Leigh and Bransford Primary School

Inspection of Leigh and Bransford Primary School Hoopers Close, Leigh Sinton, Malvern, Worcestershire WR13 5DX

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Inspection dates: 12 and 13 October 2022

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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 Outstanding

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Overall effectiveness Good

This school was last inspected 14 years ago and judged ‘Outstanding’ under a previous inspection framework. This reflected the school’s overall effectiveness under the inspection framework in use at the time.

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Overall effectiveness Good

From then until November 2020, the school was exempted by law from routine inspection, so there has been a longer gap than usual between inspections. Judgements in this report are based on the current inspection framework and also reflect changes that may have happened at any point since the last inspection. 12 and 13 October 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils want to be at Leigh and Bransford. They attend regularly and work hard. Very few are persistently absent. Leaders take appropriate steps to keep pupils safe, showing a clear understanding of potential risks and the support needed by some families.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Adults’ aspirations for pupils are rightly high. Everyone experiences the full curriculum – no one misses out. Pupils enjoy making use of the outside space as part of their learning. They appreciate the chance to bring the curriculum to life, such as through visits that complement their learning about influential historical figures.

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What is it like to attend this school?

In lessons and when moving around the school, pupils are polite and respectful. Most behave thoughtfully towards each other and the adults who care for them. A few pupils are concerned by boisterous and unkind behaviour that sometimes happens at playtime. Reports of bullying are dealt with appropriately, although a small number of parents and carers feel this could be done better.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are prepared well for their secondary education. Nevertheless, leaders are clear about where learning could be even better. They are already taking action to improve the parts of the curriculum they have identified as needing further work.

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better?

Children get off to a positive start in the early years. Adults understand children’s needs and plan successfully to meet them. There is a clear and helpful focus on children’s personal, social and emotional development. As a result, children settle quickly into the setting, learning how to care for their physical environment. They interact well with each other, demonstrating good manners and taking turns when playing together. Adults work closely with parents, helping them to be an integral part of their child’s school experience.

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better?

The early years curriculum feeds deliberately into what pupils learn in subsequent years. Starting in Reception, children develop strong foundations in reading, writing and mathematics. Early reading is taught consistently well, with pupils encouraged to access a broad range of texts as they move through the school. Consequently, pupils develop the reading fluency they need to be able to access the full curriculum.

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better?

Across the breadth of the curriculum, leaders and teachers have secure subject knowledge. This helps them to identify what pupils need to know and the order they need to learn it. Thoughtful curriculum choices, such as the historical figures that pupils learn about, give pupils a useful context for their learning. In a small number of subjects, work to define and refine what pupils need to learn by the end of Year 6 is not yet fully developed and is being supported by useful expertise from beyond the school. Nevertheless, pupils demonstrate clearly developed knowledge across a range of subjects, which equips them well for their future. 12 and 13 October 2022

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive appropriate support. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) is new to the school and is wasting no time in checking that provision is appropriate. Where necessary, there is an emerging sense of tenacity around seeking extra help from beyond the school for pupils who need it. Pupils with SEND are accessing the full curriculum at a level appropriate to their needs. This is helping them to develop useful knowledge and to start to catch up with their peers.

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Leaders have a clear focus on pupils’ personal development. They are alert to emerging societal risks, such as around harmful sexual behaviours, and how their work needs to help pupils to develop healthy relationships. The personal, social and health education programme shows a clear progression of learning around these and other relevant themes, such as physical and mental health. A small number of pupils do not always make good decisions regarding their social interactions. This leads to some instances of overly boisterous behaviour on the playground. A minority of parents have concerns about bullying not being addressed well enough. Leaders know there is work to do here so that pupils consistently make the right choices when in charge of their own behaviour.

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Pupils benefit from opportunities to be immersed in culture, through school trips and the texts they read in class. However, leaders do not look carefully enough at who attends the clubs on offer to be sure that everyone who wants to can participate.

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Governors have improved the quality of their work in recent years, recognising the need for more rigour. A recent restructuring of roles and responsibilities looks set to support their work further. They are suitably informed about the school’s strengths and improvement priorities.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff receive suitable training that enables them to be alert to the warning signs that pupils may be at risk of harm. Adults report potential concerns in a timely way, making effective use of the school’s new recording system. Consequently, leaders are able to act swiftly when concerns emerge about a child.

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Safeguarding

Governors understand their legal safeguarding duties. They make sure that adults in school are suitably vetted. Governors are in the process of updating safer recruitment training in light of recent changes to school and governor personnel so that they can maintain rigour in this aspect of their work.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The curriculum is not consistently well developed across the full range of subjects. Some elements of content choice and sequencing are not fully in place 12 and 13 October 2022

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for a small number of subjects, including science and physical education. Leaders should ensure that their work to improve the curriculum leads swiftly to pupils receiving a consistently high quality of education across all of their subjects.  Occasionally, at playtime, a small minority of pupils do not demonstrate the highest standards of behaviour that adults expect of them. As a result, this sometimes leads to overly boisterous play and unkind actions. Leaders should work to secure a culture where pupils behave with the same high level of respect during social time as they do during lessons.

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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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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. 12 and 13 October 2022

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair of governing body Sheila Marshall and Sarah Phillips (Co- Chairs) Headteacher Stuart Bill

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School details

Date of previous inspection 21 February 2008, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this school

 Leigh and Bransford Primary School has expanded over the past six years in response to a need for more primary school places in the local area. It now has one class in each year group.  The headteacher was in post at the time of the last inspection. The deputy headteacher and mathematics leader joined the school in September 2022.  The school’s work is overseen by a local governing body. The governing body’s structure and personnel have changed notably over the past three years. The co- chairs of the governing body took up their shared post in April 2022.  All of the pupils receive all of their education at the school. None attend an alternative provision for any part of their schooling.  There is a breakfast and after-school club run by the school’s staff.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 12 and 13 October 2022

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 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 and other school leaders, including the SENCo. The lead inspector spoke separately to representatives of the governing body, the local authority and a local trust that is currently providing support to the school.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in reading, mathematics, history and art. For each deep dive, inspectors spoke to the leaders of those subjects, visited lessons where possible and spoke to teachers. Inspectors also met pupils and looked at examples of their work.  Inspectors considered the school’s safeguarding arrangements. They checked the school’s single central record of recruitment checks on adults working in the

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school. The lead inspector met with the designated safeguarding lead and reviewed the school’s actions to support vulnerable children, sampling relevant records.  Inspectors gathered a broad range of other evidence across the full range of the education inspection framework. This included behaviour and attendance records and provision for pupils’ personal development. They took account of 60 responses to the Ofsted Parent View online questionnaire and spoke to pupils and staff throughout the inspection.

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Inspection team

Kathryn Moles, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Sandy Hayes His Majesty’s Inspector 12 and 13 October 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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