Kings Cliffe Endowed Primary School

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

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Mrs Lynda Bowyer Headteacher Kings Cliffe Endowed Primary School Kings Forest Kings Cliffe Peterborough Cambridgeshire PE8 6XS

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Short inspection of Kings Cliffe Endowed Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 21 November 2018, 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 2015.

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Short inspection of Kings Cliffe Endowed Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Based on the evidence gathered during this short inspection, I am of the opinion that the school has demonstrated strong practice and marked improvement in specific areas. This may indicate that the school has improved significantly overall. Therefore, I am recommending that the school’s next inspection will be a section 5 inspection.

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Short inspection of Kings Cliffe Endowed Primary School

Since the previous inspection, you have strengthened leadership by ensuring that leaders and, in particular, middle leaders are well trained and are sharing the same high aspirations as yourself. Together, you are developing a strong culture of continuous improvement in the quality of teaching, learning and assessment across the school.

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Short inspection of Kings Cliffe Endowed Primary School

Leaders at all levels are rigorous in their monitoring of teaching and learning in order to ensure consistency of practice across the school. You set challenging targets for improvement to drive standards up and move the school towards outstanding. Therefore, teamwork is strong, and staff share the same vision and drive in wanting the best for all pupils.

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Short inspection of Kings Cliffe Endowed Primary School

The vast majority of parents and carers I spoke to informally at the start of the day were pleased with the school. Typical comments included, ‘Kings Cliffe is brilliant, my child is making excellent progress and it is such an inclusive school.’ These views were endorsed by the majority of parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View.

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Short inspection of Kings Cliffe Endowed Primary School

In the early years, the proportion of children achieving a good level of development was above the national average in 2018. Children currently in the early years, including the children in the recently opened Nursery class, are making strong progress from starting points that are broadly similar to those expected for their age. Attainment continues to be well above average in reading, writing and mathematics at key stages 1 and 2. An increasing proportion of pupils are working at greater depth across all subjects. Phonics outcomes are strong with nearly all pupils reaching the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check in 2018.

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Short inspection of Kings Cliffe Endowed Primary School

Inspection findings show that you have successfully addressed weaknesses identified in the last inspection. Middle-ability pupils now receive the right amount of challenge and teaching has many outstanding features across the school. In the previous two Year 6 cohorts, the progress these pupils made in reading, writing and mathematics has been in the top 20% of all schools nationally. Your governors have rigorously monitored the impact of the work of leaders. They now have a clear view of both school and pupil performance. Through regular focused visits and their scrutiny of reports from school leaders, they are providing strong challenge to the work of the school to make sure it goes from strength to strength. Leaders and governors are acutely aware of the priorities for further improvement, including improving boys’ performance to match that of girls.

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Short inspection of Kings Cliffe Endowed Primary School

Leaders, supported by governors, have ensured a smooth transition from the previous school site to your new buildings and the introduction of the Nursery class. Leaders have strengthened the curriculum so it is stimulating for pupils. To achieve this, they have established strong links with sports partners, other schools, and music and language specialists. Pupils are excited to learn languages and enjoy ‘TASC’ days, where they can research and investigate a wide range of topics of their interest. Pupils have performed in many musical events, including national and local performances.

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Short inspection of Kings Cliffe Endowed Primary School

Pupils’ behaviour, their attitude to learning and their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development are also strengths of the school. Pupils are confident and enthusiastic learners. This is reflected in their above-average attendance over the last three years. The school strongly promotes British values, with the curriculum enabling pupils to make informed choices about their future and take on responsibilities as eco and school ambassadors, sports leaders, lunchtime assistants and buddies. Pupils behave well in lessons and around school. They listen carefully to each other’s views and they are polite to staff and visitors.

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Short inspection of Kings Cliffe Endowed Primary School

You are working effectively with parents and other agencies to promote a strong culture of safeguarding in the school. Records of staff’s suitability to work with children are clear and well organised. There are well-understood systems in place for staff to report any concerns. You, your governors and the staff are successfully implementing the school’s policies and procedures to safeguard pupils including children in the early years.

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Short inspection of Kings Cliffe Endowed Primary School

Pupils, parents and staff agree that pupils are safe. Pupils are happy at school. They learn about using the internet safely and how to avoid the potential dangers of social media sites. Staff maintain high levels of supervision to protect pupils’ safety.

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Inspection findings

 During this inspection, I explored the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. We visited classrooms together and observed teaching across all year groups. It was clear that pupils were making at least good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils were enjoying their work, taking on challenges successfully.  Pupils’ written work shows they have increased opportunities to write at depth within a range of topics and subjects. Their work is presented neatly and they are rapidly building on their prior learning over time. I saw evidence of a broad and challenging curriculum in English and mathematics. Pupils are acquiring basic skills and are being given sufficient opportunities to extend their thinking, make learning choices and take on additional challenges. Effective work done in mathematics is a good example of how well staff reflect on their teaching, develop their methodology and work well together to raise standards. However,

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Inspection findings

across different subjects, boys do not currently achieve as well as girls.  I also investigated the quality of the wider curriculum and the level of work that pupils undertake in subjects other than English and mathematics. Pupils’ topic exercise books show that they complete a good range of work in different subjects. Science books reflect the depth and quality of teachers’ expectations and show that pupils’ work is consistently well presented. There are plenty of opportunities for pupils to write at length in many different subjects and writing styles. The inspection confirms the positive views of many parents and pupils who said that the rich curriculum, enhanced through many clubs and extra- curricular activities, is a strength of the school. The effectiveness of the personal, social and health education programmes is demonstrated very clearly in pupils’ excellent personal development.  Because the previous inspection report highlighted this as an area for

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Inspection findings

improvement, I considered the impact that middle and subject leaders are making on improving pupils’ progress. Since the last inspection, middle and subject leadership has greatly improved. Middle leaders have carried out extensive audits of their subjects and conducted joint reviews with governors. They have looked closely at the impact of teaching on pupils’ outcomes and reviewed the curriculum. They scrutinise pupils’ work and could explain to me in great detail the impact of their work on pupils’ progress.  The English leader has ensured that there are now ample opportunities to write extensively across the curriculum. In many subjects and projects, there has been a focus on improving presentation, improving handwriting and developing spelling and grammar. The mathematics leaders have increased the range and quality of practical activities in mathematics. They ensure that teachers are trained to provide pupils with more opportunities for problem-solving and

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Inspection findings

deepening their reasoning skills to develop mastery in learning. This work is still to be fully embedded in all classes to ensure even greater success in mathematics across the school. Strong middle leadership makes a substantial contribution to pupils’ achievements in all subjects and continues to improve.

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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

 the differences in boys’ and girls’ outcomes are eliminated.

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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 Northamptonshire. 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, other school leaders, four governors including the chair, and pupils. I held a telephone conversation with a representative of the local authority. We visited all classrooms to look at the impact of teaching on pupils’ learning over time. We looked at samples of pupils’ work and talked to them about their learning. I examined a range of documents, policies and assessment information. I considered the 50 responses from parents to Ofsted’s questionnaire, Parent View, and free-text responses, and spoke to parents in the playground before school.

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