Kilmington Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 12 March 2024

Pupils are happy and safe at Kilmington Primary school. There are warm and respectful relationships between staff and pupils. Staff set high expectations for pupils' conduct. Pupils live up to these expectations. This starts in the early years, where children learn school rules and routines. Pupils behave well and have positive attitudes towards their learning. They enjoy school and attend well. The school has made improvements that reflect its ambition for pupils, for example, in early reading and mathematics. However, other changes are in their early stages. The wider curriculum does not yet support pupils to build their knowledge well enough across all subjects. In these areas pupils do not achieve well. Pupils take on positions of responsibility that help improve the school. For example, the school council has introduced systems for recycling and it raises awareness around road safety. Pupils appreciate the range of trips and visits on offer, such as residential visits which develop their independence and build character. Most parents would recommend the school to others. They appreciate how the school makes the best use of resources it has. Many commented on the dedicated staff, family feel and high-quality pastoral care their children receive.

What the school should improve

• The precise knowledge pupils need to know and remember is not sufficiently identified and sequenced across all subjects. As a result, pupils do not build their knowledge based on what they already know. They develop gaps in their learning. The school should ensure that the curriculum identifies the small steps in learning to enable all pupils to know more and remember more.
• Assessment is not effective across the wider curriculum. As a result, the school is not clear what pupils know and can do. Some pupils do not build their knowledge well. The school needs to ensure that assessment identifies gaps in prior knowledge so that subsequent learning builds on what pupils already know and remember.
• The school does not evaluate the impact of its actions to improve the school. As a result, it has not identified where pupils do not learn well in the wider curriculum. The school, including those responsible for governance, must ensure that sufficient time and priority are given to check the impact of curriculum development. This will enable them to know how well the curriculum is embedded and support pupils to know and remember more over time.

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