The Shade Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 15 October 2024

The Shade is a happy and safe school. Pupils know and embody the school's values. They are respectful to peers and adults. Pupils trust and value staff. This helps them to be reflective and ready to learn. Pupils benefit from effective support for their well-being. This includes those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils settle and behave well. They concentrate and try hard in lessons. At breaktimes, pupils have fun but stay calm. Children in the early years quickly learn to sit still and focus when needed. Pupils conduct themselves well. They tidy away chairs and smilingly hold doors open for visitors. There are high expectations for learning. As a result, pupils do well. They enjoy and take pride in their work. For example, on the playground, pupils spoke enthusiastically about their knowledge of science. Pupils benefit from frequent opportunities to develop positive character traits. They regularly take part in local community and charity work. Pupils volunteer for the many meaningful leadership roles available to them. They are proud to make a difference through these roles. Pupils who act as eco ambassadors recycle school materials, while play leaders support younger pupils with breaktime activities. Junior travel ambassadors lead assemblies on road safety. These experiences build pupils' resilience and responsibility.

What the school should improve

• On occasion, teachers use tasks that do not support pupils to learn the intended knowledge effectively. This means that some pupils lose engagement and build up what they know less securely. The school should make sure that teachers have the guidance and support they need to deliver the curriculum with consistent effectiveness.
• When some pupils with SEND are given bespoke teaching outside of the classroom, the school does not always ensure that their learning is integrated successfully with the main curriculum. This means the support is not as effective as it might be at helping a few pupils with SEND learn and develop in the longer term. The school must ensure it has clear plans to integrate these pupils with the main curriculum quickly and fully wherever possible.
• The school sometimes does not provide pupils with opportunities for rich discussion of their learning in aspects of the personal development programme. This means that pupils do not always develop the depth of understanding they could of important issues. The school should ensure that it uses opportunities to help pupils discuss and debate learning from personal development, so they have confidence in articulating what they know.

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