Hundon Community Primary School

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

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Mrs Sharon FitzGerald Headteacher Hundon Community Primary School North Street Hundon Sudbury Suffolk CO10 8EE

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Short inspection of Hundon Community Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 5 February 2019, 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 July 2015.

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Short inspection of Hundon Community Primary School

Based on the evidence gathered during this short inspection, I have identified some priorities for improvement, which I advise the school to address. In light of these priorities, the school’s next inspection will be a full section 5 inspection. There is

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Since the previous inspection, the school has faced significant changes in leadership, including governance. You became the interim headteacher in September 2017 and took up the substantive post in summer 2018. You quickly identified the changes needed to improve the school. You have led the school with determination and a clear understanding of its strengths and weaknesses. This is ensuring that there is increasing rigour to much of the school’s work. However, because the roles of other leaders are not yet well developed, the pace of these improvements has been too slow. Although leaders, including governors, now undertake routine monitoring of their areas of responsibility, this checking does not focus sharply enough on the progress pupils are making. This has contributed towards pupils not achieving as well as they should.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

The quality of teaching has been strengthened in some areas of the school, especially in mathematics. For example, pupils are challenged to think hard about their work and have many opportunities to apply their knowledge to solve problems. However, there are still elements of weaker teaching. Some teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve is often too low. Additionally, pupils do not have enough opportunities to apply their newly learned knowledge and skills in different contexts. Leaders have created a culture where pupils’ emotional well-being is a priority. Consequently, this is a strength of the school. During the inspection, you shared compelling evidence of how all pupils have been supported to develop a love of learning and are able to access all opportunities available to them. This has been particularly successful with the most vulnerable pupils, who have been well supported to attend school regularly and improve their behaviour. This is resulting

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

in this group of pupils making stronger progress than they had previously.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

The personal, social and health education and the school’s chosen religious education curriculum are proving very effective in preparing pupils for life in modern Britain. Leaders are aware that pupils are primarily from a White British background. The school provides a range of meaningful opportunities for them to learn about other faiths, beliefs and cultures. Additionally, you provide a wide range of clubs for pupils to attend, both before and after school, including dodgeball, football, hockey and archery. Pupils speak with great enthusiasm about these opportunities and enjoy the chances you provide for them to compete in inter-school competitions.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Leaders have included the areas for improvement identified at the previous inspection in the school development plan, and progress has been made to improve the writing provision across the school. Leaders also ensure that they make meaningful use of educational visits to enrich the curriculum. For example, Year 3 and 4 pupils enjoy visits to Stansted Airport and Year 5 and 6 pupils visit the Botanical Gardens in Cambridge. This means that pupils can relate their learning in school to real-life examples.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Leaders have created a strong culture of safeguarding. Pupils are well cared for and they are taught how to keep themselves safe, including when using the internet. For example, Year 6 pupils were proud to lead a whole school assembly recently, promoting online safety to the younger pupils. Pupils say that adults help them if they are worried. One pupil told me, ‘If you have a problem there is always someone to talk to.’ Parents agree that their children are safe in school. One parent, reflecting the views of others, said, ‘All the children know one another and look after each other, from Reception to Year 6.’

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Leaders ensure that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. All pre- employment checks are carried out and governors make routine visits to school to check that statutory requirements are being met. Staff are clear on the actions to take if they have a concern about the welfare of a child because they are well trained. Where necessary, concerns are quickly shared with external agencies. In your role as the designated safeguarding lead, you follow safeguarding referrals up with great tenacity to make sure that vulnerable pupils get the help they need.

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Inspection findings

 To check whether the school remains good, I shared and agreed with you several lines of enquiry that I wanted to explore in detail. The first was to check that pupils are making the progress they should in writing. This was an area for improvement from the previous inspection. Additionally, in the 2018 published outcomes the progress pupils made from their different starting points in writing was below the national average.  We reviewed pupils’ writing in their English books and in subjects such as history, geography and science. Standards of writing in Year 2 and Year 6 were stronger because these pupils have a clear structure to follow when writing in different genres, along with a secure understanding of punctuation, spelling and grammar. For example, pupils in Year 6 recently produced some high-quality writing based on the First World War.  Although evidence shows that the quality of pupils’ writing is improving, pupils do

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Inspection findings

not have enough opportunities to apply their knowledge and skills when writing independently and at greater length. Consequently, too few pupils have been able to achieve as well as they could in writing. Along with this, writing for different purposes in other curriculum areas is not consistently well developed.  I also wanted to explore how well the most able pupils achieve in school. This is because published assessment information in 2018 showed that progress for this small group of pupils was below other pupils with similar starting points nationally. Too few most-able pupils reached the higher standard in mathematics or greater depth in writing.  Pupils’ work in mathematics shows that the most able pupils undertake work that is sufficiently challenging. Generally, teachers have high expectations of pupils and use questions effectively to challenge and extend pupils’ thinking. For example, a Year 2 pupil told me, ‘I like it when we have hard sums to try to

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Inspection findings

crack.’ However, some of the most able writers do not achieve as well as they could because they do not have sufficient opportunities to write independently and apply their new skills.  Historically, disadvantaged pupils have not made as much progress as other pupils with similar starting points nationally. I wanted to check how well leaders spend the pupil premium funding to improve the progress, attainment and attendance of disadvantaged pupils.  More recently, leaders have oversight of how well disadvantaged pupils are doing in school and have implemented new systems, which are now making a positive difference to pupils’ progress. For example, your chosen method of devising a ‘passport’ for some disadvantaged pupils identifies specific targets for improvement. Those ‘passports’ are reviewed routinely to make sure that pupils are making good progress. This is a new system, which is still being implemented.

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Inspection findings

 Leaders have worked closely with the families of pupils who do not attend school regularly enough. You shared examples with me, which demonstrated the clear actions you have taken to help these pupils improve their attendance. Consequently, disadvantaged pupils attend school more regularly. This ensures that they are receiving the education they are entitled to.  Finally, I wanted to know how effectively governors monitor the use of pupil premium funding. This is because, until the day before the inspection, governors had not ensured that the school’s spending plans were published on the school website. Additionally, over time, disadvantaged pupils have not made enough progress.  Governors carry out their statutory duties and, more recently, check carefully how additional funding is spent. Governors are well trained and have a wide set of skills, which contribute to improving governance. They make routine visits to

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Inspection findings

school to monitor their areas of responsibility. Although governors ask appropriate questions to hold leaders to account, this challenge is not sharply focused on improving the progress pupils make from their different starting points.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:  they continue to develop leadership at all levels so that all leaders, including governors, contribute effectively to raising standards in the school  pupils have more regular opportunities to write independently and at greater length in their English lessons and across a wide range of subjects  they continue to improve the quality of teaching so that all pupils make strong progress from their different starting points.

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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 Suffolk. 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, the deputy headteacher, the English leader and the bursar. Additionally, I met with five governors, including the chair of the governing body, and held a telephone conversation with a representative of the local authority. I spoke informally to pupils in lessons and met with a group of pupils from Years 2, 5 and 6 to talk to them about safety, behaviour and their learning. I looked at the 22 responses to the Parent View survey, including the nine responses made using the free-text service. I visited all classes with you, your deputy and your English leader and looked at the work in a selection of pupils’ books. I considered the school’s self-evaluation and its plans for development. I took into account pupils’ achievement and the school’s assessment information. I evaluated a range of documents, including those related to safeguarding and child protection.

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