A primary school in South Bristol has been rated as requiring improvement after an Ofsted inspection. Luckwell Primary School in Bedminster was inspected last month and the education watchdog has now published its findings.
The primary school was last rated inadequate back in 2017 prior to joining multi-academy trust Gatehouse Green Learning Trust in 2018. The school has said it welcomes the recognition of the work taking place at the school, as detailed by the Ofsted report.
The report makes three key recommendations around what the school needs to improve, including leaders not being clear enough about the key knowledge and skills they want pupils to know in some subjects. As a result of this, pupils do not build a deep understanding of these subjects, it continued.
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Inspectors said in the report: "Leaders have not established rigorous systems to assess how well pupils remember the knowledge they have been taught. Pupils’ recall of prior learning is often patchy.
"Leaders need to ensure that staff use assessment effectively in order to check what pupils know and remember across all subjects.
"Weaker readers struggle to apply their phonics knowledge when reading. The books they read are sometimes too hard. Leaders need to ensure that these pupils read books that match the sounds they know in order to develop reading fluency and confidence."
The watchdog rated Luckwell Primary School as good in three areas - early years provision, personal development as well as behaviours and attitudes - and as requiring improvement in two - the quality of education as well as leadership and management. Ofsted found that pupils enjoy attending the school and that they are proud to belong to a school that nurtures their talents and interests.
The report states that leaders and staff are designing an ambitious curriculum and that improvements to writing and mathematics are beginning to pay off. However, leaders have not mapped out in enough detail how pupils’ knowledge should build up over time, it added, and in some subjects pupils do not achieve as well as they could.
"Pupils behave sensibly in lessons and around the school," it continued. "Bullying is uncommon. Staff sort out any issues quickly.
"Leaders place a high priority on pupils’ personal development. Pupils use strategies, such as breathing techniques, to help them manage any worries.
"Through assemblies and carefully chosen books, staff give pupils the confidence to aim high and ‘believe they can’."
Ofsted found that the arrangements for safeguarding are effective and that leaders, including governors, have created a strong culture of safeguarding.
What the school says
Luckwell’s Head of School Lilly Byers said: “The progress shown in this report really shows the benefits of the hard work, dedication, and passion that has gone into providing an excellent environment and experience for everyone in the school community, and is the embodiment of our school motto ‘Together We Achieve’.
"We are especially proud to be rated ‘Good’ in Behaviours and Attitudes, Personal Development, and Early Years Provision.
“Against the backdrop of covid and the associated challenges of the last few years, we are so proud that the school is improving in this way, and we will use this as motivation and momentum to continue to improve all areas or our school provision.”
Nick Lewis, Interim CEO of Gatehouse Green Learning Trust, said: "I am delighted to see that Luckwell School has secured an Ofsted judgement higher than its predecessor school.
"As Ofsted saw on their visit, it is a school that really cares about providing great opportunities for learning and it has a head teacher that knows how to take the school even further.
"The parents and pupils are lucky at Luckwell to have such an ambitious yet deeply caring school. It's a special place to learn.
"The school benefits from having forest school activities, a sports field, and a sports court, all available to pupils on the school grounds, so it’s no surprise that the pupils told Ofsted that they 'enjoy attending Luckwell Primary School'."
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