Bembridge Church of England Primary School

Inspection of Bembridge Church of England Primary School Walls Road, Bembridge, Isle of Wight PO35 5RH

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Outstanding

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Overall effectiveness Good

The previous judgement of outstanding reflected the school’s overall effectiveness in October 2011, under the relevant inspection framework at that time.

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Overall effectiveness Good

The new judgement of good reflects the current inspection framework as well as any changes at the school since the last inspection.

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Overall effectiveness Good

The school has not been inspected for eight years, which is longer than the five-year maximum interval between inspections. Changes in school effectiveness may have happened at any point in that period. The long time between inspections is because the law changed in 2011; it made outstanding schools exempt from routine inspection. 17–18 December 2019

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils want to be at this school. They attend regularly because they are keen to learn. They enjoy the subjects they are taught and the plentiful opportunities that feed their thirst for knowledge. Adults are intent on preparing pupils successfully for the future, encouraging them and expecting them to work hard. Adults make great use of the local environment to bring pupils’ learning to life, such as through visits to the beach and lifeboat station. Consequently, pupils learn well across a broad range of subjects.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ care and respect for each other are clear. In lessons, pupils of all ages work hard and conduct themselves very well. Starting in the early years, they listen intently and approach their work diligently. This means that no learning time is wasted. Around the school, pupils interact warmly with each other and the adults that look after them. As a result, pupils are happy and feel safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils contribute positively to the life of the school, helping to shape their own community. Some recently helped to re-write the anti-bullying policy, ensuring that pupils’ voices are heard. This gives pupils confidence that any bullying issues will be addressed promptly and successfully.

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better?

Senior leaders know their school very well. They are proud of its many strengths and know what could be even better. Their proactive work with other schools and the local authority helps them to make ongoing and relevant improvements. Governors support this work, using their knowledge and expertise to keep a check on standards in the school. Staff share leaders’ commitment to providing pupils with high levels of care and education. They appreciate how senior leaders invest in staff development in a way that takes workload into account.

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better?

Leaders have high aspirations for pupils’ learning. Staff work together to plan a curriculum that both prepares pupils for the future and inspires them to learn. Plans build appropriately on pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding across a broad range of subjects. For some subjects, progression from early years to Year 6 is more deliberately and precisely developed than for others. The taught curriculum is enhanced by a rich variety of experiences that help make learning relevant to real life. Sometimes, this work does not connect as closely as it could to pupils’ planned learning in different subjects.

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better?

When children arrive in the early years, staff get to know them quickly. Adults use curriculum plans to identify learning activities that meet children’s varied needs. A focus on communication and personal, social and emotional development helps children get off to a flying start with their education. Early reading and mathematics are taught well. 17–18 December 2019

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As pupils move through the school, their learning experience is similarly positive. Work in lessons builds on what pupils already know and can do, particularly during key stage 1. This enables them to develop relevant knowledge across a range of subjects. Pupils learn to read fluently, because phonics is taught successfully. At times, especially during lower key stage 2, pupils’ work does not reflect teachers’ high ambitions for them. Some of the most able pupils do not think deeply enough or connect their learning from different subjects.

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Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) access the whole curriculum. The special educational needs coordinator uses her expertise well. This ensures that pupils receive helpful support, starting in the classroom. Where appropriate, extra help from beyond the school provides for pupils’ specific additional needs. This enables pupils who have SEND to begin to catch up with their peers.

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Alongside the taught curriculum, staff promote pupils’ wider development successfully. Leaders understand the importance of introducing pupils to faiths and cultures beyond their own. They make good use of opportunities for pupils to learn about these. Pupils are highly respectful and thoughtful towards each other and the adults who care for them. Pupils rise to the responsibilities adults entrust to them. This enables them to contribute positively to their own learning community.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Pupils are looked after well by the adults who care for them. Suitable policies and rigorous training ensure that staff and governors keep their safeguarding knowledge up to date. Pupils receive a wealth of information that helps them learn how to keep themselves safe in an age-appropriate way. Leaders monitor safeguarding arrangements closely, to check they remain fit for purpose.

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Safeguarding

Staff act promptly on any concerns that may arise, using a simple but effective system to capture relevant information. When appropriate, support from beyond the school is accessed in a timely way. This helps pupils to be and feel safe.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subject areas, the impact of leaders’ work on the quality of pupils’ education is less well developed than in others. Senior leaders should ensure that current work to develop subject leadership leads to the quality of education being consistently strong across the school, as it already is in most years and subjects.  While pupils experience a rich and engaging curriculum, enrichment activities do not always relate closely to the rest of pupils’ learning. Leaders should ensure that enrichment activities link deliberately to the planned curriculum, so that 17–18 December 2019

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opportunities for pupils to think more deeply and build their learning cohesively are maximised.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use Ofsted Parent View information when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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How can I feed back my views?

If you’re not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted .

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. 17–18 December 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10105725 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website http://www.bembridgeceprimary.co.uk/

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School details

Date of previous inspection 4–5 October 2011

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Information about this school

 The headteacher was not in her current role at the last inspection. She took up her post in 2016.  The school has a Christian ethos. The last statutory inspection of Anglican and Methodist schools (SIAMS) took place in 2017. The school was judged to be good for its religious distinctiveness. The next SIAMS inspection is due in 2022.

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Information about this inspection

We carried out this inspection under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We deemed the inspection a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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Information about this inspection

 We met with the headteacher and assistant headteacher, and with groups of staff, pupils and governors.  We did deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, history and physical education. These involved meeting with senior and subject leaders, visiting lessons, looking at pupils’ work and talking to pupils and teachers about learning in these subjects.  We checked the school’s safeguarding arrangements. We reviewed the school’s 17–18 December 2019

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records of recruitment checks on adults who work at the school. We also looked at systems for identifying and addressing concerns about pupils’ welfare, and the records that leaders keep about this work. We considered the school’s work to teach pupils how to keep themselves safe.  We gathered evidence about pupils’ behaviour, attendance and opportunities for personal development.  An inspector spoke to a small number of parents and carers at the end of the school day. We also took account of 39 responses to the Ofsted Parent View online questionnaire, as well as survey responses from 35 staff and 27 pupils.

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Inspection team

Kathryn Moles, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Francois Walker Ofsted Inspector 17–18 December 2019

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regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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