Setting

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Sue Preston Headteacher Clifford All Saints CofE Primary School 108 Psalter Lane Sheffield South Yorkshire S11 8YU

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School

Following my visit with Lee Elliott, Her Majesty’s Inspector, to your school on 17 November 2020, 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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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 as concerns had been raised with Ofsted.

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Evidence

Inspectors scrutinised the single central register and other documents relating to safeguarding and child protection arrangements. We met with the headteacher, the assistant headteacher, the special educational needs coordinator (SENCo), groups of pupils, teaching and support staff and the chair of the governing body. Inspectors held telephone conversations with a representative of the local authority, a representative from the diocese and nine parents.

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Evidence

Inspectors scrutinised policies, special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) information reports, behaviour and bullying logs and records of complaints. Inspectors also reviewed governors’ minutes, safeguarding audit documents provided by the local authority and health and safety records, including the fire risk assessment. We considered the 44 responses to Ofsted’s parent view survey. Having considered the evidence I am of the opinion that at this time:

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Context

This primary school is smaller than average. Previously an infant school, the school became a primary school in September 2018. Since then it has been based on two sites just over a mile apart. Pupils have moved into the separate key stage 2 site year on year. The oldest pupils in school are now in Year 5. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is well below the national average. The proportion of pupils with SEND is higher than the national average. A new senior leadership team was formed in September 2020, including an assistant headteacher and a new SENCo.

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Main Findings

Leaders, including governors, lack the knowledge and understanding of how to effectively safeguard pupils. As a result, systems to recognise and record concerns, procedures for dealing with concerns and complaints, and the curriculum to help pupils learn about the risks they may face, are not good enough.

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Main Findings

Governors have an unduly positive evaluation of their own performance. They do not have effective systems in place to make sure that pupils are safe. Governors do not understand safeguarding well enough to ensure that they make all the necessary checks. There is very little reference to safeguarding in the minutes of governing body meetings. Governors were unaware that some statutory safeguarding policies and procedures are not in place.

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Main Findings

Governors rely too heavily on information provided by the headteacher. For example, they have not assured themselves that leaders have made the necessary arrangements to ensure that pupils are safe online if they need to study remotely.

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Main Findings

The headteacher knows that the curriculum for pupils’ personal development is weak and reactive. Staff confirm that the curriculum does not include safeguarding as a priority. Consequently, pupils have little or no knowledge of the risks associated with drugs, alcohol and domestic abuse. Many have no knowledge of how to stay safe online, other than what they have learned at home. Leaders’ plans to develop the curriculum need to be actioned urgently.

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Main Findings

The headteacher was the only senior leader at the time of the last inspection. The pressures and practical logistics of taking responsibility for a second site and additional year groups have increased exponentially since then. The lack of leadership capacity has led to a rapidly increasing spiral of weaknesses. Recent weaknesses in school leaders’ and governors’ responses to addressing concerns raised by staff have resulted in a culture where issues go unreported. Some parents feel that their concerns are not addressed. More than a quarter of the 44 parents who responded to Ofsted’s survey of their views were not satisfied with leaders’ response to complaints that they had raised. Although pupils’ behaviour is generally good, a few parents say that there are some incidents of bullying. Some parents are not satisfied that leaders deal with the few incidents of bullying well enough.

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Main Findings

There has been some staff turnover since the last inspection. The arrangements for recruiting and vetting new staff are compliant on the whole. However, because leaders have not taken account of the most recent safeguarding guidance for keeping children safe in education, they have not made the additional checks that are now required in all schools. Governors have not noticed this.

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Main Findings

A new senior leadership team was created in September 2020. Staff and parents are very pleased about this. There are now senior leaders on each site. Senior leaders know that safeguarding systems, policies and procedures need to improve urgently. They have very recently introduced new arrangements for recording safeguarding concerns and coordinating leaders’ management of these cases. However, all staff need training on this new system.

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Main Findings

The induction for new staff, and supply staff, does not give safeguarding a high enough profile. Safeguarding training for all staff is weak. Leaders have not made sure that staff understand the implications of safeguarding training on their ability to keep pupils safe. They have not made it clear that pupils at this school may face these risks. Some staff reveal complacency about the safeguarding risks to pupils in this locality.

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Main Findings

We toured both sites and noticed several safeguarding risks that senior leaders had not identified. Governors have not implemented the recommendation made in the June 2020 fire risk assessment in respect of fire extinguisher training. There is poor heating in the key stage 2 building. Both of these pose a risk to the physical health and safety of children. Governors are planning to make necessary improvements to this site, including installing heating. Nevertheless, minutes of governing body meetings show that they have not pursued premises matters with the necessary urgency.

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Main Findings

Despite serious shortcomings in safeguarding, pupils say that they feel safe in school and that staff are kind. They are confident to speak to staff about any worries they have. Parents of pupils we spoke to on the key stage 1 site say that communication between home and school is effective. They feel involved in their children’s education.

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External support

Until very recently, the external support from the local authority and the Diocese of Sheffield has been limited. The local authority has recently stepped up its intervention. In November 2020, the local authority undertook a safeguarding audit that identified the serious lack of governor oversight of safeguarding. The local authority has also initiated a thorough review of provision for pupils with SEND.

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Priorities for further improvement

Leaders and governors should ensure that they:

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Priorities for further improvement

 improve strategic governance arrangements as a matter of urgency to ensure that governors have the knowledge and skills necessary to discharge their statutory duties and hold leaders to account  improve safeguarding training for staff at all levels to make sure that they all understand their safeguarding responsibilities, have an improved awareness of risks and can provide the protective factors that help to keep pupils safe  embed the new systems for recording safeguarding incidents and improve leaders’ response to managing safeguarding referrals so that leaders identify patterns and learn lessons  improve the curriculum for pupils’ personal development, giving sufficient time and priority to safeguarding in order to build pupils’ resilience and develop their understanding of online and offline risks  improve communication with parents and rebuild parents’ confidence that leaders will follow complaints procedures diligently and deal robustly with incidents of

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Priorities for further improvement

bullying  address those premises issues that pose risks to pupils’ safety or breach health and safety legislation regarding reasonable working conditions linked to temperature in the workplace.

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Priorities for further improvement

Under normal circumstances, we would treat this inspection as an inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005, due to the serious concerns identified. However, because routine inspections are suspended, we will prioritise the school for a section 5 inspection when routine inspections resume.

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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 Sheffield, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Sheffield. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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