Trumacar Nursery and Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils, including children in the early years, enjoy coming to school.

They feel happy and safe, and they try their best during lessons.

Leaders expect pupils to achieve highly so that they can succeed in later life. To this end, leaders ensure that pupils benefit from an ambitious curriculum and that they are informed well about potential careers.

This helps pupils to understand the value of a high-quality education. Pupils strive to live up to leaders' high expectations of their achievement.

Pupils behave impeccably.

They are respectful to each other, and they consider carefully how their own behaviour might impact others. They are clear t...hat everyone is welcome in their school.

Pupils understand leaders' rules for exceptional behaviour, and they follow staff's instructions diligently.

Pupils recognise the harmful effects of bullying, and they are confident that any incidents will be dealt with swiftly by staff. Leaders deal with any poor behaviour, including incidents of bullying, appropriately.

Pupils develop their interests and character through a broad range of clubs, including sports, karaoke, chess and crochet.

Pupils willingly take on extra responsibilities in school where they can demonstrate the Trumacar values. For example, pupils relish taking part in charitable events. They also enjoy leading 'pupil-power days' where they develop their resilience and have opportunities to debate current issues.

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

Leaders have designed a curriculum which ensures that pupils' learning builds from their starting points in the Nursery class. The curriculum is suitably ambitious and designed to give pupils opportunities to develop and deepen their learning.

In most subjects, leaders have clearly defined what teachers must deliver and what pupils should know.

However, in a few subjects, leaders are still finalising their curriculum thinking. In these subjects, teachers are not as clear about the knowledge that pupils should learn. This hinders how well some pupils learn.

Teachers have strong subject knowledge and they use this to design interesting learning opportunities for pupils. In the main, teachers support pupils to build on their prior knowledge. For example, pupils revisit what they have learned previously before starting something new.

Teachers check that pupils have secured their knowledge before introducing new learning.

Leaders have prioritised the teaching of early reading. Children in the Nursery Year start to learn about letters and the sounds that they make.

From the first week in the Reception class, children are immersed in learning to read. Reading is at the heart of everything that staff do. Phonics is taught consistently well by teachers.

Staff ensure that reading books are closely matched to the sounds that pupils have learned. Most pupils become confident, fluent readers before they move into key stage 2.

Older pupils enjoy reading a range of high-quality texts.

Leaders provide incentives to foster pupils' love of reading. For example, pupils are encouraged to bring a book to the reading karaoke club where they sing the texts together. Leaders have endeavoured to address pupils' gaps in reading knowledge.

However, it is too early to see the impact of leaders' work on pupils' achievement in reading at the end of Year 6.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported well. Staff identify pupils' needs early, and leaders ensure that they use external agencies to provide appropriate support for pupils.

Pupils with SEND access the same curriculum as their peers. Teachers skilfully adapt their delivery of the curriculum to ensure that pupils with SEND can achieve the same learning goals as other pupils.

Pupils' behaviour is a strength of this school.

Learning is rarely disrupted by poor behaviour. At social times, pupils particularly enjoy being able to play with friends from different year groups in the school playground. Pupils talk articulately about how they feel.

They understand the importance of doing their best whether or not an adult is around to check on them.

Pupils learn about different religions, and they recognise the importance of tolerance in modern society. That said, some staff do not deliver aspects of the personal, social and health education (PSHE) curriculum as well as they should.

As a result, some pupils' understanding of different families and cultures is not as well developed as it could be.

Governors provide an appropriate level of support and challenge for leaders. Staff feel valued by leaders, and they enjoy working at the school.

Staff appreciate leaders' efforts to consider their workload and well-being.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders ensure that all staff, including governors, receive regular and up-to-date safeguarding training.

This helps to ensure that staff understand the potential risks to pupils.

Leaders and staff are proactive in their approach to addressing safeguarding issues. For example, they utilise visits from external agencies to make pupils aware of the risks that they may face in the local community.

Staff forge strong relationships with families. Parents and carers appreciate the work that staff do to care for their children.Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe, both when working and playing online and in the local community.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, leaders have not finalised the most important subject-specific concepts that they want pupils to revisit over time. This hinders teachers from designing learning for pupils. Leaders should ensure that teachers are clear about which key concepts to teach and when to revisit them so that pupils know and remember more over time.

• Leaders have not ensured that staff deliver some aspects of the PSHE curriculum consistently well. This means that some pupils do not have the depth of knowledge that they should about some British values and protected characteristics. Leaders should ensure that staff receive the training that they need to implement this curriculum consistently well so that pupils develop the wider knowledge and skills that they should.