Sutton Green Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy attending this warm and welcoming school. They are proud to be part of the school community. They benefit from relationships with staff and each other that are respectful and caring.

They said the staff know them well and always have time to talk. This helps pupils to feel happy and safe.

Across the school, there are high expectations for pupils' achievement, including for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

These pupils benefit from the same ambitious curriculum as their peers. Pupils rise to the school's high aspirations. They typically achieve well.

Pupils value their school life, and they love learning. T...hey spoke enthusiastically about a range of topics that they have enjoyed studying, and remember them well.

Pupils behave well.

They are courteous and considerate towards each other and to staff. If they need time to reflect, they enjoy visiting and talking to the school's pet axolotls, Sponge and Bob.

Pupils extend their learning by participating in a well-designed programme of trips, experiences and clubs which enhance the curriculum.

They value the rich range of wider opportunities that the school provides outside lessons, for example food science, gardening and a wide range of sports. These experiences add considerable value to their time at the school.

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

This year there have been many positive changes to improve the quality of education for pupils.

This work has made a real difference to pupils' enjoyment of school and to their academic achievement. The curriculum is broad, balanced and ambitious for all pupils, including those with SEND. The school has considered the knowledge, skills and vocabulary that pupils should learn and the order in which this information should be taught.

Staff typically implement the curriculum well. They present information clearly to pupils and ask questions that deepen their understanding. Consequently, pupils retain information and can apply their learning to new tasks.

In most subjects, staff regularly check pupils' learning and use the information that they gather to adapt future teaching. However, in a few subjects, where the curriculum is relatively new, the school is in the process of developing its assessment strategies. In these subjects, this hinders teachers in identifying and remedying gaps in pupils' knowledge.

Experiences such as visits by authors help motivate and inspire pupils to read. Staff have thought carefully about the books that they want pupils to know and love. These books sit proudly on the school's reading tree branches.

Pupils talked with pride about how they have read many of these books.

From the beginning of the Reception Year, children follow a well-structured phonics programme. Staff have undertaken considerable training in the teaching of phonics.

This ensures that the phonics programme is delivered consistently well. Pupils read books that staff have matched to the sounds that they know. Staff provide additional help for those pupils who find reading difficult.

This enables most pupils to develop into fluent readers in readiness for key stage 2.

In 2023, the proportion of pupils who met the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check was below the national average. In part, this was due to staffing issues and some pupils not attending school frequently enough.

This published data does not reflect how well current pupils are building their phonics knowledge.

Children in the Reception class are happy and confident. The school has developed an ambitious early years curriculum.

However, the activities that teachers choose to practise and develop learning sometimes lack purpose. This contributes to some children not learning all that they should to make a successful start when they enter Year 1.

Staff identify pupils with SEND early.

The school's carefully considered support and adaptations ensure that these pupils follow the school's ambitious curriculum alongside their friends in class.

The school celebrates pupils' positive behaviour. Pupils behave sensibly during lessons.

They are polite and well mannered. Most pupils attend regularly. The school's strengthened attendance processes have begun to have a positive impact on the attendance of the minority of pupils who are too often absent.

The school promotes pupils' personal development well. Pupils learn about diversity and respect for other people. They also have many opportunities to develop their sense of responsibility.

They can become mental-health leaders and school councillors. They take pride in organising events to raise money for good causes.

Staff are overwhelmingly positive about working at the school.

They appreciate how the school considers their well-being and workload when making decisions.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, assessment strategies are at an early stage of development.

As a result, staff sometimes do not identify gaps in pupils' learning or adapt their future teaching to help pupils overcome these deficits in knowledge. The school should ensure that staff are suitably equipped to check pupils' learning across the curriculum. ? The activities and resources that teachers give to children in the early years too often do not reinforce learning.

As a result, children have too few opportunities to embed new knowledge and practise new skills. This hinders their readiness for Year 1. The school should ensure that teachers choose tasks and accompanying resources which give children the opportunity to consolidate learning and remember more.

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