Cotham Gardens Primary School

Cotham Gardens Primary School 18 Cotham Grove, Bristol BS6 6AL

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inspection report:

At the most recent graded inspection, in December 2024, the following areas were identified as needing to improve:

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inspection report:

The school, including the trust, lacks the capacity to bring about the necessary changes to pupils' learning at the required pace. A lack of oversight has led to a decline in the quality of education that pupils receive. The school and the trust must strengthen leadership capacity at all levels so that improvements are rapid and sustainable.

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inspection report:

The school has not ensured that staff have the knowledge and expertise that they need to deliver curriculum content. This means that pupils do not build a secure body of knowledge over time. This leads to gaps in their knowledge that go unchecked. As a result, pupils are not prepared for the next stage of their learning. The school must ensure that staff are well informed and suitably guided to teach the agreed curriculum and to identify and remedy gaps in pupils' learning.

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inspection report:

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do not receive the support that they need to learn all that they should. Consequently, pupils with SEND do not achieve well enough. The school must ensure that staff are suitably equipped to enable pupils with SEND to learn the curriculum so that they achieve well in all aspects of school life.

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inspection report:

Some pupils in the early stages of learning to read do not get the support that they need to catch up. The texts that they are given are sometimes too difficult for them to read. Beyond phonics, the reading curriculum is not designed to address gaps in knowledge. This prevents these pupils from becoming accurate, confident and fluent readers. The school should ensure that the phonics programme and reading curriculum are implemented fully to allow all pupils to succeed.

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inspection report:

The curriculum for some areas of learning in the early years does not enable children to achieve well. In addition, not enough is done to widen children's vocabulary and their communication and language skills. Consequently, children are not as well prepared for Year 1 as they should be. The school must ensure that staff have sufficient expertise to Monitoring Inspection report: Cotham Gardens Primary School 1 and 2 July

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interact with children purposefully and deliver the curriculum for all areas of learning effectively.

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Staff do not follow the behaviour policy consistently well. At times, some pupils do not behave as well as they should. This disrupts the learning of others. The school should ensure that staff implement the behaviour policy as intended.

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The personal development offer is not implemented as well as intended. This means that pupils do not build a secure body of knowledge over time. It leads to gaps in pupils' understanding and means they are not as well prepared as they should be for life in modern Britain. The school must ensure that staff are suitably equipped to deliver the curriculums that promote pupils' personal development.

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Leaders and trustees are taking effective action to improve the school, but

continued work is needed to remove the special measures designation.

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Leaders and trustees are taking effective action to improve the school, but

HMCI is of the opinion that the school may appoint one early career teacher.

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Leaders and trustees are taking effective action to improve the school, but

During this monitoring inspection, inspectors focused on the following evaluation areas:  Leadership and governance  Inclusion  Curriculum and teaching  Achievement  Attendance and behaviour  Personal development and wellbeing  Early years

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Leadership and governance

Leaders have maintained a clear focus on the school's most important priorities. They have acted with purpose to move the school forward. Leaders make effective use of external challenge from Futura Learning Partnership. They use this support to strengthen key aspects of the school's work.

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Leadership and governance

Since the previous monitoring inspection, leaders have improved the teaching of reading through better resourcing, training and more consistent implementation. Early years and key stage 1 now provide a secure foundation in reading, writing and mathematics. Staff benefit from targeted professional development meetings that sharpen their practice and expertise. Leaders understand where variability remains. They know that some teaching, particularly in parts of key stage 2, does not enable pupils to make as much progress from their starting points as they should. To address this, leaders continue to embed a strategic approach to monitoring and evaluation so that middle leaders can check the quality of teaching and its impact on pupils' learning more robustly. Monitoring Inspection report: Cotham Gardens Primary School 1 and 2 July

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Trustees fulfil their statutory duties well and provide effective challenge and support. They scrutinise leaders' work carefully, such as the impact of adaptive teaching. Staff recognise the positive developments that are taking place. They feel listened to when workload concerns arise.

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Safeguarding

At the previous graded inspection, safeguarding was evaluated as being effective.

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Inclusion

Leaders continue to strengthen the provision for pupils with SEND. More precise targets help staff understand how to support pupils to be successful. The introduction of an electronic system is improving staff's access to, and the review of, pupils' support plans.

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Inclusion

Staff know pupils well and make appropriate adaptations, such as using symbols and visuals, to help them keep up. Bespoke interventions, including rapid reading catch-up, enable pupils, including new arrivals to the school, to become more accurate and confident readers. Leaders recognise SEND strategies now need to be embedded more consistently in everyday classroom practice.

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Achievement

Leaders place a significant emphasis on securing the foundational skills of reading, writing and mathematics from the early years onwards. For the most part, this approach is having a positive impact. Most pupils read confidently by the end of Year 1. This is reflected in outcomes above the national average in the phonics screening check. Current Year 4 pupils demonstrate stronger knowledge of multiplication tables than previous cohorts. In 2025, more pupils than in previous years achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6. However, leaders know that gaps remain in some older pupils' writing knowledge, particularly in handwriting, punctuation and spelling. They are taking deliberate steps to address this.

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Achievement

Pupils' subject knowledge is beginning to strengthen their achievement across the wider curriculum. Older pupils make meaningful links between historical concepts, such as invasion and trade when comparing Mayan, Egyptian and Roman civilisations.

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Attendance and behaviour

Leaders and staff have established a culture of belonging. This encourages pupils to attend regularly. Effective systems promote attendance and tackle absence. As a result, attendance is above national averages.

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Attendance and behaviour

The behaviour policy is implemented consistently. Most pupils behave sensibly in lessons and at social times. For example, they know the importance of 'tracking the speaker' and being an active listener. Consequently, disruption to learning is uncommon. Although suspensions have increased slightly, leaders use them appropriately and as a last resort. Monitoring Inspection report: Cotham Gardens Primary School 1 and 2 July

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Curriculum and teaching

Leaders continue to refine the curriculum and teaching. The agreed lesson structure is now embedded across the core subjects. For example, the 'explain' stage has strengthened how teachers model new learning to pupils. Where teaching is less effective, leaders act quickly to provide teachers with additional coaching and support.

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Curriculum and teaching

Phonics teaching is now a strength. Staff in the early years and key stage 1 teach the early reading programme with fidelity and precision. Most pupils leaving Year 2 apply their phonics knowledge in their writing. Staff pick up on incorrect letter formation and punctuation errors quickly. Older pupils who need extra help with reading have the right books and targeted support to succeed. The impact of this can be seen in the number of pupils who successfully complete the rapid catch-up programme.

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Curriculum and teaching

Leaders have improved their oversight of the quality of teaching. However, further work is needed to address gaps in older pupils' writing knowledge and to strengthen teachers' choice of learning activities, so pupils deepen their understanding across the wider curriculum.

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Personal development and wellbeing

The personal development offer is much improved. Leaders have designed a coherent structure to the whole-school programme. This includes themed events, cultural days, visits and clubs. Pupils are beginning to recall more of what they have been taught. For example, older pupils speak confidently about the importance of treating everyone with fairness and respect, regardless of religion, race or gender. Leaders plan to refine the systems for tracking pupils' participation in extra-curricular activities so they can widen access and increase engagement.

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Early years

Leaders have considered children's readiness for the Year 1 curriculum carefully. They maintain a sharp focus on developing children's communication and language skills across the curriculum. Staff use a wide range of stories to introduce rich and ambitious vocabulary. The introduction of 'prompt cards', which contain key questions linked to activities, supports purposeful interactions between adults and children. As a result, children talk confidently about their learning and show what they know through their work and play.

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Additional next steps

Leaders and trustees should continue to work to address the priorities for improvement identified in the last graded inspection report.

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About this inspection

The inspectors carried out this monitoring inspection under section 8(2) of the Education Act 2005, and it was the second monitoring inspection since the school was judged to Monitoring Inspection report: Cotham Gardens Primary School 1 and 2 July

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require special measures following the graded inspection that took place in December 2024.

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The school's previous inspection and the first monitoring inspection were carried out under the Education Inspection Framework (EIF) at that time. The renewed EIF took effect from 10 November 2025. The areas for improvement identified at the school's graded inspection and subsequent monitoring inspections have been cross-referenced to the relevant evaluation areas in the inspection toolkit for consideration on this monitoring inspection.

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Following our renewed inspection framework, all inspections are now led by His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMIs) or by Ofsted Inspectors (OIs) who have previously served as HMIs.

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The purpose of this monitoring inspection was not to determine grades for any of the evaluation areas set out in the school inspection toolkit. The purpose was to identify and report on the school's progress in addressing priorities for improvement since the school's previous inspection.

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Since the previous monitoring inspection, a significant number of pupils have joined the school mid-year. Furthermore, there has been an increase in the number of pupils with SEND, including those with an education, health and care plan and pupils who speak English as an additional language.

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During this inspection, meetings were held with the head of school, deputy head of school, staff, the chief executive officer of the trust, trustees and a director of the supporting multi- academy trust to discuss the actions that have been taken to improve the school since the most recent graded inspection.

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Team inspector

Julie Fox Ofsted Inspector Monitoring Inspection report: Cotham Gardens Primary School 1 and 2 July

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About this school

Number of pupils on roll 363 Monitoring Inspection report: Cotham Gardens Primary School 1 and 2 July

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regulates and inspects to 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 looked-after-children, safeguarding and child protection.

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