Cotmanhay Junior School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 10 December 2024

Cotmanhay Junior School has high expectations of all pupils. This is reflected in the school's aim for 'happy, safe learning'. Daily, pupils do their best to live up to this. The school is a calm, caring and nurturing community. Each child is known, valued and wellcared for. Pupils feel understood and looked after. Relationships between staff and pupils are consistently exemplary. Pupils behave well. They know the school's rules of, 'be kind, stay safe and work hard'. They add that there are 'no excuses' for not following these. Earning reward points and the different coloured certificates motivate pupils. The gold certificate is held in very high regard. Pupils look forward to celebrating each other's achievements in special mentions assemblies. Pupils who need help to live up to the school's expectations are well supported. They receive personalised help to understand and manage their behaviour. They are encouraged and supported by their peers. In lessons, pupils work hard. They pay good attention and follow instructions carefully. However, there are some weaknesses in how well pupils learn the curriculum. This means that pupils do not, over time, achieve as well as they should.

What the school should improve

• There are inconsistencies in how well teachers help pupils to know and remember content. As a result, pupils do not remember what they have learned as well as they should. This is reflected in the low outcomes of national assessments over recent years. The school should ensure that teaching results in pupils consistently learning and remembering the content of the curriculum.
• In some lessons, teachers do not check closely enough on how well pupils are acquiring content. This means that teaching is not always closely matched to pupils' learning. The school should ensure that teachers consistently assess how well pupils achieve in lessons and, where necessary, adapt teaching in light of this.
• A significant proportion of the curriculum has been recently reviewed and improved. While these improvements are fit for purpose, they remain at an early stage of implementation. They have not yet had time to impact fully on what pupils know and remember. The school should ensure that recent improvements to the curriculum are embedded and result in pupils recalling content consistently.
• In some cases, teachers do not teach the sounds contained in the school's phonics programme correctly. They use 'impure' sounds. Pupils go on to replicate this when segmenting and blending words. As a result, some pupils do not use phonics as accurately as they should. The school should ensure that, across all phonics lessons, teachers use the correct pronunciation of sounds and ensure that pupils do the same.

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