Cheriton Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils delight in attending this friendly school.

They enjoy spending time with one another and show genuine care for their peers. They are respectful. Pupils are appointed to a range of roles.

These help them to become responsible and respectful citizens. For example, pupils appointed as well-being ambassadors support other pupils to feel happy and safe. Pupils play joyfully with one another at breaktime.

They are proud of their local and international connections in this culturally diverse school.

The school is ambitious for pupils. Pupils' talents and interests are nurtured.

Pupils achieve well across a broad range of subjects. They show ...interest in what they learn. Pupils develop the ability to make choices and form their own opinions.

They show pride in the work that they produce. They produce work that adorns the corridors and fills class books. Pupils in the choir and Rock Band perform to others in and beyond the school.

Pupils behave well. They are polite and courteous towards adults and one another. Staff care deeply for pupils, helping pupils to learn, grow and flourish.

They make sure that pupils are safe and happy.

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

The school provides a curriculum that matches the needs and interests of pupils well. Leaders have introduced a new curriculum this academic year.

They have worked swiftly to ensure that teachers deliver the curriculum consistently. Staff receive training that helps them to refine the way they teach. Leaders provide staff with time to think through the curriculum developments.

This helps staff manage their workload well. Leaders and governors diligently check pupils gain the knowledge and skills needed to succeed. This ensures that curriculum refinements are embedded swiftly and effectively.

Pupils develop their reading and mathematical knowledge well. Children in the early years have a positive start. They swiftly gain an understanding of reading and number.

They use what they learn in class when they play. This helps them to embed what they learn. For example, children dress up to enact characters in their favourite stories.

This helps them to rehearse new vocabulary with confidence. Older pupils develop their reading fluency well. They read books that match their interest and ability both in school and at home.

The school helps pupils who have fallen behind with their reading to catch up quickly. Pupils apply their mathematical knowledge across a broad range of subjects. For example, they explore measurement in design and technology and analyse graphs in science.

Teachers support pupils well to learn across a broad range of subjects. Children in the early years experience a range of engaging activities. This helps them gain the knowledge needed to transfer with confidence to key stage 1.

Teachers help pupils to recap what they have learned previously. This helps pupils to connect what they have learned to make sense of new learning. Teachers ask helpful questions to encourage pupils to think about what they learn.

However, questions are too often focused on a limited number of pupils. This means that not all pupils have enough opportunities to embed the vocabulary and knowledge outlined in the curriculum.

Teachers identify the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) well.

They provide interventions that support pupils' social and emotional needs. Effective parental engagement initiatives help pupils to feel happy, safe and ready to learn. However, sometimes teaching is not adapted well enough to ensure pupils with SEND achieve as well as they could.

Pupils behave well. Teachers have high expectations of pupils' behaviour. Classrooms are calm, and learning is purposeful.

Pupils talk positively about the school's approach to managing behaviour. They say this approach is fair, and this also helps them to improve their behaviour. The attendance of some pupils does fall below the school's high expectations.

The school is diligently working with families to support pupils to improve their attendance.

Pupils take part in a wide range of activities that go beyond the taught curriculum. They experience a variety of clubs and activities.

The school ensures that disadvantaged pupils get the help they need to benefit fully from these activities. This helps all pupils get involved in the clubs and competitions on offer. The school also provides a range of trips linked to the newly introduced curriculum.

These capitalise on the locality in subjects such as art and design and geography.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Sometimes, and in some subjects, teaching is not adapted well enough to support pupils with SEND.

Where this is the case, some pupils struggle to access their learning. It affects how well some pupils achieve. The school should ensure that teaching approaches are used consistently well and that teaching is adapted effectively to ensure pupils with SEND achieve highly.

• There are inconsistencies in how teachers checks what pupils know and remember, including whether pupils have remembered important subject content and vocabulary. These inconsistencies sometimes affect how well pupils retain and remember key information over time. The school should ensure that approaches for checking pupils know and remember important subject content, including key vocabulary, are embedded.

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