Creech St Michael Church of England Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 20 January 2026

Pupils enjoy attending this welcoming school. They develop warm relationships with staff. This helps pupils to feel cared for. Children in the early years get off to a positive start that prepares them well for their education journey ahead. In contrast, as pupils move further up the school, they do not learn the curriculum well enough. New leaders have acted quickly to identify what needs to improve. However, the changes that they have made are recent. It is too early to see their impact on how well pupils learn. As a result, many pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are not well prepared for their next stage of education. While most pupils enjoy coming to school and attend well, disadvantaged pupils, including those with SEND, do not attend well enough. Leaders have made uniting the school community a priority. They have re-established the school's vision and values. Staff and pupils have worked together to enrich the school values, including adding ‘peace’ and ‘forgiveness’. Pupils understand these and recognise how they help them to make positive choices. These changes are improving pupils’ attitudes towards learning. Even so, when learning is not well matched to pupils’ needs, some pupils lose focus. This leads to low-level disruption that interrupts learning. Pupils value their friendships. Most pupils say that bullying is rare and that adults deal with it quickly. This helps them to feel safe and confident that staff will help them if they have any worries. Pupils enjoy taking on responsibilities that contribute to school life and beyond, such as becoming eco warriors, sports leaders or librarians. These roles help pupils feel that they can make a positive difference to their school and wider community.

What the school should improve

• Leaders should support staff to develop their teaching expertise and subject knowledge to ensure the curriculum is taught consistently well across subjects. • Leaders should improve how well staff identify and support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and check that this support is helping these pupils to learn the curriculum well. • Leaders should ensure that teachers check how well pupils learn and remember new knowledge and use this to design learning that builds on what pupils already know. • Leaders should improve pupils’ accuracy in their writing across subjects, particularly in handwriting, spelling, grammar and punctuation, so that pupils secure the knowledge they need to be well prepared for the next stage. • Leaders should ensure that the attendance and punctuality of disadvantaged pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, improves and that persistent absence reduces. • Leaders should ensure that staff in early years engage children in high-quality interactions with more consistency so that children develop their language and communication in readiness for the next stage.

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