Burnham-On-Sea Community Infant School

Inspection of Burnham-On-Sea Community Infant School Winchester Road, Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset TA8 1JD

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Inspection dates: 10 and 11 January 2023

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

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

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

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. 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. 10 and 11 January 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to this friendly school. Mutual respect is a strong feature of the positive relationships between pupils and adults. Adults create a safe, nurturing environment that builds trust and confidence in pupils. Pupils show a deep understanding of the need to acknowledge and respect individual differences.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils often have positive attitudes towards their learning. However, the curriculum is not yet ambitious enough, especially in reading. This hinders pupils’ success and motivation in their learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well in lessons and moving around the school. The school environment is calm and orderly because of clear routines and expectations. Pupils, parents and staff are adamant that bullying does not happen at the school. Pupils know that staff will help if there are upsets and fallouts.

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What is it like to attend this school?

There are lots of opportunities for pupils to develop their interests and talents. Pupils really enjoy the wide range of clubs they can choose from. They are proud of the leadership roles they have, such as eco-warriors and councillors. They see these as opportunities to make a positive contribution to the life of the school.

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better?

Many pupils do not learn to read as well as they could. This is because the delivery of the early reading curriculum is not ambitious enough. Teaching does not ensure that the sounds pupils learn build on what they already know. Misconceptions are not picked up quickly enough, so some pupils continue to make the same mistakes. Staff do not all have the subject knowledge they need to be able to support well those pupils who fall behind. This means that too many pupils do not meet the expected standard in their reading, including in the early years.

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better?

New leaders have prioritised work to redesign the wider curriculum. In many subjects, leaders have identified and sequenced the knowledge they want pupils to learn. They have also considered ways to enrich subjects through experiences that build pupils’ wider development. Pupils benefit from taking part in events such as the RSPB national birdwatch and the local poppy parade.

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better?

The new curriculum has been in place since September 2022, and this is beginning to have a positive impact on the quality of pupils’ learning. For example, in art, pupils gradually build their knowledge and skills to be able to produce high-quality end pieces. The mathematics curriculum is well sequenced. Leaders make sure that children in Reception secure their understanding of foundational concepts. This enables them to enter Year 1 confidently able to use numbers in problem solving. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), use a range of physical resources independently to support their understanding. 10 and 11 January 2023

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Assessment is not used well enough to ensure that pupils, including some with SEND, learn well. Although teachers accurately identify pupils who are falling behind, curriculum planning does not address gaps in learning well enough to ensure they know more and remember more. For example, pupils in the early years who struggle with pencil grip or letter formation do not receive support that improves these quickly enough.

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Subject leadership is at an early stage of development. While subject leadership has considered the design of the curriculum, it does not support staff subject knowledge effectively enough, especially in reading. This means that the impact of teaching across the curriculum is too variable. As a result, pupils do not know more and remember more over time.

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Governors are committed to the school and are proud of the way the school contributes to the local community. However, they do not have a secure enough understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum delivered to pupils. They are not rigorous enough in assuring themselves of the quality of education provided. As a result, the necessary improvements to the curriculum have not been tackled urgently enough.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders have a good understanding of the risks to pupils in the locality. They know their pupils and families well. Work with outside agencies is effective, which means that pupils and families get the support they need.

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Safeguarding

Staff know the signs of abuse and use the agreed systems for recording and reporting concerns. This means that leaders are able to act swiftly. Record keeping is organised, but there is room for improvement in ensuring these are checked effectively and actions complete.

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Safeguarding

Pupils learn about risk and how to keep themselves safe, including when using the internet.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The reading curriculum is weak. Many pupils, including children in Reception, do not learn to read as well as they could and have gaps in their phonics knowledge. Teaching does not ensure that the curriculum matches these pupils’ needs. Leaders must ensure that an ambitious phonics curriculum is implemented effectively so that all pupils learn to read fluently and accurately. 10 and 11 January 2023

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 The capacity of subject leadership to improve the curriculum is not fully developed. Accurate evaluation of the impact of the curriculum is not consistently used to support teaching effectively enough. Leaders need to develop subject leadership capacity to support teaching to have more impact on pupils’ ability to know more, remember more and do more over time.  Governors do not have a secure enough understanding of the curriculum delivered to pupils. The ways that they assure themselves of the quality of education are not rigorous enough to ensure they have an accurate view. This means they cannot provide the right levels of challenge and support for school leaders. Governors need to ensure they develop their understanding of the impact of the school’s curriculum on pupils’ learning.

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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. 10 and 11 January 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10256653 Type of school Infant

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 16 June 2009, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The headteacher was appointed in January 2021 and the deputy headteacher in September 2022.  The school does not use any alternative providers.

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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.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and art and design. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. 10 and 11 January 2023

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 The inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, early years leader, special educational needs coordinator, curriculum leaders, teaching and support staff.  The lead inspector met with members of the local governing body, including the chair of governors.  The lead inspector met with the designated safeguarding leads to discuss how pupils are kept safe in school. Inspectors considered the school’s recruitment procedures, staff induction and training, records of concerns and their engagement with external agencies. The inspectors also spoke with staff and pupils throughout the inspection.  The lead inspector listened to pupils read to an adult.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school site. In addition, they met with pupils informally and formally to hear their views.  Inspectors considered responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View,

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including free-text responses. Inspectors also took into consideration responses to the staff and pupil surveys.  Inspectors examined a range of documentation provided by the school, including documentation relating to safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Angela Folland, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Chris Hansen Ofsted Inspector 10 and 11 January 2023

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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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