Draycott & Rodney Stoke Church of England First School

Inspection of a good school: Draycott & Rodney Stoke Church of England First School School Lane, Draycott, Somerset BS27 3SD

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Outcome

Draycott & Rodney Stoke Church of England First School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to this friendly school. They make friends easily and quickly feel part of the community. Adults foster positive relationships with, and between, pupils. Pupils have strong role models to follow.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well. In the early years, children learn routines quickly. They understand how to listen and respond well. This prepares them well for key stage 1. Pupils enjoy discussing their learning. They articulate their understanding with confidence. Low-level disruption rarely interrupts learning. Pupils play happily during breaktimes. They like the range of activities they can take part in. They are adamant that bullying does not happen and enjoy mixing across the ages.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are encouraged to make a positive contribution to the local community. They enjoy strong links with a nearby residential home. Pre-school children recently grew flowers to improve the bus stop as part of a local project. These experiences mean that pupils develop their understanding of citizenship from an early age.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents value the strong pastoral care at the school. Many commented on how much their children enjoy learning and the warm community feel.

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

Senior leaders, along with the trust and new governing body, have focused their full attention on improving the education pupils receive. They work closely as a strategic team to implement and evaluate changes to the school. Staff feel very involved in the curriculum developments, which they say have had a positive impact on their workload. They benefit from working closely with colleagues from another trust school. This has been instrumental in leaders’ strategy to develop the curriculum and teachers’ subject knowledge. 4 May 2023

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Leaders have ensured that pupils learn an ambitious curriculum. The essential knowledge they want pupils to learn is well sequenced in most subjects. This means that pupils build on what they already know and remember more over time. For example, pupils in Year 2 can recall facts and events they learned last year about the work of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. This helps them to learn more.

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Early reading has been a high priority for leaders. They have ensured that all pupils learn to read well. Teaching of the new phonics programme is consistent. It is well matched to each pupil’s needs, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). However, the reading curriculum for pupils who have secured their phonics is less well developed. As a result, pupils do not continue to learn as well in key stage 2.

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Adults in the early years place a great emphasis on developing children’s language and communication. Children learn the meaning of new vocabulary and are confident in using these words in their discussion. They have lots of opportunities to use language in their learning and play. For example, they are confident talking about doubles and the number three in mathematics.

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Pupils, including those with SEND, learn well in mathematics. Teachers have good subject knowledge, and leaders support them well to keep refining their teaching. Pupils build on what they already know and enjoy applying this to reasoning and problem-solving.

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Subject leadership has developed along with the curriculum content. Where the curriculum is more developed, leadership is more effective, and leaders have an accurate evaluation of the delivery of the curriculum. They work closely with teachers to develop their subject knowledge and delivery. This helps pupils to learn well. In some subjects, leadership is not yet fully evaluating the impact of the curriculum on pupils’ learning.

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Leaders have thought carefully about how learning is brought to life for pupils. They have designed the curriculum to include enrichment experiences such as visits and visitors. Pupils enjoy these experiences and understand how they help them to remember their learning. These experiences also build pupils’ cultural capital and prepare them for life in modern Britain.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders are vigilant. They ensure there is a culture of ‘it could happen here’. Effective training means that all staff know the signs of abuse. They know how to record and report concerns. Leaders act swiftly and work with a range of external agencies to get the right help at the right time for pupils and families.

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Safeguarding

Pupils feel safe. They are confident to tell adults if they are worried about something. They have a good knowledge of how to stay safe online.

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Safeguarding

Recruitment is well managed. The trust and governors have good oversight of safeguarding practices within the school. 4 May 2023

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The reading curriculum beyond phonics is neither coherent nor well sequenced enough. As a result, pupils do not always reach their full potential. Leaders need to refine the key stage 2 reading curriculum to further develop pupils’ reading skills beyond phonics.  Subject leadership is not fully developed. In the wider curriculum, leaders do not evaluate how well pupils learn or drive improvements effectively enough. Senior leaders need to ensure that curriculum leaders develop their ability to evaluate and improve the quality of the 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 third ungraded inspection since we judged the predecessor school, Draycott & Rodney Stoke Church of England First School, to be good in March 2011.

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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. 4 May 2023

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school is a Church of England first school in the Diocese of Bath and Wells.  The most recent section 48 inspection was carried out in April 2019 when the school was judged to be good.  The school joined the Wessex Learning Trust in April 2020.  The headteacher was appointed in January 2020.  The school has provision for two-year-olds.  The school does not use any alternative provisions.

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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 carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, the inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about 4 May 2023

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their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, curriculum leaders and teaching and support staff.  The lead inspector met with members of the local governing body, including the chair of governors. She also met with representatives from the trust, including the chief executive officer.  The lead inspector met with the designated safeguarding leads to discuss how they keep pupils safe in school. She considered the school’s recruitment procedures, staff induction and training, records of concerns and their engagement with external agencies. Inspectors also spoke with staff and pupils throughout the inspection.  The lead inspector listened to pupils read to an adult.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school site. In addition, they met with pupils informally and formally to hear their views.

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 Inspectors considered responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Ofsted Parent View, including free-text responses. They also took into consideration responses to the staff and pupil surveys.  Inspectors examined a range of documentation provided by the school, including documentation relating to safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Angela Folland, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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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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