Church Walk CofE Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 10 March 2026

Pupils have positive relationships with staff and with each other. They know that they can share their worries with trusted adults at school. Children in the early years enjoy engaging with the nurturing staff. Older pupils support others through their roles as play leaders and reading buddies. Leaders tackle any bullying or discrimination, should they occur. Pupils enjoy school and attend well. They enter the school calmly when they arrive and behave positively at social times. However, there are occasions, during lessons, where some pupils become disengaged. This distracts others from their learning. While pupils are keen to learn, the quality of their work in books does not consistently reflect positive attitudes to learning. Leaders are aware of this. They are in the early stages of sharpening the school’s behaviour policy to ensure that their expectations are consistently understood and adhered to by pupils. Pupils have many opportunities to develop their talents. Leaders use additional funding to ensure that all pupils can access, without financial barriers, musical instrument tuition. Over half of the pupils in the school learn to play an instrument. Pupils participate in a range of extra-curricular physical activities. These include tennis, gymnastics, dance, netball and football. The school also offers clubs linked to pupils’ interests. These include art, LEGO, chess and nature clubs. Leaders track participation in these activities. There is high take-up from pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils learn a broad curriculum. Leaders enrich this with trips that broaden pupils’ experiences and prepare them for life in modern Britain. Staff support pupils with SEND effectively in lessons, which reduces barriers to their learning. Pupils typically achieve well in national tests. However, some do not develop the important knowledge they need, such as in mathematics and handwriting. Governors do not provide effective challenge to hold leaders to account for improving this aspect of their work.

What the school should improve

• Leaders should embed recent improvements to the teaching of handwriting and mathematics to ensure that pupils gain the fluency and knowledge they need in these aspects of their learning.
• Leaders should ensure that they, and teachers, use assessment processes effectively to support them in identifying and addressing precise gaps in pupils’ foundational knowledge.
• Leaders should ensure that pupils understand and consistently follow the school’s expectations of their behaviour, so that they can learn in a calm environment and focus fully on their learning.
• Governors should strengthen their oversight of the quality and impact of the curriculum so that they can provide effective challenge and support to leaders.

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