Werrington Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Werrington Primary School Amberley Slope, Werrington, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire PE4 6QG

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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?

Pupils at Werrington Primary are happy, polite and proud of their school. Pupils respond well to the high expectations of staff.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Learning is enjoyed by pupils, and they are keen to do well. Pupils’ successes are celebrated in assemblies and class. However, some pupils at an earlier stage of reading are not being taught to read well enough.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have opportunities to visit local places of interest and a range of visitors who help bring the curriculum to life for pupils. This helps pupils link learning over time and across curriculum areas. It also contributes towards pupils gaining an understanding of different cultures and religions.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe in school and can use the worry box or talk to an adult if they need to. Bullying sometimes happens, but adults deal with it. Some incidents from the past are still on pupils’ minds.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have a range of responsibilities they can apply for, for example house captains, school councillors or prefects. Pupils enjoy helping the younger pupils with their lunch routines. Future opportunities are being involved in a food waste pilot scheme with the local environmental city trust.

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

Leaders have designed an ambitious and carefully thought-through curriculum. Teachers have strong subject knowledge because of training and support from leaders. Pupils are able to remember new and previously taught knowledge. This is particularly the case when they have first-hand experiences such as a visit to Flag Fen. 4 and 5 May 2022

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The impact of the taught curriculum can be seen when talking to pupils and looking at their work. In mathematics, they are able to confidently choose strategies to solve problems and explain their answers. The curriculum is designed so that pupils of all abilities are able to challenge themselves. Skilful adults check on pupils’ understanding and recap where pupils need it.

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The majority of pupils learn to read well and have books that are well matched to their phonics knowledge. These pupils go on to access a whole class reading programme that focuses on skills such as retrieval and inference. However, there are a significant number of older pupils at an earlier stage of reading who do not benefit as well from the current reading curriculum. The choice of activities and what they are taught means they are not catching up quickly enough. While there are plans in place, these have not been implemented.

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Children in the early years are curious about the world around them. They have opportunities to practise and rehearse new learning. Children learn to share and take turns with the equipment. Children have many opportunities to write for a purpose using the sounds they had learned during the direct teaching session. Children understand learning about the past. For example, they were able to explain the differences between the things they could do now compared to when they were a baby. Relationships between children and adults are positive.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are able to access the curriculum alongside their peers. A range of strategies are used to ensure pupils learn the same knowledge. Where pupils have more complex needs, individual plans are precise and tailored to pupils’ learning needs. This contributes towards ensuring pupils with SEND receive the support they need to achieve well.

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Leaders have ensured that all pupils have an opportunity to attend a variety of clubs. This extra focus means that pupils achieve success in sporting and musical competitions, such as the SOKE Education Trust singing event.

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Behaviour observed around school is calm and purposeful. Pupils showed positive attitudes to learning. However, pupils spoken to have a mixed view of bullying and behaviour incidents. Leaders have not taken account of these views as they were not aware of them. The current behaviour policy is not ensuring pupils’ behaviour is managed effectively.

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The governing body has not been rigorous in its monitoring of safeguarding or behaviour incidents. Information received has not been questioned by governors. They were not aware of pupils’ negative views of behaviour or the types of incidents that have been recorded. The trust has not successfully held leaders to account in areas wider than the curriculum, for example behaviour.

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In discussion with the headteacher, the inspector agreed that early reading, consistent behaviour strategies and trust and governor monitoring may usefully serve as a focus for the next inspection. 4 and 5 May 2022

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff know their pupils well and make sure they are safe. Up-to-date training is provided to ensure any new policies and procedures are understood by staff. Staff know how to report concerns and do so as necessary.

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Safeguarding

Leaders are prompt in following up on concerns and accessing the necessary support for vulnerable families. Where families are reluctant to engage with outside agencies, leaders go out of their way to provide extra support.

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Safeguarding

The personal, social and health education curriculum content is delivered in an age- appropriate manner. Pupils learn about safety online and how to keep themselves safe.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Older pupils at an earlier stage of reading are not catching up quickly enough. The targeted support for pupils with the lowest reading abilities is not consistently well delivered. Leaders must ensure all staff are trained to deliver the new phonics and reading programme so that all pupils can be supported to achieve well.  The negative behaviour of a few pupils is having an impact on how many pupils view behaviour and bullying in school. Leaders must provide training for all staff to consistently implement the planned behaviour strategy to improve behaviour. Leaders must ensure pupils understand how behaviour and bullying are dealt with and regularly check pupils’ views on this to ensure it is making a difference.  Information provided to governors about behaviour and safeguarding has not been detailed enough. Governors have not asked enough challenging questions to hold leaders to account in these areas. The trust needs to ensure they hold governors to

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

account while also providing further training so that the governor arrangements for monitoring safeguarding and behaviour are more rigorous and are better placed to hold leaders to account.

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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. 4 and 5 May 2022

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This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the predecessor school, Werrington Primary school to be good in November 2014.

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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.

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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. 4 and 5 May 2022

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School details

Website www.werringtonprimaryschool.co.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school has been part of the SOKE Education Trust since it was established in January 2018.  The headteacher joined the school in September 2020.

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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.  Meetings were held with the headteacher and the deputy headteacher. The inspector also met with the chair and the chief executive officer from the trust and the chair and three other members of the governing board.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum 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 a sample of pupils’ work. 4 and 5 May 2022

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 Meetings were held with leaders and pupils about the science curriculum. Pupils’ work in science was also looked at.  The inspector spoke to parents when pupils were being dropped off in the playground. The inspector spoke to pupils in the playground and the lunch hall.  To inspect safeguarding, the inspector checked the school’s single central record, considered the safeguarding policy and spoke to staff and pupils. The inspector looked at case files and discussed a range of safeguarding records with the designated safeguarding leads.  The inspector looked at a range of documentation regarding pupils with SEND, behaviour and attendance.  The inspector considered 30 responses to the online survey, Ofsted Parent View, and 30 free-text responses submitted during the inspection. The inspector reviewed 41 responses to the online staff survey and 176 responses to the online pupil survey.

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Inspection team

Isabel Davis, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector 4 and 5 May 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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