Risby Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

Inspection of Risby Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Aylmer Close, Risby, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP28 6RT

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Inspection dates: 29 and 30 November 2022

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Outstanding

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Overall effectiveness Good

Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Overall effectiveness Good

This school was last inspected 13 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. 29 and 30 November 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are very proud of their school. Pupils say, ‘you can be who you want to be’. Pupils feel valued because their views are listened to. For example, pupils created plans for new outside play equipment, using a budget allocated by leaders. The final design was chosen after all pupils voted.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Learning is interesting. Pupils are enthusiastic about the content of the curriculum. The lessons linked to the theme of ‘journey of discovery’ are among pupils’ favourite because those pupils spoken to said they love learning about the continents of the world and geography is a popular subject area for many.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel happy and safe. They are very respectful of each other and adults. Pupils know what is expected of their behaviour and their learning. They behave well in lessons and around school. Pupils fully engage with all learning opportunities. ‘Thank you’ is often heard being said around the school without a prompt. Pupils say there is a zero tolerance for bullying. If it happens, it is quickly dealt with so it stops.

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What is it like to attend this school?

There are a range of clubs for pupils to attend, for example drama, football and craft. This helps pupils to develop their talents beyond the classroom.

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better?

Leaders have planned an ambitious curriculum that develops pupils’ knowledge and deepens their understanding of the world they live in. Leaders have made sure that key skills and knowledge pupils need to know to develop further are frequently revisited in the curriculum. This helps pupils to make connections in their learning, so they successfully know and remember more.

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better?

Where teachers are more confident and have strong subject knowledge, they teach the curriculum well. They check what pupils know and understand and use this information to adapt plans for future learning. Where the curriculum has new content, teachers feel less secure about their subject knowledge. Where this is the case, pupils develop their knowledge and skills more slowly compared with in other subjects. Teachers are not trained well enough in areas where there has been new curriculum content added.

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better?

Leaders are passionate about making sure that pupils develop into confident readers so they can ‘read to learn’. They have created an ethos across the school that nurtures a love of reading. An example of this is ‘snack and story time’, which happens across the whole school. Pupils of all ages sit animatedly listening to adults read while eating their snack. Teachers are well trained and confident in delivering the reading curriculum. Important reading skills are consistently taught from early years to Year 6.

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better?

In Reception, children quickly learn the sounds that letters make and begin to decode and read simple words. These skills are then frequently revisited to increase 29 and 30 November 2022

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pupils’ fluency. Regular checks help teachers to identify if a pupil is falling behind with their reading. Quick and effective actions are carried out to address any gaps found. As a result, pupils develop into confident, fluent readers.

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Leaders have made sure that all staff know and understand the behaviour systems and expectations. All staff have high expectations for pupil behaviour and implement them consistently. Classrooms are calm, orderly and respectful places to learn. Playtimes are happy, with pupils of all ages playing together and supporting each other. Routines are understood and followed by all pupils. For example, the first bell at the end of playtime means stop and be silent. All pupils respect and follow this rule, including the youngest children. This ensures that all pupils return to their learning swiftly and with little disruption.

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The needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are accurately identified. Leaders work with class teachers to put in place additional provision where needed. This enables pupils with SEND to learn the same curriculum as others alongside their peers. However, on occasions the checking of pupils’ achievement against their targets, including what pupils think, is not as clear. Therefore, there are some examples where leaders do not fully know how effective the provision for pupils with SEND is in a few areas of the school.

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Leaders provide for pupils’ wider development well. Pupils learn to care for the environment and for each other. Pupils are aware of themselves as members of a local community. Examples of this are the pupils’ involvement in ‘wilder schools’ and their ‘eco village’ project. This ensures that pupils develop a clear and respectful understanding of how people and families can be different.

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Governors know the school well because they carry out regular monitoring visits to check for themselves what leaders report is accurate. Governors make recommendations from these visits which are appropriately followed up. Governors understand their role in supporting the well-being of staff and regularly check in with leaders.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff understand their responsibility to safeguard pupils. This includes carrying out the appropriate checks to ensure that all adults are suitable to work with pupils.

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Safeguarding

Regular and specific training helps adults to understand and identify the risks pupils face. This helps staff to be vigilant about looking out for signs of harm. Adults know how to report a concern. Leaders take swift action in response to any concerns raised. This includes involving other agencies where needed.

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Safeguarding

The curriculum content ensures that pupils learn successfully how to stay safe both on and offline. 29 and 30 November 2022

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Where the curriculum has had new content added, some teachers are less confident with teaching parts of the new curriculum. This impacts on the progress that some pupils make. Leaders should provide teachers with guidance and support, so that they are confident and able to teach new content more effectively.  While systems are in place to identify and support pupils with SEND, they do not consistently provide leaders with a clear and precise oversight of the effectiveness of the SEND provision. Leaders should develop systems in place to support pupils with SEND that provide them with accurate information so they can evaluate more effectively the SEND provision across 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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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 November 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10255033 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection January 2009

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Information about this school

 The local pre-school runs a breakfast and after-school club for pupils of Risby voluntary controlled primary school.  Leaders do not currently make use of an alternative provision.  As the school is designated as having a religious character, it is inspected under section 48 of the Education Act 2005. The last section 48 inspection of the school was in June 2019. The school’s next section 48 inspection will be within eight school years.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded 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.  During the inspection, the inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher and the special educational needs coordinator. 29 and 30 November 2022

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 The inspectors met with seven members of the local governing body, including the chair and vice-chair of governors. Inspectors also reviewed governor minutes and monitoring records.  The inspectors spoke with the local authority adviser and the diocese.  Deep dives were carried out in reading, mathematics, geography and computing. For each deep dive, the inspectors met 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 samples of pupils’ work.  Other inspection activities included observing pupils’ behaviour at lunchtime, speaking with the school council, having a tour by the school’s ambassadors and listening to pupils read to a familiar adult.  Inspectors spoke with parents and carers at the start of the school day.  Arrangements for safeguarding were scrutinised by the inspectors. This included

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looking at the single central record and meeting with the designated safeguarding lead to review other safeguarding documentation and evaluate safeguarding arrangements.  The inspector considered the 59 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Ofsted Parent View, and 47 free-text comments.  The inspector considered the 13 responses to the Ofsted staff survey. There were no responses to the pupil survey.

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Inspection team

Sharon Waldron, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Tim McLoughlin Ofsted Inspector 29 and 30 November 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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