Decoy Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Decoy Primary School Deer Park Road, Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 1DH

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Inspection dates: 17 and 18 January 2023

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Outcome

Decoy Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Decoy Primary is an inclusive school with a family ethos. Leaders have high expectations for all. Pupils rise to these by working hard and acting on the guidance adults provide. As a result, pupils achieve well in most areas of the curriculum.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils know the ‘golden rule’ well and they treat others how they wish to be treated. They enjoy one another’s company and are courteous to all. On the rare occasion that bullying happens, adults sensitively and swiftly put things right. Pupils enjoy participating in a variety of clubs available to them, including football, coding and choir. They enjoy attending a range of trips that bring their learning to life.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are active members of their school and local community. They are keen to help and they are proud of the range of responsibilities they have, such as playtime leaders. Pupils raise funds for local and national charities through whole-school events. Many pupils, individually, raise funds for charitable causes important to them.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The majority of parents value the work of the school. One summed up the views of many, saying this is a place where children are ‘accepted and celebrated’.

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

Following a period of change in leadership, the newly appointed headteacher has quickly established a clear and accurate view of the school. Governors challenge leaders about the impact of their actions and are clear what still needs to improve. Staff are overwhelmingly positive about the support and consideration they get from leaders. However, a number of subject leaders are new to their roles. This means they do not yet know how well their plans are working.

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

Leaders have established an engaging curriculum carefully outlining what pupils should learn and when. This starts from the early years and ensures new ideas build on what pupils already know. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are 17 and 18 January 2023 accurately identified to ensure they get the support they need to successfully access the curriculum.

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

Leaders have rightly prioritised reading. Pupils benefit from access to high-quality, diverse texts across the curriculum. This encourages them to try out many different genres of literacy and widens their reading repertoire. Children in Nursery are carefully helped to develop their speaking and listening skills. Those in early years quickly learn to recognise letters and the sounds they represent. They enjoy listening to staff reading exciting stories. As pupils move through key stage 1, they build the skills they need to read fluently. Staff use the expert training to deliver the phonics programme effectively. They ensure that the books pupils read help them to practise the sounds they learn. Pupils who need extra support have regular additional sessions. These help them keep up.

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

Staff have secure subject knowledge and use this well across the curriculum. They plan activities that allow pupils to recap on what they have previously learned before, introducing new concepts. Staff support pupils with SEND well to access the learning. As a result, all pupils’ work across the curriculum is of high quality. For example, in art, pupils rehearse important sketching and colour mixing skills that lead to high-quality outcomes. In most subjects, teachers provide pupils with effective feedback to ensure that gaps in pupils’ understanding are addressed. However, this is not yet the case for all subjects in the wider curriculum. In these subjects, teachers do not always accurately check pupils’ understanding before moving on to new learning. As a result, pupils do not achieve as they could.

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

Pupils’ attitudes towards learning are positive. This begins in the early years, where children receive a range of learning opportunities and experiences. Early years staff skilfully support children to improve their communication and language skills. In lessons and around the school, pupils behave well. They are happy and safe and value their friendships.

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

Leaders plan and promote pupils’ personal development well. Pupils learn resilience and independence across the curriculum. These values, as well as sporting and academic achievements, are celebrated during weekly assemblies. Pupils have an active voice in the school. Through leadership opportunities, such as the school council or eco-action teams, pupils take positive steps in improving their school and wider community. For example, the Eco Council contributes to the local authority’s ‘war on waste’ project. Pupils are kind and tolerant. They know it is unacceptable to judge someone based on their appearance, faith or gender. This creates an ethos of acceptance and belonging for all.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Pupils know how to keep themselves safe, both in person and when online. They know how to report anything that may concern them.

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Safeguarding

Leaders have created a strong culture of vigilance. Staff receive regular training and understand the systems to record and report the slightest concerns. Record-keeping is 17 and 18 January 2023 thorough. Leaders act swiftly where there are any concerns about a pupil’s safety. They work effectively with external agencies to ensure that pupils and their families have the help they need. There are robust processes for the safer recruitment of adults who work in school.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Across the wider curriculum, teachers’ checks on pupils’ understanding are not always precise enough. This hinders pupils’ learning where they do not identify or address gaps or misconceptions. Leaders should ensure that teachers consistently check and help all pupils secure their knowledge of the important ideas in all subjects.  Some leaders are either new to their role or to the school. This means that they do not yet know how well their subject plans are working. Leaders should ensure that they have a secure understanding of how well pupils are learning and achieving in all subjects.

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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 an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in November 2016.

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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.

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school. 17 and 18 January 2023 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. 17 and 18 January 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10226869 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 8 October 2020, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The headteacher started in her post in September 2022.  The governing body manages a nursery for 3- to 4-year-olds and before- and after- school childcare provision.  The school does not currently use any alternative provision.

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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 met with the headteacher and other senior leaders. They also met with members of the governing body and representatives from trust.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and art. For each deep dive, inspectors 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. 17 and 18 January 2023  During the inspection, inspectors met with a range of pupils to discuss their views about the school and talked to them informally during social times.  To inspect safeguarding, inspectors spoke to the safeguarding leader and scrutinised a

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Information about this inspection

wide range of information, including a selection of the school’s records. They also spoke to staff and pupils about safeguarding and looked at how pupils learn to keep themselves safe.  Inspectors met some parents to gain their views of the school. They reviewed the responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View. They also took account of staff responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Laura James, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 17 and 18 January 2023 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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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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