Stamford St Gilberts Church of England Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Stamford St Gilbert’s Church of England Primary School Foundry Road, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 2PP

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Outcome

Stamford St Gilbert’s Church of England Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are well cared for in this friendly, welcoming school. Leaders and staff share a vision to inspire pupils with a love of learning. An engaging curriculum, strong Christian ethos and pastoral care are at the heart of the school’s work. Teachers encourage pupils to be confident and independent learners. Pupils receive good-quality education. Teachers make learning purposeful and interesting.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils take pride in the variety of roles and responsibilities they can have in school. They can make positive contributions to the school through various elected roles. These include youth governors, house captains and eco ambassadors. A range of opportunities exist for pupils to develop their interests and talents.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ behaviour is good. They are respectful to each other and to adults. They listen well in lessons and respond to adults’ instructions promptly. Incidents of bullying are rare. Pupils, parents and carers say that pupils are safe in school. Pupils have effective support and guidance to help them manage their behaviour.

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What is it like to attend this school?

There are strong relationships between staff and pupils. Pupils say that they can talk to adults if they feel worried. The majority of parents are positive about the care and education their children receive.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Pupils are eager to learn. Leaders have high expectations of pupils. Leaders have revised the school’s curriculum. Pupils can develop their knowledge across a range of subjects. Teachers help pupils to make connections between subjects. They encourage pupils to think deeply about their learning. Staff plan a wealth of wider opportunities, trips and experiences for pupils. Staff are looking forward to re-establishing these because they have been greatly missed since the start of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. 7 and 8 July 2021

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Leaders prioritise reading. Children start to learn to read from their first week in the Reception Year. Leaders have put a structured programme in place to teach phonics. Pupils who struggle to read catch up quickly. Adults provide extra phonics lessons and support when needed. Leaders promote reading for pleasure across the school. Classes are named after famous authors. Pupils discuss books that are written by these authors. They enjoy reading different genres. They listen to adults read stories and like discussing texts. Teachers make sure that pupils understand the vocabulary they read.

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The mathematics curriculum is thoughtfully planned. It is sequenced over time so that it is clear what pupils should know and remember. There is a consistent approach to teaching and learning. Teachers check frequently what pupils can remember. Pupils can make connections in their learning. They can explain how they have used their knowledge to solve problems.

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The science curriculum shows the content to be taught and the topics of learning to be revisited. Scientific knowledge and skills are sequenced logically. Similarly, in writing and in personal, social and health education, learning is sequenced well to build pupils’ knowledge over time. However, teachers do not check regularly what pupils know and remember in subjects other than mathematics. This means that teachers cannot always be sure that learning consistently matches pupils’ needs.

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Leaders are in the process of revising the early years curriculum. They have considered how early years children are prepared for the subjects they will learn as they move through the school. Plans are in place to ensure that the early years curriculum links explicitly to the subject curriculum plans for the whole school, from September 2021.

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Some parents who responded to Parent View, Ofsted’s online survey, expressed their dissatisfaction with the school’s provision for their children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The inspector found that pupils with SEND receive the resources and extra support they need to meet their academic, social and personal development needs.

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Governors are knowledgeable. They provide strong challenge and support to the school. They understand their statutory responsibilities. They have a good strategic overview of the performance of the school. They check often that work to improve the school is on track.

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Staff are proud to work at the school. Leaders support staff’s professional development and are considerate of their well-being. Leaders help staff to manage their workload. Staff feel valued and enjoy the support of colleagues. A typical comment to the inspector was: ‘This is one of the best places I’ve worked, there’s a real family atmosphere.’

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 7 and 8 July 2021

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Leaders ensure that the safeguarding of pupils is a high priority. Designated safeguarding leaders participate in extensive training to ensure that they are up to date with current statutory guidance. Staff are alert to possible concerns about pupils. There is an appropriate system in place to ensure that concerns are accurately recorded and responded to quickly.

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Leaders prioritise pupils’ well-being, including their mental health. Pupils are taught how to stay safe. They say that staff keep them safe. A comment typical of the views expressed by pupils was: ‘Teachers must have some kind of radar system because they seem to know when something is wrong and will pull us aside for a chat to check we’re OK.’

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Assessment of knowledge is not yet in place for all subjects in the curriculum. Teachers do not have an exact understanding of how pupils’ knowledge and understanding are developing within some subjects. Subject leaders should plan when and how teachers should check if pupils know more, remember more, and can do more across the school’s curriculum.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called a section 8 inspection of a good or outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that a good school could now be better than good, or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the second section 8 inspection since we judged the predecessor school, Stamford St Gilbert’s Church of England Primary school, to be good on 29 and 30 September 2011.

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How can I feed back my views?

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 . 7 and 8 July 2021

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school here .

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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. 7 and 8 July 2021

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School details

Inspection number 10199934 Type of school Primary

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School details

Date of previous inspection 12 July 2016, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with school leaders and has taken that into account in her evaluation.  The inspector met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, some subject leaders, several members of staff and groups of pupils. She also met with four members of the board of trustees and held a telephone conversation with the deputy director of education for the Diocese of Lincolnshire.  The quality of education was considered through deep dives in these subjects: mathematics, science and early reading. The inspector spoke with leaders, staff and pupils, visited lessons, listened to pupils read and looked at samples of work with leaders and pupils. 7 and 8 July 2021

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 To check the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector reviewed the school’s policies and procedures, met with the designated safeguarding leaders and spoke with pupils and staff.  The inspector spoke with some parents informally at the start of the school day and took account of the 51 responses to the Parent View survey. The inspector also considered the 24 responses to Ofsted’s survey for staff. The inspector spoke with pupils about their school and took account of the 81 responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey.

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Inspection team

Stephanie Innes-Taylor, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector 7 and 8 July 2021

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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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