John Perryn Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 11 May 2023

Pupils enjoy attending this nurturing 'family' school. They learn in a calm environment and build strong working relationships with their teachers. They engage well with their learning and are taught to show kindness to others through the 'John Perryn Way'. This approach aims to make pupils aware of their rights and responsibilities, as well as those of others. Pupils like that leaders and teachers listen to their ideas on how to make the school better. Leaders ensure that pupils learn a broad and ambitious academic curriculum. Learning in class is enriched by many trips, clubs and activities. Leaders act effectively to secure improvements to what pupils learn and how well they remember this knowledge. This means that pupils are achieving well. By the end of Year 6 they are ready for secondary school, both in terms of the knowledge gained and their attitudes to learning. Many have developed a sense of what they would like to do in the future. Pupils are happy and safe in school. Teachers have very high expectations. They ensure that they understand the needs of each pupil well. Working closely with parents and carers, they support pupils according to their specific circumstances and needs. There is very little disruption to learning. Pupils said that bullying is rare. On the rare occasions on which it occurs, it is dealt with effectively.

What the school should improve

• Sometimes, teaching does not rigorously check how well pupils have learned key knowledge. This means that there are times when some pupils retain misconceptions. Leaders need to further train staff so that they routinely check effectively how well pupils have understood and remembered the taught curriculum.
• In a few subjects, leaders' work to raise ambition and improve how well pupils learn remains ongoing. Pupils' understanding and recall of subject content in these areas of the curriculum are less secure than in the other areas. Leaders need to embed their work to ensure that all subjects are planned and taught with ambition and rigour, so that pupils achieve highly across the curriculum.

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