Cherry Orchard Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 28 March 2023

Pupils at Cherry Orchard are proud of their school and are happy to be there. They have positive relationships with staff and work well with their peers. The school's values of equality, respect, understanding, courage, friendship and honesty are threaded throughout the life of the school. Pupils embrace differences and show respect for each other. Pupils understand what bullying means. If it happens, adults sort things out quickly. Pupils are kind and take care of each other. They understand the importance of including everyone in school life. Leaders want all pupils to achieve well. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), and pupils in the resource base. The curriculum in almost all subjects helps pupils to do this. Leaders enrich the curriculum through a range of trips and visitors to the school. For example, a 'Roman soldier' has visited Year 4. Leaders provide opportunities to develop talents and interests. Pupils enjoy sports tournaments, singing in the choir and playing musical instruments. Pupils behave well in lessons and around school. Personal development and pastoral care are a strength. Staff know pupils well. They help them to become confident, resilient individuals. Pupils are enthusiastic to learn about different faiths and cultures represented in school.

What the school should improve

• In a small number of subjects, leaders have not identified the specific knowledge they want pupils to learn. As a result, sometimes teachers are not clear what has been taught before and what they need to teach and when. Leaders should continue to develop subject leaders' expertise so that they can make sure that end points are broken down and teachers are clear about the knowledge pupils need to learn and in what order they should learn it.
• In some lessons, teachers do not use assessment effectively to identify when pupils are ready to move on their learning. This means that some pupils do not make the progress through the curriculum that they could. Leaders need to ensure that teachers are able to use assessment effectively in lessons to identify when pupils have understood what is being taught and are ready to move on.
• Teachers do not have consistently high expectations of pupils' letter formation and presentation. This means that some pupils form letters inaccurately. Too many pupils do not take sufficient care with their presentation, which makes their work difficult to read. Leaders need to ensure that handwriting is taught consistently across the school. They should make sure that all teachers have consistently high expectations of pupils' handwriting and presentation and that they address any errors in letter and number formation.

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