Wardley CofE Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

There has been no change to this school's overall judgement of outstanding as a result of this ungraded (section 8) inspection.

However, the evidence gathered suggests that the inspection grade might not be as high if a graded (section 5) inspection were carried out now. The school's next inspection will be a graded inspection.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy being at this school because staff care for them well.

Positive relationships exist between the different members of this close-knit school community. Pupils show respect to each other and adults alike. Pupils celebrate the differences between themselves and others.

They feel proud that th...eir school is a caring community for everyone. Through their actions and words, pupils endeavour to follow the 'Wardley Way' in all that they do. The school is a calm and orderly place.

This allows pupils to focus on their learning in lessons. Their conduct is praiseworthy.

The school provides pupils with many opportunities outside lessons.

This includes them making a positive contribution to the local community. For example, through the 'courageous advocacy' project, pupils identified the need to tackle litter in the local park. Their work was rewarded with new litter bins being provided to improve the environment for everyone in the local community.

The school has high expectations for pupils' achievement, including for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). In many curriculum areas, pupils achieve well. The curriculum mainly helps to prepare pupils well for the next stage in their education.

On occasion however, some of the ways in which teachers adapt activities to support pupils with SEND to access the curriculum are not as effective as they could be.

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

The school has designed a curriculum which is ambitious for pupils. It ensures that pupils study a broad range of subjects as part of the curriculum.

The school's curriculum thinking is well developed, including within the early years. Within different subjects, the school has thought about the knowledge that it wishes pupils to learn. Teachers use different assessment strategies to collect information about how well pupils learn the curriculum.

This helps pupils to encounter new learning at the correct point. Teachers display effective subject knowledge. In many lessons, they present information clearly to pupils in a logical order.

This helps pupils to build on what they already know.

From the early years, the school identifies the needs of pupils with SEND. It has clear systems in place to identify pupils' additional needs.

Overall, the support that pupils receive helps them to access the curriculum. However, there are instances where this is less successful. In these cases, the activities provided for pupils do not help them to acquire the intended knowledge as well as they could.

This sometimes limits how well these pupils achieve, and they occasionally struggle to recall their learning.

Reading is a high priority for the school. From the early years, the school has devised a reading curriculum that teaches pupils how to read, while also developing a passion for reading.

Pupils experience a wide range of literature. This is supported by the school's community library. From Reception class, pupils begin to learn about the different sounds which letters make.

This helps pupils to make a strong start to the school's phonics programme. Staff receive effective training to deliver the scheme well. The books that pupils read closely match the sounds which they know.

This helps them to become more confident and fluent readers.

The school has recently changed its approach to support pupils attending school as often as possible. The school monitors pupils' attendance with closer scrutiny than in the past.

Where needed, they provide support for specific pupils and families. As a result, most pupils' attendance is improving over time.

The school has a keen focus on pupils' wider development.

This starts in the early years where children are taught to discuss their own and other people's feelings. Pupils' cultural development is a high priority. For example, pupils get the opportunity to learn a musical instrument.

They also visit many places of cultural significance. For example, pupils visit places of worship for different religions. Teachers support pupils to gain an understanding of how to keep themselves physically healthy.

Pupils relish the extra responsibilities that they have. For example, they can be members of the ethos committee, school council or can be well-being champions.

Staff are immensely proud to work at the school.

The school carefully considers the well-being of staff and is alert to the demands of their workload. Staff appreciate the support that they receive for this. For example, staff found the new feedback policy more effective for them.

This is because it focuses more specifically on pupils' learning in lessons.

Governors are aware of what the school does well and what needs further refinement and improvement. They make regular visits to the school to check on its progress towards the school improvement targets.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Adaptations which teachers make to activities are sometimes not as effective as they could be. This means that some pupils with SEND, on occasion, cannot access their learning as effectively as they could.

This limits their learning in these instances. The school should provide further training and guidance for staff, to help ensure that these pupils are readily able to access the curriculum.

Background

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

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 outstanding in June 2017.