Cherrywood Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Cherrywood is a happy and welcoming school.

Parents and carers speak highly of how staff 'go the extra mile' in the care and support that they provide. The school is committed to building strong relationships with the community. It seeks every opportunity to work with families and to support pupils with their learning, both at school and at home.

Pupils generally behave well and build positive and respectful friendships with their peers. They trust staff to keep them safe.

The school is ambitious for pupils to thrive in both their learning and wider development.

Pupils achieve well throughout the school and model positive values. They understand the ...importance of good physical health and enjoy the many opportunities they have to participate in sports activities. Pupils enjoy special events, such as 'cultural week', which helps them to experience different customs from around the world.

They appreciate the trips that help to enrich their learning.

This is a highly inclusive school. Staff really understand the challenges that some pupils may face.

They help pupils to be reflective and mindful of how their actions can affect others. As a result, most pupils make positive and kind choices.

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

Pupils learn from a carefully designed curriculum that helps them to develop strong foundations for learning from the early years upwards.

The school encourages pupils to be curious and resilient. Pupils enjoy discovering new knowledge and sharing their ideas. Pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), achieve well in this school.

They develop reading, writing and mathematical skills that prepare them effectively for the next stages of their education.

Teachers understand the different needs of pupils very well. This allows them to design suitable lesson activities to benefit pupils.

Staff have strong subject knowledge, which helps them to explain new ideas in a clear and interesting way. Teachers regularly check pupils' understanding so that any misconceptions are quickly identified and addressed. This helps pupils to build up their knowledge over time and to remember important information.

The school provides effective support for pupils with SEND. From the earliest stages of pupils' learning, teachers adjust the curriculum and give the right support to pupils who need it. This helps pupils to grow in confidence and independence as they move through the school.

Reading is prioritised as soon as children start in Reception. Story time is an important daily routine that helps pupils to foster a love of reading. The school organises phonics teaching so that pupils learn in targeted groups that match the stage of their reading.

However, phonics teaching is not consistently effective. Sometimes, pupils do not have sufficient practice when learning new sounds and are unable to recognise these sounds when reading. Occasionally, teaching does not support pupils in securing accurate and efficient techniques for reading unfamiliar words.

Staff have high expectations for pupils' behaviour. Starting from early years, children learn positive routines, such as taking turns, listening and helping each other. As pupils move through the school, expectations are consistently reinforced.

As a result, the vast majority of pupils show high levels of respect and behave well. They are enthusiastic about their learning and build positive relations with one another. Most pupils model the school values well and recognise the importance of equality.

They are proud to be part of a diverse community and are keen to learn about other cultures. The school provides ongoing support to the few pupils who need additional help to manage their emotions and behaviours. This work often helps pupils to reflect on their words and actions and to make more positive choices.

However, a very small number of pupils do not respond as effectively to this support and persist in using discriminatory language. The school is swift to challenge and address these incidents when they occur but recognises that there is further work to do in ensuring this behaviour does not continue.

Most pupils attend school regularly and are keen to learn.

The school takes effective action to promote positive attendance, and it is thorough in following up where pupils do not attend as often as they should.

Governors are knowledgeable and supportive of the school. They share a common sense of purpose and work effectively with leaders to ensure that the provision continues to improve.

Staff feel highly supported in managing their workload. They appreciate that leaders prioritise their 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)

• Some teaching of reading does not help pupils to secure and apply their phonics skills accurately. As a result, some pupils do not learn to read as quickly or well as they should. The school should ensure all staff have the expertise to teach phonics and reading effectively.

• The school's work to challenge prejudicial language is not consistently effective. While the vast majority of pupils behave well and show positive attitudes, a very small number continue to use discriminatory language. The school should redouble its efforts to ensure discriminatory behaviours are successfully challenged and not enabled to spread.

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