Sigglesthorne Church of England Primary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations for every child. Christian values are central to the life of the school. All the pupils learn why community, truth and perseverance are important.

Pupils enjoy their time in school. They are proud to be part of the Sigglesthorne team.

Pupils feel safe and feel valued as individuals.

The school creates strong partnerships with families. Parents say staff know their children well and take good care of them.Pupils understand the behaviour policy.

Learning is rarely interrupted by poor behaviour. However, some pupils sometimes need reminders to keep them on the right track. Pupils say, 'We are not perfect, but we want to ...get better and better.'

Bullying is very rare. Pupils are confident that if they have a worry an adult will be on hand to support them. They explained how they use the Colin Caterpillar chart to show their feelings.

The school engages well with the local community. Pupils were able to explain why they lead the village Remembrance service each year. Adults help pupils to consider the wider world.

The school has a link with a school in Sierra Leone. This helps pupils to have a better understanding of equality.

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

Leaders have concentrated on developing the curriculum for English, mathematics and science.

Plans show how work is sequenced. They show how pupils will build on their learning, year on year. As a result, standards in these subjects have rapidly improved.

Leaders have also made sure that detailed plans are in place for most other subjects. Despite this, the curriculum overall is still not well enough planned and sequenced for every year group. However, it is clear from leaders' actions that they are in the process of bringing this about.

Most children start school with knowledge and skills which are typical for their age. They are warmly welcomed into school and quickly settle into routines. They develop good relationships with the caring staff.

They make friends with the other children and learn to share and take turns. The early years curriculum is well designed. It is carefully adapted to meet the needs and interests of the children.

Staff are very skilled in helping children to learn through their play.

Leaders have given reading high priority across the school. Pupils get off to a flying start in the early years.

They quickly learn the names of letters and the sounds that they make. They are then able to put these sounds together to read and write words. Most pupils become fluent readers in early key stage 1.

Any that struggle get the help they need to catch up. Pupils are then able to use their reading skills to learn in other subjects. Most pupils see reading as an enjoyable thing to do.

Staff are skilled in working with mixed year groups. For example, in mathematics they are able to make sure lessons cover the things each year group needs to learn. However, there are times when work is too easy for some pupils.

This is stopping them from achieving as much as they could.

Pupils want to come to school and want to learn. There are occasions when pupils daydream.

However, this is rare and does not disturb the learning of others. Pupils enjoy the opportunities they have to choose their own learning. They cooperate well together and support each other.

They are genuinely pleased when other pupils get praise for doing something well.

Work on personal development is a strength of the school. Pupils are knowledgeable about different lifestyles, religions and cultures.

They show great interest in looking at similarities and differences. They are keen to celebrate uniqueness. Pupils have lots of opportunities to take on additional responsibilities.

These include acting as sports leaders, school council representatives and worship leaders. The meet and greet committee are very effective ambassadors for their school.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported.

Adults give them effective support to ensure that they make good progress. Whenever possible, they have resources to allow them to work independently.

Leadership of the school is good.

Staff want the best for the pupils in their care. They look for ways to improve their effectiveness. Leaders are supportive.

They try to provide staff with the time and training to carry out their jobs well. The size of the school means that staff have to take on many different roles. Curriculum leaders do not always have the skills or time to improve teaching in the subjects they lead.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff understand their responsibilities. They know the school's procedures well and follow them.

Record-keeping is clear. It shows that leaders follow up all concerns straight away. Leaders have thought about possible local issues when planning training for staff.

For example, they recently made sure all staff completed training on county lines. Pupils have an age-appropriate understanding of how to stay safe in different situations. One pupil explained that there are times when he might hide the logo on his school uniform.

This is because it may lead to someone working out where he lives.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

The school's curriculum is not yet sufficiently coherently planned and sequenced in some foundation subjects. However, it is clear from the actions that leaders have already taken to plan the curriculum and train staff in how to deliver it that they are in the process of bringing this about.

Current outline plans need to be expanded upon so that they give more detail and make the sequence of learning clear. They need to show teachers what to teach and when to teach it. Plans for all subjects need to ensure that pupils build knowledge and skills sequentially, year on year.

. The role of the subject leader in some subjects is not fully developed. All subject leaders need to have opportunities to develop their subject knowledge and to keep up to date with new developments.

They need to have regular opportunities to identify strengths and weaknesses in their subjects. They then need to use this knowledge to offer appropriate challenge and support to their colleagues so that academic standards continue to rise. This will be made easier if leaders carry out their plans to share subject leadership across two schools within the trust.

. Pupils are not always challenged well enough. Sometimes they spend too much time on simple tasks before they are moved on to more demanding ones.

Leaders should support teachers to use information about what pupils already know and can do to plan activities. They should ensure that the curriculum provides opportunities for pupils to work on challenging tasks, so they are able to learn more. This will help to make sure that even more pupils reach the high standards they are capable of.