Terrington St John Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Terrington St John Primary School School Road, Terrington St John, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire PE14 7SG

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Outcome

Terrington St John Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy attending this small and welcoming school where everyone knows each other well. All pupils understand the importance of following the school rules to ‘be ready, respectful, safe’. They are attentive and listen to the instructions given to them by staff. They generally behave well during lessons. Pupils work hard. They want to do the best they can to achieve the high expectations staff have of them.

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What is it like to attend this school?

At lunchtime, pupils enjoy eating together in the hall. They play kindly together on the playground and older pupils enjoy helping younger ones. Bullying is rare. Pupils know there are trusted members of staff they can talk to who will help them if they have any worries. Pupils are happy and safe at school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils who require extra support with managing their feelings and emotions get the help they need. Pupils benefit from high-quality pastoral support. Opportunities for therapy sessions and focused activities with pupils from other schools supports pupils well. Staff in school use the positive relationships they have with pupils to help pupils learn to manage their own behaviour.

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

Leaders have planned a curriculum that clearly sets out and sequences what pupils need to know and remember. The numbers of pupils in each year group changes year-on-year. Leaders are adept at adapting the curriculum to accommodate this, and to ensure that pupils in mixed-age classes access the right learning at the right time.

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

Staff have received training and support to help them teach most of the curriculum well. Typically, where the subject knowledge of staff is secure, they explain any new learning and tasks to pupils clearly. This helps pupils to learn well. For example, in religious education (RE) lessons, teachers probe the understanding of pupils with ‘big questions’. Pupils are confident at talking about what they have learned in RE, and they make links 25 January 2023 between learning in different religions. Where staff knowledge is less well developed, staff are not supporting pupils to develop a deep knowledge of the planned curriculum.

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

Reading is a priority for everyone at the school. Children learn to read as soon as they start in Reception. A range of activities in the Reception classroom supports children to develop their understanding of phonics. Children apply their knowledge of reading into their writing, where they display proficiency at letter formation. Staff teach phonics well to pupils at the early stages of reading. This helps pupils to develop their fluency and confidence. Teachers rigorously check the sounds pupils find hard to read. They use these checks to adapt the curriculum to help pupils to keep up. Reading books match the sounds pupils know and can sound out. Adults support pupils who find reading hard effectively. The phonics scheme is still relatively new. While all staff have received training on this, some have not had as much as others. This means support for pupils is not always as effective as it could be.

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

Leaders carefully identify pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff use a range of strategies to support these pupils. Leaders choose effective additional resources and teachers adapt the curriculum to ensure that pupils with SEND learn as effectively as their classmates. Overall, pupils with SEND learn well. However, in some cases, leaders do not give staff precise enough guidance or strategies about how best to support pupils’ learning. Where this occurs, pupils do not learn as well as they should.

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

Pupils are very respectful of anyone who is different to them. The curriculum helps pupils learn about other cultures and people from different backgrounds. Opportunities such as the bi-annual residential trip to France in Year 5 and Year 6 provide pupils with experiences they might not otherwise have. Trips to places such as the National Space Centre help to teach pupils more about the curriculum they learn in school.

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

Governors regularly check how well the school is performing. Governors monitor how effectively leaders in the school support staff with their workload and well-being. Staff feel well supported and are appreciative of the way leaders help staff to manage their workload.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders ensure that all staff know how to identify the signs that a pupil may be at risk of harm. Staff raise concerns about pupils quickly and record them accurately. Leaders respond to concerns in a timely manner and act when necessary. This includes seeking the support of other professionals. The pastoral team works closely with pupils and families to provide additional support. The curriculum teaches pupils how to keep safe online. All required checks on adults new to the school are completed and recorded accurately.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

25 January 2023  Some staff have not received the support and training they need to teach the planned curriculum as effectively as they could. This includes the phonics programme for a small number of staff. This means pupils’ knowledge is not as deep as it could be in these subjects. Leaders must ensure that they support all staff to develop their subject knowledge so that they can help pupils to learn and remember more of the planned curriculum.  In some instances, leaders’ guidance to staff about how best to help pupils with SEND lacks specificity. This means staff do not always have the information they need to support these pupils as effectively as they could. Leaders must ensure that this guidance is specific and measurable, with strategies for staff to use to help these pupils learn even more effectively.

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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 June 2017.

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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.

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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. 25 January 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10241651 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair of governing body Malcolm Clements

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School details

Website www.windmillfederation.org.uk/terrington- st-john-primary-school Dates of previous inspection 3 and 4 May 2017, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is part of The Windmill Primary Federation. There is one governing body across the four schools in the federation.  The executive headteacher joined the federation in January 2023. He is the executive headteacher of all four schools.  The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) joined the federation in October 2022. She is the SENCo of all four schools.  Subject leaders lead their subjects across all four schools in the federation.  The school runs a breakfast club for pupils.  The school currently makes use of alternative provision at three providers. One of these providers is registered and two are unregistered.

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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. 25 January 2023  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and religious education. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke with teachers, spoke with pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The lead inspector also listened to pupils read with a familiar member of staff.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors scrutinised safeguarding policies, the school’s record of background checks of adults at the school, and a sample of child protection files. Inspectors also spoke with governors, the designated safeguarding leads for the federation and staff about safeguarding practices at the

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Information about this inspection

school.  Inspectors held meetings with the executive headteacher, assistant headteacher, SENCo, family liaison worker, pastoral leader, subject leaders, teaching staff, governors, a representative from the local authority and pupils.  Inspectors reviewed a range of documents, including behaviour logs, bullying records, attendance records, pupil records, minutes of governing body meetings, governor monitoring reports and school policies.  There were 23 responses to Ofsted’s questionnaire for pupils. Inspectors also spoke with pupils throughout the inspection to gather their views.  There were 9 responses to Ofsted’s questionnaire for school staff. Inspectors also spoke with staff throughout the inspection to gather their views.  The inspectors considered responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire for parents, Ofsted Parent View. Inspectors also spoke with parents to gather their views.

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Inspection team

Michael Williams, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Jo Nutbeam Ofsted Inspector 25 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

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