Whitfield St James' CofE (VC) Primary School

Overview: Whitfield St James' CofE (VC) Primary School is a good school where pupils are proud to attend and feel safe. The school has a strong moral purpose and leaders have improved the school since the previous inspection.

Strengths:

• Pupils are happy and feel safe, with a strong sense of community and respect for each other.
• Leaders have established high behavioural expectations, which are met, and pupils have positive attitudes.
• Opportunities for pupils' personal development are positive, with strong pastoral care and a focus on developing pupils' characters, resilience and self-confidence.
• The school has a clear vision, passion and determination, with leaders leading with a strong moral purpose.
• The school has a strong focus on reading, with staff nurturing a love of reading and pupils enjoying daily reading sessions.
• Leaders identify and support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities very effectively.

Areas to improve:

• Some foundation subjects are not as ambitious as they could be, with pupils not consistently challenged in all aspects of these subjects.
• Leaders have not established secure approaches to assessment in all foundation subjects, with teachers not fully checking pupils' learning in these subjects.

Safeguarding: The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with leaders and staff knowing and understanding their responsibilities, receiving regular training and updates, and ensuring that pupils are kept safe.