Sidlesham Primary School, Chichester

What it's like to be a pupil at Sidlesham Primary School

Pupils are proud members of Sidlesham Primary School. They value the opportunities they have to learn outside the classroom and visit places of interest, such as farms and the popular Year 6 residential. Pupils take part in a wide range of clubs, including scooting, dodgeball, baking and music. Pupils behave well both in lessons and social times. They are respectful of each other and build positive relationships. Pupils trust adults to help them and know who to go to if they need support. This makes them feel safe. Bullying is rare and if it does happen, adults deal with it well. Pupils enjoy their lessons. They want to do their best and work hard. Pupils benefit from a well-taught curriculum, which means that achievement has significantly improved. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who are disadvantaged are identified quickly. They get the adaptations they need to learn effectively alongside their peers. Pupils enjoy attending school, and this means that overall attendance has improved for all pupils. They enjoy the morning sports clubs and build warm and positive relationships with adults. This makes pupils feel that they belong and can thrive.

What Ofsted says the school should do next

• Leaders should embed the attendance strategy to ensure that pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who are disadvantaged, improve their attendance further.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils and their parents enjoy being part of this tight-knit community. Pupils love their school, feeling safe and very well cared for by staff. Strong relationships exist between pupils across year groups. At break times, pupils socialise widely, including others in their games. Pupils behave well and are polite and respectful. They enjoy being rewarded for their successes in weekly celebration assemblies. Diversity is valued with one pupil summing this up by saying, 'At Sidlesham we take differences as positives. It would be boring if we were just the same.'

The school recognises that changes in leadership over recent years have had a negative impact on pupils' learning. The new headteacher has ambitious plans for improving the quality of education that pupils receive. However, current weaknesses in how the curriculum is designed and delivered means that pupils do not achieve as well as they should.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school is emerging from a period of leadership instability. The appointment of the new headteacher in recent months has brought greater stability. Leaders recognise the urgent improvements that are needed in the quality of education that pupils receive. They are highly ambitious for what pupils can and should achieve and are taking quick action to rectify problems with the quality of education that pupils receive. However, while the new curriculum is being prepared, there is not currently clear oversight of how well pupils are learning across all subjects.

The school's curriculum is not designed so that all pupils will learn the full knowledge and skills that they should. This is because the curriculum has not been organised appropriately for the school's mixed year group classes. Additionally, in some subjects, there is a lack of clarity in what pupils should learn and when. New leaders recognise this and are taking steps to ensure that the curriculum is more coherently planned and sequenced.

Behaviour & attitudes, Personal development.

Quality of education (Requires Improvement), Leadership & management (Requires Improvement), Early years (Requires Improvement).

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