Cherry Fold Community Primary School

Inspection of Cherry Fold Community Primary School Cog Lane, Burnley, Lancashire BB11 5JS

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The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Good 20 and 21 May 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy at this welcoming school. Caring staff greet pupils warmly as they arrive at school each morning. Pupils who are new to the school, including those who speak English as an additional language, settle in quickly. Staff support them well to focus on their learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school aspires for all pupils to achieve well. However, by the end of Year 6, pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics has been below significantly below average for some time. Weaknesses in how the school delivers the curriculum, together with low attendance rates for some pupils, affects their learning. Pupils are not as well prepared as they should be for their next stages of education.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils generally behave well. For example, at breaktimes, most play cooperatively together. However, staff have varied expectations of pupils’ behaviour. At times, some pupils do not behave as well as they should.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils take advantage of the school’s extra-curricular offer. They attend eco-club, football and allotment club. Pupils and carers are included in special events, such as the tea party to commemorate Victory in Europe (VE) day. Visting speakers help pupils to understand and celebrate the differences between people. The ‘pupil passport’ supports pupils to develop important life skills, such as confidence and independence. These experiences contribute well to pupils’ broader development.

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

The school has an ambitious vision in place, but this is not reflected consistently in its provision. While the school has made some positive changes to the curriculum, its implementation and impact on pupils’ learning is variable. In some subjects, and in some classes, the curriculum is taught well. This helps pupils to know and remember more over time. However, this is not consistently the case. In some subjects, insufficient thought is given to the activities that pupils complete to make sure that they know and remember more. This means that some pupils do not build a secure body of knowledge over time. Staff regularly check how well pupils are learning. However, this information is not used well enough to address gaps in some pupils’ learning.

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

The school prioritises early reading. This starts in the Nursery class, where children are introduced to stories and rhymes. Well-trained staff teach children the sounds and letters that they need to begin to learn to read. Children have opportunities to practise their phonics knowledge in their writing. They learn to form letters correctly. However, some pupils find it difficult to express their thoughts and ideas. This is because pupils’ understanding of specific vocabulary is not secure. This also affects pupils’ confidence to speak. For some pupils, this also limits their ability to learn across the curriculum.

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

Children in the Nursery and Reception classes are happy and confident. The school has developed an ambitious curriculum for the early years. However, this is not implemented well enough. Often children do not get sufficient opportunities to practise and develop 20 and 21 May 2025

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their learning. As a result, some children do not learn what they need to know to be ready for Year 1.

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The school identifies quickly pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). It provides support to help pupils to access the curriculum. However, where learning activities are not as carefully thought out, this impacts negatively on all pupils, including those with SEND.

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In the main, the school has high expectations of pupils’ behaviour. The school has introduced a new approach to managing the behaviour of pupils. All staff have received training. However, in some lessons and subjects, some pupils do not show positive attitudes towards their learning. This means that, at times, some pupils lose interest and distract one another in lessons.

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The school has thought carefully about pupils’ wider development. Pupils learn about mental well-being, physical health and relationships. Pupils can explain what makes a good friend and know what to do when they have a worry. Pupils know how to stay safe in a range of situations, including online. They learn about important values, such as respect and democracy. Older pupils can stand to be elected for the school council. They help to make the school a better place. For example, they recently organised a fundraising event for the local church.

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Regular attendance at school is prioritised. The school uses a range of strategies to work with families to help pupils to attend school as often as they should. This has led to a small improvement in overall attendance rates. Nevertheless, many pupils are persistently absent from school. This means that they miss out on learning all that they should.

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Governors are considerate of staff’s workload and well-being. For example, they reflect on the impact of implementing new initiatives to ensure that these do not cause undue workload for staff. Governors are beginning to offer challenge to the school to gain assurance that systems are working as they should and that pupils are learning all that they can.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school has had limited success in reducing the proportion of pupils who are persistently absent from school. These pupils sometimes find it difficult to catch up on missed learning and their achievement is hampered as a result. The school should ensure that it strengthens its work to improve regular attendance, so that pupils can learn and achieve well. 20 and 21 May 2025

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 A small but significant minority of pupils do not behave as well as they should. On occasion, this makes other pupils anxious and disturbs their learning. The school should ensure that staff have the expertise to secure consistently positive behaviour and maximise learning time for pupils.  The activities and resources that teachers give to children in the early years often do not reinforce learning. As a result, children have too few opportunities to embed new knowledge and practise new skills. This hinders their readiness for Year 1. The school should ensure that teachers provide tasks and accompanying resources, which give children the opportunity to consolidate their learning and remember more of what they are taught.  In several subjects, the school has not ensured that the intended curriculum is delivered effectively. In some subjects, insufficient thought is given to the design of pupils’ activities to help them remember new learning. Furthermore, information from

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assessment tasks is not used well enough to identify gaps in pupils’ knowledge. This hinders pupils from achieving well. The school should ensure that staff are suitably equipped to deliver the curriculum consistently well and check its impact on pupils’ learning.

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 20 and 21 May 2025

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 17 and 18 April 2024, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not make use of any alternative provision.  The school offers a breakfast club each morning.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. During a graded inspection, we grade the school for each of our key judgements (quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management) and for any relevant provision judgement (early years provision). Schools receiving a graded inspection from September 2024 will not be given an overall effectiveness grade.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision.  Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school. 20 and 21 May 2025

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 To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff, and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: English, including early reading, mathematics, science, geography and history. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  An inspector also looked at some samples of pupils’ work in some other subjects.  An inspector observed pupils from Year 1 to Year 3 read to a familiar adult.  The inspectors met with the headteacher and other leaders. An inspector also met with some members of the governing body, including the chair of governors.

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 An inspector met with a representative of the local authority.  The inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour during lessons and breaktimes. They also spoke with pupils about their views of school life.  The inspectors reviewed the responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text comments.  The inspectors considered the views of staff who responded to Ofsted’s online survey. There were no responses to the pupil survey.

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Inspection team

Frith Murphy, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Julie Stevens Ofsted Inspector 20 and 21 May 2025

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achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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