Cherry Fold Community Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 20 May 2025

Pupils are happy at this welcoming school. Caring staff greet pupils warmly as they arrive at school each morning. Pupils who are new to the school, including those who speak English as an additional language, settle in quickly. Staff support them well to focus on their learning. The school aspires for all pupils to achieve well. However, by the end of Year 6, pupils' attainment in reading, writing and mathematics has been below significantly below average for some time. Weaknesses in how the school delivers the curriculum, together with low attendance rates for some pupils, affects their learning. Pupils are not as well prepared as they should be for their next stages of education. Pupils generally behave well. For example, at breaktimes, most play cooperatively together. However, staff have varied expectations of pupils' behaviour. At times, some pupils do not behave as well as they should. Pupils take advantage of the school's extra-curricular offer. They attend eco-club, football and allotment club. Pupils and carers are included in special events, such as the tea party to commemorate Victory in Europe (VE) day. Visting speakers help pupils to understand and celebrate the differences between people. The 'pupil passport' supports pupils to develop important life skills, such as confidence and independence. These experiences contribute well to pupils' broader development.

What the school should improve

• The school has had limited success in reducing the proportion of pupils who are persistently absent from school. These pupils sometimes find it difficult to catch up on missed learning and their achievement is hampered as a result. The school should ensure that it strengthens its work to improve regular attendance, so that pupils can learn and achieve well.
• A small but significant minority of pupils do not behave as well as they should. On occasion, this makes other pupils anxious and disturbs their learning. The school should ensure that staff have the expertise to secure consistently positive behaviour and maximise learning time for pupils.
• The activities and resources that teachers give to children in the early years often do not reinforce learning. As a result, children have too few opportunities to embed new knowledge and practise new skills. This hinders their readiness for Year 1. The school should ensure that teachers provide tasks and accompanying resources, which give children the opportunity to consolidate their learning and remember more of what they are taught.
• In several subjects, the school has not ensured that the intended curriculum is delivered effectively. In some subjects, insufficient thought is given to the design of pupils' activities to help them remember new learning. Furthermore, information from assessment tasks is not used well enough to identify gaps in pupils' knowledge. This hinders pupils from achieving well. The school should ensure that staff are suitably equipped to deliver the curriculum consistently well and check its impact on pupils' learning.

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