Birchfield Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 13 September 2022

Pupils are happy and confident individuals. They readily speak to visitors and wave to them. The school site and classrooms are safe environments. Pupils learn to keep themselves safe and know they can talk to a trusted adult if they have any worries. Leaders want the best for all pupils. Staff build caring and positive relationships with children as soon as children join early years. This enables children to settle in quickly and feel valued. Adults have high expectations and pupils live up to these. Pupils behave well in lessons and around the school. They know and adhere fully to both the school's and British values. Pupils can articulate what different forms of bullying exist. Staff and leaders deal with any incidents quickly and firmly. Leaders seek and act on the views of parents and carers regularly. They host workshops and curriculum exhibitions for parents to help involve them in their child's learning. Pupils have lots of opportunities to take part in clubs, visits and events. These activities add greatly to what they learn in lessons.

What the school should improve

• In a small number of subjects, leaders have not identified the precise knowledge, skills and subject vocabulary they want pupils to know, use and remember. This means that important content can be missed. Leaders should ensure that they apply the same strong models seen in other subjects to all subjects.
• The amount of PE curriculum time dedicated to swimming is not effective. As a result, many pupils do not learn to swim competently, confidently and proficiently. Leaders should consider how well their planned curricular goals for swimming are achieved by pupils in the light of the time allocated.
• Targets set for pupils with SEND, who receive intervention support, are often too imprecise. This means that staff cannot measure or assess the progress of these pupils. Leaders should ensure that targets are achievable, measurable and precise.
• Too many pupils continue to be persistently absent. As a result, these pupils miss important lessons and learning. Leaders should continue to work with those parents who do not yet recognise the importance of regular school attendance for their child to improve their attendance.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)