Clenchwarton Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Clenchwarton Primary School 139 Main Road, Clenchwarton, King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE34 4DT

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Outcome

Clenchwarton Primary School continues to be a good school. There is enough evidence of improved performance to suggest that the school could be judged outstanding if we were to carry out a graded (section 5) inspection now. The school’s next inspection will be a graded inspection.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Clenchwarton Primary School is a joyful and inspiring place to learn. Pupils know what kindness and politeness should look like because their teachers model these to them. Pupils help each other to be kind and make friends. They are happy.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel and are safe. Bullying is rare. Pupils know that adults will sort out any friendship problems if they occur.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils find their lessons ‘fascinating’, and they are keen to learn. Their teachers help them to listen and work hard. Pupils’ learning successes spur them on. They are expected to challenge themselves. Pupils appreciate the way that teachers notice and reward their efforts. Pupils are proud of their accomplishments.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils develop a mature understanding of where hard work and success can take them in life. This is because the trips, visitors and events they experience open their eyes to what is possible. Pupils develop their talents and interests through a wide range of clubs, competitions and performances, such as through playing in a band at the local secondary school. Pupils also have the chance to take on responsibilities. They can become a play leader, a member of the school council or part of the junior leadership team. Pupils take these roles seriously.

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

Leaders regularly step back and reflect on the curriculum, adapting it where they see scope to make it even better. For example, they introduced more opportunities for pupils to learn about local nature and history, thus enhancing the already strong provision. 29 and 30 March 2023

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Leaders’ curriculum skilfully weaves together significant and thought-provoking knowledge about the world and its history, technologies and people.

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Leaders provide teachers with guidance and resources to bring subjects to life. They set out knowledge and skills which build incrementally on pupils’ prior knowledge, ensuring pupils are primed for success in the next stage of learning. The understanding of foundational algebra concepts pupils develop, for example, positions them well for secondary school mathematics. Across the curriculum, pupils gain a depth of knowledge that inspires in them a zeal to learn. They understand and enthuse about what they have learned.

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Leaders equip teachers with strategies to support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), such as the provision of additional vocabulary explanations and sentence stems. Teachers present new learning clearly and regularly check pupils’ understanding. They use the results of these checks to adapt teaching and support for pupils. Tasks help pupils to recall, apply, and thus remember, new knowledge. Leaders regularly check that lessons make the most of opportunities for pupils to learn by, for example, looking for features such as vocabulary teaching, adult support and challenging tasks. This has led to a great deal of consistency in high-quality teaching. Pupils achieve very well. Nonetheless, there are some occasions where leaders do not look as closely as they might at whether teachers’ use of these features is having the maximum impact on pupils’ understanding.

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Pupils start to learn to read as soon as they join the school. Teachers help pupils to learn, step by step, the sounds that letters make. Pupils have plentiful opportunities to practise reading with books that match their learning stage. Adults quickly spot when pupils are falling behind. They provide extra teaching and practise for these pupils. Teachers nurture pupils’ love of reading. They do this through reading to pupils and through skilfully teaching the key features of stories. This helps pupils to understand the motives of characters, for example.

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Warm relationships and conversations with adults help children in Reception to settle and begin to learn. Staff identify children’s needs early on. They create a learning environment that underpins the development of all aspects of children’s learning and development. The history-themed role-play area, for example, promotes children’s learning of key concepts about the past. Staff make sure that children encounter these concepts before they rehearse them, such as through reading stories and talking about historical pictures. This gives meaning to the props that children use in the role-play area.

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Leaders are ever present and supportive. They have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour. In lessons, teachers’ consistent use of routines protects and maximises pupils’ opportunities to listen, discuss and work quietly. This helps all pupils to focus and stay on task. Everyone knows what to do and what is going to happen next. Low-level disruption is rare.

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Leaders’ provision for pupils’ wider development introduces pupils to the wider world and to inspirational people. Visitors help pupils learn that adversity can be overcome. Pupils learn about different cultures and religions from prominent members of the community. 29 and 30 March 2023

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Teachers encourage pupils to see things from the viewpoint of others. They help pupils to learn and adopt values such as respect and tolerance. Pupils’ horizons are broadened, and they learn about the wealth of opportunity and experience the world holds.

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Leaders go out of their way to give pupils the best opportunities to enable them to lead happy, successful and fulfilling lives. They seek out expertise, advice and inspiration from further afield. For example, they visit highly successful schools. Trust leaders and governors work closely with school leaders to turn this vision into reality. Leaders are mindful of staff’s workload and well-being. They support staff to grow in expertise and progress in their careers.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff know and are alert to the signs of harm. Regular training, staff meetings and reflective conversations about safeguarding help staff to be vigilant. Leaders secure timely support for pupils and their families when concerns arise. They keep detailed safeguarding records. Their employment checks of staff are suitably thorough.

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Safeguarding

Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe, including when they are online. They know they can go to an adult if they have a worry.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders’ successful drive to achieve consistently high standards includes focusing closely on the features of lessons, such as vocabulary teaching. Sometimes, they do not fully gauge the impact of these features on pupils’ understanding. This limits the potential to reflect on the balance of lesson features. Leaders should refine their monitoring approaches so that they gain deeper insight into whether the largely effective strategies for teaching always work as well as they could.

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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. 29 and 30 March 2023

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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.

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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. 29 and 30 March 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10255230 Type of school Primary

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School details

Date of previous inspection 19 and 20 September 2017, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 This is a smaller-than-average sized school.  The school is part of West Norfolk Academies Trust.  The school does not use 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. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and has taken that into account in her evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with the headteacher, senior leaders, trustees and governors.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum with the curriculum leader, visited a sample of lessons, spoke with teachers, spoke with some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspector also visited a sample of lessons and looked at monitoring documentation in some other subjects. 29 and 30 March 2023

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 To evaluate the school’s safeguarding procedures, the inspector met with the headteacher, safeguarding leaders and governors. The inspector reviewed the school’s records of safeguarding concerns and the school’s register of staff and regular visitors. The inspector also spoke with staff and pupils.  The inspector considered 36 responses made by parents to Ofsted’s parent questionnaire, Parent View, all of which included free-text responses. The inspector also considered 18 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey. The inspector also spoke with pupil groups, met with parents at the school gates and met with teachers and support staff.

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Inspection team

Hannah Stoten, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 29 and 30 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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