Cotham Gardens Primary School

Overview

The report states that pupils “do not receive an acceptable standard of education” due to “low” expectations and a “weak” curriculum impact. Leadership and governance have experienced “turbulence,” leaving the school without the capacity to secure necessary improvements, resulting in pupils being “unprepared for the next stage of their education.”

Strengths

• Safeguarding arrangements are “effective,” and pupils feel “happy and safe,” knowing staff will help with worries.
• There is a “rigorous approach to securing pupils’ attendance,” with staff working closely with families to address absence causes.
• Some pupils develop confidence through leadership roles, such as becoming “school councillors or classroom monitors.”
• Early years children develop a “strong grounding in number and early mathematics” and read books matching known sounds.

Areas to improve

• The school and trust must “strengthen leadership capacity at all levels” to ensure rapid and sustainable improvements in education quality.
• Staff require better training and guidance to deliver the curriculum effectively, identify learning gaps, and support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).
• The phonics programme and reading curriculum must be implemented fully to help pupils become “accurate, confident and fluent readers.”
• Staff must apply the behaviour policy “consistently well” to prevent disruption to learning.
• The early years curriculum needs strengthening to widen children’s vocabulary and communication skills, ensuring they are better prepared for Year 1.

Safeguarding

The report confirms that “the arrangements for safeguarding are effective.”