Saint James' Church of England Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 30 April 2024

Pupils are confident, resilient and caring. They conduct themselves impeccably and are rightly proud of their school. Pupils feel able to navigate their lives courageously. One pupil summarised this, describing school and life by saying, 'We all work together and build the strength to ride the waves of the ocean.' The school's values of love, respect and courage are known and understood deeply by pupils and staff. Pupils have exceptionally strong relationships with each other and staff. Pupils make a highly positive contribution to each other's well-being. For example, pupils take on responsibilities such as being part of the school's Christian values team, 'eco- warriors', librarians and prefects. Staff have the highest expectations for pupils' behaviour. Bullying is taken very seriously. Any behaviour incidents are resolved positively and swiftly. Pupils feel very safe and are happy. Pupils achieve well. Outcomes by the end of key stage 2 demonstrate that they are ready for their next stage of education consistently. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have their needs identified quickly. Disadvantaged pupils, including pupils with SEND, are supported effectively. The school promotes pupils' good attendance highly effectively. Leaders build a strong culture which prioritises regular attendance and punctuality successfully.

What the school should improve

• In some subjects, the school has not developed the curriculum to identify the precise knowledge and vocabulary that they want pupils to learn clearly enough. This leads to a small number of pupils not achieving as well as they could, including in the early years. The school should ensure that knowledge and skills build effectively for all pupils across all curriculum subjects and areas of learning.
• Assessment information is not always precise enough to identify what pupils know and understand. This means that some pupils have gaps in their subject-specific knowledge and do not build on their prior knowledge as effectively as possible. The school needs to ensure that teachers check what pupils know and can do consistently and effectively across the curriculum.

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