Churchtown Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 13 June 2023

Pupils are proud to attend this welcoming school. Relationships between pupils and staff are ones of mutual respect. This helps to create a positive and trusting atmosphere. Staff have high expectations of all pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils live up to these expectations, develop into well-rounded citizens and achieve highly. Pupils' behaviour is exceptional. Staff model and expect the highest standards of behaviour from all pupils. Pupils are polite and courteous and they show 'respect for all'. They conduct themselves maturely in class and around school. If bullying does happen, incidents are dealt with well by leaders. Pupils know that staff will always help them if they need it. This helps pupils to feel happy and safe. All pupils, including pupils with SEND, are offered a wide range of extra-curricular experiences. These include clubs such as chess, drama, choir, dance and boccia. Pupils play together fairly at breaktimes when competing in different sports. Pupils learn about the importance of being active citizens in their community. For example, pupils are proactive in looking after the planet and they have recently organised a local beach clean-up. Leaders have established strong links with organisations within the local community. These links help to enhance further opportunities for pupils' wider development.

What the school should improve

• In some subjects, leaders have not finalised their curriculum thinking. This means that teachers are not sufficiently clear about the building blocks of knowledge in these subjects. Leaders should ensure that teachers have a secure understanding of the knowledge that pupils should gain. This is so that they can design learning that will help pupils to know more, remember more and deepen their understanding of concepts over time.
• In a small number of subjects, teachers are not as confident in using assessment strategies to check on pupils' understanding of key knowledge. This prevents staff from identifying and addressing some pupils' misconceptions in a timely manner. Leaders should develop further their approaches to assessment to ensure that staff use assessment strategies well in these subjects.

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