Ewanrigg Junior School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 4 February 2025

The school knows its pupils well and has a strong understanding of the community it serves. Pupils value the relationships that they have with staff and appreciate the support that they provide. Pupils live up to the school's expectations of their behaviour. They behave well in lessons and interact happily together at social times. Pupils enjoy participating in the wider experiences that the school offers. The school's breakfast club provides pupils with a calm and positive start to the day. Pupils proudly undertake roles and responsibilities, such as being 'mini police' and 'eco-committee members'. They attend a wealth of clubs, including board games, choir, cookery and sports. Pupils go on many trips, including to Liverpool and London. These experiences support the school's vision for pupils to 'be all you can be'. The school aspires for pupils to achieve well. However, this ambition is not yet realised. Pupils have gaps in their knowledge across a range of subjects. The school is taking positive steps to address this by strengthening the curriculum, but these are in the early stages of being implemented.

What the school should improve

• The school does not ensure that activity choices support pupils to learn the essential knowledge identified in its curriculum effectively. Consequently, pupils do not build their knowledge securely and struggle to remember the curriculum in the longer term. The school should ensure that activities enable pupils to deepen their understanding so that they develop a secure body of knowledge over time.
• The school's checks on learning do not consistently and accurately identify gaps in pupils' knowledge. This hinders the school from being able to address these gaps swiftly so that pupils' learning can build securely. The school should refine its approaches to assessment so that gaps in pupils' knowledge can be rapidly closed across all subjects.
• The school has not finalised its curriculum thinking in writing. Pupils do not have enough opportunities to write and, consequently, are not achieving as well as they should in writing. The school should develop the writing curriculum to ensure that pupils gain the skills and knowledge they need to become confident, successful writers.
• Governors do not provide sufficient challenge to the school. As a result, governors are not able to hold the school to account effectively for its work to improve. Governors should ensure that they develop their knowledge and skills to enable them to hold leaders to account effectively.

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