A school on the Lizard peninsula has been told that it needs to make a number of improvements after an Ofsted report rated it 'inadequate.'

Landewednack Community Primary School was told by inspectors that its overall effectiveness in areas such as quality of education, early years provision and leadership and management were all inadequate and that its approach to behaviour and attitudes and personal development needed improvement.

In its report, Ofsted inspectors noted that: "Staff do not expect enough of pupils.

"Pupils do not remember the knowledge they need to be successful across the curriculum.

"The teaching of reading is weak.

"Teachers’ use of assessment is poor.

"This all means that pupils’ work is of a low standard.

"As a result, many pupils are not prepared well enough for the next stage of their education."

However, inspectors did acknowledge that pupils valued the school and respected each other, stating: "Pupils value this family-oriented school.

"They know the school rules and show respect for each other.

"Pupils say bullying is rare.

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"They live by the ‘shine’ values promoted by staff.

"Pupils recognise the contribution they make to the local community.

"Pupils who find managing their own behaviour challenging are supported well.

In its notes about what the school needed to do to improve, inspectors gave a number of areas in which it believed progress could be made, such as:

  • "Leaders need to improve the impact of teachers’ practice so that pupils learn more and remember more of the curriculum.
  • "Leaders need to embed a systematic approach to teaching phonics. This should include ensuring that pupils who are early readers have access to books that they can read on their own.
  • "Teachers' expectations are too low. Leaders should raise their ownexpectations and those of teachers so that pupils are better prepared for the next stage of their education.
  • "Provision in the early years is ineffective. Leaders need to develop their intent, and improve the implementation, of the early years curriculum as a matter of urgency.
  • "Leaders’ monitoring and systems for accountability are flawed. An overreliance on data and word of mouth means that trust and school leaders are unaware of the low standards and expectations. Local leaders should improve the quality of monitoring to be better informed about provision. In turn, clear systems of accountability should be used to raise expectations and improve outcomes for pupils.

Louise Jones, Executive Headteacher at Landewednack Community Primary School, said: "We are of course disappointed by the Ofsted outcome but accept that we need to make improvements to the school so that it can be as good as we all want it to be.

"Our number one priority is implementing all areas of the action plan so that progress is made as quickly as possible, and my team and I are working as hard as we can every day to achieve this.

"I would like to thank our school community for their support during this period and we will be working closely with staff, parents and pupils as we move forward."