The Stone school’s nurturing nature and warm welcome – which includes a school dog – has been commended by Ofsted inspectors.
An inspection was recently carried out at Christ Church First School and the report has now been published.
The Church of England school, which is part of The Key Educational Trust, was rated good at its previous inspection in 2019. And it has maintained its standards according to the latest report.
Inspectors said:
“Christ Church First School is a nurturing, close-knit community – all pupils, including those that arrive at different points in the school year, are welcomed in and greeted warmly. Pupils arrive at school with smiles on their faces, happy to see their friends, staff and Rusty, the school dog.
“Pupils behave well (and) they look forward to their weekly ‘star assembly’ where they can earn awards for positive behaviour and are encouraged to be ‘the best that they can be’. Pupils also speak enthusiastically about their roles as worship leaders and playground buddies.
“Pupils are respectful of differences. They enjoy learning about people who may have different beliefs to their own.
“Both pupils and staff are mindful of the needs of individuals. This helps pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), to feel valued and achieve well.”
School leaders were given two points for improvement. The report said: “The school does not always accurately and robustly check on the impact of its improvement strategies.“This means it lacks clarity about what is working well and when additional intervention is required; this sometimes slows the pace of improvement. The school and trust should ensure that improvement strategies are routinely monitored and reported to governors and trustees.
“The school has not defined some of the essential knowledge that pupils need to know well enough in mathematics – as such, teachers do not focus on some of the most useful learning that pupils will need to remember for their future studies. The school should ensure that this key knowledge is better defined in the curriculum so that teachers can further enhance pupils’ understanding.”
Staff are working to resolve this however, the report added. And pupils were found to “gain a wide body of knowledge from the logically ordered and ambitious curriculum.
The Ofsted report said:
“Pupils benefit from a strong reading curriculum. In wider curriculum subjects, pupils recall confidently the knowledge and skills they have learned.
“Pupils’ progress in reading is carefully checked to identify any gaps in their understanding. The school uses this information well to adapt teaching; this helps pupils to grow into confident and fluent readers.
“Pupils further benefit from author visits, and some volunteer as ‘reading buddies’. These high expectations for academic success mean all pupils, including those with SEND, achieve well in reading.”
