Salhouse CofE Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders are ambitious for what pupils can achieve at this school. However, over a period of time, pupils have not received a high-quality education.

Too many pupils leave this school not academically prepared for their secondary school experience.

Pupils are happy and safe at this school. They value the warm relationships that they have with staff.

Pupils know that they will be supported if they feel worried. They have trusted adults in school who care for them.

Pupils generally get on well together at social times.

In the playground, adults manage pupils' behaviour well. Playtime is a hive of activity. Pupils take part in a range of physica...l activities.

During lesson time, pupils' behaviour is variable. Expectations of how pupils should behave are not always clear. Pupils' learning is sometimes disrupted by the behaviour of others.

The school wants pupils to 'soar on wings like eagles'. Pupils achieve this through the wider opportunities that they get to develop their talents. For instance, through sporting competitions or as part of the school's salsa band.

Older pupils act as house captains and look after younger pupils well in their role as senior students.

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

School leaders are making positive changes at this school. They are working with urgency to raise expectations of pupils' learning and behaviour.

However, there is more work to do to ensure a strong education for pupils beyond the early years.

Children make an excellent start in the Nursery. The curriculum is well established.

It combines children's interests with the knowledge that they need to develop. Well-trained adults interact positively with children and extend their learning through meaningful conversations. This creates a positive environment for learning.

In the Reception class, children continue to prosper. They apply what they have learned and make progress through the curriculum. As a result, children achieve well in the early years and are suitably prepared for their next stage.

The school has prioritised early reading. Staff typically deliver the school's phonics programme effectively. Adults check pupils' progress as they move through the programme to ensure that pupils are keeping up.

A positive reading culture is developing across the school. Pupils read books which match the sounds that they have learned. They talk positively about their favourite authors and the books they like to read.

Most pupils become fluent and confident readers.

The school has recently redesigned much of its curriculum. This has increased the ambition of what pupils should learn each year.

The school has set out how pupils will build on what they have learned previously in a carefully organised way. However, as much of the curriculum is new, the school has not had the time it needs to ensure that staff deliver the curriculum as intended. This means that there is variability in the way lessons are delivered.

In some lessons, pupils do not learn as well as they should. As a result, they develop gaps in their knowledge.

The school has established effective systems to identify any pupils who may have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

However, staff do not always adapt their teaching for these pupils as well as they could. This means that, in line with other pupils, expectations for pupils with SEND are not high enough. Pupils with SEND do not achieve as well as they could.

The school is revising its approach to managing poor behaviour. Pupils know the new school rules and understand the importance of behaving well. However, at times, these rules are not enforced consistently.

On some occasions, negative behaviours are not addressed effectively by adults. When this happens, learning in class is interrupted. The school is in the process of training staff to manage behaviour in an agreed way.

The provision for pupils' personal development is a strength of the school. Pupils' knowledge of different faiths is strong. They are respectful of different cultures and beliefs.

Pupils know the school's values. These help them to be polite and articulate when they speak to adults. Pupils know how to remain safe, including online.

This supports pupils to be well prepared for life in modern Britain.

Until recently, governors did not rigorously hold leaders to account for the underperformance at this school. They have now devised a more thorough approach to quality assurance.

This work is in its infancy. It has not yet had a positive impact on the quality of education that pupils experience at the school.

Staff welcome the additional training and support that they now receive.

They recognise the need to improve and have faith in school leaders to be mindful of their well-being in making the necessary changes.

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 does not set high enough expectations for what pupils can do and achieve.

This means that some pupils, including pupils with SEND, are not encouraged to achieve as well as they could. As a result, pupils do not progress through the curriculum as well as they should. The school should raise its expectations of all pupils across the curriculum.

• At times, the new curriculum is not delivered in the most effective way. This means that some lessons do not support pupils effectively to learn the most important knowledge. The school should ensure that the way the curriculum is taught supports pupils to learn and remember what is intended.

• Until recently, governors have not monitored or held leaders to account with enough rigour or consistency. This means that weaknesses in the quality of education have not been challenged or addressed with enough urgency. Governors should strengthen the way that they hold leaders to account, so that pupils are supported to achieve more highly.

• The school has not fully trained staff to manage pupils' behaviour in an effective way. This means that learning in class is sometimes disrupted. The school should implement its new approach to managing behaviour to enable learning to proceed without interruption.