Our Ofsted Report & Independent Review

The 2019 inspection framework was introduced to focus on the importance of the whole curriculum, of knowledge and how it all fits together. Ofsted carried out an inspection of our school in September 2021.

Ofsted rated our school “Good” in the areas of: Behaviours and Attitudes; Personal Development; Leadership and Management; Early Years provision. The inspectors recognised our nurturing approach and there is much in the report to celebrate: “Staff have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour. Lessons are fun and interesting. Pupils work with enthusiasm and are keen to contribute their ideas.” Safeguarding was rated as Effective: “Pupils are polite, cheerful and kind to each other. They feel safe and well looked after by adults.”

The inspection team took a ‘Deep Dive’ into our teaching of History and Computing in order to test out whether our curriculum was well-planned and sequenced. Inspectors felt that our History curriculum was not planned in the detail that they would have expected; the “Quality of Education” area of the Ofsted inspection was therefore rated as “Requires Improvement” and this dictated the overall result of the inspection.

A PDF copy of the Inspection Report can be found here.

You can also listen to a radio interview with our Head Teacher using the link below.

If you would prefer a printed copy of our Ofsted report or other information contained on our website please contact the school office.

Teaching and Learning Review in November 2022; curriculum now Good.

Our school leaders and staff have worked hard to address the feedback raised by Ofsted and place the school in a much stronger position. The Teaching and Learning review recognised that we had addressed all concerns raised by Ofsted.  The key highlights of the review are detailed below: 

We introduced a new phonics scheme, ‘Essential Letters and Sounds’ in February 2022.

There is a strong and universal fidelity to the scheme’s approach. Lessons are taught in whole-class groups but pupils who need additional support get it. There are phonetically decodable books for pupils to use to practise reading and develop fluency. In all lessons visited, pupils read confidently and eagerly.

Writing

Pupils learn to write well from the time they start in Reception. They learn to hold a pencil properly and this helps them to get off to a strong start. Lessons enable pupils to practise and develop their writing. They also have regular opportunities to develop writing stamina by writing longer, independent pieces of work. By the time they have reached Year 2 they are regularly writing at length.

Maths

Maths continues to be in a strong place because the Subject Leader has a lot of expertise and the school follows a well-established scheme, White Rose. There continues to be a consistent approach to the teaching and learning of maths using Mastering Number and White Rose. In Reception, teachers use lots of practical work and repetition to skilfully reinforce concept of number. Practical activities, fun, and good pace support pupil engagement.

Good teacher subject knowledge enables teachers to adapt skilfully to pupil responses and to use appropriate vocabulary.

The Wider Curriculum

Leaders have worked hard to ensure that the curriculum has a clear intent and set of end points.

We have thought carefully about the sequence of our topics for each year group, so that learning builds over time. We have clearly identified the most important knowledge that pupils need to learn and remember as they progress through the school. The curriculum is sequenced in a logical order, with clear end points identified.

The classroom environments are attractive and focused on pupils’ learning. They reflect high expectations that are echoed in the teaching in the classes.

We continue to embed the changes we have made as part of our continuous school-improvement cycle.  Further details around the review are set out in the LAB update letter below, or you can watch Mrs Ezzard talk about the school's progress since Ofsted here.