Sherwood Park Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Sherwood Park Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy to attend this welcoming and caring school.

Staff greet pupils and parents and carers warmly each morning. Pupils are polite and considerate, and they treat others with kindness and respect. Pupils know and understand the school's values of relationships, resilience, responsibility and respect.

These principles permeate all aspects of school life.

Teachers have high expectations for all pupils' learning and behaviour, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils rise to these expectations.

They achieve we...ll and want to be successful. Pupils show positive attitudes to learning, and they behave well in class and around the school. They work and play well together, and they encourage and support each other.

Pupils are kept safe at school. Bullying is something that happens infrequently. If it does occur, leaders deal with it swiftly.

Pupils comment that they can talk to any adult in the school if they are worried about something. They trust adults to sort things out if problems arise.

Pupils and their parents appreciate the extensive range of clubs on offer, including dance, drama, gardening and many sports.

Pupils actively contribute to the life of the school by becoming, for example, school councillors, eco-warriors or sports leaders.

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

Leaders have designed an ambitious curriculum. In all subjects, they have identified the important knowledge and skills they want pupils to learn from Reception to Year 6.

Pupils practise important knowledge and skills before they move on to new learning. Staff help pupils to make links and build upon new learning. For example, Year 5 pupils were able to explain the impact of air resistance when throwing a ball in physical education.

Teachers deliver the curriculum well. Lessons are interesting and engaging. Teachers have strong subject knowledge, and they explain topics and concepts clearly to pupils.

Children in the early years benefit from well-thought-out approaches to developing speech, vocabulary and an understanding of numbers. Teachers use a wide range of well-chosen teaching strategies to capture pupils' interests and to help them remember more. Teachers make regular checks that pupils are remembering what they are learning.

If teachers find any gaps in pupils' knowledge, these are promptly addressed. Retrieval sessions within lessons help pupils to remember the important knowledge they have been taught. However, sometimes, the curriculum does not provide pupils with enough opportunities for them to deepen and reflect on their learning.

Leaders make reading a top priority. They ensure that staff are trained well to teach pupils to read. Staff deliver the phonics programme effectively.

They check on pupils' phonic knowledge regularly so that they can identify pupils who are finding it difficult to learn to read. Struggling readers get the help they need to catch up quickly. Staff ensure that pupils' reading books are closely matched to the sounds they know.

Pupils read widely and often. Older pupils speak positively about their favourite authors and the books they read. Teachers instil a love of reading by bringing books to life when reading aloud.

Leaders have high aspirations for pupils with SEND. They quickly identify any additional needs that children might have right from the start of Nursery. Leaders provide staff with the information they require to enable them to cater for pupils with SEND in lessons.

This helps to ensure that staff make effective adaptations to learning. Leaders work well with parents and external agencies to seek the support that pupils with SEND need. As a result, pupils with SEND learn well alongside their classmates.

Provision for pupils' personal development is strong. Leaders carefully consider ways to enrich pupils' school experience. Pupils appreciate the wide range of activities available at lunchtime and after school, including golf, fencing and art.

Pupils are taught about different faiths and cultures effectively. As a result, they are curious about difference and have a strong sense of equality and morality. Pupils are prepared well for life in modern Britain.

Governors know the school and its strengths well. This helps them to provide effective support and challenge. Leaders value staff.

They have made staff training and development central to school improvement. Staff appreciate this investment, creating a learning environment where teachers and support staff feel valued. Staff comment that they are proud to work at the school.

They are unanimous in their appreciation of leaders' support for their well-being. Staff say that leaders are mindful of their workload.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders have developed a strong culture of safeguarding. They have put in place a thorough system to record and monitor all safeguarding concerns. Staff at all levels receive appropriate, regular and ongoing safeguarding training.

They are clear about their responsibilities. Staff use the school's processes and procedures well and report any concerns promptly.

Leaders make timely referrals to outside agencies to secure the help that vulnerable pupils need.

They ensure that all relevant checks are completed to confirm that all adults are safe to work in school.

The curriculum teaches pupils how to stay safe, both in and out of school.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Curriculum leaders have developed a carefully sequenced framework for introducing knowledge, skills and vocabulary to pupils in all subjects.

Leaders have begun to check the impact of this framework on teaching and on pupils' learning. The work of leaders in this area needs to continue and develop further to ensure that all pupils have the opportunity to deepen and reflect on their learning so that they make coherent and successful progress, in all subjects, as they move through the school.

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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good on 15 and 16 September 2016.

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