St Oswald's Worleston CofE Primary School

Overview

Pupils feel a strong sense of belonging in this “caring learning environment” and “love coming to” school. Leaders are “ambitious for all pupils,” ensuring that children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, “typically achieve well” across a broad and balanced curriculum.

Strengths

• The “connected curriculum” is carefully designed, helping pupils to “learn and remember more” in most subjects.
• Reading is prioritised from the early years, with staff teaching phonics “consistently well” so pupils become “confident readers.”
• Teachers “skilfully adapt” the curriculum for pupils with SEND, allowing them to access the full range of learning.
• Pupils are “polite and courteous,” with effective systems in place to deal with bullying and poor behaviour.
• Leaders actively work to reduce staff workload and place “pupils’ and staff’s well-being at the centre” of discussions.

Areas to improve

• Leaders must “finalise their curriculum thinking” in a small number of subjects where the order of teaching is not fully developed.
• Teachers should use assessment systems “consistently well” in a few subjects to check retention and prevent unchecked misconceptions.
• Leaders need to ensure that “levels of persistent absence reduce” for the small proportion of pupils who do not attend often enough.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are “effective,” with clear systems to identify at-risk pupils and staff who report concerns “quickly and diligently.”