St John's CofE Primary School, Dukinfield

Overview: St John's CofE Primary School, Dukinfield continues to be a good school, where pupils and staff are proud to be part of the community. The school has a positive and caring culture, with older pupils looking out for and helping younger ones. Pupils achieve well and enjoy taking up a wide range of responsibilities in school.

Strengths:

• Pupils and staff are proud to be part of the community.
• Strong partnerships between staff, pupils, parents, and carers.
• Pupils feel safe and happy, and learn how to be safe in various situations.
• Teachers have high expectations of pupils' learning and achieve well.
• Pupils enjoy taking up a wide range of responsibilities in school.
• Older pupils look out for and help younger pupils.
• Staff are knowledgeable in identifying and helping pupils with SEND.
• Leaders are re-establishing trips and fieldwork that stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Areas to improve:

• Reading books are not matched well enough to the phonics knowledge of a small number of pupils with SEND, stopping them from reading accurately and fluently.
• In some subjects, pupils cannot remember some key concepts or knowledge, meaning they are not secure in their prior learning or ready to embark on new learning.
• In a few subjects, the curriculum content does not match the ambition of the national curriculum nor is it ordered well enough to guide teachers on what should be taught and when this should happen.

Safeguarding: The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with leaders being alert to safeguarding issues, identifying pupils who may be at risk of harm, and making sure that all staff are well-trained and up-to-date.