Wood Ley Community Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Wood Ley Community Primary School Lowry Way, Stowmarket, Suffolk, IP14 1UF

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Outcome

Wood Ley Community Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

At Wood Ley the staff know the pupils and their families well. The school is calm and friendly. Pupils are polite and supportive of each other. They are accepting of individual differences and are keen for everyone to be involved in the life of the school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils love their school and their learning. Pupils know the school’s values of ‘inspire, encourage and believe’ and they try to live up to these in their day-to-day school life. They relish taking on positions of additional responsibility.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff have high expectations of what all pupils can achieve. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive the help and support they need to access the curriculum alongside their classmates.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe. Incidents of poor behaviour and bullying are rare. Pupils trust staff to help them sort out any issues that arise.

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

Leaders have planned a curriculum that is ambitious and helps pupils gain the knowledge and skills they need. Leaders have thought carefully about what is taught and when. Pupils remember what they have learned and are increasingly well prepared for secondary school.

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

Pupils work hard. Many look to finish additional work at the end of lessons to consolidate their learning further. Occasionally, teachers do not choose the most appropriate learning activities for pupils so they can demonstrate what they have learned. Where this is the case, pupils cannot clearly show what they know, nor complete the task as well as they could.

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

In the early years, teachers check children’s starting points when they join the school. They use this information to plan learning activities that are suitable to motivate and help 30 June–1 July 2021

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children learn. Leaders identify if children start to fall behind and provide additional support quickly. Leaders want children to keep up from the start.

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The teaching of reading starts as soon as children join the Reception class. Staff have expert knowledge of how to teach phonics. Children have carefully chosen books that they can read using the sounds they know. Teachers carefully check each child’s reading progress and there is no shortage of help to listen to children read.

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Staff encourage older pupils to develop their comprehension knowledge and skills, together with a love of reading. Leaders have developed a Wood Ley 'Reading Spine' which includes a long list of exciting and interesting texts. Teachers recommend a wide range of books to enthuse pupils. In Years 5 and 6 there are many ‘well-thumbed’ copies of books with pupils queuing up to be next to read them.

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Leaders have chosen to link foundation subjects into different topics. Pupils often begin topics reminding themselves of what was covered in previous years. Leaders make sure that pupils build on prior knowledge and understanding in subjects, such as, for example, history.

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Leaders continue to make improvements to the curriculum wherever they can. For example, in mathematics this includes the 'early bird maths', where all pupils start the day with mathematics challenges. Pupils enjoy developing and practising quick mathematics skills, such as timetables or calculations. At times, in key stage 1, staff are not able to check how well pupils are doing in these challenges because what pupils know can be missed. On occasions, when this is the case, it results in teachers not having an accurate understanding of what each pupil has learned.

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Staff say that leaders and governors think carefully about any changes made and how these changes impact on their workload. Staff understand and trust that the decisions leaders make are in the best interests of pupils.

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In discussion with the headteacher, we agreed that teacher subject knowledge and the planning of more challenging activities for all pupils may usefully serve as a focus for the next inspection.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders and staff have a clear picture of local safeguarding issues. Staff are vigilant and know how to raise a concern. Staff know their pupils and their families well. Leaders support families to get the help they need when required.

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Safeguarding

Leaders ensure all staff, volunteers and governors have the appropriate recruitment checks completed before they start employment. Staff and governors receive safeguarding training on induction and regular updates throughout the year. 30 June–1 July 2021

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Leaders reported that in the last academic year, pupils have increased the amount of time they spend online or on social media. Leaders adapted the curriculum to provide more time increasing pupils’ awareness of how to keep themselves safe when using online technologies.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have continued to make improvements across the curriculum. Pupils want to complete more challenging activities to show what they know and can do. Subject leaders need to continue to support teachers, so they are able to effectively plan appropriately challenging activities.

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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, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. 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 school to be good on 16 March 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 .

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school. 30 June–1 July 2021

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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.

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School details

Inspection number 10193996 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair of governing body Arthur Winchester

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School details

Date of previous inspection 11 February 2016, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Wood Ley is a slightly larger-than-average primary school.

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Information about this school

 The school has the lower than average numbers of pupils who need SEND support and pupils who speak English as an additional language.

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Information about this inspection

 During the inspection I met with the headteacher, the special educational needs and disabilities coordinator, other senior leaders, curriculum leaders and teachers across all year groups. I also met with two members of the governing body. I had a telephone conversation with a representative of the local authority.  I spoke with several groups of pupils to talk about their learning across the curriculum. 30 June–1 July 2021

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 I did deep dives in the following subjects: reading, mathematics and history. I spoke to leaders of these subjects. I visited lessons, spoke with pupils and teachers, listened to pupils read and looked at pupils’ work. I also looked at other documentation to understand the quality of education.  I looked at the school’s systems and processes for checking adults’ suitability to work with children. I spoke with teachers, pupils, and other staff to check safeguarding arrangements. I met with the designated safeguarding lead. Safeguarding procedures, records and referrals were discussed and reviewed. I also looked at bullying and behaviour logs and other documentation presented by leaders.  I considered 64 parent responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, parent View, and 63 responses to Ofsted’s free-text survey. I also considered 24 responses to the staff survey. I spoke with staff and pupils to gain their view of the school.

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Inspection team

Fyfe Johnston, lead inspector Her Majesty's Inspector 30 June–1 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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