Pebsham Primary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The school is a close and welcoming community. Pupils are confident and happy. Their attitudes to each other and adults are highly positive.

Pupils understand and apply the school's values with vigour and enthusiasm. They recognise how the values of respect, diversity and independence help them to make good decisions. This helps pupils to feel safe, and they have trusted adults they know will listen if they have a concern.

The school has high expectations of pupils' learning. Pupils successfully rise to meet these expectations. They take pride in developing their knowledge and are enthusiastic to demonstrate what they have learned.

Pupils, including those wit...h special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), achieve well. This is reflected in their readiness for the next stage of education.

Pupils benefit from a well-chosen range of experiences and opportunities.

Staff carefully reflect the school's locality and community in their teaching. For example, pupils learn how to keep themselves safe at the beach and in water. They also enjoy opportunities to be good citizens and make a positive difference to the school community.

Pupils are proud of their work in the school library, local residential homes and as well-being champions.

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

The school has created a broad and balanced curriculum that matches the national curriculum. It has carefully chosen what pupils should learn and in what order.

The school has recently successfully strengthened its work to identify pupils with SEND. These pupils are supported appropriately in lessons to enable them to follow the same curriculum. This helps pupils with SEND to generally achieve well.

Staff typically have secure subject knowledge. This supports them to closely follow the curriculum. The school prioritises supporting pupils to acquire an ambitious vocabulary.

Staff provide resources that help to promote pupils' understanding. The school's checks of pupils' understanding are accurate. Staff usually make effective use of this information to inform their teaching.

This helps pupils to generally achieve well across the curriculum. Lesson activities are interesting for pupils. However, activities in subjects other than mathematics and English do not routinely focus on the key knowledge.

This means that pupils enjoy learning but do not consistently understand and recall important curriculum content over time.

The teaching of reading is a priority. Staff follow a clear curriculum to structure the teaching of sounds and letters.

They have a detailed understanding of pupils' reading ability. They use this information to support pupils who fall behind effectively and ensure they quickly catch up. Staff match books closely to the sounds pupils know.

Adults, including those in the Reception class, use expert knowledge to support pupils to read. Pupils who need extra reading practise have additional support to make sure they keep up. Pupils adore their new library.

They are keen to enjoy the range of books and stories with diverse themes and characters. Pupils develop into fluent and accurate readers.

Children make a happy start when they join Reception.

The school's recent work has strengthened the curriculum in the early years. Staff prioritise developing children's language and communication skills. This gives children the vocabulary to express themselves independently.

In other areas of the curriculum, some checks of children's understanding lack rigour. This sometimes slows children's learning.

Overall, pupils behave well.

They are polite and kind. From the early years onwards, pupils play collaboratively. Their attitudes to learning are positive, and they are keen to follow the school's routines.

The school uses a thorough approach to encouraging positive attendance. As a result, absence has significantly reduced and now mirrors the national average.

The personal development of pupils is comprehensive.

Pupils develop a strong understanding of their place in the wider community and a detailed understanding of diversity and equality. Pupils benefit from a wide variety of trips and rich experiences. The school makes use of the local environment such as the nearby beach.

Pupils learn important lessons about water safety and beach ecology. They relish the varied clubs and experiences that support their talents and interests.

Local governors and the trust carefully evaluate the work of the school and challenge it to be the best it can be for all pupils.

Together with school staff, everyone is committed to creating an inclusive school. Staff appreciate the care from leaders at all levels. Staff, including those at the beginning of their career, benefit from effective training, which supports them to focus on pupils' learning.

The school collaborates effectively with its community. Parents are welcoming of the school's work to prioritise pupils' academic and personal development.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a few subjects, the design of tasks does not sharply focus on the most important learning. As a result, pupils' retention of important knowledge is not as strong as it could be. The school should equip staff with the knowledge and skills to design tasks that support pupils to learn and remember the most important content over time.

• In the early years, the checks of children's understanding lacks rigour in a few areas of learning. This means that staff do not consistently identify misconceptions or gaps in learning. The school should equip all staff with the knowledge and skills to evaluate children's recall of important content and use this information to adapt their teaching.

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