Clough and Risegate Community Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 18 June 2024

Pupils are rightly proud of the school. A pupil, echoing the views of many, commented, 'It's an honour to be at this school. It means a lot to all of us.' Another said, 'It's adventurous and fun!' Pupils are welcoming, polite and respectful. They are treasured, nurtured and cared for. Their welfare and well-being are supported through strong pastoral care. Pupils and adults live out daily the school's motto, 'Together everyone achieves more'. High expectations of behaviour are met. Lunchtimes are joyous and sociable occasions. Pupils care for one another. Older pupils delight in looking out for, and playing with, younger pupils. Pupils have positive attitudes to learning. They achieve well. Pupils gain from varied outdoor experiences. They marvel as they explore a beehive. They take pride in their fruit and vegetable growing. Pupils take their leadership responsibility seriously, for example, as road safety officers and house captains. They value a wide range of clubs and activities, including the choir, crochet and crafts, drama and sports clubs. Parents and carers are overwhelmingly positive about the school. A parent, typical of many, commented, 'This school is absolutely fantastic, and I wouldn't want my child anywhere else.'

What the school should improve

• Pupils learn well in core and most foundation subjects. However, at times, pupils are not challenged to extend and deepen their learning as much as they could. Consequently, they do not always achieve as well as they could. The school should ensure that pupils are consistently challenged to further deepen learning.
• The substantive and disciplinary knowledge that pupils should learn, and when, is not precisely identified in all subjects. Where this is the case, pupils do not build their knowledge, understanding and skills as well as they could. The school should ensure that the subject curriculums are equally ambitious, thus enabling pupils to build knowledge, understanding and skills progressively.
• Leaders have developed thorough and effective approaches to summative assessment in the core subjects. However, this is not the case in all foundation subjects. Consequently, the school does not have a secure understanding of how well pupils understand and remember what they have learned in these subjects in the long term. The school should ensure that effective summative assessment approaches are embedded so that staff know what pupils know and understand and what pupils need to revisit or learn next in all foundation subjects.

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