West Coker CofE VC Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 21 May 2024

Pupils enjoy warm relationships with adults and their peers. Pupils know and understand the school's values of respect, kindness, community, wisdom and hope. Pupils show this through their conduct and attitudes. Pupils enjoy coming to school to learn. The school has high expectations for all. Pupils behave very well in the classroom and playground. The family feel of the school is evident as pupils across the year groups play together like siblings. Pupils support one another and value their friendships. If bullying occurs, the school deals with it swiftly. Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the support their children receive. Older pupils eagerly take on positions of responsibility. For example, they can be 'well-being warriors', members of the school council or sports leaders. Pupils are proud to support the school and value these opportunities. For a small school, there is a wide range of clubs to help pupils develop new talents and interests. These include crochet, boccia and board games. Disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) benefit consistently from these inclusive activities. The school dodgeball team has recently reached the regional finals in Bristol.

What the school should improve

• In some curriculum areas, the school has not identified the essential knowledge pupils need to know and remember with enough precision. As a result, pupils do not build their knowledge as well as they do in more established subjects. The school must ensure that the precise knowledge is identified across the curriculum, so pupils know more and remember more.
• Leaders' work to improve attendance and reduce persistent absence has not been robust enough. Pupils, therefore, do not benefit as well as they should from their education. The school, including governors, must take decisive action to improve attendance and reduce persistent absence as quickly as possible.
• Although the culture of safeguarding means that pupils are kept safe, at times safeguarding actions lack oversight. Because of this, there is the potential for some safeguarding actions to be missed. The school needs to ensure that all those responsible for overseeing safeguarding fully understand and fulfil their roles and that there are suitably robust actions to maintain the culture of safeguarding.

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