John Keble Church of England Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 5 March 2024

Pupils are safe and happy at John Keble. They love demonstrating responsibility in roles such as junior road safety officers, house captains or 'learning leaders'. Wider opportunities, for example Greek workshops, visiting the Titanic museum or trips to the theatre, help to bring learning to life. Pupils understand the values of the school well. They speak confidently about love, hope, forgiveness and trust. Pupils enjoy celebrating when they, or others, demonstrate these values in their learning and wider school life. The school has high ambition for pupils. Aspirations for disadvantaged pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are equally high. Most pupils achieve well in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of key stage 2. The school is rightly continuing to make significant improvements to the wider curriculum so that pupils achieve consistently well across all subjects. Relationships between staff and pupils are warm and kind. Pupils know that staff will help them whenever they need it. Social times are exciting, with pupils sharing equipment and enjoying the opportunity to invent games together. The oldest pupils are helpful role models for younger children. Older year groups enjoy opportunities to support pupils in younger years, such as in assemblies.

What the school should improve

• In foundation subjects, the precise knowledge that needs to be taught is not set out as clearly as it could be. This means that how staff teach new knowledge is not always consistently effective. The school should continue its work to develop the full curriculum so that all lessons and activities support pupils' understanding and use of new knowledge. This will ensure that pupils achieve as well as they could in these subjects.
• Staff do not consistently check what pupils know in lessons, or over time, as effectively as they could. This means that misconceptions or gaps in pupils' learning are not always identified and addressed as quickly as they could be. The school should ensure that all staff check pupils' understanding and then adapt teaching to address any gaps in knowledge effectively.
• While some pupils exhibit positive attitudes to learning, this is not consistent across the school. Pupils do not show sustained concentration as often as they could. Therefore, pupils do not always benefit from the opportunities to build knowledge or practise what they have learned. The school should continue to embed its expectations so that pupils build positive learning habits from the very start of their time in school. This will help pupils to achieve more highly.

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