Cheshire school still needs to improve despite taking 'action' to overhaul curriculum

-Credit: (Image: Google Street View)
-Credit: (Image: Google Street View)


Inspectors say a Cheshire primary school still needs to improve despite taking action to "completely overhaul the curriculum". Little Bollington C of E Primary School was visited by Ofsted on three occasions during May and June this year.

The Lymm Road school was rated 'requires improvement' overall by the education watchdog, having previously been 'good'. However, an ungraded inspection back in March last year had indicated that improvements were required to the curriculum.

These have since been carried but inspectors said in the latest report that "some pupils have not had enough time to benefit from its ambitious subject content". This is the last time that the school will be scrutinised under the old rating system.

Earlier this month, the Government announced it was scrapping single headline Ofsted judgements with immediate effect. However, Ofsted confirmed that although one-word grades are being axed, schools will retain their existing ratings until a fresh inspection is carried out under the new system.

Little Bollington's latest Ofsted report, published on Wednesday, states: "The school, with support from the trust, has acted quickly to action the areas for improvement identified in the March 2023 inspection. It has completely overhauled the curriculum to ensure that pupils have the opportunity to learn all that they should.

"In some subjects, this is having a positive impact. Pupils are building their knowledge more securely than they did previously. However, this is not true for some other subjects. In part, this is because many of these subject curriculums are too new to have had an impact on pupils’ learning. The school has thought about the important subject knowledge and vocabulary that it wants pupils to learn.

"This means that staff know what should be taught and when this should happen in mixed-aged classes. While staff have received some training to teach the more ambitious subject content, their delivery of the new curriculum is variable. In some subjects, this hinders pupils from building a secure body of knowledge over time.

"As a result, pupils’ achievement is uneven. Teachers usually check that pupils have understood what has been taught. However, at times, they do not spot when pupils develop misconceptions. As a result, some pupils develop gaps in their learning that are not addressed quickly enough.

"The school has started to check how well the curriculum is being taught. This work is ensuring that the school has a stronger oversight of pupils’ learning. However, the checks have not been as effective in identifying the inconsistencies in curriculum delivery."

Elsewhere in the report, inspectors praised the school's hard-working students. It stated: "Pupils enjoy their time at this small and friendly school. They like the fact that everyone knows each other and that the differences between them and other pupils are accepted and celebrated. Pupils value the help they receive from staff, who care about them. They know that they will be listened to if they share any worries.

"Pupils behave well. They adhere to the school’s rules so that classrooms are calm and pupils can learn without disruption. Pupils trust their teachers to sort out disagreements fairly. Pupils are articulate. They cooperate with one another in class and they listen carefully to their teachers. Pupils work hard. They strive to meet the school’s reviewed expectations for their learning."

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