Wawne Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 19 July 2022

Pupils are very proud of their school. They especially enjoy the way the school feels like a big, happy family. Staff care for pupils and know each individual pupil very well. One parent, echoing the view of others, commented that the staff 'really care about all the pupils, their development as individual people, as well as their education'. Leaders have been successful in their efforts to improve pupils' behaviour more recently. Pupils told inspectors that the behaviour in the school is positive. They enjoy studying a broad range of subjects and learning new knowledge. However, some pupils would like the chance to delve more deeply into the topics they study. Staff have high expectations of how well pupils behave. As a result, pupils treat each other and staff in a courteous manner. Bullying is exceptionally rare. Pupils are generally very kind to each other. They are aware of the hurt that can be caused by unkind words. Pupils feel safe in school. Pupils are enthusiastic about the additional opportunities provided for them. They enjoy honing their talents in the range of sports, art and drama clubs offered.

What the school should improve

• The school's curriculum is not yet sufficiently well planned in some subjects. However, it is clear from leaders' actions that they are in the process of bringing this about. For instance, leaders are currently developing curriculum content in several subjects so that there is a greater emphasis on subject-specific concepts. Leaders need to complete this process in their identified timescale. They should monitor how well plans are implemented to ensure that they are having the intended impact. For this reason, the transitional arrangements have been applied.
• Pupils' writing is not as strong as it should be. This is because the curriculum in English does not enable pupils to gain a secure knowledge of SPaG. The English curriculum needs further development so that it emphasises SPaG. Teachers and leaders should ensure that pupils acquire the SPaG knowledge that they need in order to express their ideas clearly.
• Current summative assessment approaches do not enable teachers to gain a detailed picture of how well pupils have built up layers of knowledge over time. They also do not establish whether pupils can apply their knowledge in subject- specific contexts. Leaders and teachers need to ensure that their development of the wider curriculum goes hand in hand with developing meaningful summative assessment. These need to enable teachers to gain a more detailed picture of the depth and breadth of pupils' subject knowledge.

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