Penny Bridge CofE School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Penny Bridge CofE Primary School sits at the heart of its local and wider community. Pupils are happy and proud to attend this school.

The school expects pupils to achieve well, and they do. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), leave the school well prepared for the next stage in their education.

Pupils behave well.

During lessons, they listen to their teachers and follow instructions carefully. This includes children in the Reception class who follow well-established routines. Across school, pupils are polite and courteous.

Pupils are active and relish being outdoors. They are keen to complete their dail...y mile around the school grounds before lessons begin. Pupils benefit from an array of clubs such as biking, rugby, outdoor club and cricket.

They enjoy taking part in sporting competitions and are proud to represent the school. Pupils are also inspired to develop a love of the arts. For example, they can join the school choir and learn to play piano, brass, woodwind or stringed instruments.

The school helps pupils to impact positively on the local area. For example, school council members help to keep the village tidy and organise litter picks. Older pupils readily bake cakes and serve tea at the local community cafe.

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

The school places a high priority on the teaching of early reading. This begins as soon as children start in the Reception class. Children are encouraged to join in with stories that they know.

They enjoy talking about how these relate to their own experiences. Across the early years and key stage 1, well-trained staff deliver the phonics programme effectively. Pupils quickly learn the sounds that they need in order to read the books that they take home.

Any pupils who struggle to learn their sounds are well supported to quickly catch up with their peers.

Pupils of all ages enjoy reading. They know that reading is important and helps them to learn in other subjects too.

Older pupils spoke with confidence about the books and authors that they enjoy.

The school has an ambitious curriculum. The important knowledge that pupils should learn has been clearly identified in most subjects.

Staff benefit from regular training. They appreciate opportunities to collaborate with colleagues from other schools, including those in the trust. This gives them the secure subject knowledge that they need to design activities which help pupils to remember their learning and to achieve well.

The school identifies the additional needs of pupils with SEND swiftly. Staff adapt activities to enable pupils with SEND to learn successfully alongside their friends.

The school has well-developed approaches to assessment in most subjects.

Teachers check how well pupils are learning in lessons. This means that errors and misconceptions are addressed as they arise. However, in some subjects, the school does not use assessment information to gain a secure understanding of pupils' learning over time.

This hampers its ability to refine these subject curriculums so that pupils can achieve the best possible outcomes.

In a small number of subjects, the curriculum is new. The school has not considered the gaps that some pupils have in their knowledge as a result of weaknesses in previous curriculums.

This means that, on occasion, some pupils are introduced to new concepts which do not build upon secure prior knowledge. As a result, pupils sometimes find it harder to learn new information or achieve as well as they could in these subjects.

The school places a very high priority on pupils' personal development.

Pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, benefit from the extensive opportunities on offer in the local area and further afield. For example, pupils develop their mapping skills outdoors and put these to good use by taking part in orienteering. They relish learning to sail, kayak and paddleboard.

Pupils especially enjoy the opportunities that residential visits offer them. For instance, older pupils recently visited London, comparing its significant landmarks to that of their local community.

Pupils develop their skills through a range of leadership roles.

These include acting as school council members, sports leaders and prefects. This enables pupils to contribute to the smooth running of the school. Pupils develop a strong sense of right and wrong and do not tolerate injustice.

They treat one another with respect and said that everyone is welcome at their school. Pupils' positive conduct helps to make the school a productive learning environment.

The school prioritises pupils' attendance.

For the very small number of pupils who need support, the school takes effective action to improve their attendance. As a result, most pupils attend well.

Governors and trustees know the school well.

They utilise their broad skill set and training to provide appropriate support and challenge. Governors are especially mindful of the importance of staff workload. They check in on staff and offer regular practical support with additional tasks.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, the school does not gain a deep enough overview of what pupils know and understand over time. This limits its ability to revise and update the curriculum to ensure that pupils achieve as well as they could.

The school should ensure that the information from teachers' checks on pupils' learning are used more productively to identify what is going well and where curriculum improvements are needed. ? In a small number of subjects, some pupils have gaps in important knowledge due to weaknesses in previous curriculums. These gaps have not been identified.

This means that, on occasion, pupils are introduced to new learning without their prior knowledge being secure. This hinders them from learning all that they could. The school should ensure that gaps in learning are identified so that pupils build new knowledge and skills securely.

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