Thornton Watlass Church of England Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 7 March 2023

Pupils who are registered at this school are either educated here or at Snape Community Primary School. Snape is the other school in the federation. The two schools operate as one school split across two sites. Pupils have opportunities to come together through collaboration days and by attending the breakfast or after- school clubs, which operate at Thornton Watlass. Many staff work across both sites. They are familiar to all the pupils. Pupils enjoy coming to school and interacting with their friends. Relationships between pupils and staff are strong. Most pupils behave very well. In the early years, children play cooperatively with each other. Bullying is not a problem here. On the rare occasions that bullying occurs, leaders take swift action to address it. Leaders have a clear and ambitious vision for the school. They have high expectations of all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). There is a range of opportunities for pupils to extend their learning beyond the curriculum. Pupils benefit from the range of clubs that are on offer to them and the educational visits they experience, such as planting trees at an arboretum. Pupils engage with the local community through visitors from the local gardening and history groups.

What the school should improve

• In some lessons, the tasks that teachers give to pupils are not sufficiently ambitious. As a result, pupils do not acquire detailed knowledge or make links between their learning. Leaders should ensure that they develop teachers' pedagogical subject knowledge of how to deepen pupils' learning so that they develop detailed knowledge across the curriculum.

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