Shakespeare Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud to attend this happy, welcoming school. They appreciate and value the support that they have from the nurturing staff, which helps them to feel safe.

Pupils are confident to share their worries with a trusted adult and know that they will be listened to. Pupils behave well and develop positive relationships with each other.

The school is ambitious for pupils, both personally and academically.

It ensures that pupils experience a broad curriculum that prepares them well for life beyond school. Pupils achieve well in their learning, with some exceptional success in reading and mathematics. They develop confidence and high aspirations to take wit...h them into the next stage of their education.

The school develops pupils' interests and talents exceptionally well. Pupils learn to play musical instruments and take part in many varied sports. They spoke with joy about having sung in a recording studio following success in a choir competition.

Pupils excitedly recalled dancing in the Blackpool Tower Ballroom and spoke with pride about performing in 'Shakey's got talent'. They attend an impressive range of clubs, including computing, cookery, salsa and languages. Key stage 2 pupils look forward to participating in their annual performance at a local theatre, attended by families and many members of the local community.

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

Since the appointment of a new headteacher in September 2022, the school has made many positive changes to strengthen its curriculum. The school has designed a broad, ambitious curriculum and provided staff with guidance to help them to deliver it. Staff are knowledgeable and present new information clearly to pupils.

However, in some subjects, the school has not identified with enough precision the essential component knowledge that pupils should learn at each stage. As a result, there is some variability in the delivery of these subjects, which causes pupils to develop gaps in their knowledge.

The school uses a range of processes to check how well pupils are learning.

Staff use the information gained from these checks to identify where pupils may need support to access, and to progress through, the curriculum. These processes also help staff to identify the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities accurately and to meet these needs effectively.

The school promotes pupils' speech and language development well.

This starts from the early years, where staff model new vocabulary to children and check their understanding of the meaning of words. The school has recently invested in updated resources and renewed training for staff to strengthen the delivery of the phonics programme. It provides pupils with tailored support to close gaps that are identified in their phonics knowledge.

The school fosters a love of reading. Pupils become confident communicators and achieve well in reading.

Pupils take pride in their work.

They are enthusiastic and enjoy their lessons. Children in early years concentrate and show resilience. Staff encourage them to be independent and to explore their environment with confidence.

Pupils interact positively with each other and are courteous towards staff and visitors. They are kind, respectful and caring. Older pupils relish the opportunity to teach younger pupils how to play games.

Pupils' attendance at school is given high priority. Staff engage positively with families to support them in overcoming any barriers to attendance that they may have. These actions are effective in reducing pupils' rates of absence.

The school goes above and beyond to broaden pupils' life experiences. Pupils go on many visits, including to London, where they go to the theatre to see a show and explore the landmarks. They learn about careers through meeting professionals from a range of different jobs.

Pupils are proud to take on a wide range of responsibilities, including as online safety champions and well-being warriors. They spoke about the positive impact that they have had on the school and on the wider world. For example, pupils pick up litter on the beach and share their knowledge about pollution in the ocean with others.

They have designed posters to be displayed locally to promote ways of improving well-being. The school ignites pupils' passion to become active, responsible citizens.

In most subjects, the school has a clear oversight of the strengths of the curriculum and of any changes that may be needed to its design and delivery to further support pupils' learning.

However, in some subjects, the school's oversight of the impact of the curriculum is less developed. This hinders the school from identifying where there are aspects of the curriculum that need further refinement.

Governors understand their responsibilities and carry out their roles effectively.

The school provides staff with support and training. Staff appreciate how the school considers their well-being and workload.

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 has not precisely identified key knowledge that pupils should learn and the order that this should be delivered. Pupils' knowledge in these subjects does not build consistently and securely over time. The school should ensure that the essential knowledge that pupils need to know and remember is clear in each subject.

• In some subjects, the school's oversight of curriculum implementation and impact is still developing. This hinders the school from identifying effectively the areas for development of these subjects, which prevents pupils from achieving highly across the whole curriculum. The school should strengthen this work to ensure ongoing improvements to the quality of education for all.