St Andrew's CofE School and Nursery

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 13 December 2022

Pupils are happy in school. Parents and carers say that St Andrew's is a 'home from home' and that the school nurtures their children. Pupils feel safe in school and say that poor behaviour is rare. Where pupils need support to focus on learning, staff manage this calmly and consistently. If bullying happens, staff work with pupils to sort out issues quickly. Leaders have high expectations for all pupils. They have designed a curriculum that enables pupils to achieve well. Pupils and staff have very positive working relationships. This helps pupils to have good attitudes to their learning. Pupils are very enthusiastic about reading. They enjoy the many opportunities to read to an adult or to themselves. Pupils say the 'time to read' sessions are one of their favourite times of the day. Leaders place literacy and numeracy at the heart of pupils' learning, which enables pupils to develop these skills securely. Leaders place a strong emphasis on pupils' personal development. Pupils can explain their understanding of fundamental British values, equality and diversity. Pupil ambassadors are proud to support other pupils. Pupils share positive ideas with leaders on the school council, for example suggesting using pupils' artwork to display in the library.

What the school should improve

• Some teachers do not use assessment carefully enough to check pupils' gaps in their learning. Consequently, in some subjects, pupils struggle to recall and build on their prior learning. Leaders need to ensure that all teachers use assessment well to identify and address any gaps in pupils' learning.
• Senior leaders have not ensured that all subject leaders check how effectively pupils learn in their subjects. This means that some subject leaders do not know how effective the curriculum is. Senior leaders need to ensure that subject leaders have the appropriate knowledge and skills to successfully check and evaluate the effectiveness of their subject areas.
• Leaders have not ensured that the early years curriculum is clearly set out and shared with other teachers. This means that teachers in key stages 1 and 2 are unsure about what children have learned in early years and how to build on that learning. Leaders should ensure that the early years curriculum is carefully set out and shared so teachers can build on the knowledge and skills successfully in key stages 1 and 2.

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