Bollinbrook CofE (A) Primary School

Inspection of Bollinbrook CofE Primary School Abbey Road, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK10 3AT

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Good 21–22 January 2020

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What is it like to attend this school?

Bollinbrook is a happy place where pupils feel safe and well cared for. There is a strong sense of community in the school. Pupils’ behaviour is good. Pupils look after each other and relate well to the staff. Bullying happens occasionally but is quickly sorted out.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy their lessons and the wide range of activities on offer. These include sporting competitions, residentials, and visits to concerts, plays, art galleries and museums. Pupils also work on exciting projects with visiting experts and members of the local community. Pupils make good use of the school’s extensive grounds to study science and nature and grow their own crops. A garden that they designed featured in the Royal Horticultural Show.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils make a good start in the early years and achieve well in key stage 1. However, older pupils do not achieve as well as they should. There have also been gaps in their learning in some subjects of the national curriculum.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Since her appointment, the headteacher has made many improvements to the school. She has gained the support and respect of staff, parents and carers. The headteacher and deputy headteacher make a strong team.

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better?

As soon as they enter the early years, children start connecting letters and sounds. They quickly move on to reading and writing simple words and sentences. The books they read match the sounds they are learning. For the last two years, the proportion of pupils meeting the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics check was below average. Pupils who have fallen behind have extra support to catch up. However, some pupils are taking a long time to do so. Leaders are working hard to develop pupils’ love of reading and involve parents in this. However, older pupils show little enthusiasm for books and remember little about what they have read in the past. Historically, pupils’ reading attainment has been better in key stage 1 than in key stage 2. Pupils’ progress in key stage 2 has declined. Last year it was much lower than that seen nationally.

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better?

Since her arrival, the headteacher has overhauled the curriculum. This was to ensure that all subjects are taught in a logical way, so that pupils learn more and remember more. There is now a leader for each subject. These changes are beginning to bring about improvements. For example, in art pupils now use a wider range of media than previously. In history, they have a better understanding of the order in which past events took place. In science, pupils now cover all aspects required by the national curriculum. Pupils do more writing than they did in the past. However, presentation, punctation and spelling in subjects other than English are not as good as they should be. 21–22 January 2020

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and disadvantaged pupils get good support. They cover the same range of subjects as everybody else.

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The governors are supportive of the school. However, they have been too optimistic about its performance.

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The school is justly proud of pupils’ good behaviour and positive attitudes. Close work with families and other agencies has resulted in clear improvements in pupils’ attendance. Pupils learn to manage their own emotions and to be sensitive to those of others. Staff encourage them to work hard and not to give up, whatever the difficulties they face. Pupils learn about the values underpinning life in modern Britain. They learn to respect lifestyles that are different from their own. Through charitable work, they help people less fortunate than themselves.

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The school gives considerable attention to developing pupils’ spiritual life and providing opportunities for prayer and reflection. Pupils learn about the major world religions. They visit the places of worship of various faiths. The revised behaviour policy encourages pupils to think very carefully about the differences between right and wrong. Pupils enjoy contributing to running the school through roles such as prefects, buddies and eco warriors.

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The deputy headteacher provides strong leadership for the early years. She works closely with parents and with local pre-schools, to ensure that children are well prepared for entry to Reception. During their time there, the children develop their interests and build up their skills in a logical way. Each child does work that is at the right level of difficulty. Any extra help needed is readily to hand. Children soon come to grips with the early stages of reading, writing and counting. Most of them achieve a good level of development and are well prepared for the next stage of learning.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Parents, pupils and staff say that children are safe at the school. The school vets any visitors carefully and has strong systems to check on the suitability of adults to work with children. All staff have received safeguarding training. They know how to spot possible signs of abuse and what to do if they are worried about a child’s safety. The pupils learn how to keep themselves safe in a range of situations, including when using the internet and social media. Staff work closely with external services to give additional support to any child or family that needs extra help.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The changes to the curriculum and to middle leadership are recent. It is too early to see their full impact, and pupils have gaps in their learning. There is now a need to embed these changes so that the quality of leadership improves across 21–22 January 2020

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the curriculum and pupils consistently learn more and remember more in every subject.  Older pupils show limited interest in reading. This does not prepare them well for the next stage of their education. Across the school, there is a need to ensure that pupils read accurately, widely and often, so that they develop a deep love of reading.  Pupils have increasing opportunites to write in a range of styles and across subjects. However, in subjects other than English, the quality of punctuation, spelling and presentation is not as good as it should be. There is a need to pay careful attention to these aspects, so that the quality of writing improves and is of a consistently high standard throughout the school and across the whole curriculum.

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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 are the school and you are 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. 21–22 January 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10122010 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website http://www.bollinbrook.cheshire.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 2 May 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act

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Information about this school

 A new headteacher was appointed to the school in September 2018.

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Information about this inspection

We carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 During this inspection, we met with the headteacher and deputy headteacher.  We held meetings with teachers, support staff and subject leaders.  The lead inspector held a meeting with four governors, including the chair and vice-chair of the governing body. He also spoke to representatives of the local authority and the diocese.  We spoke to pupils about behaviour and expectations in the school and observed behaviour around the school and in lessons.  We considered the 41 responses to Parent View and the seven responses to the staff survey. We also spoke to parents as they brought children to the school. 21–22 January 2020

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 We examined records in relation to safeguarding and met with the designated safeguarding lead to discuss how pupils are kept safe in the school.  As part of this inspection, we considered carefully how phonics and early reading are taught at the school. We also considered how the curriculum is planned in mathematics, history, science and art. During these activities, we met with subject leaders and visited samples of lessons. We spoke to the teachers about the lessons they had taught and to the pupils about their learning. We also examined examples of pupils’ books and listened to pupils read.

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Inspection team

Aelwyn Pugh, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Christine Howard Ofsted Inspector 21–22 January 2020

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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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