Walcott Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 27 June 2023

Pupils say that they enjoy school and that everyone is welcome. Pupils' attendance has improved recently. Pupils know why it is important to attend school every day. Parents value the support which leaders have put in place to help to improve attendance. Pupils know that teachers want the best for all pupils and describe teachers as being 'firm but fair'. Pupils respect each other and their school equipment. Pupils help each other with their work if they get stuck. Parents and carers are positive about the school. They know that staff care. One parent commented that: 'The staff at the primary school truly care about all aspects of our children's learning.' Bullying rarely happens. Pupils are confident that their teachers will help solve any issues quickly. All pupils know who their trusted adult is. Pupils behave well in lessons. The school is a calm environment, where pupils can focus on learning. Pupils are proud to hold leadership positions, such as sports leader. The sports leaders help organise games at lunchtime. Leaders know their pupils well. Leaders are not always recording and following up concerns about pupils' welfare quickly enough, particularly for more vulnerable pupils.

What the school should improve

• Leaders have put in place a new system to record their safeguarding concerns. While leaders record a lot of information about pupils, some of the actions that have been taken are not always recorded or the outcomes of their decisions. This presents a risk that key information could be missed. Leaders should ensure that all their actions and subsequent outcomes are recorded clearly on their system to strengthen their arrangements for safeguarding.
• Leaders are the early stage of putting in place a more systematic approach to checking on pupils' learning. In some subjects, teachers are checking on pupils learning closely, but are not always using this information well enough to inform the next steps in learning for pupils. In other subjects, a few teachers are not fully clear about what pupils know and can do. This limits pupils' progress. Leaders need to ensure that the new system is more securely in place, so that teachers are able to use the information to plan appropriate learning steps for pupils.
• Leaders have accurately identified the pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and have a clear map of how they intend to help pupils. Nevertheless, at this stage, the implementation of the plans is not consistent. For instance, scaffolds for learning are not always appropriate to the task. This hinders pupils' progress. Leaders should ensure that teachers are able to provide consistently high-level support for pupils with SEND.

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