Edward Pauling Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 22 October 2024

Pupils enjoy attending Edward Pauling Primary School. Consideration has been given to pupils' social and emotional development. Relationships between staff and pupils are positive. This helps pupils to feel secure and safe in school. Most pupils behave well. However, in some lessons, pupils lose focus and find it difficult to sustain concentration. This means that the learning in some lessons is disrupted. Pupils enjoy learning a wide range of subjects. This starts in the early years, where staff focus on encouraging children's language and communication skills. Younger pupils particularly enjoy the books that staff read to them. Pupils demonstrate respect and understanding for people from different backgrounds and cultures. The school enables pupils to celebrate the diversity within the school community. While pupils learn successfully in some subjects, this is not consistent. The expectations of what pupils can achieve in their learning are not high enough. There is much variability in how well the curriculum is implemented. For example, there are inconsistencies in the way teaching helps pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to access the curriculum. As a result, some pupils do not learn as well as they should. They are not as well prepared as they need to be for the next stage of their education.

What the school should improve

• The school has not ensured that staff deliver the school's phonics programme consistently well. This hinders pupils in learning to read because they do not develop the phonics knowledge required to decode unfamiliar words. The school should ensure that it has a rigorous process in place to monitor the effectiveness of early reading so that it can swiftly identify any staff who need support to improve their practice.
• In some subjects, the curriculum is not delivered consistently well. This means that some pupils, including some with SEND, do not build strong bodies of knowledge in these subjects. The school should ensure that staff receive the support that they need to deliver the curriculum well in each subject.
• Some pupils are not engaged in their learning during lessons and, at times, this is not noticed by staff. This means these pupils are not learning the curriculum as well as they should. The school should ensure that staff apply the new behaviour policy and recommended strategies consistently effectively so that pupils can engage with their learning and achieve more highly.

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