Longthorpe Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils from varying backgrounds come together as one big family at Longthorpe.

They celebrate diversity and understand each other's differences. They learn about why people might have different opinions and how to debate and discuss these, while still remaining friends. This helps prepare them well to be good citizens.

Pupils are happy and safe at school. They have friendly relationships with one another. Younger pupils are confident and enthusiastic to tell adults about how they enjoy school.

Older pupils support younger ones as part of the playground buddy system. Pupils all feel that staff will listen and help to resolve their worries.

Pupils are ...eager to learn and typically behave well.

Staff provide further structure and support where pupils need it, such as with lunchtime football. This ensures that any disagreements are quickly resolved.

Pupils achieve well, overall.

They build their knowledge across all subjects effectively. However, the quality of writing they produce could be better as it is not of a consistently high standard across subjects.

Pupils enjoy the range of trips and clubs that are on offer because they allow them to make friends and try new things, such as singing in a choir.

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

Since the previous inspection, there have been significant leadership changes at both school and trust levels. Leaders have addressed the areas of improvement from the previous inspection effectively.

The school has redesigned the entire curriculum.

It has ensured that in all subjects, what pupils learn is clearly defined and builds over time. Consequently, pupils are well equipped for their next stage of learning. For example, in early years, children develop the independence needed for key stage 1.

This includes being able to do up their zips and tidy up after themselves. Pupils in Year 6 are also well prepared for secondary.

Teachers in early years carefully plan interesting activities that help develop children's learning through play.

However, the outdoor environment does not enable enough opportunities for physical development. This means that children have fewer opportunities to build the early foundations of balance and movement.

The school has ensured that teachers adapt the curriculum so that pupils with special education needs and/or disabilities (SEND) access it effectively.

This includes the 'sunshine room', where pupils who need it get the personalised support they need to achieve well.

Teachers use effective questioning to check what pupils know. Where pupils have any gaps in their knowledge, teachers ensure these are quickly addressed.

This supports pupils to confidently build their knowledge in each subject area.

This is also the case for those pupils at the earlier stages of reading. Teachers are skilled at using phonics to teach pupils to read.

In early years, children get lots of opportunities for rhyme, song and story time, which all support effective early reading development. All pupils are confident to sound out words and most read with fluency. Pupils enjoy reading, especially the reading corners in their classrooms and library books.

However, pupils' writing varies in quality across the curriculum. Teachers do not teach pupils how to write for specific purposes well enough in different subjects. This is because there has not been a clearly enough defined, school-wide approach, to developing writing.

Pupils' behaviour and attitudes are positive. They want to learn because lessons are interesting, and they know and follow the behaviour system. There are some isolated examples of silliness, but typically, teachers address these effectively.

Pupils attend well. Where any pupils do have lower levels of attendance, appropriate work goes on to address this. For example, the school is doing all it can to provide suitable provision for pupils waiting for special school placements.

The school promotes pupils' personal development well. A range of trips broadens cultural experiences. These include visiting the theatre and science museum, performing at The O2 and local area walks.

Pupils develop leadership skills through the school council, house captains and lunchtime buddy roles, to name a few. There are plenty of opportunities to develop socially through clubs, such as choir, gardening and sports.

The trust board has worked with the school to help it improve.

For example, a trust director of SEND has worked with the headteacher and the school's special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) to ensure that the needs of pupils with SEND are now well identified and met. This has all been done in a way that has shown due consideration to staff workload and well-being.

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 there is an effective enough approach to developing pupils' writing. As a result, pupils sometimes produce writing that is lacking in the necessary quality and depth as they have not developed their writing skills as well as they should. The school needs to ensure that a clear and suitable approach to developing writing is put in place, across the school, so that pupils develop the quality and depth of their writing consistently well.

• The outdoor area in early years does not provide children with high-quality opportunities for physical development. As a result, children do not develop their gross motor skills as well as they might. The school needs to ensure that the outdoor area is further developed to provide children with a range of ways to support children's physical development as effectively as other areas of learning.

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