St Mary's Church of England Primary School, Portbury

Overview: St Mary's Church of England Primary School, Portbury, provides a positive and inclusive learning environment where pupils demonstrate highly positive attitudes to their learning. The school has created an ambitious curriculum that builds on prior learning, and pupils deepen their understanding of key concepts and themes. However, some staff do not check pupils' knowledge of sounds well enough when they are reading, which means misconceptions are not addressed and pupils' reading fluency and confidence is stalled.

Strengths:

• Pupils love coming to school and appreciate how teachers make learning fun.
• Teachers create a learning environment where all pupils can succeed, and pupils are motivated to learn and are eager to impress their teachers.
• The school creates an inclusive learning environment, and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are identified effectively, and leaders ensure that teachers monitor all pupils so they get the support they need.
• Pupils are highly motivated to learn well and live up to the high expectations staff have of them in lessons and at social times.
• The trust and governing board are effective by holding leaders to account for the quality of education, and their skills have been instrumental in developing the school's curriculum.

Areas to improve:

• Some staff do not check pupils' knowledge of sounds well enough when they are reading, which means misconceptions are not addressed and pupils' reading fluency and confidence is stalled.
• In some cases, pupils misread the sounds they know, and these incorrect sounds are not always addressed well enough by staff.

Safeguarding: The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.