St Philip's CofE Aided Primary School

Inspection of St Philip's CofE Aided Primary School 2 Vinery Way, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire CB1 3DR

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Inspection dates: 18 and 19 November 2021

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 18 and 19 November 2021

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at St Philip’s are happy and confident learners. The school’s values of ‘safe- caring-positive’ underpin all activity in school. Adults support pupils to develop attitudes that will help them learn and socialise in the future. Pupils say that school ‘teaches us to be kind’ and ‘we accept everyone regardless of who they are’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils work hard with focus and enthusiasm because staff expect a lot from them. They contribute willingly to discussions about learning. Teachers support all pupils to get involved and achieve their best.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are polite and positively respond to adults they work with. Pupil behaviour is good both in lessons and at playtimes. Pupils say they feel safe and that adults quickly resolve individual problems if they arise. They say that bullying incidents are not common.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy the wide range of opportunities that staff provide to develop their wider interests. They share positive memories of residential trips and enjoy after-school clubs such as art, Taekwondo and archery.

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better?

Leaders have designed an ambitious and relevant curriculum for pupils in the school. Most subject leaders are clear about the key knowledge pupils need to gain over time. Leaders provide the support to other staff to make sure teaching is consistently effective. In a few subjects, where plans are not fully implemented, leaders have clear plans for completing this work.

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better?

The recent improvements to the teaching of phonics are having a positive impact. Staff use their specialist knowledge to fully engage all pupils in phonics learning from when they join the Reception Year. Adults regularly check that pupils remember the important phonics knowledge they are being taught. This helps pupils with their confidence in reading. Weaker readers in key stage 2 are being supported with the recently adopted phonics programme. This is starting to help these pupils catch up. Over their time in school, pupils learn to love reading for pleasure. Older pupils are proud to talk about the books they enjoy.

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better?

Teachers know what motivates pupils and this supports them to plan engaging lessons. Teachers skilfully make sure pupils link new learning with previous learning. This contributes to pupils developing a rich web of useful knowledge, which helps them to learn effectively and, consequently, achieve well.

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better?

The early years foundation stage (EYFS) curriculum provides significant support for children to develop their personal, social and emotional capabilities. Learning opportunities are considered carefully to capture the imagination of the children from the point they join pre-school. This supports children to develop across all 18 and 19 November 2021

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areas of learning. However, while this is the case, there are occasions when the curriculum plans in early years do not make clear enough links to the knowledge children will be learning in Year 1. This can result in children not being fully prepared for the next stage of their education.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported well to access the full curriculum. Teachers are skilled at adapting plans and providing the right support to make sure pupils with SEND know and remember more. The effective systems for assessing and reviewing pupils’ specific needs are also being used successfully to improve the progress disadvantaged pupils make.

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Staff have clear expectations of pupils’ behaviour. Any concerns are addressed swiftly. This means learning environments throughout the school are consistently calm and purposeful. Pupils have respect for their school and enjoy the praise they receive for their positive engagement.

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The personal, social and health education (PSHE) programme supports pupils’ personal development well. Leaders make use of assemblies and ‘values days’ so pupils can explore human qualities in more depth, such as tolerance. Pupils take responsibility for contributing to and influencing decisions in their school.

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Leaders’ commitment to improvement is enhancing the experience of pupils in every year group. Staff are supported with relevant training to grow their leadership skills. This is making sure that changes to the subject plans are improving pupils’ lessons.

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Governors provide a good balance of support and challenge for leaders and this is successfully supporting the school to improve.

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Some parents and carers are dissatisfied with the quality of communication they have received from the school. Leaders and governors have been proactive in listening to the views of parents. They have been reflective about feedback received to ensure the school can continue to improve.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders prioritise the safeguarding of pupils at the school and take all concerns seriously. Consequently, pupils say they feel safe at school and name trusted adults who they would talk to if worried.

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Safeguarding

Well-established routines ensure staff share information if they are concerned. If required, leaders swiftly seek external professional services to make sure pupils receive the right support.

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Safeguarding

Staff receive regular and relevant training to support their work to keep pupils safe. This means all adults confidently understand about different types of bullying and how to spot signs that a child might be at risk of harm. 18 and 19 November 2021

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The curriculum is not yet sufficiently well planned and sequenced in some subjects. However, it is clear that leaders have already taken action to address these areas within the current academic year. For this reason, the transitional arrangements have been applied.  The curriculum in the EYFS does not link clearly enough to subject learning in Year 1. This means teachers in Year 1 do not have a strong enough understanding of the foundation knowledge pupils already have to build upon. Leaders must ensure links between curriculum plans are fully considered to support pupils in the Reception Year being prepared effectively for their next stage of learning.  Leaders have not always communicated their plans and views effectively enough. As a result, a significant minority of parents feel concerns raised with leaders are not always responded to well. They do not have full confidence in decisions leaders are making to support their children. Leaders and governors should

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

continue the work started to engage effectively with the parent and carer community, providing the clear information that parents need.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to 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.

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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. 18 and 19 November 2021

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School details

Inspection number 10200517 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 16 and 17 January 2018, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not use any alternative provision.  Out-of-school childcare overseen by the governing body is available on the school site.  The school is a Church of England school in the Diocese of Ely. As a school designated as having a religious character, it was subject to a separate section 48 inspection in October 2015 and was judged to be good.

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Information about this inspection

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

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with school leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation.  Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, deputy headteacher and assistant headteacher. Inspectors also met with the school business manager and the leaders of early years and PSHE. 18 and 19 November 2021

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 Inspectors met with members of the governing body, including the chair and vice- chair.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, history, science and design and technology. For each deep dive, inspectors met with subject leaders, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons where available, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The lead inspector met with designated safeguarding leaders and staff to discuss safeguarding.  Inspectors spoke to groups of pupils about their experiences of school life and their learning in lessons to understand what it is like to be a pupil in their school. Inspectors also observed the behaviour of pupils in all areas of the school site.  A wide range of documentation was scrutinised during the inspection, including curriculum plans, school development plans, safeguarding and behaviour records.

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 Inspectors considered 72 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and 73 free-text parent comments. Inspectors also considered the 16 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.

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Inspection team

Kristian Hewitt, lead inspector Her Majesty's Inspector

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Inspection team

Neil Taggart Ofsted Inspector 18 and 19 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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