Bankside Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This school is a welcoming and friendly place for pupils. They feel, and are, safe.

Strong relationships between staff and pupils are evident across the school. The school has established clear processes to work with parents and carers prior to pupils joining the school. The 'Birth to Bankside' programme enables parents and children to become familiar with the school from an early stage.

Consequently, children settle quickly into the early years. A significant number of pupils arrive at the school at different times of the year. They are welcomed by their peers and soon make friends.

The school has worked to improve pupils' behaviour. The school has ensured t...hat expectations are clear for pupils and staff to understand. Consequently, incidents of poor behaviour have significantly reduced.

Pupils move around school calmly. They play well with each other at playtimes. Pupils behave well in class.

They sometimes become less engaged when work in lessons is too easy or too difficult.

The school is going through a significant period of change and improvement. Newly established leaders are resolute in their ambition to provide a high-quality education for pupils.

Pupils' achievement in national tests in recent years has been too low. Pupils are benefitting from an improved curriculum and greater ambition but there is still some variation in the quality of education that they receive.

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

The school's curriculum is broad and ambitious.

Some subjects are established. Others are less well developed. The school has ensured that the curriculum is appropriately sequenced.

It has broken down the skills that pupils must learn. In less developed subjects, the school has not precisely identified the important knowledge that pupils must learn. This makes it difficult for teachers to prioritise what pupils must be taught.

Within lessons, teachers do not consistently explain new concepts clearly. On occasion, they provide pupils with too much information. This prevents pupils from understanding clearly and using and applying what they have learned fully.

The school supports pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) in a variety of ways. Pupils who access the Rainbow Room are taught a bespoke curriculum. The school has a clear understanding of the needs of these pupils.

It provides bespoke learning opportunities that support their individual learning and development needs well. Within classes, pupils with SEND actively participate in lessons. The school has established ways to identify pupils' individual needs.

However, it does not consistently ensure that steps to support pupils' learning are precise enough. This makes it difficult for the school to to evaluate the progress that pupils with SEND make in their learning.

The school has implemented a consistent approach to the teaching of phonics.

Staff provide regular opportunities for children in the early years to develop their communication, language and vocabulary. Children in the early years enjoy listening to, and participating in, stories, rhymes and songs. Children learn the sounds that letters make from the beginning of their time in Reception.

Pupils learn to use their knowledge of phonics to help them to read and write an increasing range of sentences. Pupils read books that are matched to their phonics knowledge. This helps them learn to read with fluency and accuracy.

The school has recently updated and replenished the selection of books available to pupils. This now includes books from a variety of cultures and genres. This supports pupils well to develop a love of reading.

Children in the early years engage positively in a range of age-appropriate activities. Staff have established strong relationships with children. This helps children to become confident and independent learners.

Sometimes, staff do not extend children's learning consistently well. This hampers children's progression through the curriculum.

Visitors to school, including community police officers, teach pupils about how to keep safe, including online.

Pupils value these opportunities. Older pupils speak confidently about what they have learned recently about knife crime, smoking and vaping. Some pupils do not demonstrate the same depth of knowledge about growing up in modern Britain.

They have a limited understanding of fundamental British values and protected characteristics.

Over time, pupils' rates of absence have been significantly above national figures. The school has implemented rigorous processes to check that pupils attend school regularly.

These are beginning to positively impact on pupils' rates of attendance and punctuality. However, the school recognises that there is still work to do.

The governing board has also been through a period of change.

It has focused its actions on ensuring that the school site is a safe place for pupils and staff to be. Governors have overseen the development of the school's curriculum. They recognise the need to establish systems to check that the actions taken by the school are having the intended impact.

Most staff consider the changes in school to be positive. However, some are concerned about the impact on their workload. The school does not have a clear process for leaders, including those with responsibility for governance, to check that its actions are improving staff workload and well-being.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The school has not clearly defined the specific knowledge that pupils must learn across the curriculum as they progress through the school. It is difficult for teachers to accurately identify and address pupils' gaps in learning.

The school should ensure that its curriculum clearly identifies the knowledge that pupils must learn alongside the skills. ? The school does not carefully check that the changes it makes are having the intended impact. Weaknesses are not consistently or precisely identified.

As a consequence, the school is not clear about whether actions taken to improve the school are working, or what the consequences are on staff workload and well-being. The school should further refine its strategies to check the impact of its actions on pupils' learning and staff workload. ? The school's strategies to improve attendance are not successfully reaching some pupils well enough.

Some pupils do not attend school regularly enough. They miss out on important learning opportunities. The school should continue its work with families to improve pupils' rates of attendance.

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