Bankside Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 4 February 2025

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 that 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 the school should improve

• 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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