Viking Primary School

Overview

Viking Primary School continues to be a good school, where pupils are “well looked after” and receive “effective pastoral support.” Leaders maintain high expectations, ensuring pupils work hard and learn the curriculum well across a wide range of subjects, while treating each other with respect.

Strengths

• The curriculum is “carefully ordered and organised” with ambitious end-points, and teachers effectively break down ideas into “small, manageable chunks” to support learning.
• Early reading is prioritised with an “ambitious approach to phonics teaching,” ensuring pupils who fall behind are identified early and “catch up quickly.”
• Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities have their specific needs “identified, understood and met effectively.”
• Staff report that leaders are “approachable” and actively look after their “well-being and workload.”
• Pupils benefit from enrichment opportunities, including forest school, museum visits, and roles such as “junior travel ambassadors.”

Areas to improve

• In a few subjects, leaders have not clearly identified the important concepts pupils need to learn, which reduces how effectively pupils deepen their understanding.
• Teaching does not always ensure pupils’ understanding of subject-specific vocabulary is accurate, meaning some words are not “secured and deepened as effectively as leaders intend.”

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with staff being vigilant, training being up to date, and concerns reported promptly to secure the best outcomes for pupils.