Ludham Primary School and Nursery

Inspection of a good school: Ludham Primary School and Nursery School Road, Ludham, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk NR29 5QN

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Outcome

Ludham Primary School and Nursery continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children get off to an extraordinarily good start in the early years. They access a well- conceived, well-resourced and welcoming indoor and outdoor learning environment. Staff use every opportunity to ensure that children are thoroughly prepared to move on to Year 1.

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What is it like to attend this school?

As they get older, pupils continue to enjoy their learning including through trips and visits. Pupils learn to read quickly and enjoy books, stories, rhymes, poems and songs. Those who need extra support to catch up in their reading get precise and effective support from well-trained staff. Pupils particularly enjoy reading with Bertie the dog.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The value of ‘kindness’ underpins how most pupils treat each other. When a few pupils struggle to regulate their behaviour, staff deal with issues calmly, kindly and effectively. Pupils say that staff are also good at helping to solve their disagreements. Some pupils say it takes a little while to solve bullying disputes but they trust staff to help them. Pupils feel and are kept safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Older pupils are exemplary role models for younger pupils. They enjoy taking on responsibilities, such as eco-councillors, digital leaders, school councillors and house captains. Pupils also enjoy the opportunities they get to celebrate each other’s successes, for example during the weekly celebrations assemblies.

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

In the last 18 months, leaders and governors have worked hard to improve the curriculum. They have sought external guidance and specialist expertise to do this. From Nursery through to Year 6, most of this curriculum is planned in detail, organised logically, appropriately resourced, and delivered successfully by staff. Staff proactively seek support and training to deliver the intended curriculum, including in those few subjects where formal written planning is still in development. As a result, pupils access a range of high- quality learning opportunities. They learn and achieve well. 5 May 2023

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Staff deliver the school’s chosen phonics and reading programmes very well. They are trained and provided with resources to deliver these programmes effectively. Staff are adept at identifying and supporting pupils who are struggling. Pupils learn to read quickly and fluently. This starts with the youngest children in the Nursery and Reception class.

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Since taking on the role, the special educational needs coordinator has worked quickly to identify pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). She has significantly improved the school’s engagement with external agencies to try and get additional support for pupils with the most complex needs. She provides staff with a good range of information and strategies about how best to help pupils on a day-to-day basis. Staff use these strategies appropriately. Most pupils access lessons successfully and learn well.

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For some pupils with less complex needs, leaders are not considering all relevant and appropriate information when planning provision, setting targets or reviewing pupils’ progress. Leaders do not know how well they are supporting the full range of these pupils’ needs.

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Leaders and governors are unequivocal about the importance of investing in pupils’ wider well-being. This includes well-organised training for staff, leaders and governors in a range of different programmes to support pupils’ mental and emotional health, including through outdoor learning. These programmes are supporting pupils, especially those who need additional support, to communicate and interact more effectively with one another.

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Pupils value the importance of respect and kindness. This learning plays an integral role in how they treat each other and staff throughout the school day and others in the wider world. Pupils are listened to. Their views are taken seriously. For example, leaders have amended the curriculum as a follow up to some pupils’ recent concerns about bullying.

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Staff collaborate proactively with each other to best support pupils in their care. They feel well supported by leaders to manage their workload, and feel that leaders are mindful of their work-life balance. Most pupils, parents and staff are effusive in the improvements brought since the headteacher arrived. Most parents feel that leaders and staff go above and beyond to support their children.

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In more recent months, there have been some short-term staffing absence and governance changes. Leaders, governors and staff have worked closely to cover day-to- day arrangements and to continue to develop the curriculum. However, leaders and governors have not been able to develop aspects of their monitoring as they intended. On occasion, they are overtly reliant on information provided to them, without sufficient checks and balances on the accuracy of this information. This is especially the case in the delivery of the new curriculum. 5 May 2023

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders ensure that appropriate pre-employment checks are made on any adults who work with pupils. Some minor administrative issues with the record of these pre- employment checks were resolved while inspectors were on site.

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Safeguarding

Leaders have ensured that there is good-quality staff training about how to be vigilant to signs of concern. Staff are proactive and vigilant to pupils’ needs or changes in their behaviour. They pass on their concerns to leaders appropriately.

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Safeguarding

Leaders work effectively with external professionals and agencies to ensure that action is taken to keep pupils safe. On occasion, record-keeping is less detailed than it should be.

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Safeguarding

Leaders have ensured that there is a focus on how pupils keep themselves safe, including online.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Guidance to staff on how to support pupils with SEND focuses on the day-to-day. There is not precise guidance about what success in the short and long term will be for pupils with less complex SEND, and how this will be achieved. Leaders should ensure that the ‘assess, plan, do, review’ process is fully developed and includes all relevant information. This should support all stakeholders, including leaders, to have a better understanding about where pupils are faring well, and when they need more precise support.  In some aspects of their work, leaders and governors’ monitoring systems are not fully developed. This includes in areas such as the single central record checks, in the delivery of the newer aspects of the curriculum, and on in-class interventions. Leaders and governors need to establish monitoring systems to ensure that they have a precise, accurate and up-to-date picture of provision.

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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. 5 May 2023

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This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in December 2013.

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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. 5 May 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10286262 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 Carol Willoughby

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School details

Date of previous inspection 10 November 2020, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 There have been three headteachers since the previous inspection. The current headteacher joined the school in January 2022.  School leaders are not currently making use of any alternate provision.

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Information about this inspection

 This is the first routine inspection the school has received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in the evaluation of the school.  Inspectors conducted deep dives in these subjects; early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with the subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to adults teaching and/or supporting pupils, reviewed pupils’ work and spoke to pupils about their learning. Inspectors also considered aspects of other subjects on the school’s curriculum.  Inspectors held discussions with the headteacher and other senior leaders. Inspectors also spoke to local authority officers and an external adviser commissioned by school 5 May 2023

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leaders. The lead inspector met with several members of governing body, including the chair and vice chair.  Inspectors considered a range of documentation provided by school leaders, including documentation related to safeguarding and recruitment checks made on staff.  There were no responses to Ofsted’s survey for pupils. To gather evidence about pupils’ experiences, inspectors observed them at different times during the school day, spoke to them during free times, and met with groups of pupils.  The inspector also took account of 22 responses to Ofsted’s online survey for parents, Parent View, including comments in the free-text facility. Inspectors also spoke to parents at the end of the school day.  To gather the views of staff, the inspector took account of 13 responses to Ofsted’s survey for staff and spoke to groups of staff during the inspection.

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Inspection team

Kim Pigram, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Clare Gammons Ofsted Inspector 5 May 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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