St Andrew's Church School

Inspection of St Andrew’s Church School Northampton Street, Julian Road, Bath, Somerset BA1 2SN

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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 Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005 26 and 27 April 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy being at this school and feel safe. They are confident in sharing concerns with members of staff. They say that staff know them well and will support them. From Nursery onwards, staff help pupils to reflect on their feelings and to understand their emotions.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils benefit from a rich and ambitious curriculum, which is underpinned by the cultural heritage of the local area. For example, pupils learned about weaving when they visited the Ancient Technology Centre.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are calm and well behaved. They say that bullying is rare and that staff help resolve any issues when they occur.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff teach pupils to respect diversity and to tolerate views that are different to theirs. Pupils learn about healthy relationships and that it is wrong to judge people because of their beliefs or appearance. They celebrate Christianity and learn about a range of religions and cultures.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy taking on responsibility. This includes being members of the pupil council, the eco-council and being librarians. Pupils arrange activities to raise money to help others. For example, they baked cakes and sold them to help support the British Red Cross. This helps pupils to become responsible citizens.

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better?

Leaders have created a committed and coherent staff team. They are determined that every pupil in the school will be well cared for and will achieve their potential.

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better?

Leaders have designed a curriculum that has clear, well laid out steps of learning in all subjects from Nursery through to Year 6. Staff have good subject knowledge and use this to promote and model the use of precise vocabulary. This helps pupils to learn well.

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better?

Leaders have made reading a high priority across the school. Staff encourage pupils to read for pleasure, as well as to support learning. Pupils benefit from selecting books from the wide range available in the school library. Children in Nursery learn to communicate and to explore and recognise sounds and rhymes. This helps them to be ready to start matching letters and sounds right from the start in Reception.

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better?

The phonics programme is clear and well structured. Pupils learn to read using books that match the phonics they are learning. Pupils are resilient in breaking words down into sounds and then blending these together to read words. Staff give pupils who struggle or fall behind in reading extra support to catch up. This results in pupils learning to read well. 26 and 27 April 2022

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Staff support pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to follow the full curriculum and to benefit from targeted interventions. Staff give specific support to pupils who speak English as an additional language and these pupils learn well.

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In mathematics and phonics, teachers use assessment of what pupils know and understand to build future learning. As a result, pupils learn to read and to apply mathematics well. In some subjects in the broader curriculum, assessment of what pupils know and understand is not used precisely enough to inform the next steps in their learning. This sometimes leads to pupils having gaps in their knowledge in these subjects.

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Some subject leaders have only recently started to check the impact of the curriculum in their subjects. This means they are limited in their oversight of how well pupils are securing new knowledge, skills and vocabulary. Consequently, this slows their efforts to improve the way pupils learn the curriculum.

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Leaders provide a wide range of enrichment activities and events. These help pupils to develop their talents in sport and in music. Pupils represent the school well, for example in the recent ‘Voices for Life’ music festival at Bath Abbey. They attend sports clubs and take part in competitions.

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Pupils respond well to leaders’ high expectation of behaviour. They have positive attitudes to learning and are proud to share and talk about their work. They concentrate well in lessons and their learning is not disturbed by low-level behaviour issues. Leaders’ focus on a whole-school approach to encouraging attendance has led to a reduction in pupil absence.

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Governors support and challenge school leaders effectively. They monitor the school improvement plan and are supported by the trust in evaluating its impact on learning accurately. This helps them to understand the school’s strengths and areas for development.

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Staff benefit from effective training. They feel that leaders consider their well-being and work–life balance well. Parents fully support the work of school leaders and are confident that their children are safe, learn well and are happy at school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

There is a strong culture of safeguarding in the school. Staff know that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. They know how to recognise signs of abuse or neglect. They record their concerns diligently. Leaders follow up any concerns appropriately. Leaders work effectively with other professionals and agencies to minimise the risk of harm to pupils. 26 and 27 April 2022

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Staff teach pupils to understand the risks and to stay safe when using the internet. Staff carry out pre-employment checks on adults working within the school thoroughly and keep detailed records of these.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects, assessment is not used consistently well to help build on what pupils know and understand. This slows pupils’ progress through the curriculum. Leaders should ensure that assessment is used effectively so that pupils can build on their prior knowledge to help them to know more and remember more across all subjects.  In some subjects, leaders have only recently started to check the effectiveness of the curriculum. As a result, they do not have a complete understanding of how well the curriculum is being delivered or how well pupils are learning. Leaders should ensure that subject leaders get the support they need to be able to monitor and improve the quality of the curriculum in all subjects.

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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. 26 and 27 April 2022

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School details

Local authority Bath and North East Somerset Council

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School details

Inspection number 10227703 Type of school Primary

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is part of Bath and Wells Multi-Academy Trust.  The school does not use any alternative education provision.  The school manages its own before-school club.  The school’s latest Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools took place in May 2017.

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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 carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, science and history. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with 26 and 27 April 2022

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subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors met the designated safeguarding lead, checked the single central record of adults working in the school and looked at safeguarding records.  Inspectors met governors, including the chair of governors, and two representatives of the trust.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in class, around school and at breaktimes.  Inspectors visited the before-school club.  Inspectors gathered parents’ views by considering responses to Ofsted’s online survey Parent View and by talking to parents after school.  Inspectors gathered the views of a range of pupils by considering the pupils’ survey, talking with the pupil council and through discussions with pupils.  Inspectors held discussions with staff and considered responses to the Ofsted staff’s survey.

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Inspection team

Martin Greenwood, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Marcia Northeast Ofsted Inspector 26 and 27 April 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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