Dussindale Primary School

Overview

Dussindale Primary School has “taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.” The report describes a “positive environment” where pupils enjoy a “journey of discovery” and demonstrate “highly positive attitudes to their learning.” Leaders are praised for making decisions in the “best interests of pupils,” resulting in a school that is “abuzz with laughter and happiness.”

Strengths

• Pupils benefit from a curriculum where they “learn important knowledge in a sensible order,” supported by teachers with “secure subject knowledge.”
• Reading is central to school life; staff are “experts in teaching the school’s phonics programme,” and struggling readers receive “very effective support.”
• The school provides a “richness to the provision for pupils’ wider development,” including the “Dussindale Discoverers programme” and a successful “Bystander” programme that fosters a “strong moral code.”
• Attendance is closely monitored, with “effective action” taken when it slips, and leaders know pupils and families “extremely well.”
• Staff have a “clear and accurate understanding” of SEND needs, making “careful adaptations” to ensure these pupils access the curriculum.

Areas to improve

• The approach to teaching writing is “not fully established,” as some older pupils do not “readily apply their knowledge of writing in some other subjects.” The school should continue to equip teachers with the skills to “fully implement its approach to teaching writing.”

Safeguarding

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