Bungay Primary School

Bungay Primary School Wingfield Street, Bungay, Suffolk NR35 1HA

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The headteacher has successfully established a culture of high expectations of pupils and staff.  Staff work well as a team for the benefit of all. They value the training and support they receive from the headteacher and deputy.  School leaders, including governors, have secured key improvements in the quality of education provided since the previous inspection. Pupils now make good progress.  Teachers plan lessons well and make clear to pupils what they are expecting them to learn. They work well with teaching assistants to make sure that no pupil gets left behind.  Standards of writing in English are good across the school. However, pupils' writing in other subjects is not as well developed.  Pupils enjoy reading and are developing a love of books. They develop good skills in reading a variety of texts, but sometimes find it difficult to pick out less obvious information and meaning.  Attractive displays around the school contribute

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

well to a stimulating learning environment.  The support for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is highly effective in enabling them to achieve well.  Additional support for pupils' social and emotional development, through the 'nurture group' provision for example, is exceptionally good. Its focus on learning ensures that pupils who use this support make good progress in their work as well.  Pupils are enthusiastic about school and learning. They enjoy lessons and get on well with one another. Pupils are safe in school.  Pupils are well prepared for their next stage of education. For example, they have settled into new classes or key stages quickly, resulting in a brisk start to work in the new academic year.  Children in the early years have settled in very well and are happy. In lessons, they quickly get involved in interesting and purposeful activities.  A wide range of enrichment and extra-

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

curricular activities enhance the broad range of taught subjects well.  Governors know the school well because they maintain good oversight of its work. They challenge school leaders effectively to make it even better.  While leaders know the school well and are focusing on the right areas for improvement, they do not analyse assessment information or the impact of their actions sharply enough.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise standards even further by: – ensuring that pupils, especially the most able, develop effective skills in 'reading between the lines' so that they are more incisive in extracting less obvious information from texts – ensuring that the books that pupils take home to read are appropriate for their abilities and challenge them enough, especially the most able – making sure that pupils develop their skills in explaining mathematical methods and ideas more effectively – providing increased opportunities for pupils to write in other subjects to develop even greater depth of understanding – enabling pupils to reflect on their personal responses to the work they are doing in subjects such as art and personal, social, health education to consider how they might improve it – continuing to extend the opportunities for writing in the early years.  Leaders should sharpen and improve the quality of evaluation of the school's work and

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

 The headteacher has set the right tone to create a positive culture where respect and tolerance for others are well established both in principle and in practice. He is well supported by his deputy.  School leaders ensure that expectations of staff and pupils are high and that staff work effectively as a team.  Leaders and governors are ambitious for the school to be even better. They have worked in a sustained and focused way to secure key improvements in the quality of education. The positive impact of their work is evident in the school and in pupils' improving outcomes.  The work of the school, including the quality of teaching, is checked regularly and effectively. Information from this checking, alongside more formal staff appraisals, is used well to tailor training and professional development to staff and to school needs.  Staff say that they are well supported to improve their skills and professional expertise.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

They value the training and coaching they receive and feel that performance management makes a good contribution to their development.  Effective monitoring ensures that staff follow policies and procedures consistently across the school. While school leaders and governors know their school well and the impact of their school improvement work, they are not always effective in establishing the outcomes they expect. This makes it less easy to assess the impact of their work, particularly on pupils' outcomes.  Subject and other middle leaders provide good support to their colleagues. Their roles have been developed further since the previous inspection and they make a good contribution to the school's improvement priorities. However, they are not always clear enough about the impact they are having and, hence, where improvement is needed.  The learning environment is enriched by immaculate and stimulating displays around

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

the school and in classrooms. These both reflect the good learning taking place and inspire pupils to achieve even more.  Pupils' ongoing progress and attainment are checked well so that the school can identify quickly where any pupils might be falling behind or are at the risk of underachieving. However, the information gathered is not always collated well, making it difficult to check patterns in achievement, particularly for different groups of pupils.  The pupil premium funding is spent well and is having a positive impact on disadvantaged pupils, including those who are the most able. Most of the funding goes towards additional staff, such as a non-teaching pastoral care manager or additional teaching assistants. This has led to excellent pastoral care and support being put in place, which in turn has had a very positive impact on learning and personal development of pupils who are supported.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

 A wide range of subjects are taught through themes. As a result, pupils develop an effective range of skills, knowledge and understanding across subjects. Extra-curricular activities provide good enrichment to the main curriculum. Pupils enjoy the lunchtime clubs enormously and attendance at after-school clubs is good.  The primary physical education and sports premium funding has been used well to extend the range of after-school clubs and to enable pupils to engage in inter-school sporting competitions with other schools locally.  The school promotes British values well across the school so that pupils are successfully prepared for life in modern Britain. Equality of opportunity is also effectively promoted, and individual pupils are helped to achieve their best, for example through the 'nurture group' support where appropriate.  Pupils are taught to be kind to one another and to those who are from different

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

backgrounds. Visits to a school in East London and visits from members of a Maasai tribe, for example, go a long way towards developing respect and tolerance for different cultural and religious traditions.  Leaders make good use of best practice through partnership with a group of other local schools. They also draw useful expertise and support from the local authority.

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Governance of the school

 Governors provide good oversight of the school's work. They ask challenging questions to ensure that leaders are doing enough to make the school even better.  The governing body uses its standards committee to probe the school's performance and to check that it is on track to achieve good outcomes.  Members of the governing body are well informed about the school's work because they visit often and speak to pupils and staff about their work. Individual governors are linked to specific areas of work, such as safeguarding, and their visits to the school are used to see for themselves how well the school is putting policies into practice.  Governors know how well the quality of teaching is progressing because they receive regular information from the school's monitoring of teaching and because they ask searching questions of leaders, including how they go about checking teaching.  The governing body and leaders have a shared and clear vision for the future

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Governance of the school

development of the school and are well focused on raising standards.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  The strong pastoral care of pupils is reflective of a culture of care and concern for each individual within the school. As a result, pupils feel safe and are safe.  Staff have received all the required training and know what to do should they have any concerns.  The school is good at identifying anyone who may be at risk of harm. Concerns are duly reported. Tailored and sensitive support is provided to pupils who need it.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

 Teachers plan lessons well, identifying very clearly for pupils what they expect them to learn.  The work that teachers provide builds well on the work pupils have done in previous lessons. Hence, pupils move on to new work with confidence having established secure skills or knowledge to tackle new learning effectively.  Teachers take good account of the different abilities of pupils and while, occasionally, work might be a little too hard for less able pupils or too easy for the most able, in the main, most pupils are challenged well by the work they are given.  In lessons observed, teachers were quick to pick up on pupils who had finished or were beginning to find the work a little easy. They usually intervened swiftly in these cases to provide extension or more suitable work.  Teachers question pupils well and make sure that they ask more difficult questions of the most able. Where appropriate, teachers push pupils to extend their answers to

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

provide fuller explanations.  Teachers' own explanations are clear and help pupils to unravel any misconceptions.  Teaching assistants work well with the pupils they are supporting. They ask good questions to help pupils develop better understanding. It is clear that teachers and teaching assistants work in an effective partnership for the benefit of pupils.  Relationships between teachers and pupils are strong, and pupils, therefore, want to work hard for their teachers.  Staff manage behaviour well in lessons and pick up quickly on any minor misbehaviour or lack of focus. As a result, pupils focus well in lessons and are often engrossed in their work.  The school's phonics scheme is well followed across key stage 1 and in the early years. Hence, the teaching of reading is good and pupils are encouraged to enjoy books. However, the books pupils take home to read are not challenging enough for many

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

pupils, especially for the most able pupils.  Writing skills are developed well in English lessons and there are examples of good writing in other subjects. However, in general, pupils are not given enough opportunities for writing in other subjects. This means that they do not develop their learning in as much depth as they could.  The quality of marking and feedback across the school is good. Pupils respond well to the advice they are given and so their work improves as a result.  The quality of homework is good and builds effectively on what pupils do in lessons as well as helping them to consolidate knowledge such as spellings and multiplication tables. In addition, research and more creative homework activities help pupils to develop a wider range of skills and knowledge.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school's work to promote pupils' personal development and welfare is good. Pupils have very positive attitudes to school and learning. They enjoy all it has to offer. For example, pupils talked about how much they like science 'because we do lots of experiments'.  Pupils' positive attitudes contribute strongly to the good progress they make.  In lessons, pupils readily work with others and discuss work in pairs when asked to by their teachers. They enjoy debating and discussing ideas. Year 3 pupils not only enjoyed debating in pairs on issues prevalent during Stone Age times, such as whether it was right to kill animals, but did this with great maturity and seriousness.  Pupils appreciate the diversity in the school and talked animatedly about visits to London to meet pupils at a school in East London with which their school has a long- standing link. Pupils are keen to know more about, and are accepting of, difference in

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Personal development and welfare

people.  In discussions, pupils are thoughtful and reflective. However, they are not always given enough time to reflect on their thoughts or their own personal responses in their written work. This was evident in some of their art work and in the development of their critical thinking skills subsequent to debates they have had such as the EU referendum.  Pupils are proud of their school and their work. This is demonstrated in the high standards of presentation seen across the school.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. The school is an orderly environment and reflects the school's positive efforts to promote high standards.  Skilled pastoral care and support and focused work in the nurture groups have enabled pupils who have behaviour difficulties to improve their behaviour considerably.  Pupils usually respond quickly to instructions and requests in lessons, enabling lessons to flow smoothly and without interruption. Sometimes, pupils are a little slow to move from one activity to another but, in the main, pupils' positive behaviour underpins their learning very effectively.  Pupils indicate that bullying is rare and dealt with effectively on the very few occasions it occurs. This is confirmed by the school's behaviour records and logs.  Pupils say that they feel safe, and their parents agree. The school teaches pupils well how to keep themselves safe in a wide range of situations, including when using the

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Behaviour

internet.  Pupils are confident that there is an adult they can speak to should they have any concerns or worries. This is because staff are approachable, have engendered a sense of trust among pupils and encourage pupils to seek help.  Attendance is improving rapidly and is currently in line with the national average. The attendance of disadvantaged pupils is also improving. Although this remains lower than the school average, the difference is diminishing.  Persistent absence is being tackled very actively by the school and, although it remains higher than national, it has been halved over the last year.

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Outcomes for pupils Good

 Standards of work across the school are rising and pupils are making good progress. Over the last year, pupils, especially in Years 5 and 6, have made rapid progress to make up for the slow progress they were making earlier in key stage 2 at the time of the previous inspection.  Increasing numbers of pupils are now making rapid progress, including disadvantaged pupils and especially the most able disadvantaged pupils.  In the 2016 national tests and assessments at the end of Year 6, a higher proportion of pupils at the school achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics combined than was the case nationally. Disadvantaged pupils did just as well as others.  Pupils' performance in the phonics test is above average, with no significant differences between the performance of disadvantaged pupils and others at the school or nationally.  Writing skills in English are strong, and this is reflected in the very good results in

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Outcomes for pupils Good

writing at both key stage 1 and key stage 2 in 2016 as well as in the written work in pupils' English books. Disadvantaged pupils are doing as well as others in their writing across the school and achieved well from their starting points.  Pupils read fluently across the school and younger pupils have good knowledge and understanding of phonics. Pupils talk knowledgeably about characters in books and what the book is about. However, their perceptiveness in gleaning less obvious meaning and information from text is less well developed, particularly for some of the most able and the most able who are disadvantaged. Daily guided reading sessions are beginning to tackle this.  In mathematics, work in books and lessons indicates that pupils are good at working quickly with numbers to solve problems. However, the ability of some to explain what they are doing is not as sharp. The school has pinpointed this as an area for

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Outcomes for pupils Good

development this year and teachers are providing activities to help pupils explain their thinking, or reasoning, more consciously. This work, as too the work in reading, has yet to be fully embedded.  The most able pupils are thriving as a result of greater levels of challenge in lessons. They are being extended well in most areas and are increasingly making rapid progress as they move through the school. The most able disadvantaged pupils are largely keeping up with other high-achieving pupils.  Pupils' work in other subjects shows that they are making good progress. They are developing good knowledge and understanding in subjects such as science, history and geography. In science, for example, pupils are developing many aspects of investigation through regular opportunities in most classes to carry out experiments.  While pupils often write well and fluently in subjects across the curriculum, they do not

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Outcomes for pupils Good

write extensively enough to develop even greater depth of understanding in the subjects they are studying.  Art and design and technology work on display and in photographs in pupils' books shows that pupils are developing good practical skills in these subjects, such as how to use colour or develop design ideas.  Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are making good progress from their different starting points due to the well-managed and sharply focused support they receive.  The very small number of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds or who speak English as an additional language make good progress from their starting points. They achieve as well as others.  Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of education. The nurture groups and the provision for pastoral support make a strong contribution to establishing very positive attitudes to learning and the ability to focus in lessons. Consequently, pupils receiving

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Outcomes for pupils Good

this support are making rapid progress in developing skills in English and mathematics, often from very low starting points.

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Early years provision Good

 Children in the early years make good progress from their starting points. While some children start with good early skills in areas such as reading and writing, many begin with skills and knowledge that are below those typical for their age. This is especially so in writing and aspects of social development.  There is a good trend of improvement in the results at the end of Reception. In 2016, the large majority of children achieved a good level of development. This included disadvantaged children.  Children across the early years benefit from good provision both indoors and outdoors and have good opportunities to experience a wide range of practical activities.  Children quickly become involved in the activities provided and are good at working with others to explore what is on offer or to collaborate on tasks such as building structures using construction kits.  Social and personal skills are developing well and children have settled into their new

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Early years provision Good

classes quickly. They know the routines and expectations of behaviour well already.  Most of the staff interact and engage with children well, questioning and probing them about the work they are doing. They encourage children to work with numbers and phonics, although activities for writing are not always as well developed or extensive as they could be.  Efforts are being focused on assessing children, especially those new to the school. Assessment is rigorous and the information gathered used effectively to tailor work more closely to children's needs and interests.  The early years area is well led, and good support from the local authority is helping staff to develop more robust and frequent opportunities for children to develop their early writing skills especially.  The most able children are steered towards more challenging activities so that they make as good progress from their starting point as others.

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Early years provision Good

 Staff in the early years have established good relationships with parents and communicate well with them.  Children are very well looked after in a safe and caring environment. They feel safe and are confident to move around the early years areas trying out new activities.

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Email address office@bungayprimary.suffolk.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 29 January 2015

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Information about this school

 Bungay Primary School is slightly smaller than other schools. There are more boys than girls on roll.  The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is above average.  Most pupils are White British. A small proportion are from a range of different minority ethnic backgrounds and a few speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities who have a statement of educational needs or an education, health and care plan is above average. The proportion being supported in some way is also higher than in most schools.  The school does not fully meet requirements on the publication of information about the pupil premium funding and the sports premium funding on its website.  The school met the government’s floor standards for 2015. These are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics

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Information about this inspection

 The inspection team observed learning in all classes. Many of these observations were conducted jointly with the headteacher and the deputy headteacher.  Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, other members of the senior leadership team, subject leaders and other middle leaders. They also met with the chair and vice-chair of governors and a local authority officer.  Members of the inspection team spoke informally to pupils in lessons and around the school as well as holding discussions that were more formal with two groups of pupils.  Inspectors listened to a group of pupils reading to check how well they were developing their reading skills. They also discussed their reading with pupils, including older pupils.  In carrying out the inspection, the inspection team took account of 17 responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire (Parent View). One member of the team also spoke with parents as they dropped off their children at school.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspection team took account of the responses to an Ofsted questionnaire completed by 14 staff members.  Members of the team observed the work of the school. They looked at the school's improvement plan, a range of policies and procedures, documents relating to the work of the governing body and the arrangements for ensuring that pupils are safeguarded. Documentation reviewed included records of assessment information relating to pupils' attainment and progress, behaviour and attendance. The school's website was also checked.

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Inspection team

Gulshan Kayembe, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

John Crane Ofsted Inspector guidance 'Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted's website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

In the report, 'disadvantaged pupils' refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. www.gov.uk/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and- alternative-provision-settings .

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Inspection team

You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child's school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when and as part of the inspection.

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Inspection team

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk , or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted .

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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