A TAMESIDE school has been told it needs to improve by Ofsted inspectors.
And a report into Broadbottom Church of England Primary has found gaps in its curriculum and teacher training.
After visiting the Mottram Road school at the end of September, it has been placed in the bracket of ‘requires improvement.’
And a report concluded: “The curriculum plans for pupils’ learning lack detail about the specific knowledge that leaders want pupils to learn.
“Senior leaders have not checked the curriculum to make sure it is ambitious enough or that it sets out learning carefully enough.
“In some subjects, the school’s curriculum does not match the ambition of the national curriculum.
“For example, in geography, pupils in Year 5 learn about the continents and oceans, despite this being set out in the national curriculum for pupils in key stage 1.
“Learning is not set out logically. It does not consistently build on the learning that came before. Consequently, pupils do not achieve as well as they should in some subjects.”
Broadbottom scored well in other areas but as well as ‘the quality of education,’ it was deemed as requiring improvement in ‘leadership and management.’
And the report, written by inspectors Craig Richardson and Moira Atkins, detailed the issues.
It adds: “A new scheme for teaching phonics is being introduced but this is not fully in place.
“Some staff have not received appropriate training so that they can deliver the new phonics programme.
“This hinders some pupils from reading fluently and accurately. At times, the books that pupils read do not match the sounds that they know.
“Some pupils who are falling behind are not being supported to catch up quickly enough.
“And some staff have not been given the necessary support to deliver the new phonics curriculum.
In addition, teachers do not match pupils’ reading books to the sounds that they know.
“This means that pupils do not make the progress that they should in reading.
“Leaders should ensure that staff are suitably equipped to teach the phonics programme. This is to ensure that pupils read fluently and those pupils who find reading difficult get the help they need to catch up. In some subjects, the curriculum is not set out clearly enough.
“Teachers are unsure of what to teach and when. This means that pupils do not remember the most important knowledge that they need to prepare them for future learning.
“Senior leaders should help subject leaders to plan their curriculums carefully so that it sets out clearly the most important learning at each stage.
“Leaders and governors have not checked that the curriculum is ambitious and well ordered. This means some subject content is not taught in a logical manner so that pupils can build on what has come before.
“Leaders must review the curriculum to ensure it is suitably ambitious and carefully ordered to enable pupils to do more and remember more.”