Fladbury CofE Primary School and Preschool

Inspection of a good school: Fladbury CofE First School Church Street, Fladbury, Pershore, Worcestershire WR10 2QB

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Outcome

There has been no change to this school's overall judgement of good as a result of this ungraded (section 8) inspection. However, the evidence gathered suggests that the inspection grade might not be as high if a graded (section 5) inspection were carried out now. Inspectors are recommending the next inspection to be a graded inspection.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Fladbury CofE First School’s motto of ‘happy hearts, open minds and bright futures’ captures leaders’ aspirations for all pupils. Staff are kind and caring, and pupils reflect this in their own behaviour. Pupils know who they can speak to if they have a worry. They are confident that any problems would be sorted out quickly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff have consistently high expectations for children from the early years. Pupils behave very well during lessons and at playtimes. On the rare occasions that bullying happens, the staff sort it out to make it stop. Pupils are safe in school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils take part in a wide range of opportunities that broaden their understanding of the wider world, such as visiting Worcester city centre and museums in Birmingham. They take on leadership roles by being an eco-committee member, school councillor or playground buddy. Children are taught to swim, right from the start of school in the early years, because of the school’s proximity to a river.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils achieve well in reading, writing and mathematics. They are proud of their achievements and enjoy earning rewards, such as special points for reading. However, because the planning of the curriculum is not carefully organised, pupils do not learn as much as they could in some subjects.

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

Leaders have devised a curriculum that covers the broad aims of the national curriculum. However, they have not carefully considered the important concepts and knowledge they want pupils to learn in different subjects and how this knowledge should build over time. Sometimes, pupils unnecessarily repeat the same curriculum content for some subjects over successive school years. Sometimes, teachers do not teach what leaders intend. 21 March 2023

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Where the curriculum is well organised, such as in reading, pupils achieve well. In several other subjects, it is not so well developed. This means that pupils do not remember important knowledge, and struggle to make links with other learning. Consequently, pupils do not achieve as well as they might.

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Leaders make sure that reading is a high priority from the early years onwards. Staff have been trained in how to teach the phonics and reading curriculum. This is taught well. Pupils receive extra support to catch up in reading. This is having a positive impact on reading outcomes. Leaders have ensured that parents and carers understand how to help their children to read at home. Pupils read with increasing confidence, accuracy and fluency. They leave school well prepared for the next stage in their education. They enjoy reading, both at school and at home.

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The mathematics curriculum has been redeveloped recently. Leaders have carefully considered the important knowledge and skills they want pupils to learn and when. Teachers possess the necessary subject knowledge to teach the mathematics curriculum. Mathematics is taught well by most staff. A small number of staff lack the necessary expertise to teach mathematics effectively. Leaders are aware of this and have begun addressing this.

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Children in pre-school and Reception classes are well cared for. Relationships are strong. Staff in the early years ensure that children are settled and nurtured. They understand the need to focus on early language development and have taken steps to address this through the curriculum. Children enjoy listening to stories at the end of each day. They learn to take turns with others and play in the home corner cooperatively. Consequently, children develop their vocabulary and a love of reading successfully.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified early on. Leaders ensure that the right provision is in place from the early years to support pupils with SEND. Staff have the necessary expertise to meet the needs of pupils with SEND. They take advice from external agencies and adapt the delivery of the curriculum appropriately. As a result, pupils with SEND usually do well.

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Through the curriculum, pupils learn about fundamental British values, and other religions and cultures. They understand that it is important to respect the beliefs of others. Pupils have the opportunity to take part in a biannual residential visit. They perform in an annual music concert at an arena in Birmingham. Pupils take part in bell boating on a nearby river as part of their physical education. Leaders foster good links with the local community, including participating in an annual local regatta.

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Staff are proud to work at the school. Leaders take account of their workload and well- being when introducing new initiatives. 21 March 2023

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders carry out appropriate safer recruitment checks on all staff. However, before the inspection, these checks were not appropriately collated and stored in one central record. This was addressed during the inspection. Despite this oversight, there is no indication that pupils were left unsafe in school.

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Safeguarding

Staff receive safeguarding training. They know what to look for and record any concerns. Leaders respond to concerns appropriately. They seek and follow the advice of external agencies.

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Safeguarding

Pupils are taught about how to stay safe, including when online.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders had not checked that their new approach to storing pre-employment checks met the requirement of establishing a single central record, in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education 2022. This meant that, before the inspection, there was no completed record in place. Leaders and governors should ensure that any changes in their approach to centralising records of pre-employment checks follow the statutory guidance.  Some areas of the curriculum are at an early stage of re-development. As a result, the curriculum is not consistently taught as leaders intend. Leaders should review and embed the new curriculum to ensure that planned sequences of learning are taught as leaders intend. They should do this so that all pupils can achieve well across the whole curriculum.

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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 January 2018. 21 March 2023

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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. 21 March 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10268916 Type of school First

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 31 January 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school’s last section 48 diocesan inspection was in June 2016. Section 48 inspections were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They restarted in September 2021. The next inspection will be within eight years of the last section 48 inspection.  Leaders do not use alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school had received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The lead inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and has taken that into account in her evaluation of the school.  The lead inspector reviewed documents on the school’s website, as well as published information about the school’s performance.  Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, the special educational needs coordinator, subject leaders, governors, including the chair of the governing body, a representative of the local authority and a representative of Worcester Diocese. 21 March 2023

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 Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, inspectors met with subject leaders, spoke to teachers, visited lessons, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The lead inspector listened to pupils read to a familiar adult.  The lead inspector met with the headteacher, who is the designated safeguarding leader. Pupils’ case files were reviewed. Records of checks on staff’s suitability to work with children were scrutinised.  Inspectors met with staff to discuss their work and the support they receive to carry out their roles.  Inspectors spoke to pupils about how safe they feel in school and how they learn to keep themselves safe.  The inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View, and to Ofsted’s staff and pupil questionnaires.

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Inspection team

Emma Titchener, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector

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Inspection team

Russell Hinton Ofsted Inspector 21 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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