Standish Lower Ground St Anne’s CofE Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and positive about being part of this school. They settle in well when they start in the early years. Pupils told inspectors that they enjoy learning new things.

They understand that acquiring knowledge and skills will help them in their future lives. Pupils appreciate seeing their teachers and their friends each day.

The school has recently raised its expectations for what pupils can and should achieve, including for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Most pupils achieve well across a range of subjects. They try hard and value recognition for their positive attitudes.

Pupils behave well during lessons a...nd at social times.

Classrooms are usually calm and purposeful learning environments. Pupils know why it is important to follow the school's rules, which include being responsible and respectful. They have positive attitudes towards the differences that exist between themselves and others.

The school provides pupils with new experiences. Pupils spoke enthusiastically about visits to activity centres, the theatre and to see an orchestra, and about a residential trip. Visitors to the school enrich pupils' understanding of different people and their professions, such as an artist and a disabled athlete.

Pupils learn to play musical instruments and can join the school's choir. They attend clubs in sports, arts and crafts.

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

The school has improved its quality of education during recent times.

It has ensured that the curriculum is broad and balanced. It also determines the knowledge that pupils should learn and the order that this should happen. This begins in the early years, where children make a positive start to their education.

Teachers have benefited from support and training to further develop their subject knowledge. In the main, most staff help pupils to progress successfully through the school's curriculum. Nonetheless, the school has not ensured that staff deliver the curriculum consistently well.

For example, some staff's explanations during lessons are not clear enough to enable pupils to develop a secure understanding of new concepts. Occasionally, some activity choices are not adapted well enough to meet some pupils' needs. This limits some pupils in learning the intended curriculum as well as they could.

Pupils can talk with confidence about their learning and how it connects to what they already know. However, the school has not checked routinely enough on how well pupils develop their written and spoken communication skills. As a result, some of the mistakes that pupils make in their writing and in their speech go unchecked and unaddressed.

The school identifies pupils with SEND quickly and accurately. Staff work well with external professionals and with parents and carers to cater for their additional needs. For the most part, staff support pupils with SEND to learn well alongside their classmates.

The school has prioritised reading. It has selected high-quality texts that link to topics across the curriculum. Teachers read to pupils each day from a variety of texts.

Pupils enjoy reading to their peers and acting as librarians. They relish receiving books as prizes.

Children begin to learn phonics as soon as they start in the Reception Year.

The school trains staff to deliver the phonics programme with fidelity. Pupils practise their reading skills using books that match their current phonics knowledge. Pupils who struggle with reading receive support that is typically effective.

This helps most pupils to develop into confident readers in readiness for key stage 2.

Pupils are polite and well mannered. In the early years, children learn to play well and to take turns with others.

Pupils develop positive attitudes towards their learning. Most pupils attend school well. The school is working effectively to support some families of pupils who are persistently absent or late to school.

The school has strengthened how it supports pupils' personal development. Pupils learn about responsibility by taking on various leadership roles, including as school councillors, prayer and play leaders, prefects, members of a 'roots and shoots' club and 'buddies' to their younger peers. Pupils raise money for charities.

They were proud to represent the school recently during a local service to mark Remembrance Day.

In the past, the governing body was not fully effective in holding the school to account for the quality of education that it provides. This is an improving picture under new governance and leadership arrangements.

Staff enjoy working at the school. They appreciate the support that they receive, which helps them to carry out their roles well.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The school has not made sure that staff implement subject curriculums consistently well. This hinders how well some pupils, including those with SEND, learn the intended curriculum. The school should better support staff in delivering the curriculum well, so that pupils learn as well as they could.

• The school has not placed enough emphasis on checking how well pupils develop their written and spoken communication skills. This limits some pupils' accuracy in their writing and in their speech, as some mistakes that they make go unaddressed over time. The school should ensure that staff check more precisely how well pupils secure these important skills.

Also at this postcode