North Cadbury Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at North Cadbury have a warm relationship with staff.

As a small school, staff know pupils and their families well. Pupils are confident in the care staff give them. They feel happy and secure and mix readily with each other.

Children in pre-school eat lunch with key stage 1 pupils. They join the older pupils for school celebrations and assemblies. Older pupils look after younger pupils.

They adapt their playground games so younger pupils can join in.

Staff have high expectations for pupils. Pupils enjoy their lessons and achieve well.

They perform highly in published outcomes. Pupils are polite and kind. They are proud of their schoo...l values, which encompass 'respect and dignity'.

Pupils are caring towards one another. Incidents of bullying are rare and unkindness is promptly dealt with.

The school plans an extensive range of trips, experiences and clubs for pupils.

These are well-attended. Trips support the curriculum, as well as taking pupils to places of cultural interest. For example, older pupils visit the capital cities of London and Cardiff.

Clubs change termly to offer a wide range of interests. Pupils try many different sports, for example, soft archery. In music lessons, all pupils learn musical instruments, such as the flute.

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

The school has planned an ambitious and broad curriculum from Reception through to Year 6. Classes learn in mixed-age groups. The school ensures the learning is well sequenced.

Pupils build on their learning over time. The school plans a curriculum for children in Reception Year with a focus on early mathematics and literacy. This prepares children well for the next stage of their learning.

Teachers select books to read with the children and plan learning to enthuse them. For example, following a reading of 'The Tiger Who Came to Tea', children are creative in their role play. Staff working with Nursery and Reception children interact skilfully.

They help children to develop their language skills.

Staff plan the curriculum collaboratively. Teachers use the knowledge they want pupils to remember to assess how well they recall their learning.

This helps pupils to remember more. In mathematics, teachers are prompt to identify when pupils have not understood. In history, pupils develop a sense of time and learn a chronology of important events.

Pupils recall their learning well.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well-supported. The school acts quickly to identify pupils' needs early in their education.

They make sure the strategies to support pupils are appropriate. Teachers receive training to help them make the adaptations pupils need, when they need them. As a result, pupils learn well.

Children in Reception Year begin the reading programme almost as soon as they start. In pre-school, children learn the shapes and sounds of letters. Training supports staff to teach the reading programme well.

Teachers track carefully how well pupils make progress through the curriculum. When pupils need extra help, teachers make sure they have what they need to keep up. The school has planned an ambitious reading curriculum.

Pupils are keen to talk about their experiences of reading.

In lessons, pupils are attentive. The school has clear expectations for how pupils behave.

Some younger pupils are still learning to follow the routines. A minority of pupils do not attend well. Previously, the school has not followed up pupil attendance as thoroughly as it could.

The school has recently shared its expectations for attendance with staff and parents. It has clear procedures in place to deal with attendance issues.

The school has planned a well-structured personal, social and health education curriculum.

Pupils learn about healthy relationships and changes to their body in a timely way. Older pupils enjoy roles such as team captain or being part of the well-being team. They represent their houses and lead younger pupils.

Younger children learn about nature and well-being in their 'hygge' lessons.

Working with the trust, the school and governors have brought systematic change to the school. The school monitors improvement carefully.

Yet, the school sometimes does not plan precise actions in response to this. Through professional development and the school's recognition of workload, staff are well-supported. Staff, parents and pupils are proud of the school and the vast changes it has made.

The school is especially looking forward to the new classrooms opening imminently.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• A minority of pupils do not attend well.

The school has not previously acted as thoroughly as it could to address the low attendance of a small number of pupils. The systems for following up attendance issues have been recently revised and communicated with staff and parents. The trust and the school need to ensure those systems are now embedded.

• Although monitoring and assurance processes are in place, the school has not considered some of the finer detail from this. As a result, in some aspects of school development, the school has not used this information to plan next steps. The trust and the school need to make sure they evaluate the information they have, so they can be precise in planning actions.