Setting

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

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Alison Warren Morland Church of England VA Primary School Morland Road Ipswich Suffolk IP3 0LH

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Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 7 February 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the inspection findings.

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Primary School

This inspection was conducted under section 8 of the Education Act 2005 and in accordance with Ofsted’s published procedures for inspecting schools with no formal designation. The inspection was carried out because Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector wished to determine the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements at the school.

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Evidence

I scrutinised the single central record, your action plans, the local authority’s action of intent and other documents relating to safeguarding and child protection arrangements. I held meetings with you, school staff, your senior leader responsible for pupils’ behaviour, three governors, including the chair of the governing body and the governor responsible for safeguarding, your pastoral manager, seven pupils from across the school, and your special educational needs coordinator. I also carried out a lesson walk, with you, where we observed pupils across the school in their classes.

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Evidence

I also scrutinised records of pupils’ behaviour, a safeguarding audit carried out by an independent adviser, off-site risk assessments, safeguarding and first aid training records, governors’ minutes and attendance records. I spoke with pupils as I walked around the school at breaktimes and in lessons. I also spoke with parents and carers at the end of the day. Having considered the evidence I am of the opinion that at this time:

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Context

Morland Church of England Primary School is a larger than average-sized primary school. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is above the national average. The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups and who speak English as an additional language is lower than average. The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities is lower than average.

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Context

The governing body is in the process of an academy conversion to be completed in May 2018.

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Context

You, your senior leaders and governors recognise that safeguarding arrangements were not effective at the time of the previous inspection. You and other leaders in the school have acted decisively and promptly to ensure that this situation is rectified. At the time of the previous inspection, information relating to checks on the suitability of staff to work with children had not been recorded on the single central record. Additionally, employee files showed that all necessary checks on staff had not been carried out. You and your team have ensured that statutory checks have been undertaken and recorded for all staff, volunteers and governors, including visitors to the school. Staff files are exceptionally well ordered and contain relevant documents confirming suitability to their roles. Records on all adults who work at the school are now securely maintained, regularly reviewed and compliant with statutory requirements.

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Context

An area for improvement in the previous inspection report was concerned with the lack of detail recorded on documentation associated with educational off-site visits and the processes for reviewing such documentation. Scrutiny of documentation shows that staff ensure that all risk assessments for off-site visits are completed with sufficient detail so that potential risks are identified and then minimised. These are reviewed by the educational visit coordinator, checked by you and signed off in triplicate.

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Context

Since the previous inspection, you have improved procedures to ensure that confidential information can only be viewed by those who are authorised. This includes using the ‘Governor Hub’ to share confidential information. In addition, you carry out rigorous checks on documents uploaded on to the school website. Along with tightened website security, this ensures that data in the public domain does not breach data protection regulations.

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Context

At the time of the previous inspection, governors were not effectively monitoring the work of leaders, which included the school’s arrangements for safeguarding pupils. Governors agree that they had not been rigorous and have since acted promptly by reviewing their roles and responsibilities. The new safeguarding governor has carried out a number of safeguarding checks during visits to the school. These include checking compliancy and the accuracy of the information held on the single central record with the contents of staff files. In addition, there have been regular meetings with the deputy designated leader for child protection regarding the process for recording and monitoring of any concerns.

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Governor minutes show that safeguarding is a regular agenda item at governor meetings and that the work of the school is regularly checked, thereby holding leaders to account. Governors’ knowledge of what leaders do in relation to safeguarding is now far more developed. Consequently, governors recognise that they need to increase their level of challenge and support to check the impact leaders’ work is having on pupils’ well-being.

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Context

Your improvement plan, quite rightly, focuses on safeguarding as a priority. The plan aligns with the areas for improvement identified in the previous inspection report. Many of the required actions were completed within a very short time period after the previous inspection. Additional plans focus on other aspects of school life where you have identified that safeguarding could be strengthened further. You have revised pupil behaviour systems which are now precisely and routinely tracked and analysed for trends. This has resulted in raised expectations and standards from staff and pupils.

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You have ensured that all staff have had the necessary training required to keep pupils safe in school. With new developments and statutory guidance relating to safeguarding, you, your governors and your senior leaders agree that there needs to be a continued focus on safeguarding requirements. You are developing a system that will ensure that all staff training needs are continually reviewed.

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Context

There is a strong ethos of collaborative responsibility for safeguarding within the school. All staff I spoke with agree that safeguarding is a whole-school responsibility. They recognise their responsibilities in relation to safeguarding pupils effectively. Meetings I carried out with staff and pupils confirm that there are signs of a strong safeguarding culture developing throughout the school.

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Context

You have ensured that leaders at all levels have specific roles and responsibilities to make sure that safeguarding is effective. Staff are vigilant and united in their approach. They talk confidently about the importance of recognising changes in pupils’ behaviour as a sign of concern. They liaise effectively with each other and outside agencies to ensure that any concerns about pupils’ welfare are quickly addressed and shared with those who need to know. In addition, the leader of attendance ensures that pupils’ attendance is tracked and analysed meticulously. Any concerns are raised immediately with the education welfare officer and actions taken swiftly. As a result, attendance for all groups of pupils is in line with the national average. Pupils are polite and sociable. They play well together during breaktimes. In lessons they demonstrate positive attitudes to learning. For example, Year 1 pupils were

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Context

excited to share their knowledge of electrical circuits with me and a Year 3 pupil enthusiastically talked to me about the progress she had made in phonics, identifying her next steps in learning. Pupils speak about their school with pride and about the support they receive from their peers and teachers. Pupils value the school’s supportive ethos. One Year 6 pupil told me that in the school ‘you can rely on anyone to help you’. Pupils are able to demonstrate that they feel safe in all aspects of school life. Parents I spoke with also agree that their children are safe and well looked after at school.

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External support

You have drawn on effective support from the local authority, as outlined in the local authority plan. You have also worked with other providers to check and audit leaders’ work to improve safeguarding procedures. This support has been valuable in making the necessary improvements.

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Priorities for further improvement

 Ensure that governors increase their level of challenge by checking the impact of leaders’ work on all aspects of safeguarding.  Develop a system to monitor and evaluate training needs regularly to ensure that all leaders and school staff keep up to date with changes in statutory guidance in all aspects of safeguarding.

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Priorities for further improvement

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Suffolk. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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