Crawford's Church of England Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 24 January 2023

Pupils at Crawford's are very happy. Pupils have positive relationships with adults in the school. During lessons, pupils know that they are expected to behave well and work hard. Pupils do this well. Pupils enjoy their learning. This helps them to develop a good knowledge of what they have learned. Pupils talk with enthusiasm about their class stories. They recite rhymes from classic A A Milne texts with confidence. Pupils have access to an exceptionally wide variety of resources to encourage play and exploration. Pupils build dens, role play shops, create 'potions', and climb crates and trees. They create huge, collaborative artworks and make minibeast habitats. Pupils work with others and develop their play over several days. They are aware of risk and consider what they must do to minimise this. Pupils look out for each other and make sure that everyone is included. Pupils across the school are benefiting from the improved reading and mathematics curriculum. All pupils can access the planned learning because teachers make sure that those pupils who need it have additional support. Bullying and unkind behaviour are rare. Pupils are clear that when this does happen, staff sort it out quickly.

What the school should improve

• In a few subjects, and for outdoor learning, leaders' curriculum planning and thinking are not detailed. Leaders have not clearly identified the important knowledge and skills that they want pupils to learn and build on from year to year. This hinders pupils' progress. Leaders should ensure that their curriculum plans identify important knowledge and skills and order these in a way that enables pupils to make strong progress in all areas of the curriculum.
• There are inconsistencies in the way in which writing and handwriting are taught across the school. A minority of pupils do not have enough opportunities to practise and use their writing knowledge in subjects other than English. Some pupils develop poor pencil grip and letter formation. This is not picked up by teachers. Leaders need to ensure that all pupils have enough opportunities to write and that the chosen ways of teaching writing and handwriting are taught effectively in all year groups. Leaders need to ensure that the quality of pupils' written work is of a high standard in all subjects.

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