Lingham Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy attending this school. They talked with enthusiasm about the special days, trips and visits that they take part in. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are entrusted with a range of leadership roles.

These include acting as school councillors and reading buddies. They relish these opportunities. Pupils talked proudly about the difference they make to the school.

For example, the school council helped to secure a change in the timings for the end of the school day. This has made the end of the day calmer for everyone.

The school has high expectations for pupils' achievement, and pupils enjoy their lea...rning.

However, over time, pupils do not achieve as well as they could. This includes some pupils with SEND, who sometimes do not receive effective support with their learning.

Pupils value the support that they receive for their mental health and well-being.

They trust adults to keep them safe. They know that they can talk to adults if they are ever worried. Pupils understand the new school rules and many pupils behave well.

However, on occasion, a minority of pupils do not behave as well as they could in lessons.

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

The school has taken decisive action to improve the curriculum, including in the early years. The curriculum is suitably broad and ambitious.

The school has identified the important knowledge that it wants pupils to learn and when they should learn it. However, in many subjects, the curriculum has only recently been introduced. Pupils are starting to make links between their current and previous learning, but this is at an early stage.

This means that some pupils' knowledge in these subjects is not as secure as it could be.

The school has ensured that teachers have sufficient knowledge to deliver the curriculum. In the early years, including the provision for two-year-olds, there is a focus on developing children's communication skills.

Staff model spoken language well. In many lessons across the school, there are regular opportunities for pupils to revisit prior learning. This is starting to help pupils to recall and embed their subject knowledge.

Teachers typically check that pupils understand what they are learning in lessons. The school has also designed assessment strategies which help to identify any gaps in learning that pupils may have. It is now using this information to start to address the gaps in pupils' knowledge.

Pupils with SEND are identified quickly by staff. The school has secured training and support from external agencies to help with this process. However, the school has not ensured that staff are able to carefully and successfully adapt the delivery of the curriculum for some pupils with SEND.

This is also the case for some children in the early years. This prevents these pupils from learning as well as they could.

The school prioritises early reading.

Staff receive regular training and are confident in their teaching of phonics. Children in the provision for two-year-olds and in the Nursery Year thoroughly enjoy joining in with stories, rhymes and songs. This prepares them well to link a wider range of sounds and letters when they enter the Reception Year.

The new phonics programme supports staff in their teaching of phonics. Pupils read books that contain the sounds that they are learning. Teachers quickly identify support for any pupils who may need to catch up.

This more rigorous approach is helping pupils to read more confidently and fluently.

Most pupils across the school meet the high expectations set by many staff for their behaviour. However, where staff do not share these high expectations, pupils do not behave as well as they could.

This means that, at times, lessons are disrupted and learning time is lost.

The school works hard to encourage regular attendance. It is relentless in reviewing and refining its practices in managing poor attendance.

The school seeks support from external experts to ensure that no stone is left unturned. When pupils' attendance is low, the school takes appropriate, bespoke action. In many cases, this secures improvement.

The school supports pupils well in their personal development. Many children in the early years learn to play cooperatively and focus for increasing periods of time. Pupils learn to be respectful of difference.

They spoke confidently about some of these differences. For example, pupils spoke about how some adaptations are made for pupils with SEND, so that they are included in the wider life of the school alongside their peers.

The pace of improvement across the school has increased the demands placed on staff.

Despite this, staff appreciate the support given to them to manage their workload, such as the extra time that the school gives them to carry out their wider roles. They are proud to be part of the school team.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In many subjects, the curriculum has only recently been introduced. Some pupils struggle to make connections between their previous and current learning in these subjects. The school should embed the improvements to these curriculums so that pupils know and remember more.

Staff's expectations of pupils' behaviour are inconsistent across the school. As a result, a minority of pupils sometimes do not behave as well as they could, and learning time is lost. The school should ensure that all staff implement the behaviour policy as intended.

• The school has not ensured that some teachers are equipped well to meet the needs of some pupils with SEND. Consequently, these pupils do not achieve as well as they could. The school should ensure that staff receive appropriate guidance to adapt their teaching for pupils with SEND effectively.

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