Northchapel Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Each pupil feels they are known as an individual and are cared for by staff. This helps pupils to feel safe and confident. Pupils benefit from respectful and honest communication between each other and with staff.

Pupils typically behave well. They know that if issues arise, staff will listen and respond swiftly. As one parent commented, 'This is a small school with a big heart.'

This typifies what pupils feel. The staff and pupils share a close, positive bond.

Pupils relish the effort from staff to support their personal development.

Leaders provide ambitious activities and experiences for pupils. They understand the school's commitment to widen th...eir experience with residentials in Oxford or trips to central London. Pupils recognise how these opportunities enhance their learning.

They appreciate how the experiences broaden their horizons and raise their aspirations.

Leaders have high expectations of pupils' learning and pupils consistently meet these. Pupils benefit from being involved in and contributing to rich discussions.

Staff promote mature and thought-provoking debate between pupils, such as about the nature of the universe. Pupils interact with mature and thoughtful contributions.

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

Leaders have established a suitably ambitious curriculum.

In most subjects, they have identified and sequenced the essential knowledge they intend pupils to learn in almost every year group. Staff skilfully check pupils' understanding and adapt their future teaching to address gaps in learning. Consequently, in these subjects, pupils learn well.

Leaders have identified a few subjects that require further refinement to ensure that pupils learn consistently well across the school. Leaders have established thorough and effective systems to support pupils who struggle. They work to swiftly identify the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Staff provide effective support for SEND, which means that pupils with SEND make good progress.

Overall, children learn well in the early years but there is some variability. In Nursery, leaders have created a well-planned and ordered curriculum.

This identifies the precise content they intend children to learn and in what order. Staff are highly experienced and effective and closely follow this coherent curriculum thinking. As a result, pupils get off to a great start and are well prepared for the Reception Year.

However, the curriculum design and implementation in Reception is at an earlier stage of development in some aspects. Leaders have worked to reduce the variability across early years but this needs further refinement.

The teaching of reading is effective.

Leaders have ensured that staff are consistent in their approach to teaching phonics and this starts as soon as pupils join the school. Struggling readers are very well supported to keep up. Pupils read books that are accurately matched to the sounds they have learned.

Leaders ensure that pupils develop a love of reading through being exposed to texts they might not otherwise read, such as 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. As a result, pupils develop into fluent and confident readers.

Pupils behave consistently well.

Staff and pupils enjoy positive relationships and teachers model to pupils how to behave from the start of Nursery. In lessons, pupils listen and concentrate well. In the rest of the school, pupils of different ages benefit from playing kindly together.

This means that pupils develop their confidence and respect for others.

Leaders prioritise pupils' personal development. They are committed to ensuring that pupils are well-rounded individuals and ready for life in modern Britain.

Pupils are supported to develop a strong sense of community in and out of the school. Leaders create rewarding opportunities for pupils to be active citizens, such as running the local museum and collecting on behalf of the local food bank and working with older residents of the village. Leaders have established a well-considered offer of trips, experiences and events.

This complements and develops pupils' learning across the curriculum. Pupils benefit from a varied selection of extra-curricular activities which help to develop and build their talents and interests. Consequently, pupils are confident and respectful.

Governors are effective at holding leaders to account and confidently meet their statutory duties. They recognise they need to support school leaders to continue to build leadership capacity. Governors acknowledge this is essential for continued improvements in the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders ensure that staff receive high-quality training which helps all staff understand their roles and responsibilities. All staff are alert to the signs that could indicate that a child may be at risk of harm.

They are swift to report concerns. Leaders make referrals quickly to ensure that pupils get the help they may need.

Pupils have a thorough understanding of how to keep themselves safe.

This includes how to keep themselves safe online, water safety and in the local farming community.

Governors diligently ensure that appropriate checks are made on staff who work or volunteer in the school.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The quality of the provision in Reception is variable.

This means that children do not consistently learn as well as they could. Leaders should ensure that staff are supported to design a coherent Reception curriculum that links well to the rest of the school. They should robustly implement it to ensure that children are supported to make good progress throughout the school.

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