vocabulary and communication skills. Adults skilfully encourage pupils to speak in full sentences using the new vocabulary they are taught.

The reading curriculum sets out clear expectations of the sounds that pupils should learn and the order in which they should learn them.

Teachers introduce new sounds clearly and make sure that pupils have plenty of opportunity to practise reading the new sounds that they are learning in words and in the books that they read. When needed, pupils, including pupils with SEND or those who are disadvantaged, receive frequent daily catch-up support to help them to develop fluency and confidence in reading. Adults read to pupils each day from a carefully chosen selection of books, which broaden their understanding of diversity.

Pupils enjoy borrowing a book from the school's recently opened new library space. This helps pupils to learn about a range of different authors and the books that they have written.

The curriculum for mathematics is carefully considered.

In the early years, well-trained staff help children to develop a secure understanding of number. Teachers check pupils' prior knowledge and adapt their teaching based on what their checks tell them. Teachers encourage pupils to revisit their prior knowledge and apply what they know to reasoning and problem-solving tasks.

Staff skilfully adapt lessons to help pupils with SEND to participate and build their knowledge. As a result, pupils achieve well in mathematics.

For subjects in the wider curriculum, such as art and history, subject leaders have been trained to help them understand how to design effective curriculums for their subjects.

Leaders ensure that pupils' knowledge builds on what they already know. For example, in art, pupils carefully apply the knowledge that they learn over time to produce high-quality sketches of Barbara Hepworth's sculptures using shade and shadow. Subject leaders check that staff are teaching the curriculum for each subject well.

When needed, subject leaders work with teachers to help them to develop their subject knowledge and expertise. Teachers collect a large amount of information about any gaps in pupils' knowledge at the end of a unit of work. However, teachers do not use this information to adapt their teaching or help pupils to fill gaps in their knowledge.

As a result, some pupils do not learn and remember the full body of knowledge that leaders intend.

A number of pupils do not attend school well. As a result, they do not benefit from the good quality of education on offer to them.

Leaders are committed to ensuring that pupils attend school regularly. Staff work well with families whose children are persistently absent to improve their attendance. However, for some pupils this is having limited impact.

Leaders ensure that pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain. Pupils learn about healthy relationships and how to lead a healthy lifestyle. Pupils are taught about people who are different from themselves.

For example, a recent 'author of the term' study focused on Floella Benjamin and the Windrush generation. This has helped pupils to understand why some people migrate to Britain.

Leaders have a detailed understanding of the strengths of the school and the areas that they are working to develop.

Governors know the school well. They ensure that they have the training and skills that they need to hold leaders to account effectively. Governors keep a watchful eye on the progress that leaders are making to improve key aspects of the school.

Teachers at the start of their career are well supported by leaders. Other staff also feel well supported. However, some feel that leaders could do more to reduce teachers' workload.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders ensure that staff have appropriate training to identify if pupils are at risk of harm. Records indicate that staff are vigilant and raise concerns appropriately.

Leaders respond appropriately, involving external agencies when necessary. Staff make thorough records of their actions. Leaders ensure appropriate checks are undertaken on staff who work with pupils in the school.

Pupils are taught how to manage some of the risks that they might face. Pupils can talk with confidence about how to keep themselves safe online. Older pupils talk about consent and who to talk to if they were concerned about other people's behaviour towards them.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Rates of absence and persistent absence are high. This means that some pupils miss out on important learning alongside their peers. Leaders should continue to work with parents to secure further improvements in pupils' attendance and a reduction in the number of pupils who are persistently absent.

• The system to check that pupils have remembered what they are taught in subjects in the wider curriculum is not used well and adds to teachers' workload. Teachers and leaders do not consistently use the information that they gather to adapt the curriculum to help pupils recover any gaps in their knowledge. Leaders should refine the assessment system for these subjects and ensure that teachers use the information that they gather to address any gaps in pupils' knowledge.