Rendlesham Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Rendlesham Primary School Sycamore Drive, Rendlesham, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 2GF

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Outcome

Rendlesham Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to school every day. They have lots of friends and play and work well together. Pupils like their teachers and find learning interesting. Pupils are keen to answer questions and learn more. Pupils achieve well in all curriculum subjects checked during the inspection.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is a calm and purposeful learning environment. Pupils say that behaviour is typically good in lessons and on the playground. They feel safe and are confident to talk to an adult if they have any problems.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils say that there is no bullying and if there is any unkindness, say ‘We try to sort it out ourselves first before we ask an adult to help.’ They say that adults act quickly to sort out any problems.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy all the clubs the school provides for them. They thoroughly enjoy all the additional educational visits and experience days. They say that they learn a lot from these activities. One pupil said, ‘This school is a brilliant place, and I wouldn’t change anything.’

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

Leaders are ambitious for what pupils can achieve. They are determined to help all pupils do their best. Leaders provided a strong curriculum throughout the period of COVID-19 restrictions. Parents and carers speak highly of the provision. Any gaps in pupils’ learning due to COVID-19 are rapidly closing due to effective assessment and provision on pupils’ return to school.

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

Staff have helped to design the school’s ambitious curriculum over the last 18 months. Leaders have made sure that important knowledge, concepts and skills are taught in a logical order. Teachers deliver this curriculum effectively. Consequently, pupils know more and remember more as they progress through the school. Although the curriculum is in 29 and 30 June 2022

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place, teachers have yet to teach all the new topics. Leaders acknowledge that the full implementation and impact of some aspects of the new curriculum are ‘work in progress.’

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School and trust leaders provide training that ensures teachers’ strong subject knowledge. Staff find that planning together in year-group teams is very helpful. They say that they have no issues with workload and greatly value the support they receive from school and trust leaders for their well-being.

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Reading has a high priority for school leaders. All staff have been well trained to teach phonics and early reading. Children rapidly learn their sounds in Nursery. By the end of Reception, children are starting to read simple books. By the end of Year 2, pupils are reading with increasingly fluency and good understanding.

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Reading books are well matched to the sounds that pupils have learned. Reading diaries are used well to record how pupils are getting on with their reading. Leaders and staff are vigilant in identifying any pupils who are falling behind with their reading. There are effective systems in place to help pupils rapidly catch up. Pupils continue to read widely as they get older and say that they enjoy reading. Pupils like the recently introduced reading journals because they can write more about the characters and the story, and why they like them.

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There is effective support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) ensures that each pupil receives the best support to meet their needs. She is tenacious in securing expert help from outside the school. Individual learning plans are carefully monitored to ensure that pupils learn well.

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Pupils show respect for one another and for adults in the school. Pupils listen attentively to their teachers in lessons and are keen to challenge themselves to achieve their best. In early years, adults are skilled at joining in with the children’s imaginative play. They ask questions to help children think more deeply about their learning activities.

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The majority of parents are pleased with the school and how well their children learn. A small minority say that communication between school and home is not good enough.

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The school receives effective support from the trust. Trustees know the school well and give well-informed challenge as well as support to school leaders.

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In discussion with the headteacher, the inspector agreed that communication with parents may usefully serve as a focus for the next inspection.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

There is a strong culture of safety in the school. Leaders have robust and effective systems in place to ensure that pupils are safe. Staff receive regular and effective 29 and 30 June 2022

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safeguarding training. Leaders are swift to respond to any concerns and are persistent in ensuring that pupils get the help they need.

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All safeguarding processes and procedures are stringently checked by the trust and by trustees. Leaders work effectively with external agencies as required.

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Pupils learn how to assess risks to their safety. They understand how to keep themselves safe in the community and when online, especially when playing their favourite computer games.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Teachers have not yet taught some aspects of the new curriculum. Leaders’ monitoring of these aspects of the curriculum is less well developed. Leaders should continue to implement and evaluate the delivery of the new curriculum, making improvements as needs arise.  Parents are pleased with most aspects of the school, but a few raise concerns about communication between home and school. School leaders should identify the best ways of improving communication so that parents understand what and how their children learn, as well as keeping track of school events and activities.

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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 a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the predecessor school, Rendlesham Primary School, to be good in July 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. 29 and 30 June 2022

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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 June 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10238301 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The board of trustees

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School details

Website www.rendleshamprimaryschool.org.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school is larger than the average-sized primary academy.  In 2016, the school converted to become an academy in The Consortium Academy Trust.  The school has Nursery provision.  Most pupils are White British. Very few speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils eligible for the pupil premium is below average. The proportion of pupils with SEND is below average, as is the proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan.  The headteacher was seconded to the trust’s central team from October 2019 to January 2021.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school had received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders, and has taken that into account in her evaluation of the school. 29 and 30 June 2022

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 The inspector met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, SENCo, subject leaders for history and mathematics, early years leader, teachers, support staff and groups of pupils.  The inspector met with the chief executive officer, the director of education, the reading leader, the chair of The Consortium Academy Trust and another trustee.  The inspector carried out deep dives in early reading, mathematics and history during the inspection. This included discussions with subject leaders, visits to lessons, meetings with staff and pupils, and scrutinising pupils’ books.  The inspector also focused on four aspects of the school’s work: safeguarding, pupils’ wider development, staff workload, and gaming and off-rolling (these latter refer to attempts to exclude some pupils from statistics in order to improve the school’s position in academic league tables).  The inspector considered 70 responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey, 38 responses to Ofsted’s

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staff survey, 82 responses to Ofsted’s questionnaire Parent View, including 55 free-text messages and two emails from parents. The inspector had telephone conversations with two parents.

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Inspection team

Julie Winyard, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 29 and 30 June 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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