Claypool Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 24 February 2026

Pupils are proud ambassadors for their school. They happily attend each day. Pupils particularly enjoy taking part in exciting trips that enhance their learning in subjects such as history. Pupils have positive relationships with staff and with each other. Bullying incidents are uncommon. When they do occur, staff deal with them promptly. Pupils behave well. They know that they have a right to be safe, to be respected and to learn. Most display high levels of self-control. For example, during the inspection, pupils in key stage 1 bubbled with gentle excitement but waited patiently for their trip to the Royal Horticultural Society community gardens to begin. Pupils learn how to be healthy, happy and kind. This starts in early years, where children learn to sort out minor disagreements calmly and without adult help. Older pupils are keen to take on leadership roles. They know what it means to be an active citizen. Pupils show impressive maturity and a keen sense of responsibility. They know that leaders listen to their views. Members of the school council are proud of their role in improving playground resources. Those in the mental health team enjoy supporting others’ wellbeing. Pupils develop into confident, caring and dependable young people. Pupils now enjoy learning from a well-designed curriculum that is typically taught effectively. This allows them to achieve well. Pupils' needs are accurately identified, including any special educational needs and/or disabilities. Leaders’ work to meet these needs is now generally effective. Leaders have also made sure that pupils now learn to read quickly and accurately. However, in the past, younger pupils did not develop their reading knowledge sufficiently well. Last year, too many pupils in Year 6 did not attain as well as their peers nationally. They were not prepared for their secondary education as well as they should have been.

What the school should improve

• Leaders should ensure that staff who support older pupils' reading develop the necessary expertise to help these pupils read with increasing fluency and accuracy.
• Leaders should ensure that teachers adapt their teaching equally well in different subjects so that, where needed, obstacles to learning are removed effectively for pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Leaders should strengthen the consistency of teachers’ approaches to assessment to ensure that pupils’ errors and misconceptions are identified and addressed in a timely and effective manner.
• Leaders should ensure that teachers provide pupils with high-quality opportunities to extend their writing so that they develop appropriate composition skills and writing stamina.

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