Combe Martin Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 3 December 2024

Pupils take pride in attending this happy and welcoming school. They actively work towards the school's vision, 'aim high, be proud'. The school is working towards realising this shared vision through its efforts to improve the curriculum. With support and guidance from the trust, the work on the curriculum intent demonstrates the high expectations now set for pupils. However, since some of this work is still in its infancy, pupils are not yet reaching this ambition and so they are not yet learning the curriculum well enough. Most pupils show positive attitudes to their learning. Through the development of character, pupils focus on virtues that make a difference to how well they learn and contribute to their community. For example, through the virtue of 'resilience', they know not to give up and to have a go at new challenges. The wide range of opportunities the school provides to pupils is a strength. Trips and experiences enhance the curriculum. For example, a local dentist visits pupils to share the importance of oral hygiene. Pupils learn about beach safety through their annual 'surf life- saving day'. This supports them to keep safe in their community at the local beach.

What the school should improve

• The school does not support some children in the early years well enough to develop important elements of their learning across several areas. As a result, these children do not have the opportunity to build solid foundations to prepare them well for future learning. The trust must develop staff expertise to ensure children deepen their understanding across all areas of learning, preparing them well for key stage 1.
• There is variation in the effectiveness of the implementation of the curriculum. This is because some learning does not consistently meet the ambitions of the intended curriculum. As a result, some pupils do not learn well. The trust must ensure it develops staff expertise to teach the intended curriculum with the same high ambition of the curriculum intent to help pupils learn well across subjects.
• Some checks the school makes on how well pupils are learning the curriculum do not always help pupils to build their knowledge well. As a result, some pupils have gaps and so do not deepen their knowledge based on what they know and remember. The trust needs to ensure that checks are precise so that subsequent learning builds on what pupils know to help pupils to build knowledge securely.

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