The Firs Lower School

Overview

The Firs Lower School continues to be a good school, where pupils feel happy, safe, and supported by staff who care deeply about their well-being. Leaders maintain high expectations for education, ensuring pupils achieve well through effective teaching and a broad curriculum, though some areas require further development.

Strengths

• Pupils enjoy school, feel secure, and benefit from a culture where bullying is "extremely rare" and concerns are addressed promptly.
• Effective teaching in English, mathematics, and science helps pupils build understanding of important knowledge over time.
• Leaders ensure all pupils learn to read fluently, with early intervention preventing children from falling behind.
• Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive effective support and are fully included in lessons and leadership opportunities.
• Staff are positive about the training, support, and collaborative approach provided by school leaders.

Areas to improve

• Leaders must identify and precisely order the important knowledge in a minority of foundation subjects to ensure pupils build the same depth of understanding as in other areas.
• Leaders need to ensure that learning activities in the pre-school outdoor area are of the same high quality and effectiveness as those in the rest of the provision.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with staff receiving appropriate training to identify risks and leaders maintaining effective relationships with external agencies to support pupils.