St Matthew's CofE Primary School

Overview: St Matthew's CofE Primary School is an inclusive and nurturing school where pupils enjoy coming to school and feel safe and cared for. The school's values of 'aim high, encourage and have faith' are deeply rooted throughout the school, and leaders and teachers have high expectations for all pupils.

Strengths:

• The school is inclusive and nurturing, with leaders and staff building trusting and respectful relationships with every pupil.
• Pupils have good attitudes to learning and work hard in their lessons.
• Teachers have high expectations for pupils' behaviour, and pupils behave well in class and around the school.
• Leaders have high ambition for pupils with SEND, and teachers adapt subject planning to enable pupils to access the full curriculum and achieve well.
• The school provides a wide range of opportunities for pupils to develop their personal skills, including outdoor learning, educational trips, and sporting activities.

Areas to improve:

• Pupils are not explicitly taught the key vocabulary they need in all subjects, which means that sometimes they find it difficult to recall knowledge and articulate what they have been learning.
• In a small number of subjects, technical vocabulary has not been planned as well, which can lead to pupils struggling to recall knowledge or talk about their learning.

Safeguarding: The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with leaders delivering regular safeguarding training for staff, clear systems in place to report concerns, and a wide range of external agencies working with the school to ensure pupils are safe.