Kettlefields Primary School

Overview

Pupils at Kettlefields Primary School “enjoy and benefit from their time at school,” thriving within a “caring ethos” where they feel safe and valued. The inspection highlights a “markedly improved” curriculum that is “ambitious” and logically structured, preparing pupils well for secondary education. Staff are described as passionate about reading, fostering a culture where children “read often from a wide range of texts” and share books enthusiastically.

Strengths

• Leaders have designed an “ambitious programme of learning” with “sensible, logical steps” that ensures pupils “remember most of what leaders intend pupils to learn.”
• Staff teach early reading skills effectively, ensuring children in Reception and Key Stage 1 “are quick to learn what they need in order to read capably.”
• Pupils demonstrate a “sophisticated understanding” of their learning, using “subject-specific vocabulary accurately” and making “interesting connections” between subjects.
• The school promotes personal development well, with “planned opportunities” for talents and ensuring “disadvantaged pupils have equal opportunities” to join clubs.
• Governors and leaders maintain “strong partnerships” with parents and local businesses, holding leaders to account effectively.

Areas to improve

• Staff do not always understand leaders’ guidance for supporting pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), meaning some do not receive the “precise help they need.” Leaders must ensure staff access necessary training to adapt teaching effectively.
• Occasionally, the “noise of other pupils” distracts some learners from concentrating as well as they could.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are “effective,” with staff well trained to identify signs of potential harm and act “swiftly and appropriately” when concerns arise.