Sebert Wood Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a popular, happy and successful school, where relationships are warm and friendly. Adults have high aspirations for pupils, and pupils work hard to meet these.

Parents value the care the school provides for their children. Pupils access support from the pastoral team, which provides valuable help for pupils who need support to manage their feelings and emotions. Pupils who attend the breakfast club or after-school childcare enjoy the activities staff provide.

Pupils are respectful and kind to one another. They play and socialise well together. They treat one another with kindness.

Pupils talk positively about the school's values of 'respect, resilienc...e, and readiness'. They understand the importance of these in building an effective school community. Pupils move around the school in a calm and orderly manner.

They are keen to get into lessons and learn. Pupils say they feel safe and secure at school. They know that adults will always act quickly if they are worried about anything.

Pupils take up opportunities to fulfil responsibilities. They serve as librarians, well-being champions or eco-leaders. Pupils also enjoy and benefit from a range of clubs, including the yoga and mindfulness club, guitar, dance and a range of sports.

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

The school has planned a curriculum that clearly outlines the key knowledge that pupils must know and understand. Staff are knowledgeable and present information clearly in lessons. Teachers are well trained to identify pupils who need extra help.

Teachers adapt their teaching so that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are able to access the same learning as their peers. However, the school does not do enough to keep parents of pupils with SEND fully updated about the support pupils are receiving.

The school's curriculum includes opportunities for local studies, such as visits to Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse and Hedingham Castle.

This brings learning to life and helps pupils make links across different subjects. Nevertheless, the school has not been rigorous enough in checking that the curriculum is implemented consistently well in every subject.

Teachers carefully check pupils' understanding in lessons, providing timely support for pupils who struggle to understand certain content.

The school has introduced a system to check that pupils have understood and remembered their learning over time. However, in some subjects, this is new and not fully developed. This means that staff do not always have a complete picture of how much information pupils have retained.

As a result, there are gaps in how effectively some pupils have remembered key knowledge in some subjects.

Starting in the early years, staff are effective in teaching what pupils need to know to be able to read fluently. Staff are quick to identify and provide support for any pupils who need extra help with reading.

This means that, by the end of key stage 1, the vast majority of pupils read fluently and confidently. Pupils enjoy reading. They love visiting their school library to read quietly and choose new books.

The school's embedded routines and ethos ensure that pupils are attentive in class and motivated to do their best. Pupils' behaviour at breaktimes and lunchtime contribute to the school's positive and supportive culture.

Children in Nursery and Reception get off to a good start.

Children learn about the routines that make for successful school life, and staff demonstrate these expectations and put systems in place from the very beginning. Children form friendships and play happily together. They enjoy the learning activities that staff provide for them.

Adults ensure that children's talking, listening and explaining are prioritised. One child, arranging the toy dinosaurs, was confidently telling her friends, 'I am sorting them into small, middle-sized and large.'

The school has ensured that there are plenty of opportunities for pupils to develop personally.

Staff teach pupils the importance of relationships and how to keep themselves healthy and safe. Assemblies offer pupils the chance to think about the importance of respect, kindness and making the right choices. Pupils embrace these and understand the impact their own conduct has on others.

Governors have a secure understanding of the school and provide high-quality advice and support. This has supported the school to develop and flourish.

Staff feel well supported by leaders to manage their workload.

Staff say that leaders positively promote their well-being at work.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Procedures for monitoring the implementation of the curriculum, including using assessment information, are not fully developed.

This means that there are some inconsistencies in how thoroughly and effectively the curriculum is taught in some subjects. The school should give a high priority to improving arrangements for evaluating the quality of the delivery of the curriculum. ? The school has not forged strong partnerships with parents of pupils with SEND.

As a result, some parents do not feel they are given enough information about support for their child. Consequently, parents are not informed well enough to know how to support pupils at home. The school needs to ensure that it communicates consistently well the effective work it does with all parents of pupils with SEND, including keeping them up to date with information about the help their child is receiving.