Pollington-Balne Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud to attend this school and are keen to explain how everybody is kind. Most pupils say they enjoy school. Bullying is rare, and pupils are confident that adults deal with this effectively when it does happen.

Pupils are safe.

Leaders have high expectations for all pupils. However, pupils' achievements do not match the school's intentions.

Pupils do not achieve as well as they should.

The school is emerging from a prolonged period of turbulence. There have been a significant number of changes to staffing.

This has affected the quality of education for pupils. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabiliti...es (SEND). The school is now more settled than it has been in the recent past and there are signs that the school is improving.

Leaders are making changes to how pupils' behaviour is managed. Expectations of behaviour are carefully taught. Behaviour is improving, and pupils and staff welcome the new approach.

School is calm and orderly.

A significant minority of parents are unhappy with the school. For example, they say that their concerns around their children's support for additional needs are not addressed effectively and that they are not kept informed of important changes.

Leaders recognise that they need to take swift and positive action to strengthen their engagement and communication with parents.

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

The school developed a broad and sequenced curriculum following the pandemic. Leaders have begun to refine this further to reflect their renewed higher ambition for pupils.

The implementation of this work has been slow, however, due to the significant staffing changes. Subject leaders have not had the opportunity to monitor and develop their subject effectively. This means that the quality of teaching and assessment is variable across the school.

Activities in lessons do not always match the learning intention. Pupils with SEND do not consistently receive the support they need to achieve well. The school acknowledges that this needs to improve and additional staff, including a leader for SEND, have been appointed in recent weeks.

The mathematics curriculum adopted by the school is appropriately designed and sequenced. Children enjoy mathematics. However, basic mathematical fluency, including multiplication facts, is not taught systematically.

This means that opportunities to secure pupils' knowledge are missed. Pupils cannot quickly and accurately apply what they know to support them with more challenging mathematics work, such as problem-solving. Pupils, including the most able pupils, do not achieve well enough in national assessments in mathematics.

The school prioritises the teaching of reading. Pupils read widely and often. Pupils particularly enjoy story time.

The school has a suitable phonics programme in place.Pupils practise their reading using books that closely match the sounds that they have learned. However, pupils who struggle to keep up in reading do not consistently receive the extra help they need.

Additional staff have been recently appointed to address this.

Provision for children in the early years is a strength. The development of children's language and communication is a high priority.

Mathematics is well planned and taught. Children enjoy using the indoor and outdoor spaces. The learning environment is calm and purposeful.

Children learn the routines and expectations well. They happily play and learn together. They persevere with tasks and show sustained concentration.

They become curious and independent learners.

Leaders have used recognised research and expertise to inform the school's new approach to managing behaviour. The school has clear aims to meet the needs of all pupils, including those with additional needs.

This is having a positive impact. Pupils say that behaviour has improved in class and around school. This approach to behaviour is not embedded consistently across the whole school and has not been fully shared with parents.

There is a clear and effective strategy in place to support good attendance and punctuality. Attendance at the time of the inspection was above the national average.

The school prioritises pupils' personal development.

The Christian ethos underpins the values upheld by the school. Pupils learn about compassion, respect and forgiveness through the curriculum and assemblies. They understand how everyone may be different, but still equal.

Pupils learn about online safety. They can confidently tell others how to keep themselves safe in their local community. For example, pupils learn about dangers associated with roads, canals and railways.

Pupils have opportunities to go on visits, including a residential trip for older pupils. They can attend some clubs, such as forest school, and school events such as World Book Day. Pupils support younger pupils at lunchtime and run a weekly tuck shop.

Leaders at all levels recognise the importance of the well-being and workload of staff. Staff feel well supported. Governors ensure the school meets its statutory duties, for example around safeguarding and equality.

Governors support and challenge the school and are aware of the work needed to improve the quality of education for pupils. They also recognise there is much work to do to rebuild some parents' confidence in the school. They are committed to doing this.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The school's approach to supporting the weakest readers to be able to read with fluency is not consistently implemented. These pupils do not catch up as quickly as they could.

The school should ensure that sustained support, in line with the school's chosen phonics approach, is consistently provided for these pupils. ? The mathematics curriculum does not provide a systematic approach to the teaching of mathematical fluency. Pupils do not have a secure recall of number facts and operations, including multiplication tables.

This means that they cannot draw on this knowledge to help them solve more challenging mathematical problems. The school should ensure that children are taught mathematical fluency effectively. ? Across the wider curriculum, leaders have not had sufficient opportunity to develop, monitor and evaluate the curriculum for their subject.

There are inconsistencies in teaching and activities are not always well matched to pupils' learning needs. The school should ensure that all curriculum plans are carefully sequenced and that subject leaders have the opportunity to monitor learning to ensure that pupils learn effectively and that any misconceptions or gaps in knowledge are quickly addressed. ? The support for pupils with SEND is variable.

Interventions are not consistently implemented. Pupils with SEND do not achieve as well as they should. The school needs to ensure that all support for pupils with SEND accurately meets their specific needs, and that staff have the training and expertise to support pupils consistently in and out of class.

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