Ludgvan School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud to belong to this friendly and welcoming school.

They are happy and attend well. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), benefit from positive and supportive relationships with the adults in the school. This starts in the early years where staff nurture and support children well.

The school has high expectations for pupils to achieve their best. Most pupils live up to these. Classrooms are typically calm and productive places.

Pupils feel safe in school. They know who to talk to if they are worried. If bullying does happen, the school is swift to act to ensure all pupils receive the appropriate suppo...rt to avoid future incidents.

The school aims to build pupils' independence. The residential programme starts in Year 1, where pupils sleepover at school. It culminates with trips to London, the Isles of Scilly or France in Years 5 and 6, where pupils do outdoor adventurous activities at residential camps.

Pupils help on the school farm and care for the school's chickens, turkeys, rabbits and guinea pigs. Older pupils can take on additional responsibilities, such as becoming a member of the pupil leadership team.

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

The school has designed a broad and ambitious curriculum that is logically ordered from the early years to Year 6.

The school has identified the important knowledge and key vocabulary that pupils need to learn. In most subjects, pupils learn well. For example, in mathematics, children in the Reception Year learn to subitise accurately.

Children then practise counting in real-life and play situations, recognising small numbers of items. Older pupils build on this and can explain multiples of various numbers. Staff check regularly that pupils remember what they learn.

Staff adapt their input to ensure that learning is secure and misconceptions do not persist.

However, in some subjects, the school has not considered the end points that the curriculum is building towards. This means that the knowledge and skills that pupils need to retain to reach those end points are not sufficiently clear.

Consequently, in these subjects, some pupils do not build their knowledge well or remember enough of their learning over time.

From the early years, the school places a strong focus on early reading. Adults in the early years speak to children in full sentences and introduce them to vocabulary.

This helps children learn new words. From Reception onwards, children enjoy listening to carefully chosen stories that capture their imagination. Children quickly learn the sounds they need to decode words to read with accuracy and fluency.

They practise reading books that include the sounds they know. Pupils who struggle with reading receive effective support to keep up with their peers.

The school identifies the needs of pupils with SEND swiftly.

Staff adapt learning so these pupils achieve well alongside their peers. The school has created the 'hive' base where pupils with additional needs receive effective support from expertly trained staff. Pupils who spend time in the 'hive' are proud of their learning and motivated to be in school.

Pupils generally show calm and focused behaviour around the school. Most understand the new school rules of 'ready, respectful and safe'. However, a small minority of pupils need reminders from staff about their behaviour and attitudes to learning.

At times they disrupt the learning of others.

Staff monitor attendance information closely and provide support for pupils and their families where needed. Staff break down the barriers that make coming to school difficult for some.

As a result, pupils' attendance is improving.

The personal social and health education curriculum supports pupils to understand the importance of consent and puberty. Pupils have a clear understanding of diversity and discrimination.

They recognise and value differences between people. Pupils learn how to keep themselves mentally and physically healthy. They visit the trust-owned community centre to participate in rugby coaching or have sessions with instructors at the local gym.

Initiatives such as the mini-police and visits to the Houses of Parliament, broaden pupils' understanding of life in modern Britain.

The trust board and members of the local academy committee are committed to the school. They use their expertise to provide the school with appropriate support and challenge.

Leaders consider staff workload and well-being when making policy decisions. Staff appreciate this and engage well.

Most parents and carers are positive about the school.

They like how staff get to know pupils and families well.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, the end points that the curriculum is building towards are not defined precisely enough.

Therefore, the knowledge and skills that pupils need to retain to reach those end points are not sufficiently clear. As a result, pupils develop gaps in their knowledge. The school and the trust should identify the component knowledge and skills and the ambitious end points that they want pupils to achieve in all subjects.

• A minority of pupils do not behave as well as the school expects. At times, they disrupt the learning of others. The school and the trust must make sure that pupils fully understand the expectations of their behaviour and attitudes to learning so less learning time is lost.

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