Setting

Mr Jim Cleaver Westgate Community Primary School Brooklands Close Hospital Road Bury St Edmunds Suffolk IP33 3JX

p.1

Short inspection of Westgate Community Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 15 March 2016, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since Westgate Community Primary School was judged to be good in June 2011.

p.1

Short inspection of Westgate Community Primary School

Westgate Community Primary School caters for pupils with a wide range of diverse needs, including those with hearing impairment. The school is expanding in size, this year opening up to pupils in Year 5, and next year welcoming them into the school’s first Year 6 classes. Despite this expansion in size and pupil numbers, you and other leaders have maintained an ethos where all pupils are integrated seamlessly into school life. Many pupils told the inspector that ‘everyone is valued at Westgate School’.

p.1

Short inspection of Westgate Community Primary School

You are ambitious for all pupils. You know them well because you visit classes frequently, look at their work and talk with class teachers about the progress of pupils very regularly. As a result, you speak knowledgeably about each pupil’s needs, achievements and next steps.

p.1

Short inspection of Westgate Community Primary School

Your evaluation of the school is accurate. You know the school’s strengths and weaknesses and have clear plans in place to address areas for improvement. As a result of well-targeted actions, progress in reading, writing and mathematics is improving and standards are rising.

p.1

Short inspection of Westgate Community Primary School

Other leaders also make a strong contribution to pupils’ success at school because they plan well for improvement. For example, the inclusion manager has worked Ofsted

p.1

Short inspection of Westgate Community Primary School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted successfully to establish positive relationships with some parents who may have found it difficult in the past to engage with school.

p.1

Short inspection of Westgate Community Primary School

The majority of parents speak highly of the support they and their children receive from the school. During the inspection, one parent wrote to thank you and the staff for supporting their child so well since starting at Westgate, commenting, ‘Thank you for literally changing our lives by seeking out the lovely little boy we always knew was there’.

p.2

Short inspection of Westgate Community Primary School

Governors are highly supportive of the school. They visit often. Sometimes this is an informal visit to support pupils in their learning, particularly in reading. Governors also visit more formally to check how well the school provides for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. In a recent visit, a governor was able to make useful recommendations to you for how provision could be improved still further. Sometimes, however, governors are not as challenging as they could be in their questioning of leaders and the impact of actions taken to improve outcomes.

p.2

Short inspection of Westgate Community Primary School

At the time of the last inspection, the early years provision was identified as an area for improvement. Since your appointment, you have ensured that effective action has been taken to improve activities provided for children in the Nursery and Reception classes so that there is a wide range of interesting and challenging tasks for them to choose. You have ensured that teachers now carefully assess what children know and understand, using this information carefully to provide exciting opportunities for learning, both indoors and outdoors. Children are on track this year to achieve above that expected nationally for their age.

p.2

Short inspection of Westgate Community Primary School

Pupils behave well and say that they enjoy school. They talk confidently about the many aspects that they enjoy, particularly art. The curriculum is interesting and enhanced by clubs, including the many sports clubs and the ‘chatterbooks club’. Special events further enrich learning. For example, the Rainforest Café for Year 4 pupils provides opportunities for pupils to learn about the rainforest as well as develop their cooking skills. They bake and sell cookies to raise money to save a section of the rainforest. Parents are then invited to attend the café and pupils are given opportunities to speak about their work. You have carefully crafted the curriculum so that pupils are keen to learn and enjoy being at school.

p.2

Short inspection of Westgate Community Primary School

Safeguarding arrangements meet all statutory requirements. You and your governors take all necessary precautions to ensure that pupils are kept safe in school and you have established a strong safeguarding culture. Careful recording systems are in place and you and governors keep a close oversight of safeguarding. Staff are fully trained and training is kept up to date. All staff understand the school’s policies and the procedures and follow them systematically if they have concerns about a pupil.

p.2

Inspection findings

 Leaders, including governors, have ensured that the expansion of the school to ultimately include pupils from Nursery to Year 6 has not created a distraction from securing further improvements. You and your leadership team have remained focused on improving teaching and learning and, as a result, the progress that pupils make is rising rapidly.

p.3

Inspection findings

 You have an accurate understanding of the strengths and areas for improvement in the school. You have correctly identified the correct priorities for the school. Plans are detailed and set out effectively how you will measure success.

p.3

Inspection findings

 You have robustly tackled the weaknesses in the early years to ensure that provision has improved. You have analysed and effectively addressed the areas where some children previously did not reach the standard expected for their age. As a result, and according to the school’s own assessment information, the proportion expected to achieve a good level of development at the end of this year is set to rise.

p.3

Inspection findings

 At the end of Year 2 in 2015, writing standards had begun to dip to below national averages. You have addressed this decline successfully, and pupils’ work shows that they are now making rapid improvements and producing work of a better standard than previously.

p.3

Inspection findings

 Teaching is strong across the school, particularly in upper Key Stage 2 where teachers have high expectations of pupils and provide plenty of opportunities for pupils to develop and take responsibility for their own learning. For example, in a Year 5 class, pupils were presenting their favourite poem. They achieved this with confidence and responded thoughtfully, giving clear explanations and reasons for their choice.

p.3

Inspection findings

 You have taken robust action to secure improvements in attendance including support for parents and rewards for pupils. Consequently, attendance has improved including for disadvantaged pupils, where you have reduced by half the number of these pupils who have low attendance. The attendance of pupils with an education, health and care plan or statement of special educational need remains lower than that of others. This is because many of these pupils have hearing impairments and regularly attend medical appointments during the school day.

p.3

Inspection findings

 Leaders have put in place a range of additional and precise support for disadvantaged pupils. This includes additional teaching for individual pupils to provide them with mentoring support. This is proving effective and disadvantaged pupils are making accelerated progress.  Pupils behave well in school. They enjoy their learning and the interesting events and activities that they do. They show very positive attitudes towards each other and towards adults. They are knowledgeable about other cultures and faiths and respect people from different backgrounds.

p.3

Inspection findings

 Pupils with hearing impairment are enabled to fully participate in lessons because adults who use signing provide good support. Support for pupils with special educational needs is well managed. The new leader with responsibility for this area is further developing her role in monitoring and evaluating provision across the school.

p.4

Inspection findings

 The school’s approach to the teaching of the new mathematics curriculum is not as well advanced as it is for English. As a result, pupils are not making as consistently rapid progress in some classes in mathematics as they are in reading and writing.

p.4

Next steps for the school

Leaders and governors should ensure that:

p.4

Next steps for the school

 teaching in mathematics is more consistently challenging in all classes  the improvements evident in the early years provision continue so that more children achieve a good level of development by the end of the Reception Year.

p.4

Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the Chair of the Governing Body, the Regional Schools Commissioner and the Director of Children’s Services for Suffolk County Council. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

p.4

Information about the inspection

During the inspection, HMI met with you, the inclusion leader and the leader for special educational needs. HMI spoke to the Chair of the Governing Body and met with a small group of pupils from Years 3, 4 and 5. HMI scrutinised a range of documentation including information about safeguarding, school development planning and pupils’ outcomes. HMI observed teaching and evaluated pupils’ work, and considered the responses of 37 parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View.

p.4