Welford-on-Avon Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Welford-on-Avon Primary School provides pupils with a very caring and nurturing environment to learn in. There are very positive relationships between staff, pupils and families in this close-knit school community.

Pupils' attendance rates are high because pupils love coming to school.

Staff are deeply committed to helping pupils achieve their full potential. In the majority of subjects, especially English and mathematics, pupils make progress and achieve very well.

However, while pupils do make progress in all subjects, they do not make as much progress as they should. This is because the work does not build well enough on what they have learned before.
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Leaders make sure that mental health and well-being are prioritised for staff, pupils and families.

For example, 'Wellness@Welford' provides information about a range of services to help anyone in need of support. Pupils enjoy taking part in a rich set of experiences outside of school, such as residential trips to Norfolk and visits to the seaside. Pupils are also proud of their maypole dancing, which is well known throughout the community.

In the rare instances where pupils fall out or are unkind to one another, staff deal with this quickly and help pupils to overcome their differences. Pupils say that bullying is dealt with very well.

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

Reading and phonics are taught well right from the start of school.

Children get off to a flying start in the Nursery Year. They settle quickly and make rapid progress in their learning. This is because staff are highly skilled at spotting what children can do and then helping them to build on this learning, especially their communication and language.

Pupils continue to develop their reading and phonics skills across Reception Year and key stage 1. Staff know straight away if a pupil needs extra help to keep up with the phonics teaching. They give pupils the right support to make sure any gaps are closed quickly.

Pupils really enjoy reading and staff ensure that they take every opportunity to promote a love of reading. Pupils have many opportunities to read independently, with others and as a whole class every day. As a result, pupils read very confidently and fluently by the end of key stage 2.

Teachers ensure that they provide pupils with a broad and balanced curriculum. Pupils continued to benefit from this curriculum throughout the pandemic, and do so when they are unable to attend school currently. Parents praise highly the commitment of staff to minimising any disruption to their child's education.

Pupils achieve high academic outcomes in English and mathematics. The curriculum planning helps teachers to know what pupils have learned before and what they need to learn to prepare them for the next year. Teachers check what pupils can do and then provide work that helps them to practise and build upon their learning successfully.

However, in some subjects, pupils do not achieve as well as they could. This is because the curriculum planning does not set out what knowledge and skills need to be learned, and in what order, clearly enough. Consequently, teachers do not always have a precise enough understanding of what pupils know and can do.

On occasion, this leads to teachers providing pupils with work that is too easy or too hard.

Subject leaders have developed detailed curriculum plans that set out the range of themes to be taught in their subjects from the early years through to Year 6. In the majority of subjects, leaders have identified the knowledge and skills that pupils should learn and in what order.

However, in some subjects, leaders have not considered this carefully enough. They lack some understanding of how to plan and sequence the learning from one year to the next.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) achieve particularly well.

There is a very inclusive ethos across the school. Teachers take time to ensure that pupils with SEND can access the full curriculum successfully. Staff understand pupils' needs and difficulties and adapt learning to meet those needs.

Staff in the resource provision are particularly skilled at this and these pupils are achieving very well.

Pupils have many opportunities to develop their social and emotional skills through wider curriculum experiences. Leaders make sure that pupils' mental health is supported where needed through play therapy and mentoring.

Trampolining and climbing activities supplement pupils' physical education. However, meaningful opportunities to help pupils learn about other faiths and cultures are more limited. While pupils' understanding of respect is clear, they do not have a strong understanding of different ethnic communities and the diversity of Britain.

The teaching of fundamental British values is also not embedded so pupils' understanding about values such as democracy is not as well developed as it should be. However, the school's values, for example kindness, are promoted well.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Pupils trust the adults in school and know that staff will help them if they are worried about something. Staff know what to do if they have any concerns that pupils may be suffering from harm. Leaders respond quickly to any concerns staff report and work closely with outside agencies to find the right support and help to keep pupils as safe as possible.

The personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) curriculum helps pupils to learn about how to keep themselves safe. For example, pupils learn about what a healthy relationship is and how to keep themselves safe online.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Teachers do not give pupils sufficient meaningful opportunities to learn about fundamental British values and diversity.

Consequently, pupils have a limited understanding and appreciation of other faiths and cultures and the importance of British values in society. Leaders should ensure that the PSHE curriculum is developed further so that pupils have a range of experiences to learn about other faiths, cultures and fundamental British values in order to ensure that pupils are fully prepared for life in modern Britain. ? Some curriculum planning does not set out what knowledge and skills pupils need to learn from one year to the next well enough.

As a result, in some subjects, pupils are not able to build on what they learned before as well as they should. Leaders should make sure that all curriculum planning carefully sequences the knowledge and skills pupils need to learn in each year group. This will enable pupils to build on their prior learning more successfully.

• Some subject leaders lack sufficient understanding of how to sequence curriculum planning to enable pupils to know and remember more over time. This means that, in some subjects, pupils do not make as much progress as they could. Leaders should provide subject leaders with training and support to enable them to plan an effective curriculum in their subject that enables all pupils to make strong progress.