Christ Church First School

Overview

Christ Church First School is described as a "calm and inclusive" environment where pupils "prosper" and feel safe. Leaders have driven "rapid improvement" since joining the trust, fostering a culture where staff know pupils well and provide targeted support. The school meets the "expected standard" across all inspected areas, with particular praise for its inclusive ethos and the positive attitudes of pupils towards their learning.

Strengths

• Pupils generally "progress well through the curriculum" and retain key knowledge, with phonics outcomes now "close to the national average".
• The school’s "fully inclusive ethos" ensures pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who are disadvantaged make "suitable progress" and participate fully in school life.
• Behaviour is typically good, underpinned by the mantra of "kind hands, kind feet, kind words", creating a "calm and orderly" atmosphere where bullying is rare.
• Leaders demonstrate "relentless determination" to improve life chances, with attendance and persistent absence rates "improving across all groups of pupils".
• Staff morale remains high, supported by a "bespoke professional learning programme" and effective trust oversight that balances challenge with support.

Areas to improve

• Leaders should ensure staff interactions "consistently support the development of children’s communication and language skills" in the early years, as this is currently not consistent.
• The curriculum must better support pupils to secure "foundational knowledge... particularly transcription and sentence structure" before moving on to more complex tasks.
• Leaders should ensure pupils "consistently develop a depth of knowledge and skills across all curriculum subjects", as some struggle to remember past learning in certain areas.

Safeguarding

The safeguarding standards are met, with leaders establishing an "open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility" and concerns are actively identified and managed.