Cotham Gardens Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 10 December 2024

Pupils do not receive an acceptable standard of education at Cotham Gardens. The school's expectations of pupils' achievement are low. The impact of the school's curriculum is weak. Consequently, pupils are unprepared for the next stage of their education. The support that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive to learn the curriculum is poor. The school has not done enough to identify and address these weaknesses over time. This has been compounded further by turbulence in leadership and governance. Pupils are happy and safe. They know that staff will help them if they have any worries. Pupils' conduct around the school building is sensible and purposeful. However, the school's expectations of pupils' behaviour for learning are not high enough. Pupils experience disruption to their learning. Staff do not apply the school's behaviour policy consistently well. Beyond the classroom, pupils socialise happily. There are some opportunities for pupils to take on leadership responsibilities. This helps them to develop confidence and responsibility. For example, pupils can become school councillors or classroom monitors. Some pupils develop their talents and interests through clubs, such as choir. However, these opportunities are limited.

What the school should improve

• The school, including the trust, lacks the capacity to bring about the necessary changes to pupils' learning at the required pace. A lack of oversight has led to a decline in the quality of education that pupils receive. The school and the trust must strengthen leadership capacity at all levels so that improvements are rapid and sustainable.
• The school has not ensured that staff have the knowledge and expertise that they need to deliver curriculum content. This means that pupils do not build a secure body of knowledge over time. This leads to gaps in their knowledge that go unchecked. As a result, pupils are not prepared for the next stage of their learning. The school must ensure that staff are well-informed and suitably guided to teach the agreed curriculum and to identify and remedy gaps in pupils' learning.
• Pupils with SEND do not receive the support that they need to learn all that they should. Consequently, pupils with SEND do not achieve well enough. The school must ensure that staff are suitably equipped to enable pupils with SEND to learn the curriculum so that they achieve well in all aspects of school life.
• Some pupils in the early stages of learning to read do not get the support that they need to catch up. The texts that they are given are sometimes too difficult for them to read. Beyond phonics, the reading curriculum is not designed to address pupils' gaps in knowledge. This prevents these pupils from becoming accurate, confident and fluent readers. The school should ensure that the phonics programme and the reading curriculum are implemented fully to allow all pupils to succeed.
• The curriculum for some areas of learning in the early years does not enable children to achieve well. In addition, not enough is done to widen children's vocabulary and their communication and language skills. Consequently, children are not as well prepared for Year 1 as they should be. The school must ensure that staff have sufficient expertise to interact with children purposefully and deliver the curriculum for all areas of learning effectively.
• Staff do not follow the behaviour policy consistently well. At times, some pupils do not behave as well as they should. This disrupts the learning of others. The school should ensure that staff implement the behaviour policy as intended.
• The personal development offer is not implemented as well as intended. This means that pupils do not build a secure body of knowledge over time. It leads to gaps in pupils' understanding and means they are not as well prepared as they should be for life in modern Britain. The school must ensure that staff are suitably equipped to deliver the curriculums that promote pupils' personal development. HMCI strongly recommends that the school does not seek to appoint early career teachers. The position regarding the appointment of early career teachers will be considered again during any monitoring inspection we carry out.

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