Willow Tree Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at this school are polite, charismatic and friendly.

They readily welcome visitors and confidently engage others in thoughtful conversation. Pupils relish their education and their experience of school life. Their happiness shines through in the enthusiastic, friendly and purposeful atmosphere.

The school is focused and driven in its desire to offer pupils a high-quality education as their gateway to a successful future. Many pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), meet the school's high aspirations for both academic achievement and in flourishing socially.

Pupils behave exceptionally well.

They are e...xtremely proud of their school. Pupils, and children in the early years, reflect this in their highly positive attitudes towards their learning. Pupils relish being at school.

Their calm conduct around school shows high levels of self-management. Pupils want to follow the school rules. Many do so independently.

Pupils benefit from the thoughtfully considered programme to support their personal development. They learn about how to stay safe, including when they are online. Pupils are considerate and respectful of others who may have different backgrounds to their own.

Pupils can take part in a range of opportunities to develop their talents and interests such as art, board games and cookery clubs.

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

The school has carefully set out the order in which pupils learn curricular content from the beginning of the Nursery Year to the end of Year 6. Many pupils build a rich body of knowledge through the course of their studies.

Over time, pupils make strong progress from typically low starting points.

In the main, teachers have the right information and expertise to deliver the curriculum as the school intends. Pupils typically learn well.

This includes pupils with SEND, who benefit from the school's effective approach to identifying areas of need and prioritising support. However, the school has not gone far enough in identifying the key knowledge and skills that pupils should gain in handwriting. The school has set out a progressive overview, but, sometimes, staff are unclear about the specific information that they should teach pupils to help them to become competent and fluent writers.

Typically, staff check that pupils are learning the intended curriculum. This is particularly true in the effective practice for early reading. However, occasionally, staff do not address mistakes that pupils make in their written work, notably in spelling, grammar and punctuation content.

This means that a small number of pupils continue to make avoidable errors in their written work. Overall, staff successfully evaluate pupils' knowledge base prior to introducing any new learning. This ensures that pupils build on what they already know and can do.

The school places reading front and centre of its curriculum. From the start of the Nursery Year, children spend quality time engaging in key texts. They practise the pre-reading skills that they will need for when they start to learn the phonics code.

Children in the Reception Year make a swift start to learning to read. Staff teach them well, with many pupils being fluent and competent readers by the time that they finish Year 2. The school quickly identifies any pupils who struggle to learn to read.

It gives these pupils the help that they need to catch up in learning key reading knowledge. Pupils throughout the school appreciate and enjoy reading the wide range of texts available to them.

Pupils model exemplary behaviours.

They are true advocates for their school. Pupils are respectful and courteous. There is a sense of companionship throughout the school.

During lunch times, older pupils sit with younger pupils to support them and to enjoy amiable conversation. From the early years, children quickly learn and follow clear routines which promote their independence. Pupils are excited to learn.

They are resilient and reflective.

Over recent years, the school has significantly reduced the proportion of pupils who are persistently absent. Attendance is an extremely high priority.

The school is effective in keeping attendance at the forefront of everyone's minds. It provides appropriate, successful support for families.

The school's programme for personal development helps to prepare pupils well for life in modern Britain.

The school is ambitious for pupils' future success. For example, older pupils study engineering at the nearby university to inspire them to excel in their own education. Pupils are encouraged to be active members of the community, such as by raising money for charity and singing in a local care home.

Governors have a thorough knowledge of the school's strengths and development priorities. Their reflective and analytical approach helps them to provide effective challenge and support. The school is highly supportive of staff's well-being.

It supports staff to manage their workload when changes are introduced.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• On occasion, spelling and grammatical errors in pupils' work go unchecked.

Additionally, a small number of pupils are not given sufficient opportunity to correct these mistakes. This means that some pupils do not have a secure enough grasp of spelling, grammar or punctuation principles and carry misconceptions over time. The school should ensure that staff identify and address these misunderstandings to enable pupils to convey the content of their writing more effectively.

Some pupils have not been taught the correct letter formation or transcription practices, leading to a lack of automaticity in their writing. This hinders their ability to become effective writers and to create legible pieces of writing across the curriculum. The school should further refine the key transcriptional knowledge that pupils learn, including in the early years, and develop staff expertise to deliver the practice of handwriting effectively.