The Crescent Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a caring and ambitious school where pupils are well looked after by staff who get to know them well. This encourages pupils to talk to adults about any concerns they have.

Leaders take careful account of the school community, including listening to parents and making changes based on their views.

In the early years, children are expertly supported to develop detailed knowledge across the curriculum. Typically, pupils in the rest of the school achieve well.

This is not typically represented in nationally published outcomes because many pupils join the school part way through their primary education. Pupils' starting points are swiftly identified, and t...he curriculum typically builds securely on what they know.

Pupils' behaviour is settled and calm.

The school's values help pupils to understand the importance of treating others with kindness and respect. Where bullying is re-ported, the school deals with it effectively.

Educational visits build on pupils' learning, such as seeing artefacts at a museum when learning about the Ancient Greeks in Year 4.

Popular clubs include cookery, football and choir. Pupils take on responsibilities including school council and eco team. These enable pupils to improve their school environment, such as encourag-ing recycling.

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

Leaders, including the trust and governing body, have worked effectively together to bring about clear improvements and provide a good quality of education for all groups of pupils. The school has a detailed knowledge of the needs of pupils, includ-ing those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those who benefit from the enhanced learning provision. Pupils' needs are met through a range of adaptations to resources and approaches.

Children in the early years benefit from a well thought through curriculum. Clear guidance and training support staff in the early years to provide thoughtful activities and interactions that focus sharply on the concepts and vocabulary children need to know to be successful.

The curriculum for older pupils is typically carefully developed and logically se-quenced.

Pupils can recall what they have learned over time, including a range of techniques to create particular effects in art and the contributions of significant peo-ple in history, for example.

Reading is prioritised by leaders, who have established a clear curriculum and effec-tive training, checking and support for staff. As a result, pupils benefit from strong expertise of staff.

Phonics is taught systematically so that pupils learn how to de-code new words securely. Regular reading practice with specially selected books helps pupils to practise new sounds. Older pupils read widely.

They are taught to understand a range of texts in detail.

In some instances, aspects of the curriculum are more newly developed. Where this is the case, teachers receive less clear guidance about the order in which pupils should learn some key concepts.

Consequently, pupils' knowledge is less secure in those areas.

Staff have been supported through a period of substantial change. They appreciate the ways in which the school takes account of their views and responds by making change to processes and approaches.

High-quality training and support develops their expertise. They typically know the curriculum well. This helps them to make apt choices about when to break content down into manageable chunks and when to revisit important ideas to support pupils' recall of them.

In the early years, adults check systematically that children have understood im-portant ideas before moving on. However, systems for checking older pupils' under-standing of the curriculum are less well established and where this is the case, pu-pils' knowledge is not checked carefully against curriculum aims. Consequently, some gaps in pupils' knowledge are not as swiftly identified and addressed.

Children in the early years follow established routines, which help them to learn about the expectations for learning behaviours in the classroom when they are older. Children focus on activities for sustained periods and deepen their learning as a result. Older pupils typically listen attentively to their teachers and focus on the tasks they are given.

Pupils attend school regularly. Where needed, the school pro-vides effective support to improve rates of attendance.

Pupils are taught widely about the British values.

They talk with confidence about their school's focus on equality and treating others with respect for their different beliefs, cultures and backgrounds. Pupils are supported to understand healthy and safe relationships, how to stay safe online and in the community. Wider experiences develop important knowledge, such as how to budget and save money, which pupils build on in Year 6 with a visit to a London bank to hear about financial manage-ment.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some subjects are newer in their development and where this is the case, the knowledge leaders intend pupils to learn is less clearly defined and staff expertise is less well developed. Where this is the case, the way information is presented to pupils is sometimes unclear and the work they are given does not support them to learn key concepts securely.

Leaders should follow through with their plans to refine those areas of the curriculum that are newer and provide all the training staff need to develop their expertise so that teaching supports pupils to learn the curriculum in detail across all areas. ? The development of systems to check what pupils understand and remember of their learning is uneven. Leaders do not have routinely clear information about what pupils know and remember.

As a result, some curriculum planning does not address the gaps in pupils' understanding and the curriculum builds less well on pupils' prior knowledge. Pupils do not remember some content they need to know in order to understand more complex concepts later. Leaders should ensure that checks on pupils' knowledge are systematic across the curriculum.

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