Dodworth St John the Baptist CofE Primary Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 28 November 2023

This is a school that has undergone recent and signifcant change. Some of these changes are happening at pace. Leaders' actions are beginning to make a difference to pupils' learning. Leaders have introduced a new behaviour policy in school. This is beginning to have an impact on how pupils behave and how they feel in school. Leaders are beginning to make the curriculum that pupils learn more ambitious. The changes to the curriculum are at a very early stage. Leaders are making changes to how pupils' behaviour is managed. There are clearer expectations for how pupils should behave and how adults should promote positive behaviour. Pupils welcome these new expectations. For example, they speak enthusiastically about the 'Dodworth Pledge', which promotes kindness, respect and teamwork. Pupils feel safe. However, adults do not make sure that pupils consistently follow these new expectations. Pupils feel that different adults deal with issues in different ways. Leaders have introduced systems to identify pupils whose absence is higher than it should be. Pupils have positive attitudes to their learning. They enjoy coming to school. Pupils are enthusiastic about the new rewards system put in place by leaders. They say that this is helping them to make the right behaviour choices in lessons.

What the school should improve

• The school does not have a clear measure of which sounds pupils know in their recently introduced phonics and early reading programme. This is because assessment of this programme is not fully established. As a result, pupils are not given books that match the sounds they are taught, and the teaching of phonics does not match pupils' level of phonics knowledge. The school should ensure that pupils' phonics knowledge is assessed accurately and that pupils are taught the sounds they need to revisit and learn next and are given books to practise reading these sounds.
• The school does not have a clear measure of how well some subjects are being taught, including different areas of learning in the early years curriculum. As a result, the school does not measure precisely how well the curriculum, across school, is supporting pupils and children to learn. The school should ensure that there are systems for leaders at all levels to check how well all curriculum areas are implemented and to check what pupils know, what they can do, and what they need to learn next.
• There are variations in expectations of pupils' behaviour across school from staff. As a result, staff do not address behavioural incidents and issues with a consistent approach. The school should ensure that all staff are clear on the behavioural expectations, that they apply these fairly and consistently and quickly identify pupils who may need more support to regulate their behaviour.
• The curriculum to promote pupils' personal development is not cohesively planned. Opportunities and experiences on offer to pupils are, therefore, not specifically connected to the curriculum goals. This limits pupils' awareness of some aspects of the wider world. The school should ensure that the personal development offer is strategically mapped to identify the crucial knowledge they want pupils to learn and provide a specific range of experiences and opportunities to achieve those goals.

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