Lawrence Community Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 5 July 2022

Pupils are well cared for by the adults in school. Many pupils join the school at different times in the year. They arrive from a wide range of countries. There are currently 32 different languages spoken by these pupils. Pupils embrace the diverse nature of their school community. Pupils said of their music lessons 'when we sing, we sing in unison'. This sums up the way pupils interact. They respect each other. Pupils' positive attitudes help to make the school a happy and harmonious place. Children in the early years, and pupils who are new to school, settle quickly into the routines of learning. Pupils behave well in lessons, at playtimes and when they move around school. They said that bullying occasionally happens, but that staff deal well with any incidents. Pupils feel safe and well supported. Leaders have high expectations for pupils. Pupils in key stages 1 and 2 achieve better than they did in the past. Leaders have improved the early years curriculum, particularly for children in the nursery. However, children in the Reception Year have not benefited from these improvements. These children are not as well prepared for their next stage of education as they need to be.

What the school should improve

• Leaders have not ensured that some teachers have built up the expertise that they need to deliver all subjects consistently well. At times, in a small number of subjects, these teachers do not select the most appropriate activities to deliver subject content. Pupils do not build up their knowledge as well as leaders expect them to as a result. Leaders should make sure that teachers receive the support that they need to enable pupils to build up a rich body of knowledge across the curriculum.
• Leaders are at the early stage of redesigning the early years curriculum. Reception-aged children do not build up their knowledge equally well across each area of learning. A number of these children do not develop their phonics knowledge as well as they could. This means that they are not as well prepared as they need to be for Year 1. Early years leaders should clarify their curriculum thinking to enable children in the Reception Year to build securely on the strong foundations of the Nursery Year.

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