Slaithwaite Church of England Voluntary Controlled Junior and Infant School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Slaithwaite Church of England Voluntary Controlled Junior and Infant School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils, staff and families are proud to be part of the Slaithwaite team. Pupils enjoy learning here. The school has done much in a short space of time to improve the curriculum.

It is ambitious to continue this journey.

The school's values, identified as the '5 Rs', are well understood. Promoting 'Respect, Responsibility, Resilience, Reflection and Relationships' is central to all that the school teaches.

These values are threaded through the curriculum teaching and modelled by all staff. Pupils take on roles of responsi...bility, such as being well-being warriors or school councillors to support others or work with the community. Pupils are trained in these roles.

They take them seriously. They use them to help to improve school experiences for other pupils and have addressed issues such as parking around the school site.

Pupils have a mature understanding of how to keep themselves safe, both when online and in the local community.

They say that they feel safe in the school. If they have worries, they talk to the school staff. They are confident that any issues will be quickly dealt with.

Behaviour is excellent. Pupils are polite and caring. If issues arise, they reflect on them and identify how they could behave differently in the future.

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

The school has recently improved the curriculum in all subjects. It has ensured that subjects are planned to support learning from early years through to Year 6. Key knowledge has been identified to ensure national curriculum expectations are reached.

Leaders are now determined to refine this further. This is needed as sometimes teachers are not crystal clear about what they are teaching. In some lessons, teachers' expectations are not always high enough.

Some pupils are not sufficiently challenged.Teachers need more support to ensure that learning meets the needs of all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

The school is passionate about reading.

Pupils are encouraged to read widely and often. High-quality texts are used to support learning. These interest and inspire pupils.'

Book and biscuit' events are held monthly. These are used for reading ambassadors to share books with younger children or recommend books to key stage 2 pupils. Parents and carers are welcomed into school to read to, and with, pupils.

Pupils talk with confidence about authors and illustrators. They know it is important to read in order to learn.

The school's chosen phonics programme is used well to support children to start reading from the earliest days in school.

Key stage 1 staff use consistent approaches, language and routines. They are skilful at teaching pupils to hear sounds and recognise letters in words. Books are matched well to pupils' abilities.

These are used effectively to support pupils to practise the sounds that they have learned. Pupils who are finding reading more difficult are identified and given extra support. However, expectations are not always high enough for these pupils to catch up with their peers.

In early years, staff are kind and caring. They encourage children to explore their learning in a welcoming and supportive environment. Children play well together and enjoy the activities that leaders plan for them.

Adjustments are made to support pupils' individual needs. However, at times, the organisation of learning prevents some children from concentrating.

Pupils with SEND are well supported.

Bespoke timetables are used to ensure that pupils with the most complex needs are supported to learn about important life skills, such as crossing the road or cooking. However, too often, these pupils are outside the classroom. Expectations are sometimes not high enough for these pupils to learn alongside their peers.

The school's focus on personal development is extremely strong. Pupils have an impressive understanding of a wide range of important factors, which prepares them well for life in modern-day Britain. For example, they talk with confidence about equality, why it is important to respect others, and different faiths and religions.

Pupils can apply for many different roles, such as those of school councillors or play leaders. Pupils identify national and local charities, then plan how they will raise money to support them. Enrichment activities at the school are many and varied.

High numbers of pupils enjoy the chances they are given to explore their talents and interests. They take part in drama and sporting activities and can attend many different clubs.

The school emphasises the importance of pupils attending school regularly.

In the words of one parent, 'My child skips to school happily every day.' Governors recognise the importance of this. They receive regular reports about attendance and achievement.

New systems are being introduced to enable governors to quality assure the improvements the school continues to make.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The school has a positive safeguarding culture.

Staff know pupils very well. They are clear about systems recently introduced to report any concerns. However, records show that some actions taken to support pupils are not recorded robustly enough.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a small number of subjects, the curriculum does not clearly identify the small steps in learning that pupils need to achieve to learn progressively. This means that, in some lessons, learning is not broken down sufficiently to challenge or support pupils. Teachers do not always check whether pupils are remembering learning, and at times do not have high enough expectations for pupils' learning.

The school should ensure that teachers can check pupils' knowledge of the curriculum accurately and use this information to plan subsequent learning. ? While all pupils with SEND access learning, often they do not work in lessons alongside their peers. This means that some pupils do not have sufficient opportunity to develop their social skills alongside their learning.

The school should ensure that pupils with SEND receive the same opportunities as other pupils to develop independence with learning and achieve the best possible outcomes. ? Some aspects of record-keeping are not as robust as they should be. This means that some information linked to safeguarding or behaviour may not be recorded.

While this does not put any pupils at risk of harm, there is the potential for leaders to miss recording crucial information about pupils' experiences. Leaders should ensure that all records are comprehensive.

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 second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in December 2013.