School has taken effective action to maintain standards: Ofsted

A Lees primary school has continued to make strides to maintain the standards identified in its previous Ofsted report.

During the ungraded inspection of St Agnes CofE Primary School on Knolls Lane, inspectors found that staff had high expectations of the pupils’ achievement. The children achieved well and left well equipped for the challenges of secondary education.  

Inspectors noted that the school had established an ambitious vision for the high-quality education that it provided for the pupils and the governing board challenged and supported the work of the school well. 

This, in turn, has helped to successfully build on the quality of education that the school offers.  

His Majesty’s Inspectors, Helen Friend, and Gillian Crompton said: “In the main, the curriculum is well delivered. Teachers have strong knowledge of the subjects that they teach, and they present information to pupils clearly. 

“The school ensures that the additional needs of pupils with SEND are quickly identified. In most circumstances, staff successfully adapt the delivery of the curriculum and provide appropriate support to those pupils who need it.” 

However, Ofsted found that, from time to time, some staff did not choose the most effective activities to support pupils in learning all that they could, which prevented them from learning to the depth that they could. 

Reading within the school was a high priority and staff provided effective support for those needing extra help, which built pupils’ confidence in becoming fluent accurate readers, but the same level of readiness was not reflected in early writing.  

Inspectors added: “Pupils do develop into successful writers, but some develop errors in relation to their letter formation and spelling. These are not consistently addressed, and this hinders the quality of some pupils’ written communication.” 

The school was found to have rigorous systems in place to monitor pupils’ attendance which promoted the message that being absent from school could lead to missing out on vital learning. 

To improve further, Ofsted said occasionally, some staff did not choose the most appropriate activities to help pupils learn the intended curriculum which prevented some pupils from developing a deep body of subject knowledge. 

They said: “The school should ensure that teachers make the most appropriate pedagogical choices to teach new content.  

“Some pupils do not master accurate letter formation by the time that they leave Year 2, this hinders writing fluency as they move through the key stage two curriculum. The school should ensure that pupils have the skills that they need to be successful writers by the end of Key stage one.”