Cirencester Primary School

Inspection of Cirencester Primary School Victoria Road, Cirencester, Gloucestershire GL7 1EX

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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 Good 29 and 30 March 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Cirencester Primary School is a friendly and inclusive place to learn. Pupils are happy and proud of their school. They speak positively about the care, guidance and support they receive from staff. Older pupils are typically courteous and respectful to each other and to adults. They set a good example for younger children.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have raised expectations of pupils’ learning and behaviour. Staff expect pupils to behave sensibly in lessons, and they do. At social times, pupils enjoy activities to keep them physically active, such as games on the field, or reading in the inviting library. Pupils feel safe in school. They say that bullying and unkind behaviour does not happen often, but staff sort it out quickly when it does.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Through a carefully constructed curriculum, leaders plan ‘experience days’ to raise pupils’ aspirations about possible future career paths. As a result, many aspire to be engineers, authors or architects. Year 6 pupils enjoy learning about responsibility by taking on ‘assembly leader’ and ‘infant helper’ roles.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders promote fundamental British values alongside the school values. Pupils learn the importance of respecting everyone, regardless of difference. They understand right from wrong. Staff encourage pupils to celebrate diversity and value uniqueness.

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better?

Reading sits at the centre of the school’s curriculum. Many children arrive at Nursery with limited communication skills. Staff immerse them in stories and language to develop their speaking and listening skills. Children enjoy listening to and joining in with familiar stories and rhymes across the early years. Teachers follow a consistent approach to the teaching of phonics. Pupils quickly get to know the letters and the sounds they make. Staff expertly match pupils’ reading books to the sounds they are learning. This helps them to develop pupils’ confidence and reading fluency. Leaders use assessment well to identify pupils who need extra support.

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better?

The sharp focus on reading continues into key stage 2. Pupils know the importance of reading for future success. Many say that they enjoy reading because it ‘takes you to another world’. Teachers successfully help pupils to understand and interpret meaning from texts. ‘Reader’s theatre’ lessons enthuse and excite pupils to develop their expressive reading skills.

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better?

Leaders’ work to construct a well-designed and ambitious curriculum is paying off. Expert subject leaders have thought carefully about what they want pupils to learn. For example, leaders have woven important concepts, such as gender and religion, throughout different time periods in history. This enables pupils to connect new learning to what they already know. Subject leaders have introduced a range of activities to assess whether pupils remember what they have learned in the long term. However, leaders recognise that this work is in the early stages. Not all subject 29 and 30 March 2022

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leaders fully understand how well pupils learn the curriculum from early years to Year 6.

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Leaders have invested in training for all adults. Staff benefit from sharing good practice and learning from each other. In physical education (PE), the subject leader uses video evidence to strengthen staff’s expertise. Most staff value the ongoing training they receive.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive effective support. Staff know those with the greatest level of need. They successfully adapt the curriculum so that pupils with SEND can learn alongside their peers. Occasionally, however, teaching is not adjusted precisely enough. Different groups of pupils sometimes find the work too hard and struggle to make links to what they have learned before.

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Leaders support pupils to become confident and respectful individuals. Pupils’ positive attitudes to learning help them to behave well in lessons. They sensibly discuss and debate a range of issues in assemblies, such as racism and discrimination. Pupils display a mature understanding of themselves and of the wider world. They are well prepared for their future learning.

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Governors share the aspirations of school leaders. They know the school well and ask challenging questions of leaders. Governors check the information shared by leaders through visits to the school. Due to the disruption caused by COVID-19, they have set up a well-being committee to consider staff’s workload when implementing changes.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Safeguarding leaders ensure that staff keep a close eye on pupils’ safety and well- being. Staff have regular and up-to-date training. They know how to identify and report any safeguarding concerns. Leaders respond swiftly to offer support to families and pupils who need help. Governors monitor the effectiveness of the safeguarding systems. They ensure that checks are in place for the safe recruitment of staff.

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Safeguarding

Pupils know about the risks of social media, messaging sites and the internet. They value how staff support their mental health by posting messages of positivity on classroom displays. 29 and 30 March 2022

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The curriculum is not consistently adapted well enough to support pupils’ precise needs, including pupils with SEND. This means that some pupils struggle to connect new learning to what they already know as they move through sequences of work. Leaders need to ensure that teaching builds on what pupils already know and helps them to make sense of new learning.  In subjects other than English and mathematics, leaders are developing the use of assessment. Not all subject leaders know what pupils do well and where they need to improve in all year groups. Leaders need to secure the use of assessment, so they know how well pupils learn and remember the intended curriculum.

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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. 29 and 30 March 2022

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.cirencesterprimaryschool.co.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 26 February 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 There have been several changes to senior leadership since the previous inspection. The special educational needs and disabilities coordinator, the early years foundation stage leader and the curriculum leader are new to post.  The school has an on-site nursery provision managed by school leaders.  There is a breakfast club for pupils who attend the school.  The school uses one registered alternative learning provider.

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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.  Inspectors met with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, other school staff and members of the governing body. The lead inspector held a telephone call with a representative from the local authority. 29 and 30 March 2022

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 Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, history, art and design and PE. For each deep dive, the inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors also spoke to leaders about the curriculum in other subjects, including personal, social, health and economic education.  The lead inspector listened to pupils in Years 1, 2 and 3 read to an adult.  Inspectors reviewed the school’s safeguarding documentation, including safeguarding checks carried out on staff working at the school. They considered how well the designated safeguarding leader acts on concerns about pupils’ welfare and safety. Inspectors talked to pupils, staff and governors about how the school keeps everyone safe.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school site. The

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lead inspector met with the headteacher and deputy headteacher to discuss and scrutinise how leaders respond to behaviour incidents.  Inspectors considered 41 responses to the online survey, Ofsted Parent View, including 27 free-text responses, and 31 responses to the staff survey.

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Inspection team

Dale Burr, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Lizzy Meadows Ofsted Inspector 29 and 30 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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