Attleborough Primary School

Inspection of Attleborough Primary School Besthorpe Road, Attleborough, Norfolk NR17 2NA

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Good 1 and 2 March 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Attleborough Primary is a welcoming, happy and inclusive community. Pupils are respectful of different groups of people. One pupil, summing up the views of many, said, ‘We are all different. It is good to be different.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well in lessons and play happily together at breaktimes. Pupils say bullying is not an issue, and they know several adults they can talk to if they have any worries. Positive relationships between staff and pupils are a strength of the school. Pupils know that staff care for them and appreciate how they are looked after. Pupils say they enjoy school, feel safe and are happy.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils like the recently restarted extra-curricular opportunities on offer, such as fencing, multi-skills and baking. They particularly enjoy taking part in the daily mile. All pupils are part of the school council. They appreciate this opportunity to have their say and make changes to the school, such as improving the equipment available at playtimes.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy their learning. However, they do not always remember the important knowledge they need to know before they move on to new content. As a result, pupils do not achieve as well as they should.

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better?

Leaders have created a broad curriculum that identifies the knowledge and skills pupils must learn in all subjects. Staff use the information they gather from assessments to establish which pupils are doing well and which pupils may need extra support. In some subjects, this is helping pupils to retain knowledge and apply it to more complex learning. For example, in mathematics, pupils use their prior knowledge of place value to develop their understanding of column addition.

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better?

In subjects other than English and mathematics, subject leaders do not monitor how well the curriculum is being delivered or how well pupils are learning. Leaders’ plans for the implementation of this monitoring have been hampered by the pandemic and staffing absence. Leaders do not always know where pupils may need help or further support.

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better?

Leaders have identified what they want children in the early years to learn in most areas. For example, in mathematics, children practise different ways to represent numbers. This helps to develop a good understanding of the value of different numbers. However, not all plans clearly identify what children should know. This means that in some areas of learning, staff are not delivering the curriculum with enough focus for children to be ready for Year 1. Therefore, some children do not make the progress they should.

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better?

Leaders have recently introduced a new phonics programme. Staff have received the training they need to teach phonics but do not deliver the new programme 1 and 2 March 2022

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consistently well. As a result, not enough pupils are making a strong start in learning to read. Leaders have taken steps to address this and additional intervention groups to provide extra support are now in place to help pupils catch up. It is too early to see the impact of this work.

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Leaders foster a love of reading. Adults regularly share stories with pupils using well-chosen books. Older pupils enjoy reading. Pupils are excited about the opportunity to use the school library again.

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Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), receive targeted support to meet their individual needs. Pupils with SEND praise how the support they receive has helped them. Staff make sure all pupils, including the most vulnerable, have their social and emotional needs met.

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Leaders have thought carefully about how they want to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain. They actively promote diversity. For example, in science, leaders ensure pupils learn about scientists of different genders and ethnic backgrounds. In personal, health, social and economic education, pupils learn about how to keep healthy, whether physically or emotionally. Children in the early years have their social and emotional needs met as soon as they start. They learn about different feelings and how to express them.

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The leadership team have worked effectively to create a positive, nurturing community at the school. Staff feel well supported, including those at the early stages of their careers.

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Governors are supportive of leaders and the school community. Governors’ work in recent months has focused on the recently formed federation and safeguarding. Although governors discuss curriculum development, they are too accepting of leaders’ information without seeking further assurances or asking further probing questions. As a result, they do not know enough about the quality of education the school provides for pupils.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

There is a positive culture of safeguarding in the school. Leaders and staff are vigilant in identifying pupils who need early help. Staff have received effective training on safeguarding. There are robust systems to check pupils are getting the help they need quickly. Leaders work effectively with social care colleagues and the education welfare officer.

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Safeguarding

Leaders ensure that the curriculum teaches pupils about online safety and healthy relationships effectively. This ensures pupils can identify and share concerns they have about themselves or others. 1 and 2 March 2022

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In the early years, leaders have not clearly identified what pupils need to know in all subject areas. Staff are not delivering the whole curriculum effectively to give pupils all the knowledge and skills they need for Year 1. Leaders need to ensure all curriculum planning begins in the early years.  Phonics is not consistently well taught across the school. Some staff lack confidence in how to deliver this curriculum, and this impacts negatively on the day-to-day teaching of phonics. Intervention to identify and support effectively pupils who have fallen behind has only recently been established. This means not enough pupils are secure in their phonics knowledge. Leaders need to ensure that phonics is taught consistently by all staff, so pupils secure the phonics knowledge they need to become confident readers.  Most subject leaders have not had the opportunity to check curriculum plans are being well delivered across the school. As a result, these subject leaders are

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

unclear about how pupils are faring in their curriculum areas and what needs to improve. Leaders need to ensure that monitoring by subject leaders is embedded and that leaders are able to identify how pupils are progressing in the curriculum, including where pupils may need additional support.  Governors do not robustly check the quality of education. They rely too much on information provided by leaders, without providing challenge to school leaders about how pupils are faring in the curriculum. Governors need to routinely check how well pupils learn across the full range of subjects with the same high level of scrutiny that they provide to other areas of their work.

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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. 1 and 2 March 2022

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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. 1 and 2 March 2022

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website attleborough-pri.norfolk.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 21 March 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Attleborough Primary School federated with Rosecroft Primary and Nursery School in September 2021 and share an executive headteacher and governing body.

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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 leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, physical education, science and geography.  For each deep dive, inspectors met with subject leaders, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The lead inspector also listened to a sample of pupils read to a familiar adult. 1 and 2 March 2022

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 Inspectors also looked at curriculum plans and spoke to leaders about some other subjects.  Inspectors held meetings with the executive headteacher, the head of school, the leader for SEND, the curriculum lead and the early years lead.  The lead inspector held meetings with governors.  The lead inspector reviewed a range of school documentation and policies, including records of governors’ meetings, the school’s self-evaluation document and information relating to pupils’ attendance and behaviour.  To inspect safeguarding, inspectors spoke to the designated safeguarding lead, teachers, support staff and pupils. The lead inspector met with the school business manager to scrutinise the single central record of recruitment and vetting checks.  Inspectors spent time observing and speaking to pupils, including at breaktimes and lunchtime. Inspectors also took account of the 83 responses to Ofsted’s pupil

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survey.  Inspectors gathered parents’ views by speaking to several of them at the end of a school day and by reviewing the 28 responses and 28 free-text responses submitted to the online survey, Ofsted Parent View.  Inspectors gathered staff members’ views by speaking to several of them. Inspectors took account of the 32 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.

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Inspection team

Jo Nutbeam, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Joan Beale Ofsted Inspector 1 and 2 March 2022

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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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