Kimbolton Primary Academy

Inspection of a good school: Kimbolton Primary Academy Newtown, Kimbolton, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE28 0HY

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Outcome

Kimbolton Primary Academy continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Kimbolton Primary is a small village school in the heart of the community. The school has a strong focus on developing respect. Pupils are taught to value other people. They learn to appreciate and celebrate the differences between groups of people. Pupils also learn to help others and to take on responsibilities. For example, all pupils in Year 6 are appointed as prefects. As the oldest pupils in the school, they help out and set a good example.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave very well, both in their classrooms and at break times. This gives the school a calm and orderly feel. It helps pupils to feel safe. Bullying is something that rarely happens. Pupils say that staff help them if problems ever do arise.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders are determined that pupils should do as well as they possibly can. They respond well to these high expectations. Pupils are ready for secondary school by the time they reach the end of Year 6.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy school. They like their lessons and the wide range of other things on offer. For example, all pupils have regular ‘forest school’ sessions. They attend clubs, after school or at lunchtime, and go on educational visits.

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

Leaders view teaching pupils to read as their prime purpose. They see being able to read well as the key to learning everything else. Leaders are also determined to do everything they can to ensure that pupils develop a love of reading. They say that they want pupils 'to have that cosy magic feeling' when reading a book. This has led to the reading curriculum being a strength of the school.

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

Children start learning crucial pre-formal phonics skills as soon as they join the nursery class. They learn to listen carefully to the sounds around them and to distinguish one sound from another. Children learn nursery rhymes and listen to stories. They join in with repeated phrases in stories. 30 November 2021

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The school’s chosen programme ensures that pupils learn phonics step by step, in a suitable order. They are given lots of opportunities to practise blending sounds together to form words. Pupils use these skills to help them to read unfamiliar words. This helps pupils start to learn to read quickly. They become increasingly fluent and mature readers as they move through the school.

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The mathematics curriculum is also strong. Leaders have thought carefully about what pupils need to learn and when. Leaders have made sure that the curriculum meets the needs of the school’s mixed-age classes fully. The curriculum is delivered well by skilled staff. They make lessons fun and, as a result, pupils say that they ‘love maths’.

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The school’s curriculum is suitably broad and balanced. Pupils remember what they have learned about different subjects and enjoy talking about their work. Pupils achieve well at Kimbolton Primary. Although curriculum plans are in place for all subjects, they are not as strong in some subjects, such as history, as they are in English and mathematics. There is work to do to ensure that pupils’ learning journeys through each subject is fully thought out and as clear as possible.

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Teachers think carefully about how to teach each subject. They adapt the curriculum to meet pupils’ needs. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are given the support they need to access the curriculum fully. They are given additional support during lessons, where necessary.

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Teachers check regularly how well pupils are doing in different subjects. This helps them to identify gaps in pupils’ learning. They use this information when planning further learning. Pupils behave very well and try hard. This means that learning runs very smoothly.

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The school offers a host of different clubs, both after school and at lunchtime. These are changed termly so that there is plenty of variety to suit all pupils’ individual interests. All pupils are given the opportunity to attend at least one after-school club each week. Leaders have got most clubs up and running again, now that COVID-19 restrictions have been eased.

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Pupils go on a wide range of educational trips and visits. Although these were not possible during much of the pandemic, leaders were keen to reinstate them as soon as they were allowed. Pupils went on a residential visit during the summer term 2021. Pupils in Year 6 recently went to the Royal Opera House to see the ballet ‘Giselle’.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

The school’s single central record of pre-appointment checks meets requirements. There are strong processes in place to ensure that only suitable people are employed to work with pupils. Staff have regular safeguarding training. This ensures that they know what to do if they have a concern about a pupil. They report their concerns promptly using the 30 November 2021

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school’s systems. The school’s designated safeguarding leads are experienced and well trained. They have strong knowledge and understanding of the role. They take prompt and appropriate action, where necessary, in response to the concerns staff raise. Pupils and their parents say that they feel safe at school.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Although still well developed, the curriculum is less strong in other subjects than it is in English and mathematics. Schemes of work do not always identify the learning journey through a topic as well as they could. It is not always clear what pupils need to know and understand before they move on to an aspect of the curriculum, and what they will move on to afterwards. Leaders should take action to ensure that programmes of study for subjects other than English and mathematics make progression completely clear and explicit.

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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 first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in December 2016.

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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.

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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 November 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. 30 November 2021

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School details

Inspection number 10206467 Type of school Primary

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School details

Website www.kimboltonprimaryacademy.cambs.sch. uk Date of previous inspection 7 and 8 December 2016, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is part of The Diamond Learning Partnership Trust, a multi-academy trust of 14 schools.  The headteacher is also head of Great Staughton Primary Academy in St Neots, another school in the same trust.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors met with the headteacher and other leaders, the chief executive officer and chair of trustees of The Diamond Learning Partnership Trust, the chair of the local governing body, staff and pupils.  Inspectors did deep dives in early reading, mathematics and history. They met with subject leaders and teachers, visited lessons, looked at curriculum documents and spoke with pupils about their work. Inspectors listened to pupils reading to familiar adults.  To check the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors met with the school’s designated safeguarding leads, checked the school’s single central record of recruitment and vetting checks, looked at safeguarding records, and spoke with pupils and staff. 30 November 2021

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 Inspectors spoke with parents as they brought their children to school. They took account of 38 responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey and nine responses to the staff survey. Inspectors also considered the 14 responses to Ofsted Parent View and the 14 free-text comments from parents.

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Inspection team

Wendy Varney, lead inspector Her Majesty's Inspector

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Inspection team

Simon Harbrow Ofsted Inspector 30 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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