Western Church of England Primary School

Overview

This is a warm and welcoming school where staff care deeply about pupils, fostering respectful and nurturing relationships. The report states that the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management are all ‘Good’. However, early years provision ‘Requires improvement’, as expectations for young children are not sufficiently high.

Strengths

• Pupils are ‘polite and well behaved’, working hard in lessons and playing ‘sensibly’ during breaktimes.
• Leaders have ‘thoughtfully broken down the knowledge and skills’ across the curriculum, with effective teaching in subjects like mathematics.
• Reading is a ‘high priority’, with a clear phonics programme and regular support ensuring pupils ‘achieve well in reading’.
• The ‘Western Wellbeing’ curriculum helps pupils understand online risks and different faiths, preparing them for ‘life in modern Britain’.
• Governors ‘hold leaders to account effectively’ and provide high-quality professional development for staff.

Areas to improve

• In early years, activities in continuous provision lack a ‘clear learning focus’, meaning children do not have well-considered opportunities to deepen their learning.
• There are ‘variabilities in how staff identify gaps in pupils’ knowledge’, meaning teachers must better check what pupils can do and design tasks to address these gaps.
• There are not enough opportunities for pupils to apply ‘high-quality writing’ skills across the wider curriculum.

Safeguarding

The report states that ‘the arrangements for safeguarding are effective’.