St Berteline’s CofE Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thrive and learn happily in this school. They get on well with school staff and with each other.

Children in the early years settle in quickly. Older pupils look forward to breaktimes, when they can play games or just chat quietly to their classmates. They know that there is always someone to talk to if ever they are worried.

The school expects pupils to work hard and to achieve well. Pupils listen attentively in lessons and they complete their work with care. They know that staff will help them if there is anything that they do not understand.

Pupils typically rise to the school's high expectations and achieve well. This includes pupils who have speci...al educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

In the early years, children learn to follow simple rules such as treating toys with care.

Older pupils move around school quietly and sensibly. The school is a calm and orderly place.

Pupils enjoy a range of clubs, such as choir, football and a club for making friendship bracelets.

Pupils learn to consider the needs of others through a range of fund-raising activities. Through the curriculum, they learn how to take care of their physical and mental health.

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

Pupils are provided with a curriculum that is broad and exciting.

This curriculum reflects the school's ambition for pupils to achieve well, including those with SEND.

The school has carefully considered the key information that it wants pupils to learn. This knowledge has been carefully organised into smaller, well-ordered steps from the early years to Year 6.

This helps to ensure that pupils build new knowledge on firm foundations, in readiness for the next stage in their learning.

In lessons, staff are adept at recognising any misconceptions that pupils may have. They provide swift and effective support to address these so that pupils' learning remains secure.

The school quickly identifies any pupils who may have SEND. Where necessary, adaptations are made to ensure that these pupils are able to learn the curriculum successfully. The school works effectively with parents and carers and professionals to ensure that these pupils receive any additional support that they need.

As a result, pupils with SEND produce work of equal standard and secure an equivalent understanding of the curriculum as their peers.

In the majority of subjects, the school has in place suitable systems for checking pupils' learning. This means that the school clearly understands what pupils know.

However, in a few subjects, this work is less developed. Consequently, this prevents the school from making any refinements to the curriculum to address any omissions in pupils' learning.Reading is at the heart of the curriculum.

Children begin learning the phonics programme as soon as they join the Reception class. They steadily build their knowledge of a wide range of letters and sounds. This continues with more complex groups of letters and sounds in Year 1.

Staff carefully ensure that reading books contain only those letters and sounds that pupils know, so that pupils, including those with SEND, learn to read with confidence and accuracy.

Older pupils read with increasing fluency and understanding. These strong reading skills support pupils' learning in other subjects as well as in English.

Pupils of all ages learn to love reading and they typically achieve well, including pupils with SEND.

Pupils' responsible attitudes make an important contribution to their learning. For example, in lessons, pupils do not disturb others by chatting too much.

The vast majority of pupils attend school regularly. This helps to ensure that they benefit from the school's strong curriculum.

The school ensures that pupils learn, in ways appropriate to their age, about difference and diversity.

For example, pupils learn about a range of world faiths and cultures. They learn about different family structures and about disability. The school organises a range of trips, visits and residential stays to enrich pupils' personal development.

Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe when they use the internet. These experiences help to prepare pupils for future life.

Governors carry out a range of activities to check that the school continues to run effectively.

Governors and the school take appropriate account of the impact on staff's workload when making decisions. Staff appreciate this concern for their well-being. The majority of parents are supportive of the school.

However, a small but significant minority of parents are less positive about aspects of the school's work, such as its communication of information, or its response to any concerns that they raise.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a small number of subjects, the school's work to understand the impact of the curriculum on pupils' knowledge is at an early stage.

This limits the school's ability to make further refinements to the curriculum when necessary. The school should ensure that, in all subjects, there is a clear overview of the impact of the curriculum on pupils' learning. ? Some parents' opinions of the school are mixed.

These parents feel that the school does not communicate key information or respond to their concerns as effectively as it should. From time to time, these parents are not as supportive of the school as they could be. The school should consider ways to engage more effectively with parents so that communication is improved.