Nursteed Community Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Nursteed Community Primary School Brickley Lane, Devizes, Wiltshire SN10 3BF

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Outcome

There has been no change to this school’s overall judgement of good as a result of this initial (section 8) inspection. However, the evidence gathered suggests that the inspection grade might not be as high if a full inspection were carried out now. The next inspection will therefore be a full (section 5) inspection.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Teachers present work clearly and have high expectations. However, some pupils are not learning to read as well as they should. The school does not have a systematic way of teaching phonics. Staff have changed since the last inspection and some do not demonstrate a clear understanding of how to help children learn to read.

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What is it like to attend this school?

A new school vision stresses kindness, determination and teamwork. Staff are determined that children should thrive academically, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Classrooms are calm and learning is rarely disrupted. Pupils are well mannered.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel happy, cared for and safe in school. Parents appreciate the headteacher’s highly visible presence, for example when she greets them at the gates in the morning. She knows families and pupils well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Many parents comment positively about the education the school provides. Most feel that it is a kind and caring school. A minority of parents have concerns about bullying. Pupils say that it can happen, but most are confident that adults will sort any issues out. A few pupils sometimes struggle to manage their emotions. The school is working effectively to help these pupils and to make sure that the welfare of others is protected. Some older pupils are very positive about how well they have been helped.

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

Leaders have started to improve the way pupils learn to read. They have provided some extra training and used additional help from the local authority. Teachers have been successful in making sure that pupils of all abilities love stories and books. However, a consistent agreed phonics programme is not used. As a result, some children do not make a quick enough link between the written letters and the sound they represent. Provision 2 and 3 November 2021

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for the youngest pupils is arranged well. For example, the early years leader can explain how resources put out for pupils to play with are focused on what they need to learn.

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Leaders ensure that pupils study a broad and balanced range of subjects. Teachers give careful attention to pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They make sure these pupils can get the same experiences as others in the class. Pupils’ needs are carefully diagnosed and planned for, and external support is used well.

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Teachers use a well-planned mathematics programme to make sure that pupils are introduced to new ideas in a logical order. Following the national lockdowns, staff checked whether pupils had fallen behind in any of the key knowledge they needed to learn, in order to fill any gaps. Teachers present new learning clearly and check pupils’ understanding. As a result, pupils remember the things they are learning over time.

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The school has a well-thought-out programme to help older pupils to develop reading comprehension skills. Teachers know the key things to be taught to each year group. In physical education (PE), individual lessons are taught effectively, focusing on what staff see as the most important learning. However, this is not underpinned by a clear plan to ensure that important knowledge is taught in sequence. As a result, pupils do not know more and remember more over time.

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Pupils appreciate the clubs, including choir, that are now starting up after the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Members of the school council can explain how the school helps pupils to learn to reflect on values and the world around them. Assemblies are used to focus on particular important areas, such as Black Lives Matter and climate change.

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Pupils are aware that they should report bullying. However, they do not always report instances of prejudiced behaviour from other pupils, for example sexist statements. They often think it too commonplace or think that they cannot report it if it just happens once. Sometimes this behaviour makes them feel uncomfortable.

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Staff members appreciate the strong personal support the headteacher provides. They know their workload is high, partly because the school is making changes to improve what it does. However, staff feel that senior leaders do what they can to help them manage their workload.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders make sure that staff are well trained so that they can act quickly to keep pupils safe. Staff are alert to risks and know how to report any concerns. Leaders work effectively with support from outside the school. They keep careful records of contacts they have made and follow actions up. They carry out the right checks on staff when they start work in the school.

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Safeguarding

Leaders have been very aware of where families and pupils have needed extra support over the last year. For example, they checked on pupils’ safety during the national 2 and 3 November 2021

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lockdowns and supported pupils’ mental health when they returned to school. The school has a planned programme of teaching to make sure that pupils understand how to stay safe.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school’s programme for teaching early reading is not sufficiently systematic. As a result, some pupils are not making the link between letters and sounds in order for them to become fluent readers. Leaders need to adopt a systematic synthetic phonics scheme so that all staff are applying effective agreed strategies for teaching phonics.  The school’s curriculum in wider subjects is under review. Not all subjects have a planned progression for the key content that the school wants to teach. As a result, teachers are not clear on what pupils should already know. Leaders need to agree the important knowledge pupils should learn and the order they should learn it so pupils know more and remember more over time.  Pupils are aware of what bullying means and that it is wrong. They know to report incidents that happen more than once. However, pupils are unsure about reporting one-off occasions of prejudiced language or behaviour. As a result, some pupils feel

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

uncomfortable because of things others see as minor. The school should review its teaching about prejudice so that pupils understand what is acceptable or not.

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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 evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, 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 deem the section 8 inspection as 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 in November 2011.

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View 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. 2 and 3 November 2021

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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. 2 and 3 November 2021

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School details

Inspection number 10206974 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 2 November 2016, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The current headteacher was appointed to the school in 2019.  The school uses an external agency to provide a breakfast club.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with school leaders and has taken this into account in their evaluation.  The inspector met with the headteacher, senior leaders, representatives from the governing body, the special educational needs coordinator, the early years leader and groups of staff. The inspector held a telephone call with the school improvement adviser from the local authority.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and PE. During the deep dives, the inspector met with subject leaders, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their 2 and 3 November 2021

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learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspector listened to some pupils read and looked at curriculum plans in a range of other subjects.  The inspector considered 42 responses to the online survey, Ofsted Parent View, most of which included comments in free text. The inspector also talked to some parents who had not been able to complete the survey. These views were taken into account, together with the 25 responses to staff questionnaires and 35 responses from pupils.  The inspector looked at how the school keeps pupils safe. The inspector scrutinised safeguarding and behaviour records and discussed these with senior staff.

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Inspection team

Deborah Zachary, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 2 and 3 November 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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