Pendragon Community Primary School

Inspection of Pendragon Community Primary School Varrier-Jones Drive, Papworth Everard, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire CB23 3XQ

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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 5 and 6 July 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff at Pendragon Community Primary School care about their pupils and want them to succeed. The school supports pupils’ mental well-being. Pupils understand the school’s motto of ‘Respect, Effort, Achieve, Challenge’. They talk positively about their learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

All pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), access a wide range of subjects. Pupils appreciate the support they are given by staff to help them succeed.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe. They behave well and bullying is rare. Pupils are confident that teachers deal with any incidents swiftly. Pupils talk openly about accepting differences, and show empathy and respect towards each other. They are encouraged to see life from different people’s perspectives.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils experience a range of high-quality opportunities which support their personal development effectively. They enjoy the opportunity to stand for school council and as house captains. They like earning house points and having work published in the ‘Pendragon Writers’ Club’. They value going on school visits, singing at concerts, taking part in reading challenges and getting certificates in assemblies.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The majority of parents are positive about the school, with comments such as, ‘My child flourishes here.’ However, some parents of pupils with SEND would like more updates on their child’s progress.

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better?

Leaders ensure all pupils follow a well-designed curriculum that builds knowledge over time. Teachers provide effective opportunities for pupils to deepen their understanding, such as posing a key question at the end of a unit to apply their knowledge. Pupils recall what they have learned through regular checks at the start and end of lessons. Teachers encourage pupils to make connections with what they learn. For example, in learning about evacuation in World War II, pupils are able to make comparisons with child refugees in Ukraine.

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better?

Leaders provide teachers with high-quality training to deliver the curriculum. Teachers have high expectations of all pupils. They adapt planning appropriately in order to meet pupils’ needs. Teachers’ subject knowledge is strong in most subjects. However, in a few foundation subjects, teachers do not have sufficiently deep subject knowledge in order to fully maximise pupils’ learning and outcomes, such as when comparing different localities in geography.

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better?

In early years, leaders are clear on the milestones they want children to reach and by when. Children were able, for example, to draw a detailed animal for their topic due to teachers delivering the required knowledge and skills in a logical order. Teachers develop children’s language and vocabulary well through reading familiar 5 and 6 July 2022

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stories and singing nursery rhymes. Leaders address gaps in learning caused by the pandemic, such as developing the outdoor area to support physical development. Children in early years are prepared well for the next stage of their education.

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Pupils with SEND achieve well. Teachers provide bespoke learning opportunities so that pupils with SEND can access the same curriculum as their peers. Teaching assistants are well trained to deliver additional support. While there is effective provision for pupils with SEND, some parents feel leaders do not communicate to them well enough about what progress their children are making.

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Leaders prioritise reading across the school. All pupils, including children in the early years, love reading and talk enthusiastically about books and authors they like. The curriculum topics each have a key text for pupils to study, which broadens their reading experiences. The reading curriculum is led and taught well. Early readers have books that are linked to their phonics ability. Staff are rigorous in their checking of pupils’ reading and are quick to follow up on any pupil who falls behind. As a result, pupils are able to read fluently, with understanding of what they have read.

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Pupils largely adhere to leaders’ behaviour expectations in lessons. They also behave well at playtimes. Highly personalised plans give pupils the right tools to manage their behaviour and access the learning.

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Pupils are taught about other cultures and world religions. Pupils have a deep appreciation of the importance of inclusion because they are taught about equality and diversity. Leaders have linked this to the local context and the history of the village’s famous hospital, which allows pupils to reflect on how to prevent discrimination due to disability. Pupils are suitably prepared for life in modern Britain.

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Leaders get effective support from the local authority adviser, particularly with training on subject leadership. Governors know the school well. They ably hold leaders to account.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

All staff and governors understand the importance of keeping children safe and receive regular safeguarding training. They stay up to date with local safeguarding issues. Staff know how to report concerns. Leaders respond quickly to any safeguarding issues. Teachers react promptly to concerns that need addressing with the children. All pupils feel they have trusted adults in school they know will help them.

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Safeguarding

Leaders make sure all the necessary checks are in place for adults working with children. 5 and 6 July 2022

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some teachers do not always have the detailed subject knowledge needed in order to teach a small number of foundation subjects as effectively as they could. This means that some pupils do not gain the depth of understanding leaders intended. Leaders need to ensure teachers have the depth of knowledge needed to teach all subjects well.  Leaders do not communicate as well as they should with parents of pupils with SEND. This means that some parents are dissatisfied with the information they receive about their children’s progress. Leaders need to improve communication with parents, so parents are aware of their children’s progress in the school.

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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. 5 and 6 July 2022

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 30 June 2016, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 This is a larger-than-average primary school.  The school runs a pre-school for three- to four-year-olds. There is a breakfast and after-school club on the site run by another 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 held meetings with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, subject leaders, teachers and support staff.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in the following subjects: reading, mathematics, history, geography and art. For each deep dive, inspectors spoke to curriculum leaders, visited lessons, spoke with pupils, looked at pupils’ workbooks and spoke 5 and 6 July 2022

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with teachers they had seen teach. Inspectors were accompanied by leaders for some lesson visits and for some conversations with pupils.  Inspectors met representatives from the governing body, including the chair of governors. Inspectors also met with the local authority school improvement adviser.  Inspectors looked at minutes of meetings of the governing body and monitoring notes.  Inspectors looked at the arrangements for safeguarding, including the single central record of recruitment checks.  Inspectors spoke with leaders about the systems and processes to support safeguarding, and the safeguarding ethos in the school.  Inspectors spoke with senior leaders, including those who oversee provision for pupils with SEND.  Inspectors spoke to a range of parents at the gate and who were in school, including some parents of pupils with SEND.  Inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Ofsted Parent

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View, the 120 free-text comments by parents and the 23 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.

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Inspection team

Sara Boyce, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Mark Sim Ofsted Inspector 5 and 6 July 2022

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