Church Road is a welcoming and caring school where pupils feel happy, safe and looked after. Pupils behave well as a result of the supportive atmosphere created by staff. Pupils follow the school rules. This helps them take a full part in their learning. Pupils’ positive behaviour is celebrated throughout the school. Pupils are proud when they wear the yellow jumper for demonstrating the school values. The pupils we spoke to told us that there is very occasional bullying in the school, but that staff sort this out quickly. Pupils enjoy their learning. Leaders have high expectations for every member of the school community. They have ensured that all pupils, including those pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), access a wide and balanced curriculum. Pupils are taught about different cultures and beliefs. They appreciate the differences between people. Pupils take part in a range of academic and sporting clubs. These help pupils enhance their learning and develop their character. Parents and carers appreciate the efforts that staff make for their children. As one parent commented: ‘The work ethic I see within school is incredible, the staff are a close, tight knit team, taking the school in the right direction.’ What does the school do well and what does it need to do better? Staff have refined and developed an ambitious curriculum. Across the school, the curriculum is sequenced to enable pupils to know more and remember more as they move from class to class. This has resulted in improvements to how well all pupils achieve. When required, the curriculum is adapted appropriately to meet the needs of pupils with SEND. Pupils are engaged in their learning. They behave well. The work they complete supports them to know more and remember more. Pupils spoke with enthusiasm about famous people and significant events in history and how they apply logical thought when programming sequences in computing. In science they could talk about some important scientific ideas, such as the way light travels, but they were not able to say how they could test out their ideas scientifically. The present curriculum does not enable pupils to fully explore or explain the scientific process. In the early years, children settle quickly at the start of the school day. Parents are welcomed in the classroom. A well-resourced learning environment allows children to develop their knowledge and skills across all areas of learning. Skilled teachers and teaching assistants promote early reading and mathematics well. Activities are designed to help children to learn and to encourage their love of learning. Pretending to be astronauts allowed children to explore language. Picking up creepy Inspection report: Church Road Primary School 28–29 January 2020 2 crawlies with tweezers helped them to improve their fine motor development, in readiness for forming letters when writing. Leaders have made reading a priority. The early reading and phonics curriculum gives children a strong start. Children learn the sounds that letters make and begin to read simple sentences. If anyone falls behind, support helps them catch up quickly. At times, books that children and pupils read are not matched well enough to what they are learning. This stops them from practising new sounds. Leaders are taking action to redress this situation. Older pupils benefit from a carefully planned approach to reading. They read regularly from books written by a wide range of authors and poets. Pupils share class novels that help them to plan and structure their writing. They practise the skills of grammar and punctuation daily. However, they do not join these two aspects of writing together consistently well when faced with a writing task. While they achieve well in the national tests for spelling, grammar and punctuation, they do less well when their independent written work is assessed. Pupils are encouraged to live healthy lifestyles. They know how to keep themselves safe both online and in the real world. They have a range of activities to take part in during the school day and beyond. Pupils enjoy archery, football and dodgeball. They are also able to compete in disability sports such as boccia, which demonstrates the school’s commitment to inclusion. Staff support pupils to become active citizens. The school council raised money to help older people in the community. Pupils accept and celebrate the characteristics that make us all unique. Twice a year, pupils have the opportunity to visit places of worship to develop their understanding of different faiths. Attendance has improved, but it is still lower than that in other schools nationally. Leaders know this. They are working to ensure that more pupils are in school more of the time. Teachers have recently taken on more responsibility for leading their curriculum areas. They received training to help then perform these roles. Leaders take care to manage the workload of the staff and focus on their development as teachers and leaders.