Wentworth Primary School

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

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Mrs Dawn Dack Headteacher Wentworth Primary School Viking Road Maldon Essex CM9 6JN

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Short inspection of Wentworth 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 March 2013.

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Short inspection of Wentworth Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

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Short inspection of Wentworth Primary School

Since your arrival at the school in September 2016, you have brought your significant experience from leading improvements in other schools, and have built on the good standards already in place. You have established even higher expectations about what the school should provide for pupils in its care.

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Short inspection of Wentworth Primary School

Children and pupils enjoy coming to school, because it is a vibrant and caring place. The wide-ranging curriculum, and your relentless focus on values, such as democracy, equality, tolerance and humanity, mean that children and pupils are thoughtful, articulate and caring young people. Pupils fully embrace the school’s ethos of ‘be kind, be safe, be responsible’. They frequently involve themselves in projects to support charitable or community causes, such as their engagement in the eco-award. Consequently, by the end of Year 6, pupils are well prepared for their secondary education, and to be good citizens of modern Britain.

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Short inspection of Wentworth Primary School

Relationships between staff, parents and governors are very positive. Many parents are glowing in the praise that they give to the school and, in particular, many comment on the continued improvements that you have brought to the school since you arrived. Staff also feel that, while they are held to account stringently over the performance of pupils, they are also well cared for themselves. Staff members are very proud to be working with you at Wentworth. Governors are knowledgeable and devoted to their work at the school. They continue to challenge you effectively about the school’s provision overall.

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Short inspection of Wentworth Primary School

Pupils attain well in both key stages 1 and 2, and make progress that is at least in line with the national average, if not better, most notably in writing in key stage 2. The attainment of pupils in Year 6 in 2017 rose considerably on the previous year, although this is to be expected as these pupils started from much higher starting points than other pupils nationally.

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Short inspection of Wentworth Primary School

However, you are not one to rest on your laurels, and you continue to focus on the pursuit of excellence so that all areas of the school’s provision are as strong as the best. In particular, you are working with leaders to ensure that they are clear on the impact that they are having on raising standards for all pupils and in all subjects in the curriculum. You are focused especially on ensuring that the high-quality monitoring and assessment exhibited in science are consistently applied in all other subject areas. You also acknowledge that the provision for disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities needs further sharpening so that these pupils both achieve and attend school more consistently well over time.

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Short inspection of Wentworth Primary School

You undertake thorough checks of all of your staff. Governors regularly monitor the single central record of recruitment checks, to make sure that pupils are safe. Governors also look for continued ways that you can further review your procedures to secure pupils’ safety. They are very well aware of their statutory duties and undertake these with genuine diligence.

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Short inspection of Wentworth Primary School

The curriculum ensures that pupils know how to stay safe, especially online. You use visitors, assemblies and lessons to keep pupils and parents up to date with the most recent guidance. You are always looking for up-to-date ways on keeping your pupils aware of how to stay safe both online and in the wider world.

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Short inspection of Wentworth Primary School

Staff training is effective in giving staff the most up-to-date information about the possible signs of abuse. They use this training to make referrals to you as the designated safeguarding leader. Referrals to children’s services are timely and appropriate, and recorded well.

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Short inspection of Wentworth Primary School

Pupils feel safe, and think that staff keep them safe. Pupils that spoke to me said that bullying was not a problem, and that there were adults that they would go to if they had any problems. Pupils also told me that the school was a welcoming place for everyone, and adults and pupils in the school value kindness and respect.

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Inspection findings

 My first line of enquiry was to review the provision for disadvantaged pupils. Although these pupils can be small numbers in each year group, they make up around one sixth of the school’s population in its entirety, on average each year. The numbers in each year group can vary quite considerably, and published data does not give a picture of rapid progress for these pupils since the previous inspection.  Leaders and governors routinely review the spending of the additional funding that they receive for disadvantaged pupils. However, they are not monitoring how well leaders are meeting the different needs of each cohort of disadvantaged pupils specifically or thoroughly enough, so that these pupils make rapid progress across key stage 2 and attain as well as other pupils nationally by Year 6.  The attendance of disadvantaged pupils in the last three years has remained in the bottom 10% of schools nationally. In 2016/17, although the school can show

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Inspection findings

examples of improvements that they have brought to the attendance of specific pupils, and some contextual reasons for lower attendance, the overall attendance of disadvantaged pupils remains a priority for improvement.  My second line of enquiry concerned the significant increase in the numbers of pupils identified at the school as having special educational needs and/or disabilities since the previous inspection. Although the numbers who require an education, health and care plan (EHCP) or statement of need remain small, there are high numbers of children routinely identified as having special educational needs and/or disabilities in the early years.  There is good-quality care and review for children and pupils. The deputy headteacher is meticulous in her routine reviews of pupils’ progress and ensures that pupils have a real voice in evaluating their experience. Parents praise school leaders for how they support pupils’ needs.

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Inspection findings

 However, we did identify that there needs to be a more precise review of pupils’ assessment, both at the point of identification and throughout their time at the school, to see whether their needs really met the criteria for special educational needs or whether pupils simply required catch-up support.  My third line of enquiry reviewed how the school is raising standards in the early years provision. The early years is an area that you have focused on since your arrival. This was a key line of enquiry because there are consistently large numbers of children in the provision, and their achievement has increased year on year. The number of children achieving at least a good level of development by the end of the Reception Year is now consistently above the national average.  During my visit to the early years, it was clear that children had settled remarkably quickly, even though they had only been in the provision for two days

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Inspection findings

on a full-time basis. The care that adults provide, and the specific attention that they offer, ensure that children feel safe and settle in quickly.  Effective leadership of the early years, knowledgeable practitioners, and creative and exciting activities in a vibrant learning setting engage and enthuse children with their learning. This includes an exceedingly stimulating outdoor learning environment, where adults focus on helping children to develop skills in language, communication and positive relationships. Pupils achieve well and get off to a good start in their education at Wentworth.  My final line of enquiry was to review the school’s wider curriculum provision, beyond reading, writing and mathematics. This is because the information on the school’s website about the wider curriculum, including the review of the sport premium, did not give a consistently clear picture of pupils’ experience over time.

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Inspection findings

 In preparing pupils for secondary school, you have worked hard since your arrival to continue to develop and broaden the curriculum. Children and pupils now experience a wide range of sporting opportunities, science experiments, swimming on site, cooking, routine lessons in Mandarin and much more. Increasing numbers of pupils take part in the extra-curricular clubs on offer, and in sporting competitions. Consequently, pupils speak enthusiastically about their lessons and learning at Wentworth Primary School.

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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

 they are precise in reviewing the needs of, and the impact of their work with, disadvantaged pupils, including the use of additional funding that they receive, so that disadvantaged pupils make more rapid progress, and attend school more regularly  they are clear on the difference between those pupils who need support to catch up and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, so that all pupils’ needs are more precisely identified and met.

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

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I spoke with you, the deputy headteacher, senior leaders and members of the governing body, including the chair and vice-chair. I also held a telephone conversation with a representative from the local authority. I met with leaders from the early years, science, humanities, and physical education (PE). You and I visited Reception and some classes in key stages 1 and 2. We looked at pupils’ work while we were in some of those lessons. I spoke with pupils throughout the day, and met with a small group of pupils formally. I took account of the responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire from 58 parents, as well as 37 staff responses and 84 pupil responses. I reviewed a range of school documentation, including information relating to safeguarding and pupils’ progress.

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