Long Furlong Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a happy and welcoming school where the characteristics of resilience and respect are carefully cultivated. Pupils are responsible and caring. Older pupils enjoy being trusted with additional responsibilities, such as helping the youngest children and serving as house captains.

School councillors enjoy organising fundraising activities for charities.

Pupils behave well. They meet leaders' high expectations.

Pupils know the school's values of respect, compassion, responsibility, courage and resilience, and they link these values to the choices they make. Bullying is not tolerated by staff, who deal with it effectively when it occurs. Pupils are safe and... they are well cared for.

Pupils are keen to learn, and most pupils work hard. They appreciate the teachers and teaching assistants who help them. Leaders ensure that pupils study a full range of curriculum subjects.

However, pupils do not always achieve as well as they should because the curriculum, in some subjects, is still being developed.

Pupils realise their talents and interests through extracurricular activities. Pupils can compete in sporting activities, including football and running.

Pupils enjoyed opportunities to practise sewing, art and singing in the past and are keen for these clubs to restart.

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

Most pupils learn to read well. Leaders have made learning to read a priority.

As soon as children join Nursery, teachers focus on developing their language through the sharing of songs, rhymes and stories. This development of language skills extends into Reception Year, where children delight in retelling well-known stories. Staff provide pupils with books that are carefully matched to their stages of reading.

Leaders have provided effective training for all staff on the new phonics programme. They make sure that there is additional support for pupils who need extra teaching. Leaders are currently working to develop and improve pupils' understanding and enjoyment of reading.

The extent to which the curriculum is developed varies across subjects. Leaders are in the process of constructing an ambitious curriculum for all pupils. This broadly matches the aims of the national curriculum.

In some subjects, such as mathematics and reading, leaders have clearly set out what pupils will learn from Nursery to Year 6. In others, such as religious education and geography, this work is not complete. Leaders have not identified the small steps of knowledge that should be taught and how these link together.

Leaders have begun to address the weaknesses that exist in the curriculum. For example, they have recently improved their systems for supporting pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Leaders are quick to identify pupils' needs and have already devised finely tuned support in English and mathematics.

Nevertheless, there is still more to do so that all pupils benefit from a consistently good-quality education. In some subjects, where teachers have not had recent training, they do not always have sufficient subject knowledge to present information clearly to pupils. Subject leaders have not received enough support to equip them with the skills to lead their subject.

As a result, they do not have a secure overview of their subject.

Assessment of what pupils know and remember in some subjects is still being developed. Some teachers do not consistently use what they know about how well pupils are achieving to plan new learning accurately.

As a result, they do not provide pupils with work that enables them to build on their prior learning. Leaders know that they need to extend the provision for pupils with SEND across the full range of subjects.

The school has a broad offer for pupils' wider development.

Pupils build a greater appreciation of different topics through trips to castles, zoos and rivers as well as visiting the prayer space, which is organised by a local church. Leaders ensure that pupils receive effective personal, social and health education that incorporates relationships and sex education. Right from early years, children learn about giving consent in age-appropriate ways.

Pupils understand ways in which they can stay healthy, and visits from experts, such as the local fire service, help pupils understand how to stay safe.

Governors have recently improved their understanding of their roles and responsibilities. They have undertaken training so that they meet their statutory obligations.

Staff are proud to work at the school and appreciate the concern that leaders have for them while bringing about necessary improvements to the curriculum.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders take their responsibilities seriously.

All staff receive regular training. This helps them to spot any risks to pupils quickly. Leaders work well with external agencies to ensure that concerns are well managed.

This means that pupils and their families get the support they need as early as possible. Leaders adapt the curriculum to address issues that arise. For example, they recently arranged a visit from a local police officer to advise pupils about the safe use of social media.

During the inspection, some minor administrative issues with record-keeping were identified. These did not put pupils at risk. Leaders rectified these straightaway.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some leaders do not have a strong enough overview of their subject. They do not have the expertise to support staff to improve pupils' learning. Senior leaders should ensure that subject leaders have the necessary knowledge and skills to develop curriculum thinking.

• The foundation subjects are not taught as well as English and mathematics. As a result, pupils are not achieving well enough in a broad range of subjects. Leaders need to ensure that teachers have the subject knowledge and skills to meet the learning needs of all pupils, including those with SEND, across the whole curriculum.

• Teachers do not always check pupils' learning precisely enough in the foundation subjects. Consequently, they are not sure how secure pupils are in their understanding of key knowledge. Leaders should make sure that staff assess what pupils know and remember carefully and use the information to plan future learning effectively.

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