Stretham Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

At Stretham, pupils are proud to follow the school's mantra of 'be ready, be respectful, be safe'. Pupils feel safe at school. They learn how to keep themselves safe, including how to stay safe online and when cycling to school.

Pupils are happy at school. They enjoy the different ways they can be responsible and contribute to the school. These include being lunchtime ambassadors, members of the active crew and house captains.

Almost all parents agree with pupils' views on this.

Pupils are respectful towards each other. Lunchtimes are well managed and there is a harmonious atmosphere.

Pupils from different classes and year groups like playing togethe...r.

Pupils value the school's high expectations for them. They achieve well in subjects like reading and mathematics.

Pupils enjoy taking part in lots of different visits to enhance their learning. This includes trips to museums, pantomimes and local arts festivals.

Pupils know what to do if they have a worry, and feel confident about going to staff with them.

Pupils trust adults in the school to deal with bullying if any incidents were to occur.

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

The school is ambitious for all pupils to be confident readers. Staff know what to teach, and when, for pupils to develop their skills in reading.

The reading curriculum builds pupils' knowledge over time in a structured, sequential fashion. This starts in early years with phonics, and runs through to the end of Year 6. Staff regularly assess and check pupils' progress in phonics.

This helps teachers to ensure that pupils master their current learning before moving on to the next step. There is strong support for weaker readers.

The school has put in place a well-designed curriculum.

In most subjects, staff are clear about what pupils need to learn. They make sure that pupils connect new knowledge with previous learning. Staff check pupils' understanding carefully.

However, at times, learning is not broken down into manageable chunks. When this occurs, pupils are not able to understand and retain all that is being taught. This is because pupils engage less in their learning as they become overloaded.

Consequently, pupils do not learn or remember as much as they should.

Early years is a stimulating and engaging environment for children, based on their different interests. There is a clear focus on getting to know children and families before children join the school.

Staff take opportunities to develop communication and language around and beyond these interests. In early years, activities are set out to provide clear learning opportunities for all areas of the curriculum. Children engage with and learn from these planned learning activities.

The school has focused on improving attendance. There are effective systems for monitoring absence. These include daily procedures for checking on absent pupils, including home visits if contact cannot be made with the family of an absent pupil.

The school is doing all that it reasonably can to achieve the highest possible attendance.

Pupils are well behaved. The school has created a positive environment for pupils.

It is clear that poor behaviour is not tolerated. This includes rare incidents of bullying, homophobia and racism. If incidents of poor behaviour occur, the school is quick to deal with them.

The foundations for positive behaviour are built in the early years. This is where staff begin teaching children what are acceptable or unacceptable ways of interacting with each other. For example, children learn early routines such as sharing and taking turns.

Pupils say that they value the school's ethos of fairness and respect for others.

The provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is strong. This includes an effective system to identify the specific needs of pupils with SEND.

The school puts appropriate support in place as soon as these needs are identified.

The school promotes pupils' personal development well. For example, pupils have lots of opportunities to learn about other people and help those in need.

They support various local and national charities. Pupils are prepared for their next steps, for instance links with a local college help pupils in Year 6 to find out about secondary school life.

Governors have high ambition for the school and its pupils.

They know the school well and are accurate when they identify the challenges it faces.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Sometimes learning is not broken down into clear, manageable chunks.

This causes pupils to become overloaded with what they need to know and remember to move forward with their learning. As a result, pupils' engagement dips and they do not retain as much information as they should. The school needs to ensure that staff receive appropriate training so that pupils are able to consistently secure appropriate knowledge in all lessons.

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