Tregoze Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Tregoze Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils follow the school values in all that they do. They are kind to each other, show respect and listen carefully to their teachers and friends.

Pupils are happy, behave well and attend school regularly.

Parents say that their children feel safe in school and they are. Pupils say that bullying does not happen.

Staff help pupils at playtime if they have a worry or friendship issue. Pupils have a strong sense of what is right and wrong.

Leaders have high expectations for pupils.

Pupils are enthusiastic about their learning and have a genuine love of readi...ng. They have the chance to enjoy lots of different enrichment activities. For example, many pupils attend ballet lessons or sing at the local residential home.

Pupils enjoy taking part in the after-school clubs.

Pupils develop life skills well. They learn the importance of perseverance and cooperation when playing team sports.

Pupils are proud to represent their school as school councillors, librarians, house captains or head boy and girl. Year 6 school council members are inspired by COP26. They want to play an active role in the fight against global warming.

Pupils are developing their understanding of how they can contribute positively to society.

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

The curriculum is carefully sequenced. Children get off to a flying start in the early years.

Staff support children well to practise the key skills, knowledge and vocabulary needed to reach their potential. Children know class routines and respond appropriately. Careful monitoring and planning for next steps in learning ensure that children in the early years progress well.

Leaders are passionate and determined that all pupils read well. This begins with the teaching of phonics in the early years and continues into key stage 1. Staff have a secure knowledge of phonics.

They check that pupils say the letter sounds correctly. Reading books are carefully chosen to interest pupils. They closely match the sounds pupils learn.

Staff help pupils to increase their reading speed and accuracy successfully. As a result, pupils read well.

Recently, leaders correctly identified that pupils need to improve their mathematical knowledge.

Teachers skilfully support pupils to ensure that they use the correct vocabulary when answering problems. Teachers expertly support pupils in how to answer questions step-by-step. This helps pupils develop their knowledge of calculations well.

Subject leaders have identified the essential knowledge they want pupils to remember. Pupils are beginning to know more and remember more. However, they are not always able to link important concepts.

For example, some pupils in Year 5 are not able to use their geographical knowledge to identify countries of the United Kingdom when looking at a map.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities achieve well. Staff identify their additional needs and put effective support in place.

They carefully adapt resources to help pupils learn. For example, some pupils use pencil grips to help improve their handwriting. Staff work closely with parents, the special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) and external agencies to ensure that pupils get appropriate and effective support.

Staff care for pupils' well-being. Some pupils displayed high levels of anxiety when they returned to school following the second national lockdown. Through the personal, social and health education curriculum teachers rightly focused on helping pupils to recognise and manage their feelings.

Staff also use expert advice from the educational psychology team to support pupils' needs.

Pupils take part in national events such as the European Day of Languages. They celebrate and seek to understand differences from around the world.

For example, the school sponsors a child's education in Guatemala to help pupils better understand life in a developing country.

Trustees and members of the local governing board hold school leaders to account for their actions effectively. They ask challenging questions.

Leaders invest in appropriate and high-quality training for staff. The staff are keen to attend training as it helps to develop and strengthen their subject knowledge and teaching techniques. Staff appreciate the support from leaders to manage their workload.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Safeguarding records are up to date and are regularly checked by senior leaders. All necessary checks are carried out before staff begin working in school.

Pupils know how to keep themselves safe online. Regular safeguarding training helps staff to carry out their roles. Staff know how to report concerns about a pupil's safety and welfare.

They are confident that leaders follow up their concerns. Leaders are not afraid to escalate concerns if they feel that a pupil is not adequately supported by external services.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, pupils do not make links between important concepts well enough.

This makes it difficult for them to build on prior knowledge. Teachers need to check and strengthen pupils' knowledge of these key concepts to help them make connections within and across subject curriculums.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called a section 8 inspection of a good or outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the section 8 inspection as a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in May 2016.