Great Ellingham Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Great Ellingham Primary School Hingham Road, Great Ellingham, Attleborough, Norfolk NR17 1HX

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Outcome

Great Ellingham Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The curriculum has been developed to ensure pupils leave the school at the end of Year 6 with the skills, knowledge and vocabulary to be ready for secondary school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils learn in an environment that supports them to have high aspirations. They respond positively to teachers’ expectations of behaviour and academic achievement. Pupils enjoy learning. They are excited to share what they know and take pride in their learning and achievements.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils concentrate and listen attentively in lessons. There is very little disruption to pupils’ learning and lessons are calm. Pupils are confident that staff deal with any bullying swiftly and well. This helps them to feel safe. Pupils play and work well together. They enjoy using the range of play zones and outdoor gym equipment at playtimes.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud to hold positions of responsibility. Older pupils serve as prefects and take on a variety of supportive roles across the school. Younger pupils look up to prefects as role models and look forward to becoming prefects themselves.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Some pupils are disappointed that extra-curricular activities and clubs that took place prior to the pandemic have not restarted. This limits pupils’ opportunities to pursue interests outside of the taught curriculum.

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

Leaders have created an ambitious and well-organised curriculum. Teachers are skilled at ensuring pupils understand important concepts by presenting information clearly, encouraging discussion and using subject-specific vocabulary. Teachers give pupils opportunities to revisit knowledge previously learned. This helps pupils to remember important content and subject knowledge. Typically, teachers identify and address any gaps in pupils’ knowledge quickly and accurately. They use this information well to adapt future lessons. This helps pupils to remember more over time and achieve well. 28 and 29 March 2023

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Children start to learn letter sounds as soon as they join Reception. They develop their knowledge further in Year 1 and Year 2 through a well-taught phonics programme. Leaders prioritise reading by ensuring pupils are regularly exposed to high-quality texts. Pupils discuss books with enthusiasm. Older pupils personally relate to and discuss features of the texts they read. They use these features in their own writing. For those pupils who are behind with their reading, leaders provide extra teaching and support. However, some staff are not as skilled at delivering these interventions as leaders intend. This means that a few pupils do not catch up with their reading as quickly as they should.

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Staff provide well for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Leaders have made sure that teachers know the best approaches to support pupils with SEND. When necessary, leaders work closely with specialist agencies to design appropriate learning for these pupils. Leaders check to ensure that pupils with SEND take part in all aspects of school life.

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Pupils behave well in lessons and around school. They show kindness and respect to each other and to staff. From the start of Reception, children begin to learn to manage their own feelings and behaviour. Pupils develop a sense of right and wrong and how their behaviour, attitude and words can affect the feelings of others. Staff make the school’s expectations and routines clear and pupils respect them. This helps pupils to learn well. Adults and pupil prefects spot and reward pupils’ frequent good behaviour. Pupils’ behaviour rarely falls below leaders’ high expectations.

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A well-considered programme of pastoral support and personal, social and health education lessons help pupils to learn about healthy relationships and the wider world. They learn how to keep themselves safe online. Assemblies teach pupils about world events and traditions from around the world. This enhances pupils’ cultural development. Pupils enjoy various school trips and opportunities within the curriculum. However, since the COVID-19 pandemic, there remain no after-school clubs available to pupils. This limits the opportunities for pupils to pursue and develop their interests. Leaders plan to restart extra-curricular clubs for pupils in the near future.

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Parents are positive about how leaders run the school. Staff appreciate the consideration leaders give to their workload and well-being. Governors are highly skilled within their area of governor responsibility. They support and challenge leaders to ensure staff provide good-quality education for all groups of children.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders are proactive about keeping children safe. There are robust systems in place to identify pupils who may be at risk of harm and all staff know how to use them.

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Safeguarding

Leaders have trained staff effectively. Staff know the risks that pupils face and are alert to the signs of potential harm. Staff act swiftly and appropriately when concerns arise. 28 and 29 March 2023

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Leaders check the suitability of all adults who work with pupils at the school. Governors hold leaders to account for safeguarding practices.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Not all staff have the expert subject knowledge needed to help pupils catch up with their reading knowledge in key stage 1. This hinders how well a small minority of pupils learn. Leaders should ensure that all staff have the expertise to support pupils who are struggling to read effectively.  Extra-curricular activities that were in place before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic have not restarted. Some pupils and parents are disappointed by this, as pupils do not have opportunities to pursue or develop their interests. Leaders should develop ways for pupils to participate in extra-curricular clubs and activities.

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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 second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in April 2012.

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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. 28 and 29 March 2023

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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. 28 and 29 March 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.greatellingham.norfolk.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 24 November 2016, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 This school does not use any alternative provision.  Great Ellingham Primary School is part of the Great Ellingham Primary and Rocklands Primary Federation. This federation consists of Great Ellingham Primary School and Rocklands Primary School. There is one governing body responsible for the governance of both schools in the federation. The federation shares the same headteacher and deputy headteacher.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, English and history. 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. 28 and 29 March 2023

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 The inspector met with representatives of the governing body and a representative from the local authority.  The inspector took account of the 51 responses and free-text comments to the online survey, Ofsted Parent View. She considered the 25 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey. The inspector spoke to groups of pupils about their experiences of school life and their learning in lessons to understand what it is like to be a pupil in their school.  A wide range of documents were reviewed, including curriculum plans, school development plans, policies and documentation for behaviour and attendance. The inspector spoke with pupils and staff to gather information about the culture of safeguarding at the school.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector conducted meetings with leaders, governors and staff to discuss the safeguarding of pupils. This included scrutinising the school’s single central record of recruitment and vetting checks.

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Inspection team

Bridget Harrison, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 28 and 29 March 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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T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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