Nythe Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 18 March 2025

Nythe is a happy and caring place to learn. The school's motto, 'Together may our feathers give us wings to soar', underpins its high ambition for all. Pupils' achievement is improving. However, the many positive changes to teaching and the curriculum have not had enough time to fully have an impact on some pupils' learning. Pupils respond well to the school's increased expectations for behaviour. Most uphold the school's 'SOAR' values, such as 'respect', in how they conduct themselves in lessons. Pupils can rely on staff to act on any concerns, including bullying, quickly and effectively. School leaders have transformed pupils' experiences at lunchtime. Pupils of all ages play harmoniously together. They revel in creating bug hotels, making 'soup' in the mud kitchen and physical challenges. Pupils describe outdoor time as 'the best' and 'a chance to role-play together'. They strive to earn the 'golden welly' award by applying the school's values in their play. Pupils benefit from rich experiences beyond the academic. They develop leadership skills through their roles as school councillors and playleaders. A range of clubs, such as choir, gardening and drama, develop pupils' interests. Experiences, including trips to the theatre, add to pupils' cultural awareness.

What the school should improve

• Some staff do not have high enough expectations of pupils' written work. As a result, the quality of some pupils' writing achievement is hampered by handwriting, spelling and punctuation weaknesses. The trust and school should ensure that staff have consistently high expectations of pupils' written work and implement strategies to enable pupils to write with greater accuracy.
• Improvements in staff expertise to deliver some aspects of the curriculum are not fully embedded. There remain pockets of variability in how well the curriculum is implemented. This hinders how well some pupils acquire and develop a secure understanding of key concepts over time. The trust and school should ensure that staff are supported in developing their subject-specific expertise to enable them to implement the curriculum effectively.
• In some subjects, the school does not check with enough precision what pupils know and remember. As a result, some gaps in pupils' knowledge are not identified or closed quickly enough. The trust and school need to ensure that staff use assessment effectively to check pupils' understanding and secure knowledge in their long-term memory.

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