Brington CofE Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Brington CofE Primary School Church Lane, Brington, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE28 5AE

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Outcome

Brington CofE Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils personify the school’s ‘STAR’ learning values: self-belief, teamwork, ambition and respect.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Because staff typically tease out pupils’ strengths, pupils have much self-belief. It ensures they are happy to meet staff’s high expectations. For instance, when pupils get a ‘pink dot’, they keenly take out their blue pen to correct their mistakes.

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What is it like to attend this school?

For pupils, teamwork occurs effortlessly. Pupils spot when a peer needs some help with their schoolwork. They do not simply tell their peer the answer. Instead, they give advice about what steps to take. They may direct their peer towards a display or resources to help them reach the right answer.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ ambition particularly shines through in the roles and responsibilities they take on. For example, older pupils come up with lunchtime clubs they wish to lead. They present their ideas confidently to leaders, explaining how they will ensure the club runs well. Consequently, lunchtimes are a hive of activity. Pupils of all ages enjoy the sports and other activities that older pupils oversee.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Respect threads through pupils’ interactions with each other and staff. Pupils learn from staff to be well mannered and kind. They understand bullying, recognising it rarely occurs in school. Pupils trust staff to resolve issues. So, pupils are safe in school.

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

Leaders, including governors, oversee a motivated staff. It makes the school a pleasant place in which to learn. Parents recognise this, happily recommending the school to other parents. This support ensures leaders can continue to drive improvements. Governors’ monitoring of leaders’ work is thorough. They act as a second pair of eyes, checking that improvements work as well as leaders intend. 19 January 2023

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The phonics programme works well. Upon starting school, children in the early years revise rhyme and recognising sounds in the environment. This sets them up well for quickly learning the sounds letters make. Typically, they then keep up with the pace of the phonics programme. By the time they reach Year 2, pupils read confidently and spell words suitably. It means they are ready to read some of the more challenging, high- quality texts that teachers introduce in key stage 2.

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Leaders have set out broadly what they want pupils to learn in all subjects. Where it works better, for example in mathematics, teachers receive training and curriculum resources that help them teach specifics well. Also, teachers use leaders’ ‘live marking’ approach as intended to address pupils’ misconceptions in the moment. Therefore, pupils’ work and discussions with pupils show them to be confident mathematicians.

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For some foundation subjects, there is a lack of specificity regarding the information leaders want pupils to learn from the early years to Year 6. This makes it difficult for teachers to make explicit links to prior learning to help secure pupils’ understanding. This issue also makes it harder for teachers to check what pupils already know to inform teaching. Consequently, some pupils have a weaker recall of things they should remember.

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The systems for supporting pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities lack rigour. Staff can identify what is holding a pupil back. Yet, they struggle to set out clearly what support a pupil will receive to address this. Some of this support relies on staff’s subjective opinion, rather than having a clear measure by which to check progress. Leaders’ oversight means they have yet to put in place training to help teachers rectify this. This lack of clarity in approach hinders some pupils’ achievement.

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Pupils’ behaviour is praiseworthy. When staff award a house point, they explain what a pupil said or did in line with the school values to warrant the reward. Doing so helps that pupil and others to repeat those positive actions. If they misbehave, completing a ‘think sheet’ helps pupils to reflect on what went wrong. Kind staff talk to pupils about the incident, helping pupils consider how best to handle similar situations in the future.

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How leaders and their staff plan for pupils’ wider development is well thought out. For instance, to add to French lessons, pupils speak French to the school cook and listen to French music while they dine. Pupils also have overseas pen pals. They get to write about their own and learn about others’ culture. Despite this being a small school, pupils still fare well in countywide inter-school events. This is because they have plenty of opportunities to develop their sporting prowess. Pupils effect much change in school. The pupil worship committee introduced the ‘prayer place’. It helps pupils reflect on their beliefs and feelings. They write prayers to be read aloud in the ‘celebration assembly’. These prayers show how mature and thoughtful pupils are at this school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 19 January 2023

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Staff build supportive relationships with pupils. Pupils see staff as trusted adults. They follow staff’s advice about how to stay safe on and offline. Pupils confidently confide in staff when they feel worried. Calling upon their frequent training, staff report concerns to leaders without delay. Leaders inform staff about leaders’ timely follow-up actions, including liaising with external agencies. It creates a culture where leaders and staff remain vigilant to risks. Governors meticulously monitor systems for safeguarding, including checks on staff and visitors and the risk assessments for the trips pupils and staff attend.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects, leaders have not set out clearly the specifics they want pupils to learn. Consequently, teachers do not refer to some of what pupils should have learned to help strengthen pupils’ understanding. So, some pupils have a weaker recall of information they should know. Leaders should identify the vocabulary, concepts and skills they want pupils to learn, ensuring teachers understand the specifics that pupils need to learn.  Some of the support for pupils with SEND is not well thought through. Additional support does not always link well to the targets staff set, so this hinders pupils’ achievement. Leaders should train staff to put in place specific, measurable and time- focused support, allowing staff to monitor this more effectively to ensure it meets pupils’ needs.

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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 September 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. 19 January 2023

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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. 19 January 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10255242 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 Elizabeth Langridge

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School details

Date of previous inspection 27 and 28 September 2017, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is part of the diocese of Ely.  The school has a religious character, Church of England, and was last inspected under section 48 of the Education Act 2005 on 18 May 2017. The school’s next section 48 inspection will be within eight school years.  There is childcare for pupils attending the school. It is available before school, after school and during the school holidays. It is run by a separately registered and inspected childcare provider.  Leaders do not currently use alternative provision for any pupils.

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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 held meetings with the headteacher, assistant headteacher, early years lead, special educational needs coordinator, five governors, and a representative working for the local authority. 19 January 2023

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 Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and geography. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to staff, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The lead inspector also listened to a sample of pupils read to a familiar adult.  To inspect safeguarding, the lead inspector met with the designated safeguarding lead to review records and scrutinise the single central record of recruitment and vetting checks. Inspectors also spoke to governors, staff and pupils, and reviewed surveys to further evaluate safeguarding.  Inspectors reviewed a range of other school documentation and policies, including the school development plan and self-evaluation form.  To gather pupils’ views, inspectors spent time observing and speaking to pupils. Inspectors also took account of the 30 responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey.

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 Inspectors gathered parents’ views by reviewing the 56 responses and 42 free-text responses submitted to the online survey, Ofsted Parent View.  Inspectors gathered staff members’ views by speaking to several of them and reviewing the 13 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.

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Inspection team

Daniel Short, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Michele Geddes Ofsted Inspector 19 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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