Four Swannes Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 1 October 2024

The school has recently introduced values which encourage pupils to be independent and to help others. Typically, pupils enjoy learning and are excited to come to school. They make friends easily and respect each other. In the early years, children learn to take turns, sit sensibly and share. Staff deal with any behaviour problems swiftly on the rare occasions that they arise. The school aspires to see pupils succeed academically. However, pupils have achieved below the national standards in reading, writing and mathematics in recent years. The school has implemented changes, including to the curriculum, staffing and governance, to improve pupil outcomes. However, many of these changes are new and have not been embedded. Pupils enjoy attending extra-curricular clubs. These include badminton, multi-sports and weaving club. The popular choir performs in concerts with pupils from other schools. Pupils can also take up leadership roles at the school. The elected school, well-being and diversity councils organise events and initiatives. For example, the well-being space is available for pupils to attend during breaktimes. These opportunities develop pupils' independence and problem-solving skills.

What the school should improve

• The processes to check the quality of the school's work are not as rigorous as they should be. This limits the ability of the school, including those responsible for governance, to identify the impact of actions taken, and to identify where further improvement is needed. Members of the governing body should sharpen the processes of accountability to help the school drive rapid improvement.
• The planned curriculum is not implemented as effectively as it should be across the school, including the early years. As a result, sometimes pupils do not understand new knowledge because teaching does not check that pupils have the required knowledge and skills needed into order build their curriculum knowledge. At other times, key knowledge is not regularly revisited, meaning that pupils cannot recall important information required for future learning. The school should ensure that the curriculum is routinely delivered in line with its expectations. Where pupils have not retained key knowledge, this should be revisited before teaching introduces new knowledge.
• The work that pupils with SEND receive is not routinely adapted to meet their needs. This means that some pupils with SEND do not develop their knowledge, skills and independence as securely as they could. The school should ensure that resources and teaching activities are routinely adapted for pupils with SEND so that they can build their knowledge and independence more effectively.
• Persistent absence rates are high. This means that some pupils fall behind with their learning. The school should ensure that it continues its work to improve overall attendance rates, carefully checking the impact of the actions that it takes.

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