Kemble Primary School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Mrs Carol Dougill Headteacher Kemble Primary School School Road Kemble Cirencester Gloucestershire GL7 6AG

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Short inspection of Kemble Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 19 September 2017, 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 the school was judged to be good in February 2013.

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Short inspection of Kemble Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the previous inspection. Since taking up the headship of the two schools in the federation, you have made many improvements. Leaders have made effective changes to enhance the education provided by the school. Staff value the professional development opportunities and cooperation that have been encouraged between the two schools. Since the previous inspection, you have successfully addressed the key areas for improvement. The progress of all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, is now good. Pupils’ work in subjects other than English and mathematics is well planned and assessed so that it also promotes further progress in reading, writing and mathematics.

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Short inspection of Kemble Primary School

Governors share your vision and high aspirations for the school. They bring a range of skills and have a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school. They value the reports and information that you and your team provide for them, and welcome the clarity with which information about pupil progress is presented. Due to this clear presentation, they are knowledgeable and ask probing questions to hold leaders to account. They recognise that their role is to set the strategic direction for the federation and monitor progress towards these goals, and your role is to be the operational lead. This clarity ensures that the school functions efficiently and improves over time. Pupils behave well due to the interesting lessons and because of the high expectations of their teachers. They are happy at school and have no worries about bullying or poor behaviour. Teachers are committed and work hard to make sure

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Short inspection of Kemble Primary School

that all children learn well. They carefully assess pupils’ work, using this information to plan future lessons. Pupils have become increasingly involved in this assessment and have a clear understanding of what they need to do to improve their work. As a result, pupils learn well and make good progress at school.

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Short inspection of Kemble Primary School

You have created a welcoming and inclusive school in which pupils thrive. You have made a number of improvements to the site so that it is more secure. Pupils have a range of opportunities to play safely at breaktimes. Most parents value the large number of opportunities to find out what their children are being taught and to discuss their child’s learning and development. However, you are not complacent about this and have arranged further lines of communication to try to ensure that all parents have a good understanding of school plans and events. Pupils feel safe at school and know that the teachers and teaching partners have pupils’ needs and development at the centre of their actions. As one parent, whose view was typical, said, ‘The teachers care deeply about the children, and value, inspire and motivate every individual child’.

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Short inspection of Kemble Primary School

Senior leaders have a strong commitment to pupils’ safety and welfare. A good example of this is the improvement that has been made to site security in the last two years. You and your staff have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose, and you keep detailed, high-quality records. The arrangements for checking the suitability of staff to work with children meet requirements. Governors have up-to-date training about key safeguarding issues, for example the dangers of radicalisation. You have identified that the school’s safeguarding policy does not fully reflect updated guidance from the Gloucestershire Safeguarding Children Board and have produced a new policy to be adopted by governors in the next few weeks.

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Short inspection of Kemble Primary School

Staff are trained regularly on safeguarding issues, and this, along with regular updates, ensures that they are alert to any potential issues or indicators of harm. They are clear about what to do should they have any concerns, and they show a deep care for their pupils. As a result, pupils feel safe and are safe.

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Inspection findings

 Leaders and governors have a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school. You have communicated a strong vision, and created a clear improvement plan for the school. This vision is shared by staff, who understand the key priorities for improvement and work hard to achieve these. It is clear that you value your staff and are keen to enable them to take responsibility for leading improvement. As a result, staff work together as one in a shared endeavour to improve the school.  The first line of enquiry considered the progress that pupils make in their writing and how leaders and teachers are improving outcomes over time. It is clear that your aspiration to improve writing and enable more students to reach higher standards is shared by staff and governors. One of the key changes has been to improve teachers’ knowledge of the criteria used to assess writing by holding meetings with Siddington Primary School and other schools in the local cluster

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Inspection findings

and across the local authority. Teachers value this approach and have increased their confidence and knowledge of the curriculum. Pupils’ books show that they are developing their writing skills strongly as a result of the lessons that teachers plan. As a result of the changes that have been made, the progress that pupils make in their writing improved in 2017. More pupils are on track to reach expected and higher standards across all year groups.  The second key line of enquiry examined the actions that leaders have taken to improve the achievement of disadvantaged pupils. In 2016, the progress that these pupils made was low and your self-evaluation showed that this was an important improvement point for the school. The pupil premium strategy on the school website did not show clearly all of the work that the school is doing to improve outcomes for these pupils. Teachers, governors and leaders share your

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Inspection findings

concern for improving outcomes for these pupils. This is evident in the passion with which they speak about this issue. You have ensured that senior leaders and teaching partners mentor children and encourage them to achieve success in all aspects of school life and beyond. However, raising outcomes for disadvantaged pupils remains an area to continue to develop.  Two members of staff have been trained to check pupils’ work daily and quickly help them if needed. This responsive approach means that pupils’ misconceptions and errors are quickly corrected and so they do not fall behind. You frequently check pupils’ learning, and if they are not making the progress that they should, you ensure that a programme is in place to help them catch up. You involve parents in this programme so that they can support their child’s learning. This approach is working and school information about pupils’ performance shows

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Inspection findings

that those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are now making the same good progress as other pupils.  Lastly, I evaluated the effectiveness of communication between the school and parents. The Ofsted online questionnaire highlighted the quality of the school’s communication as an area of concern for some parents. All of the parents I spoke with both before and after school were very positive about the school, the information they received and how well their children were learning. Many parents had written positive comments in their questionnaire responses and letters. I carefully checked school risk assessments and records of the very small number of incidents from the past two years. It is clear that school leaders act quickly to maintain pupils’ safety and well-being.  Many parents comment positively about the range of opportunities they have to meet school leaders and teachers. School leaders and governors have recently

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Inspection findings

met with parents, and as a result, two family liaison officers have been chosen to improve communications further. This approach is in its infancy and will need to be assessed later in the year by governors and school leaders to see if it is effective.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 developments in writing provision continue to raise the proportion of pupils reaching expected and higher writing standards across the school  they maintain the drive to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils across the school  communication with parents continues to improve, especially through accurately representing the quality of the school’s work on its website and by responding to parents’ ongoing feedback.

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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 Gloucestershire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I held meetings with you, middle leaders and teachers. I also met with the chair and vice-chair of the governing body, a representative of the local authority and a group of pupils. Before school started, I met several parents and I also spoke to parents after school before they attended a briefing session on mathematics in the early years and key stage 1. I visited lessons with you and your middle leaders. We looked at examples of pupils’ work and records of their progress. I took account of responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire from 15 members of staff and 71 parents. I checked the school’s website, examined the school site and scrutinised a variety of documents, including leaders’ evaluation of the performance of the school and documents relating to safeguarding.

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