Kingsmoor Lower School

Overview

Pupils are “keen to come to school every day” and are “highly motivated to learn,” benefiting from a curriculum that builds knowledge logically. The school fosters an environment where pupils “behave impeccably well” and show “high levels of respect,” supported by staff who ensure they are “nurtured and kept safe.” While the school is effective in supporting pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, there are specific areas regarding curriculum detail and assessment usage that require refinement to ensure all pupils deepen their understanding.

Strengths

• Attendance is “consistently high,” which has a “positive effect on pupils’ well-being and achievement.”
• Pupils are “well supported to develop as fluent and confident readers” through a “clear and consistent approach” to teaching letter sounds.
• Behaviour is exceptional, with pupils following rules “exceptionally well” and showing “high levels of mutual respect.”
• The school is “effective in its support for pupils with SEND,” with needs being “quickly identified” and provision regularly reviewed.
• Early years provision ensures children “get off to a positive start,” learning to “take turns, sustain concentration and develop independence.”

Areas to improve

• In some curriculum areas, “key knowledge pupils need to know is not outlined clearly enough,” preventing some from acquiring the intended depth of knowledge.
• Checks on what pupils know are “not consistently informing next steps in learning,” hindering how quickly some pupils can catch up or extend their knowledge.
• The early years curriculum needs refining to “deepen the knowledge children secure prior to moving up” to Year 1.

Safeguarding

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