Eccleston CofE Primary School

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open culture where safeguarding is everyone's responsibility.
• Pupils attend well and absence is rare, including for pupils facing additional challenges.
• Pupils treat each other with respect and typically conduct themselves well at social times.
• Bullying is rare, and leaders take swift action if it occurs.
• Leaders have established a calm and orderly environment for pupils.
• Phonics and reading are prioritised effectively, and children in early years become fluent readers.
• Older pupils enjoy reading, and published outcomes reflect positive progress in phonics and reading.
• Disadvantaged pupils achieve as well as their national peers in reading, writing and mathematics tests.
• Pupils with complex SEND receive effective support, including for language and communication.
• Pastoral support for pupils' social, emotional and wellbeing needs is accurate and helps pupils' happiness.
• Pupils understand how to manage their physical health and have opportunities to reflect on their ideas and beliefs.
• Pupils cooperate well, treat each other kindly and respect each other's differences.
• Pupils have many opportunities to contribute as citizens, including as buddies, sports ambassadors and ethos group members.
• Leaders and governors have an accurate understanding of the issues needing attention and well-considered improvement steps.
• Staff appreciate leaders' support for their workload and wellbeing.

Areas for Improvement

• Curriculum and teaching require urgent improvement.
• Staff expectations of what pupils should know and be able to do are too low across the school.
• In some subjects, including mathematics, staff subject knowledge is insufficient and explanations are unclear.
• Pupils are not given enough time to practise new learning, leaving gaps and misconceptions.
• The curriculum is poorly designed and delivered in some wider-curriculum subjects.
• Pupils' achievement is variable, and they struggle to remember important learning in several subjects.
• Early years requires urgent improvement because the curriculum is not well designed.
• Children in early years are not well prepared for their future learning.
• Staff expectations in early years are too low, and planned tasks do not always secure important learning.
• Adults' interactions with children in early years are uneven, and opportunities to extend language are missed.
• Leaders do not ensure staff consistently apply the school's behaviour management procedures.
• Staff do not have high enough expectations of pupils' behaviour, and pupils do not always focus on learning in lessons.
• Support for pupils who face barriers to learning is not precise enough.
• Adaptations made for pupils in lessons are often not designed well enough.
• Leaders do not use progress information well enough to refine and tailor support for pupils.
• Plans for using additional funding for disadvantaged pupils are new and have not yet had full impact.
• PSHE is not taught consistently well, leading to gaps in what pupils understand and remember.
• Pupils' understanding of diversity in modern Britain is more limited than their understanding of discrimination.
• Much of leaders' work to address weaknesses is at an early stage and has not yet made a noticeable difference.
• Governors should continue to support and challenge leaders so that improvement is rapid.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools