Kirkby and Great Broughton Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School

Overview: Kirkby and Great Broughton Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School is an inclusive school with a caring and respectful atmosphere, where pupils and staff are proud of the school. Pupils understand the importance of equality and support each other in their roles as anti-bullying ambassadors and well-being warriors. The school has high expectations of pupils academically and behaviourally.

Strengths:

• Leaders have designed an ambitious curriculum for all pupils, providing a strong foundation for future learning.
• Teachers have strong subject knowledge and select activities that enable pupils to build their knowledge and skills.
• Pupils are polite and well-mannered, and enjoy coming to school, including in the early years where children play cooperatively with each other.
• The teaching of reading is a priority for leaders, with most pupils learning the phonic knowledge they need to read well by the end of Year 1.
• Pupils are attentive in lessons, and supportive and trusting relationships help them to step out of their comfort zone and challenge themselves.

Areas to improve:

• In a small number of wider-curriculum subjects, such as art and history, it is not clear what pupils should have learned by key points in each year, resulting in pupils not learning as well as they could and developing deep knowledge over time.
• The recording and reporting of concerns about pupils on the online system for child protection is not as rigorous as it needs to be, resulting in delayed follow-up actions.

Safeguarding: The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with pupils saying they feel safe in school and being taught how to keep themselves healthy and safe. Staff are vigilant and know that safeguarding is everyone's responsibility, and leaders record concerns and act on them, referring pupils to external agencies when needed.