Park Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are warmly welcomed by leaders into the positive environment of this school. They explained that staff help to keep them safe.

The school ensures that any instances of bullying or name-calling are dealt with swiftly and effectively.

Pupils feel listened to by adults and know that if they have any worries or concerns, they are dealt with quickly. The school makes use of outside specialists to help support pupils with their emotional health.

These actions help pupils to feel happy in school.

Pupils achieve well. They understand the high expectations that the school has of their achievement.

Pupils meet these expectations, by working har...d in lessons. They conduct themselves politely and calmly across school. They are respectful to their friends and towards staff.

The school encourages pupils to behave well through a system of regular praise and reward.

Pupils take full advantage of the school's large and well-resourced outdoor environment. For example, they use the exercise machines with enthusiasm and spoke to the inspectors about the importance of keeping fit and healthy.

Pupils appreciate the range of extra-curricular clubs that they can access. They talked about how much they look forward to residential trips.

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

The school provides pupils with a broad and ambitious curriculum.

This includes a well-designed curriculum in the early years that helps to prepare children well for their learning in Year 1 and beyond. Staff ensure that all pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), access the full curriculum offer.

Staff receive a wide range of professional development.

This helps to improve their subject knowledge and their delivery of curriculum content. As a result, in many subjects, pupils spoke about their learning confidently and knowledgeably.

The school quickly identifies pupils with SEND.

Staff use a range of carefully considered adaptations to their curriculum delivery to support these pupils in their learning. Where required, the school utilises external agencies to provide specialist support. This helps pupils with SEND to achieve well.

Reading is well promoted across the school. Pupils access a wide range of books that are attractively displayed throughout corridors and in class libraries. Older pupils said that they enjoy listening to their teachers read to them on a daily basis.

Children in the Nursery class regularly listen to stories, poems and rhymes. They are well prepared for their phonics learning as soon as they enter the Reception class. Pupils practise their reading using books that are closely matched to the sounds that they already know.

The school has trained staff to deliver the recently introduced phonics programme. However, there are some inconsistencies in the delivery of this programme. This slows how quickly some pupils learn new sounds.

Children's positive attitudes to their learning begin in the Nursery class. All pupils pay close attention to their teachers' instructions. However, some pupils do not attend school regularly enough, or are late for the start of the school day.

This means that they miss important learning.

Pupils understand the importance of respect and tolerance. Staff encourage them to look after their environment.

Pupils apply and vote for positions of responsibility, such as school councillors. This helps them to understand the importance of democracy in society. The school ensures that older pupils are well prepared for high school through a range of activities and transition meetings.

Although parents are positive about the school overall, communication from the school is not effective enough. This means that parents are not as well informed as they could be about their children's education or other aspects of school life.

Governors use their expertise to challenge and support the school well.

They make sure that any decision-making takes into consideration the workload and well-being of staff. For example, they have ensured that the assessment procedures have been streamlined to reduce the burden on teachers' workload.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• A small number of staff do not deliver the phonics programme as effectively as they should. The school should further support staff so that they deliver the programme consistently well. ? Some pupils do not attend school regularly enough, while others do not arrive on time at the start of the school day.

This limits how well they learn. The school should continue to work with these pupils and families to improve their attendance and punctuality. This will enable these pupils to benefit from the good quality of education that the school provides.

• Communication channels with parents are not clear. This leads to some parents reporting that leaders do not keep them informed about their children's education and school life. The school should ensure that it works closely with parents to improve communication.