Thurlby Community Primary Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 25 June 2024

Pupils are proud of their school. They enjoy attending and spending time with their peers. As one pupil said: 'It's one of my homes.' The 'Thurlby' values are commonly known and understood. Pupils try hard each day to: demonstrate teamwork; be hard-working; be upbeat and respectful; to love learning; to be brave; and to know that 'you are unique'. Pupils are polite and courteous. They behave well in lessons and around the school. They thrive on the wide range of praise and recognition that they receive. Green points, along with the associated, bronze, silver and gold certificates, are highly prized, as is earning time to spend with the school's guinea pigs. Pupils understand what happens in the event of poor behaviour. However, they say that 'red points' are rare. This reflects the school's high expectations. Pupils make an important contribution to the day-to-day running of their school. They are proud of the wide range of roles that they carry out, including those of play leaders, house captains and early years assistants. Pupils value the improvements that the school council bring about, including the recent introduction of the 'buddy bench' on the playground. Subject ambassadors promote the importance and a love of their subjects with a passion.

What the school should improve

• In a small number of foundation subjects, pupils do not consistently recall what they have learned. In some cases, this is because parts of the curriculum are at an early stage of implementation. However, in other cases, some pupils struggle to recall what they have learned earlier in their education. The school should continue to implement its curriculum and develop strategies to ensure that pupils know and remember content longer term.
• In some areas of learning, the early years curriculum, does not make clear what children are expected to know and remember. This means that staff cannot consistently ensure that children learn and remember curriculum content. The school should ensure that the early years curriculum, across all areas of learning, consistently makes clear the key knowledge that children are expected to know and remember.

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