Walton-le-Dale Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Walton-le-Dale Community Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy in this school. They enjoy their learning.

They rise to the school's high expectations and achieve well. From the early years upwards, staff develop warm, caring relationships with children. They foster a nurturing environment that helps pupils to thrive, particularly those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Pupils behave well. They enjoy receiving recognition such as certificates and house points that celebrate their successes. Pupils are typically kind and caring to each other.

They have an appreciation of each ot...her's differences and do not tolerate any form of discrimination. At playtimes, pupil leaders organise games and sports activities for their peers to enjoy. Anti-bullying ambassadors keep a close watch on the buddy bench to ensure that nobody is left out of the fun.

Pupil voice is integral to the school's ongoing work to develop and improve. For example, the pupil well-being group has helped staff to develop 'zen zones' in classrooms to help pupils to regulate their own behaviour. Many older pupils told the inspector that they value the opportunity to take a short time-out in these spaces if they feel upset or overwhelmed.

They said that this helps them to get back on track quickly.

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

Leaders and governors share an ambitious vision for pupils' education. They have an accurate understanding of the school's current strengths and use it well to plan for improvement.

The school has carefully considered the wide range of knowledge that pupils should acquire. It has thought beyond the national curriculum, identifying the great thinkers and cultural experiences that pupils should encounter so that they are well prepared for their next steps. The school ensures that all pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, benefit fully from its high-quality curriculum.

Staff value the school's commitment to their professional development. Regular training and coaching are highly effective in developing staff's teaching expertise. The school's approach to curriculum design ensures that staff know precisely what to teach and when.

Staff value the wealth of well-developed shared resources that reduce their workload and further pupils' learning.

Staff are adept at checking pupils' learning. This allows them to spot and address swiftly any emerging misconceptions before they become embedded.

However, in some subjects, the school's approach to helping pupils to remember their learning over time is in the early stages of development. Consequently, some pupils find it difficult to remember their past learning and link it to new knowledge.

The school places a high priority on reading.

Pupils value the array of texts that they encounter as part of the curriculum and the stories which they enjoy sharing with their teachers. Staff have thoughtfully selected these texts to allow pupils to have experience of a range of age-appropriate historical, social and cultural perspectives.

Starting in the Reception class, pupils swiftly develop their competence in reading.

They benefit from a highly effective phonics programme that systematically increases their phonics knowledge. Staff ensure that pupils benefit from regular opportunities to practise their reading using appropriately targeted books. Pupils that require additional support with reading are quickly identified.

They receive the help that they need to develop their knowledge and fluency.

The school quickly finds out the needs of pupils with SEND. It ensures that staff have the expertise to support them well.

This means that these pupils can enjoy participating successfully in all aspects of school life.

The school is quick to identify any pupils with declining attendance and acts swiftly to pinpoint and address the root cause of any ongoing absence. Its tenacious work ensures that pupils, and particularly the most vulnerable pupils, are rarely absent.

Staff foster an exceptionally positive environment for learning within classrooms. They have established a culture of praise which reinforces with pupils the high standards of behaviour that they expect. In the early years, staff establish strong routines that help children to feel safe, secure and confident in their learning and play.

The school's work to promote pupils' wider development is very strong. Pupils develop a strong understanding of British values such as democracy, which is enhanced through a visit to London to see the nation's capital and seat of government. The school is determined to broaden pupils' horizons.

Pupils learn about different religious and cultural festivals, as well as celebrating British cultural traditions, for example when going on a theatre trip to see a pantomime.

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, pupils find it difficult to remember what they have learnt in the past.

As a result, some struggle to connect new knowledge to what they have learned before, which hinders their development of a broad body of knowledge. The school should ensure that pupils remember and develop their learning over time.

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

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

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in January 2014.