Shotley Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils do their best to showcase the 'Shotley Bs' in school: to be responsible and safe, be ready, be curious and be kind.

When starting school, children in early years get taken under the wing of a 'Year 6 angel'. This helps settle children into school routines. Each Year 6 angel sits with their partnered child during assembly.

They show them how to sit and listen and how to talk to a partner about the questions staff ask. Pupils have other caring duties too. They tend to the hens and help to look after the therapy dog.

Tasks such as these foster kindness and responsibility.

Pupils recognise the improvements leaders have made to behaviour. They know... that it keeps getting better.

They are keen to work together to collect house points for their team. Pupils understand the difference between bullying and pupils having a falling-out. They speak about the assemblies and lessons when staff explain this to them.

If either occurs, pupils know how to seek support from the peer mentors or trusted members of staff. Having staff they can turn to means that pupils are kept safe.

Pupils typically meet staff's high expectations, listening to staff and trying hard to complete activities and remembering much of what they learn.

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

Leaders and staff have worked with determination to improve the school. Frequent staff changes have made some of this tricky in the past. Now, staffing has stabilised.

This stability has allowed leaders and staff to work productively together. There is clear communication between trustees and local governors. They check to ensure that school leaders' improvement actions make a difference.

The school is in a remote location. In recognition of this, the trust arranges networking opportunities. Leaders and staff share good practice, learning from and with colleagues from other schools.

This has supported curriculum development. Leaders have clearly set out what pupils from early years to Year 6 will learn in all subjects.

Leaders recently introduced a new phonics programme.

They ensured that staff were trained ahead of its introduction. They used initial checks to identify pupils' starting points so they could match learning to pupils' needs. Subsequently, pupils typically keep up with the pace of the programme.

Children in Reception Year can blend the sounds that letters represent to read whole words with increasing accuracy. Staff provide helpful hints, such as to 'pinch and flip,' which helps children correct their pen grip to form letters more clearly.

The way in which staff carry out assessments at the end of lessons or a sequence of lessons usually works well.

For example, teachers quiz pupils. They use pupils' answers to determine what they have understood. This helps to inform teaching efficiently.

It shows in pupils typically having a sound recall of what leaders want them to know.

Still, there are instances where teachers do not spot those pupils who struggle with their work during lessons. It means that some difficulties, such as some pupils' reading being laboured or some pupils lacking an understanding of words they should know, take longer to resolve than they should.

Leaders have put in place appropriate systems for identifying and supporting pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Teachers refer to helpful documents from trust leaders. These contain clear strategies to meet pupils' needs.

Teachers also receive guidance in how to set specific, measurable targets. Leaders' taking of assemblies allows time for staff to check on the impact of catch-up support. This means that teachers can make swift changes, when needed, to ensure that pupils get the right help.

The programme for personal development is suitably wide-ranging. Through computing lessons, pupils learn how to behave when online, helping them to identify and report cyber-bullying. The 'global awareness' assemblies introduce pupils to people and places they may not otherwise come across.

This expands their knowledge of the world. Pupils enjoy the extracurricular activities, including clubs and inter-school sports competitions. Pupils like the way that competing against other schools allows them to socialise with unfamiliar peers of their own age.

In the past, there were pupils who displayed difficult behaviour. Leaders clarified the approach to supporting pupils' behaviour, including a reward system that recognises personal and whole-class achievement. The majority of pupils now behave well.

Where they do not, leaders deal with this effectively.

There are pupils who do not attend school as often as they should. Sometimes, too much time can pass before leaders take action to address some pupils' low attendance.

When this happens, these pupils have gaps in their knowledge. They also find it hard to settle back into the school's routines. Leaders' plans to resolve this have yet to take effect.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Trustees commission safeguarding audits. These support local governors in verifying that systems are working well, including in checking that staff and volunteers receive proper pre-employment checks.

Leaders keep their own and staff's training up to date. This includes regularly discussing scenarios to ensure that all remain vigilant to pupils at risk of harm. Staff readily report any concerns.

Leaders take appropriate actions in response, including liaising with external agencies to keep pupils safe.The 'let's talk' assemblies allow leaders to address topical concerns with pupils. These, along with the lunchtime well-being club, allow pupils to confide in a trusted adult when they have a concern.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some teachers are slow to spot and support pupils who are not keeping up with their learning. This hinders some pupils' achievement. Leaders should ensure that teachers use their checks on what pupils know and can do to inform their teaching efficiently in order to maximise pupils' achievement.

• Leaders have not tackled the persistent absence of some pupils effectively. As a result, these pupils are routinely missing out on learning, which leads to gaps in their knowledge and difficulty in understanding the school's routines. Leaders should implement a more rigorous approach to identifying and resolving issues with pupils' attendance, including ensuring that these pupils quickly catch up on missed learning.

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