Grimes Dyke Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 4 February 2025

Grimes Dyke Primary School is a special place where helping pupils and families to develop a sense of belonging to 'Team GD' is valued. Pupils are happy and safe here. Pupils are known well and cherished. This teaches pupils how to be kind to each other. The school places great importance on teaching pupils to learn and play together. It utilises the exceptional outside provision to support pupils to develop an understanding of themselves and respect for others. Wellies are an important part of the school uniform. Pupils talk with great enthusiasm about working with their friends across all age groups to make dens in the woods, dig and build in the huge sandpit or whizz around the track on the scooters and wheelies. There are high expectations here. The school helps pupils to develop a positive attitude to learning. In lessons, pupils behave well and focus on their learning. Teachers make learning fun and interesting. However, the curriculum in some areas does not yet identify the important knowledge that the school wants pupils to know and remember. The school has started to take action to remedy this. However, some of this work is still in the early stages. Therefore, while pupils' outcomes are improving, they are still not high enough in some areas.

What the school should improve

• In some subjects, the school has not sufficiently identified the essential knowledge it wants pupils to know and remember. This means that teachers are not clear about the important subject knowledge they should teach. The school should ensure that all subject curriculums are more specific about the key knowledge pupils should learn and when, so that teachers are better equipped to implement lessons that support pupils to develop greater understanding over time.
• Systems to support teachers to check learning are underdeveloped in some areas. This means that teachers do not consistently check pupils' understanding to see if they are remembering key subject knowledge, and they do not adapt learning to ensure that it matches pupils' ability and understanding. The school should ensure that staff have the skills and knowledge of how to identify gaps in pupils' learning and address misconceptions.

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