Yapton CE Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a friendly and welcoming school. Leaders are determined to give pupils the very best start to their education.

Following changes to the school, most pupils now achieve well both academically and in their personal development.

Pupils behave well. They wear their 'Yapton Crown' with pride, living up to leaders' high expectations for their behaviour.

Pupils know routines well because these are established quickly in the early years. Pupils treat others with kindness and compassion adhering to the school's 'THINK' values of 'truthful, helpful, inspiring, necessary and kind'..

These help them consider the effect of their actions on others. This bu...ilds a harmonious environment where pupils feel safe.

Older pupils act as positive role models.

They take their responsibilities such as house captains and playground pals very seriously. Pupils make a tangible difference to the school through 'Community Circles' where they contribute to school improvement and feed back to their peers on important changes that are agreed. Pupils are keen to help others, raise funds for the local dog shelter and have baked biscuits for the local hospice.

Many parents are effusive in their praise for the school. As one parent commented: 'Staff are dedicated to ensuring that all pupils are happy, safe and achieve their best'.

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

The school have worked tirelessly to successfully address the issues identified in the previous inspection.

The governing body knows the school well. Decisive actions have been taken to improve the educational outcomes for all pupils. School-wide training ensures staff are equipped with the expertise to deliver the curriculum well.

These improvements, while not reflected in published outcomes in summer 2023, are evident in pupils' current achievement across the curriculum.

The school's personal development programme is exemplary. The 'Yapton Journey' identifies the trips, visitors and experiences that bring pupils' learning to life.

Pupils embrace different faiths and cultures through well-considered curriculum and assembly activities. They learn about different relationships and how to be a good friend. They enjoy debating ideas, learning to 'disagree respectfully'.

Pastoral support is a strength. All pupils know their identified 'go-to adult' will listen to any worries they may have. Opportunities for citizenship and community work are planned in exceptionally well for every year group.

The curriculum is purposefully designed, providing pupils with meaningful experiences to apply and secure their learning. The knowledge pupils are to learn has been identified precisely and sequenced to address the school's mixed-aged classes well. Reading is prioritised across the curriculum.

The well-planned phonics programme ensures that, from their first days in the early years, children learn the sound letters make. This means that pupils are now learning to read more quickly and more accurately than in the past. The high-quality texts that are the backbone of the curriculum ensures pupils develop a love of reading.

Assessment processes are now in place across the curriculum and used well to provide checks on pupils' progress. This ensures pupils' special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified accurately, and effective support plans are put in place. Additional support is structured carefully to help all pupils succeed, including those who are disadvantaged.

This means that all pupils access the full curriculum, with adaptations appropriate to their needs.

Teachers have secure subject knowledge. Adults provide pupils with effective support and clear guidance on how they can improve.

In the early years, children get a great start to their education. They achieve well gaining the skills they need to be well prepared for Year 1. Across the school, tasks with clear learning intentions are designed well to tease out pupils' understanding.

However, pupils do not have sufficient opportunities to practise their writing across the curriculum. This means that pupils' achievements in writing are not as good as they could be.

The school's work to reduce previously high pupil absence has begun to yield success, with more pupils now attending school regularly.

However, attendance is not yet high enough. As a result, some pupils are missing important learning and are not achieving as well as they could.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• While pupils get useful opportunities to write for a range of purposes in English, they do not write often enough across the curriculum. This means that pupils' written responses are variable and do not always demonstrate the depth of their understanding. The school needs to increase expectations of written work across the curriculum, providing pupils with sufficient opportunities to practise key writing skills.

• Despite the work done to address low attendance, absence is still too high for some pupils. As a result, these pupils are not learning as well as they could. The school should ensure that their ongoing work with parents leads to all pupils attending school as much as they can.

Also at this postcode