Wroxall Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils know and understand the school's 'CARE' values of challenge, achievement, resilience and enjoyment.

These are woven into all areas of school life and pupils try their best to live up to them.

Pupils behave well and follow the school rules of be ready, be respectful, be safe. They know there are consequences for poor behaviour.

The youngest children enjoy playing with pupils in the other year groups. All pupils love being able to play on the new equipment in the adventure playground. Pupils know that any adult will help them with any friendship or bullying concerns, which are now rare.

Pupils feel safe and are confident adults will always have ...time to listen to them.

Pupils enjoy a variety of school trips. For instance, they are very excited to be going on a theatre trip to the mainland.

Year 6 pupils are looking forward to their residential, where they will have the opportunity to take part in outdoor learning activities.

Leaders and governors are ambitious for all pupils. However, pupils do not achieve as well they could.

Leaders have designed a curriculum that is broad and interesting, but it is not well sequenced, which means pupils are not remembering what they have previously learned.

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

This is a school that is certainly moving in the right direction. The headteacher started when the school had been through a prolonged unsettled period.

There has been a high turnover of staff, which has slowed the pace of change. Governors and leaders are rightly focusing on improving the quality of education. Leaders are raising teachers' expectations for pupil achievement.

The headteacher has the full support of all staff, who know their well-being and workload are considered carefully.

Reading is a high priority with leaders. They want pupils to develop a love for reading and ensure that they read and listen to a wide range of stories.

Teachers are well trained to deliver the new phonics programme. Although children in the early years have got off to a strong start, other pupils do not know their sounds as well as they should. There are too many pupils across the school who continue to struggle to read.

They have gaps in their learning from previous years. Leaders have put in strategies to support these pupils but know they are not catching up quickly enough.

In both Nursery and Reception, leaders are well aware what knowledge children need to acquire in all the areas of learning.

They have designed a curriculum which creates opportunities for children to build and develop their language. The curriculum in the rest of the school covers the national curriculum. However, it does not build on what children in the early years have learned.

For pupils in key stages 1 and 2, learning is not well sequenced. Alongside this, in too many subjects, it is not clear how teachers should assess what pupils know and remember. Teachers do not link new learning to what pupils have learned before.

This results in gaps in pupils' knowledge as they move up the school.

The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) has systems in place to ensure that pupils with barriers to their learning are correctly identified and appropriate support put in place. However, along with many pupils in the school, pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are not where they should be in their learning.

Strategies in place are not enabling this group to catch up quickly enough.

Classrooms are calm and purposeful. Pupils, from the youngest children to the oldest, are keen to learn and contribute their ideas.

They are attentive and take learning seriously. This is due to the new headteacher focusing on improving pupils' behaviour. All staff are consistent in their approach and have high expectations of pupils' behaviour.

Those pupils who do struggle at times with their behaviour are well supported. The strong positive relationships between staff and pupils makes the school a happy place.

The school provides very well for pupils' personal development.

Leaders are keen for pupils to have high aspirations and broaden their horizons. To help pupils, leaders have organised a 'Big Me' careers day to show pupils what they need to achieve to follow their chosen career. Through the personal, health, social and relationships curriculum, pupils know how to develop healthy relationships.

They appreciate the importance of keeping themselves safe and looking after their physical and mental well-being. Pupils have a sound understanding of British values and are respectful of the differences between different faiths and cultures.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Safeguarding is a high priority and, as a result, there is a strong culture in the school. Leaders ensure that staff are well trained and able to recognise and record any safeguarding concerns. Staff are aware of the local issues, particularly the dangers of child-on-child abuse.

Leaders keep detailed records that show they are thorough and follow up concerns promptly. They involve external agencies, where appropriate, to ensure pupils and their families get the support they need. Governors carefully check that safeguarding policies are put into action to support pupils and ensure the right checks on adults are made before they begin working at the school.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The implementation of the new phonics programme has been too slow. As a result, a large group of pupils are not able to read as fluently as they should.Leaders need to ensure that effective interventions are in place that enable pupils to embed their phonics knowledge and make rapid progress.

• Leaders have not identified exactly what they want pupils to learn across all subjects and stages of the curriculum. As a result, teachers do not necessarily know what has been taught and what pupils have remembered. Leaders need to make sure that they define the key knowledge and skills pupils should remember, to build their learning over time.