Salisbury Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Salisbury Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a happy and inclusive school.

Leaders set high expectations for pupils' learning and behaviour. Pupils are focused and engaged in lessons. Behaviour is excellent.

Pupils are enthusiastic about their learning and, as a result, they achieve highly.

This is a welcoming school. New pupils are helped to settle in quickly, and pupils are kind and helpful to one another.

Pupils develop a rich understanding of the diverse cultures and faiths in their community. There are many opportunities to celebrate diversity, including the well-attended 'International Day'.<...br/>
Adults trust pupils with many responsibilities in the school.

Pupils take great pride in the contributions they make. They enjoy taking part in school competitions and have opportunities to compete locally and nationally. Trips and clubs are carefully planned to ensure that pupils are exposed to a rich range of experiences and develop new skills and talents.

Pupils are safe here. They know that adults take great care of them. Pupils look out for one another and see it as their responsibility to report concerns about themselves or others.

This helps to keep the whole community safe. The school works very closely with families to ensure that they have the resources and support they need.

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

The school is ambitious for all pupils' learning, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Work has taken place to ensure that the curriculum is carefully sequenced so that pupils build on their knowledge and understanding over time. For example, in religious education (RE), pupils build a depth of knowledge about 'belonging'. In Nursery, they learn about where they belong, then, over time, progress to learning about the artefacts, practices, and celebrations that symbolise belonging in different religions.

This helps to prepare pupils to address bigger questions in Year 6.

The curriculum has been designed to help pupils make connections in their learning. For example, learning about the characteristics of a good person as part of personal, social, health and economic education is linked to learning about the characteristics of faith leaders and political leaders.

This helps pupils to develop a rich understanding of the world around them. However, for some activities across subjects, teachers do not consistently ensure that pupils have the prior learning needed to access the task. This means that some pupils do not benefit from these activities as much as they could.

Reading is a priority at the school. This is reflected in strong outcomes. Pupils begin to learn phonics straight away in Reception.

Leaders ensure that staff have access to ongoing training and support so that the phonics programme is delivered with consistency. Progress is carefully monitored so that pupils who fall behind are given the support they need to catch up quickly. There is a wide range of resources available for parents and carers so that they can support their child at home.

Books, stories and reading are celebrated around the school and through regular events, including visits from authors.

There is a calm atmosphere around the school and in lessons. Pupils know the routines well and follow them.

New pupils quickly settle in and know what is expected of them. Right from the start, in the early years, there is a strong focus on developing pupils' spoken language. This helps all children, particularly those who are new to English, to make good progress.

On occasion, however, and across year groups, teachers do not check that all pupils have understood the task before they begin.

Staff are skilled in identifying pupils with additional needs. Pupils with SEND are very well supported.

The school supports a small number of pupils with very complex needs. These pupils learn alongside their peers, as well as receiving targeted support in smaller groups.

Pupils of all ages take on roles of responsibility around the school, such as 'computer monitor' and 'rewards monitor'.

These roles help to develop pupils' confidence and leadership skills. Pupils learn about democracy and how they can contribute as citizens. Leaders work hard to ensure that pupils have access to a wide range of ideas, experiences and cultural events.

There are positive relationships between the school and the wider community. Staff are proud to work here, and there is a strong and supportive culture within the school. Staff speak highly of leaders' efforts to take their workload and well-being into consideration.

Leaders are highly reflective, and there is a continuous drive for improvement.

Attendance has improved this academic year. Leaders have taken a robust approach and are seeing a positive impact on rates of persistent absence.

This remains a high priority for leaders.

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 cases, teachers do not check that pupils have understood the task before expecting them to embark on it.

This means that some pupils are not able to engage with the task quickly and lose valuable learning time. The school should ensure that all staff are checking systematically that pupils are clear about what they need to do before attempting a task. ? Sometimes, pupils do not have the prior learning they need in order to engage with their learning.

This means that some pupils are using guesswork and, in some cases, this can perpetuate misconceptions. The school should ensure that activities are designed to build on knowledge that pupils have already learned and develop and extend that knowledge.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in November 2014.

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