Self Improving School

At Garswood we are always looking for ways to improve. We do this both formally and informally. For instance, if we spot a system or process isn't working or think there may be a better way to do it, we make changes - sometimes following consultation with other stakeholders such as parents, children, staff, Governors.

A recent example is change to the collection arrangements for infants at the end of the school day. We listened to feedback, made some changes and the feedback has been positive.

We also take a more formal approach to planning improvements for the school and formulate a School Improvement Plan each year. This takes into account the outcomes from the previous year and what the data is telling us. It also considers the monitoring that has taken place including observations, surveys, scrutinies of children's work, new research or Government agendas and any external reviews (when we have asked others to evaluate our work at school).

This year (2025-26) some of our school improvement priorities - the things we are working on - are;

• Due to the successes of our new 2 year old nursery provision, re-siting the provision to increase the amount of families who can access this and benefit from the increase in Government funding.

• Implementing an early screening programme for speech and language in order to provide the earliest possible targeted support for the children who need it.

• Improve spelling and grammar, building on the successes of our writing programme to further improve the standards our children reach in their spelling and grammar.

• Undertake the Autism in Schools Programme to ensure we are providing the very best provision for all pupils.

In recent year some of the success we had in improving our school include:

• To increase our reach by opening a two year old provision, redeveloping the EYFS area.

• Improving our approach to writing - enabling children to have more opportunities to develop stamina in writing and use their knowledge of grammar and spelling in their sentence construction in longer writing. 

• Improving mathematics - improving teacher knowledge and securing effective implementation of the curriculum to ensure improved outcomes for children. Our outcomes improved with a significant increase in pupils reaching greater depth. All outcomes were above national comparison.

• Embed fluency in multiplication facts. So children can feel secure in these facts to support them in more complex mathematical thinking.

• Embedding our curriculum and securing an assessment system across all subjects which measures that children know more and remember more. We now have both formative and summative assessment systems in place for all subjects.

• We have returned to the high levels of additionality offered through and beyond our curriculum - securing cultural capital for all children. There are countless clubs being offered from Reception upwards; trips, visits, and a rich curriculum to embed an extensive vocabulary.

Immediately following the pandemic some of the success we had in improving our school include:

• Continued use of Microsoft Teams as a form of virtual learning and communication between home and school.

• Accommodating the needs of all children through regular assessments, discussions, and observations to teach the gaps that have been created by school closures during the past academic years, caused by the Covid- 19 pandemic.

• Ensuring all children are given time and teaching around the subject of mindfulness through PATHS and various other resources to ensure children feel comfortable with returning to school and recognise it as the safe place it has always been to them.

• Risk assessments and following government guidelines to make Garswood the safest most welcoming place it can be during these times.

During the pandemic, some of the success we had in improving our school include:

• Established Microsoft Teams as a form of virtual learning while children had to work from home during the Covid 19 Pandemic.

• Gained our very own on site Nurture Hub for children with specific needs.

• Worked with the local authority to create a virtual learning policy and risk assessment that would be used across St. Helens.

• We kept our school open and safe during the Covid - 19 pandemic and maintained close relation ships with all members of Garswood primary through phonecalls, online learning, emails and doorstop, socially distanced visits. 

• Succesfully created our own online phonics video lessons and teacher interactions through Video Conferencing.

Though we consult formally with our stakeholders through surveys, we are always open to discussion about moving the school forward. Please contact the school if you would like to discuss this further.

Financial:

To view Garswood Schools Financial benchmarking click the link below...

Garswood Financial Benchmarking