Slaithwaite Church of England Voluntary Controlled Junior and Infant School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 13 December 2023

Pupils, staff and families are proud to be part of the Slaithwaite team. Pupils enjoy learning here. The school has done much in a short space of time to improve the curriculum. It is ambitious to continue this journey. The school's values, identified as the '5 Rs', are well understood. Promoting 'Respect, Responsibility, Resilience, Reflection and Relationships' is central to all that the school teaches. These values are threaded through the curriculum teaching and modelled by all staff. Pupils take on roles of responsibility, such as being well-being warriors or school councillors to support others or work with the community. Pupils are trained in these roles. They take them seriously. They use them to help to improve school experiences for other pupils and have addressed issues such as parking around the school site. Pupils have a mature understanding of how to keep themselves safe, both when online and in the local community. They say that they feel safe in the school. If they have worries, they talk to the school staff. They are confident that any issues will be quickly dealt with. Behaviour is excellent. Pupils are polite and caring. If issues arise, they reflect on them and identify how they could behave differently in the future.

What the school should improve

• In a small number of subjects, the curriculum does not clearly identify the small steps in learning that pupils need to achieve to learn progressively. This means that, in some lessons, learning is not broken down sufficiently to challenge or support pupils. Teachers do not always check whether pupils are remembering learning, and at times do not have high enough expectations for pupils' learning. The school should ensure that teachers can check pupils' knowledge of the curriculum accurately and use this information to plan subsequent learning.
• While all pupils with SEND access learning, often they do not work in lessons alongside their peers. This means that some pupils do not have sufficient opportunity to develop their social skills alongside their learning. The school should ensure that pupils with SEND receive the same opportunities as other pupils to develop independence with learning and achieve the best possible outcomes.
• Some aspects of record-keeping are not as robust as they should be. This means that some information linked to safeguarding or behaviour may not be recorded. While this does not put any pupils at risk of harm, there is the potential for leaders to miss recording crucial information about pupils' experiences. Leaders should ensure that all records are comprehensive.

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