Neroche Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a warm and welcoming place. Pupils talk confidently about the support they receive from trusted adults. They know that staff will help them with any worries they may have.

Relationships across the school are positive and respectful. This helps pupils to feel safe and enjoy school.

The school has high expectations for pupils.

Overall, pupils achieve well. They work hard in lessons and leave the school well prepared for the next stage in their education. Despite this, the quality of education that children receive in the early years is not yet good.

This means that some children are not well prepared for Year 1.

The school has put in p...lace a new behaviour approach. This makes clear the expectations for how pupils behave.

Pupils respond well to this. They understand the school rules and happily follow them. This starts in the pre-school where children settle to new routines quickly.

Pupils enjoy a range of clubs such as choir, multi-sports and colouring. They value the opportunities to become house captains and members of the school council. Pupils understand how these roles develop their independence and give them the skills they need to look after others.

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

The school has been through a period of change and instability. In the past year, the school and trust have worked hard to ensure there is a stable leadership structure in place. Staff and parents and carers talk positively about these changes.

The school has coherently designed and ordered the curriculum for many subjects. In mathematics, for example, the curriculum makes clear the precise knowledge that pupils need to learn and when. Pupils build their mathematical understanding securely over time.

For example, older pupils use their knowledge of the inverse confidently to check their calculations.

The school places high importance on reading. Pupils talk about how reading 'takes them away to different places.'

Children begin to learn to read as soon as they start school in the early years. In the pre-school, children listen to and join in with rhymes and songs. Older pupils learn and remember new sounds well.

The school provides support to pupils who fall behind with their reading. This helps these pupils to develop their reading fluency and catch up quickly.

Pupils learn well in most wider curriculum subjects.

In physical education (PE), teachers make adaptations to learning for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). For example, the school provides these pupils with different sized balls for throwing which enables them to progress through the same curriculum as their peers. Teachers routinely check on what pupils know.

Younger pupils talk with confidence about different movement patterns. Older pupils use their previous knowledge of different equipment when designing an invasion game. However, in some other subjects, pupils' knowledge is less secure.

This is because teachers do not routinely check on what pupils know well enough before moving on to new learning. This prevents pupils from remembering their learning in the longer term.

The school and trust have acted swiftly to identify the need for improvements in the early years provision.

However, there is more to do to ensure a quality provision. The school has not designed an early years curriculum that is coherent from pre-school to Reception and beyond. As a result, some staff are not clear about how children build their knowledge over time from when they join the pre-school to the beginning of Year 1.

In addition, some staff miss opportunities to develop and deepen children's language skills. This means that some children are not as well prepared for key stage 1 as they should be. However, children in the early years are happy and enjoy coming to school.

Pupils have positive attitudes to their learning. They move around the school in a calm and orderly way. The school has effective systems in place to ensure that pupils attend school often.

It works closely with families if concerns around pupil attendance arise. As a result, most pupils attend school regularly.

The school supports pupils' personal development well.

Pupils talk confidently about fundamental British values, such as democracy. They have a mature understanding of different relationships and know why it is important to treat everyone equally. They develop their character by taking part in community events, such as remembrance.

Local governors and trustees know the school well. They are considerate of staff workload and well-being. Most staff appreciate the training and support they receive which develops their practice.

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, learning does not consistently build on what pupils have previously learned. Teachers do not check well enough what pupils remember.

As a result, pupils struggle to recall previous learning and do not build their knowledge securely over time. The trust needs to ensure that teachers check what pupils know and remember across all subjects and use this to inform future learning. ? The early years curriculum does not identify and order the precise knowledge and skills that children need to know across the whole early years phase.

Some activity choices are not as effective as they should be. As a result, some children do not learn the knowledge and skills to be prepared for Year 1. The trust should ensure that the early years curriculum is coherently sequenced and implemented effectively so that children are better prepared for learning in Year 1.

• In the early years, some staff miss opportunities to develop and deepen children's language skills. As a result, some children do not secure the key vocabulary they need to be ready for their next step. The trust should ensure that interactions between staff and children in the early years effectively develop and deepen children's language and communication skills in readiness for Year 1.