An Assessor from Tribal Project visited Corsham Primary School on 7 June 2019 to carry out a review in relation to the Basic Skills Quality Mark Award for English and Mathematics. She spoke to the Headteacher, Senior Leadership team, English Subject Leader, Mathematics Subject Leader, Assessment Manager and the SENCO during her visit.
The Quality Mark recognises high quality standards in the provision, practice and performance of English and Mathematics and, if achieved, is valid for three years.
The Assessor considered the development points from the previous visit and noted what actions had been taken to address those points. She then summarised the good practices identified in relation to the 10 elements of the Quality Mark and found that Corsham Primary School met the requirements and has therefore achieved the Basic Skills Quality Mark Award again. We are absolutely delighted and want to say a huge thank-you to all the staff for their hard work to provide the best possible education for the children.
Key comments from the Assessor’s report:
• The school works closely with the other schools in the Trust and shares good practice with them
• Teachers and TAs have received training on speaking, listening and broadening children’s vocabulary
• Training on reading strategies has been undertaken which has included training for volunteer parent readers
• Reading and writing are a high profile with big writing in KS2 one week and children editing their work the following week
• The impact of staff training has been successful which was seen from pupils’ work in mathematics, enabling pupils to undertake problem-solving activities
• Specific interventions have been implemented to support disadvantaged pupils eg use of pictorial visualisation in classrooms
• Termly reviews of pupil progress are updated and use of Seesaw has enabled parents and pupils to access their learning at home as well as seeing posts of activities and achievements which teachers have made to individual learning platforms
• The school actively encourages parents to be involved in developing their child’s basic skills through regular meetings, workshops, newsletters, the school’s website and Seesaw
• The school has used a variety of resources to further extend the range of teaching approaches and learning styles to improve English and Mathematics
• The school has an effective system and comprehensive timetable in place to monitor planning, assessment and pupil achievement in basic skills
• New staff are well-supported