New Pastures Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils learn in an environment where they feel safe, cared for and respected. They have faith in adults to help them with concerns or worries. As one pupil said about staff in school, 'We trust them.'

The school has raised expectations around how pupils should behave and how they should treat each other. Staff understand these expectations and ensure that they are consistently followed.

Pupils behave calmly around school.

They quickly follow instructions from adults. Pupils are enthusiastic about their learning. They begin their work quickly.

Pupils are keen to ask and answer questions.

Pupils enjoy playing with and alongside each other at ...playtimes and lunchtimes. They are eager to look for other pupils who need someone to play with.

Pupils are enthusiastic about the increasing range of educational visits. These visits link well to their learning in different subjects.

The quality of education provided by the school has improved recently.

Leaders have high expectations of pupils' achievement. Currently, pupils' outcomes at the end of key stage 2 do not meet the school's ambitions. Some pupils do not attend school regularly enough.

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

Pupils learn an ambitious curriculum. This curriculum is well sequenced. For example, in Reception, children develop an understanding of sorting animals based on their different characteristics.

This means that they are prepared thoroughly for the classification topic in Year 1. The school has considered the vocabulary, knowledge and skills it wishes pupils to learn at each stage of their education. Leaders have significantly increased the range of extra-curricular clubs and activities available to pupils.

These opportunities are open to all. However, disadvantaged pupils do not access the extra-curricular activities as a matter of course.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) access the same curriculum as their peers.

Staff are increasingly adapting their teaching to give these pupils the best chance of success in their learning. Staff are alert to identifying pupils with SEND. Pupils with SEND receive targeted support to help them to achieve.

The school ensures that subject leaders have regular opportunities to see how well the curriculum is being taught. Some of this monitoring is not focused enough on how well pupils are learning.

The school has developed systems to identify and support pupils with poor attendance.

More pupils are now attending school more often. These pupils are benefiting from the ambitious curriculum on offer. The school is refining its approach to identifying and supporting families when pupils' attendance continues to be lower than it should be.

The school has ensured that the phonics programme is taught with focus and precision. Staff receive regular training to deliver the phonics curriculum well. In lessons, they skilfully check which pupils need more help and which pupils have understood.

Pupils develop their fluency through reading books that are expertly matched to the sounds they have been taught. Pupils who need more support with reading benefit from focused intervention.

The early years curriculum gives children a solid start to their education.

Leaders build positive relationships with parents and carers at the earliest opportunity. Staff have the highest expectations around behaviour. Children follow clear routines willingly.

They learn how to care for each other and themselves. For example, in Nursery, children are taught how to brush their teeth. They learn why this is important for them as they get older.

The curriculum children learn focuses on developing their vocabulary. Children have opportunities to build strong foundations for future learning. For example, in Reception, children learn different ways of making 10 within a 'tens frame'.

This prepares them well for more formal mathematics in Year 1.

The personal development offer for pupils enables them to develop a strong moral compass. Pupils learn about other world faiths.

They understand that discrimination and prejudice are wrong. Through the personal, social, health and economic curriculum, they learn about healthy relationships and how to manage their own physical and mental health. Educational visits are increasingly linked to pupils' learning across the curriculum.

For example, Year 4 pupils explain how a visit to a coal mining museum helped them to learn more in their mining history topic.

This is a school that has gone through a period of rapid development and improvement. Leaders at all levels share the highest expectations for what pupils can achieve.

Staff share this ambition. Staff are united and focused on continuing to improve the school. Recent changes to the local governing board have resulted in leaders being held to account more robustly.

Governors understand their roles and responsibilities. Staff's workload and well-being are considered by leaders. Staff are positive about the work of the school and the improvements made recently.

Staff benefit from regular opportunities to work with colleagues from other schools within the trust.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The checks the school makes on some areas of teaching and learning are not sharply focused.

As a result, teaching and learning are not consistent. This affects how well pupils build their knowledge over time. The school should ensure that its checks focus on the consistency and precision of pedagogy, and its impact on pupils' learning.

• The school's wide offer of clubs and activities is not consistently targeted to the most disadvantaged pupils. As a result, the take-up of activities from this group of pupils is not high enough. The school should ensure that these valuable experiences are consistently taken up by disadvantaged pupils.