Arkwright Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thoroughly enjoy attending this warm and welcoming school.

Lunchtimes are sociable occasions when pupils play together happily in the school's extensive grounds. Pupils say their school is special because staff make them feel safe and cared for. Pupils listen carefully to each other.

Some act as well-being ambassadors who are proud of their role to help their peers sort out problems.

The school's values of 'respect, resilience and responsibility' are known and understood by all. Pupils clearly explain the importance of respecting each other's differences.

They try their best to gain silver and gold cards for impressive work and kind actions. R...ewards and rare incidents of inappropriate conduct are tracked with meticulous care.

The school has raised its expectations of what all pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), will be able to do by the time they move on.

New approaches to teaching have raised standards. Reception-age children are well prepared for Year 1. Pupils become fluent mathematicians, ready for secondary school.

Parents and carers praise the school's effective communication and inclusive ethos.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders, including those responsible for governance, have guided the school skilfully through a time of rapid change. They have thought carefully about how to ensure that staff have the subject knowledge they need while being mindful of staff well-being.

Staff, including those who are new to the school, feel well supported. Everyone at the school shares a determination to make sure that everything they do is in the best interest of pupils. The school has developed close partnerships with parents, and pupils' attendance has improved as a result.

The school has ensured that everyone works together to make sure that pupils are benefiting from the improvements that have been made.

Children get off to a strong start in the early years. Staff make sure that children learn to communicate effectively.

They spot when children have additional needs and make sure that support is put in place straight away. Children revel in the words that they know. For example, they explain that they are selling kiwi fruit and mint-choc-chip ice creams in their role-play shop.

Every effort is made to ensure that all pupils learn to read fluently. Staff quickly identify when pupils need extra support, including pupils with SEND. This helps pupils to keep up with their classmates.

Books match the sounds that pupils know with precision. Pupils get plenty of practice so that they can become fluent and expressive readers. Pupils in key stage 2 talk with interest about the books they have read and recommend texts knowledgeably.

Improvements to the writing curriculum are recent. Teachers encourage pupils to use a wide range of words and phrases, ensuring that pupils know what new words mean. Effective demonstrations show pupils how to build these words into powerful descriptions.

Pupils learn to write with imagination and flair, for example describing how, 'The Northern Lights shine and twirl like a pot of glitter, spilling into the atmosphere.' However, expectations of pupils' handwriting are not high enough. While some pupils can write in a fluent style, they do not do this consistently.

Pupils work hard and concentrate well when learning mathematics. They recall multiplication facts fluently and enjoy competing against each other, and the headteacher, to see who can get the right answer fastest. Staff know exactly how to support pupils with SEND when learning mathematics.

These pupils can work out how much is one more than a given number. Skilful questioning helps them to explain their understanding, for example, describing who is taller or shorter.

Pupils enjoy learning about different times and how people lived in the past.

Teachers check pupils' understanding closely. They provide useful information about forms of transport that pupils have not encountered before, such as canals. Pupils compare features of Ancient Greek civilisations with the Shang Dynasty.

However, sometimes the activities that teachers plan do not help pupils to secure their learning. This makes it harder for pupils to remember what has been covered previously.

There are many chances for pupils to develop a wide range of interests and talents.

Pupils are proud of all the plants that they have grown in their 'Pumpkin Patch'. Connections between the school and its community have deepened as pupils have started to develop their green fingers on local allotments. Pupils benefit from meeting followers of a range of different faiths and cultures.

They can explain how those who have religious and non-religious world views may respond to the big questions that life presents.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• On occasions, activities that pupils are given are not designed well enough to develop pupils' learning.

When this happens, pupils do not have the chance to recall prior knowledge and use it meaningfully, and so their learning is hampered. The school should ensure that tasks are matched to what it is that it wants pupils to know and be able to do so that pupils learn with consistent success. ? The curriculum for handwriting is at an early stage of development.

Not all staff model handwriting effectively, and expectations of how pupils will write are inconsistent. Some pupils do not write as well as they could. The school should ensure that staff have the knowledge they need to teach handwriting consistently well and that pupils have enough chances to embed this learning and use it fluently.