Little Snoring Community Primary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are safe and know that their teachers care about them. They say that staff immediately help them should they ever have a problem.

Therefore, pupils are happy. They enjoy their time at school.

Pupils know that their teachers expect them to behave well.

They are attentive in lessons. Pupils take turns and are eager to learn. They listen to each other and reply respectfully.

Pupils play well at lunchtime. Older pupils look out for younger children and help them to feel secure and safe. Most pupils say that bullying never happens.

If it should, teachers deal with it swiftly.

Pupils are enthusiastic about their learning. Most lear...n to read well.

In some lessons, pupils learn quickly. At other times, learning is slower. This is because pupils have gaps in their learning and some teachers do not regularly pick up on this.

Pupils have opportunities to learn outside of school. They visit the sea, local areas of natural beauty and museums. Pupils do not have the opportunity to take part in a range of clubs.

They also do not gain much experience of contributing to school life and the local community.

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

Leaders are implementing a new curriculum because the previous curriculum did not allow pupils to learn well. In some subjects, leaders have precisely identified the knowledge pupils should learn.

Teachers present new knowledge clearly so that pupils understand well. They break learning into small steps to help pupils learn better. Teachers' questions enable pupils to practise and develop what they have learned.

Staff, at their best, identify where there are gaps in pupils' knowledge.

Leaders are still refining other areas of the curriculum. In some subjects, they have not clearly selected the knowledge they want pupils to learn.

Pupils' learning does not build well on previous knowledge. As a result of this, pupils do not acquire some more complex knowledge and understanding.

Leaders have introduced a new reading curriculum.

Teachers' implementation of this is uneven. Children in reception practise new sounds well. They blend words and read familiar language.

Some older children read with fluency and expression. They apply reading strategies to help them read unfamiliar words. Teachers ensure reading books are closely suited to the level at which pupils are reading.

Some teachers do not adopt a consistent approach to the teaching of reading. This means some pupils do not receive regular practise of previously learned sounds. Some teachers do not frequently pick up on mistakes.

As a result of this, pupils continue to make the same errors and learning slows.

Leaders accurately identify pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). However, leaders do not provide teachers with the precise guidance on how to support some pupils with SEND.

As a result of this, teachers are unable to adapt the curriculum appropriately to enable these pupils to learn well.

Children in the early years are polite and inquisitive. They have opportunities to build language and develop their understanding of the world.

At times, they do not have enough practise of what they are learning to help them remember their knowledge.

Pupils are kind, compassionate and considerate of others. Pupils speak enthusiastically about how they look after each other.

They have some understanding of other religions and of different types of family. However, older pupils do not confidently understand how they will change as they become older. Pupils' understanding of British values such as democracy is limited.

Leaders are in the early stages of putting this right. They have now carefully identified age-appropriate knowledge pupils must acquire in the personal, social and health education curriculum.

Pupils take part in extra-curricular activities which help them to build on knowledge they have learned in school.

Older pupils recently visited Gressenhall Museum. They explored what life was like for evacuees in the Second World War. These experiences help them to develop empathy towards others whatever their background.

Leaders acknowledge the need to provide more opportunities to enrich pupils' personal development.

Leaders accurately evaluate how well the school is performing. Leaders have brought about swift changes to the curriculum and in other areas of school life.

While this work has led to some recent improvement, there is much still to do. The trust and the local governing body concur. They hold leaders to account.

However, the trust does not consistently provide leaders with the exact support they need to ensure rapid improvement.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders have established robust systems for ensuring pupils are kept safe.

They provide staff with appropriate training. As a result of this, leaders have created a vigilant culture of safeguarding in the school. Staff swiftly report any concerns that a pupil may be at risk.

Leaders make timely referrals to outside agencies to ensure pupils receive the help they need.

Pupils understand the potential risks of using the internet. They know how to keep themselves safe outside of school.

Leaders make rigorous checks on new staff to ensure they are safe to work with children.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Leaders have not completed their work to select the important knowledge pupils need to acquire in some areas of the curriculum and in the early years. Pupils are not building knowledge as well as they might.

What they learn does not link well to what they have learned before. Leaders need to ensure that teachers have sufficiently precise subject knowledge so that they know exactly what pupils need to learn in each year group, to ensure that pupils learn better over time. ? Teachers do not systematically pick up on misconceptions, mistakes and gaps in pupils' learning.

As a result of this, pupils continue to misunderstand ideas and make the same mistakes. Furthermore, important knowledge remains missing. Leaders need to ensure that all teachers have the subject knowledge to identify key misconceptions and gaps in learning, so they provide pupils with the support to build knowledge better over time.

• Leaders do not provide staff with sufficiently precise guidance to support pupils with SEND. As a result of this, teachers and other adults do not know how best to help these pupils to learn better. Leaders need to equip teachers and support staff with the precise information to help them adapt the curriculum so that pupils with SEND learn as well as they can.