Cheveley CofE Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Cheveley CofE Primary School Park Road, Cheveley, Newmarket, Suffolk CB8 9DF

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Outcome

Cheveley CofE Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Cheveley Primary love their school. It is small, friendly and welcoming. Everyone knows everyone else. Pupils feel confident and happy at school. They are not worried about bullying and how other pupils behave. They know that staff and leaders will take action to help them if they are ever worried about anything. Pupils know that staff look after them well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy the school’s environment, particularly the outdoor spaces. For example, they love to play on the extensive fixed play apparatus on the field. Older and younger pupils play happily together, enjoying their time with their friends.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils know that the staff want them to do well at school. Pupils work hard and do their best. They follow the school’s rules and behave well in their classrooms. This helps pupils to learn a lot during their time at Cheveley Primary.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils gradually learn to take on more responsibilities as they move through the school. The oldest pupils act as ‘buddies’ for children in the Reception Year, reading them stories and looking out for them at playtimes. Pupils are ready for the challenges of secondary school by the time they get to the end of Year 6.

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

Leaders have focused on developing and improving the school’s curriculum. They have ensured that the school’s values are at the heart of the school’s work.

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

Leaders have thought carefully about what should be taught and when. As a result, the curriculum is well mapped out, from the early years onwards. Because pupils are in mixed-age classes, leaders ensure that they do not repeat parts of the curriculum unnecessarily nor miss aspects of it. Pupils experience an interesting and engaging learning journey, where skills and knowledge are built on step by step. As a result, pupils achieve well. 4 May 2023

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Teaching staff are knowledgeable and experienced. They know the content of each subject well, and this helps them to teach the curriculum effectively. They ensure that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are given the support they need to achieve well. Adaptations are made to the curriculum to ensure that each pupil’s needs are met.

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Leaders give reading a high priority. They have ensured that a suitable phonics programme is in place. Staff are well trained and deliver the programme well. Staff check pupils’ phonic knowledge regularly. This enables them to ensure that pupils are taught in groups that are well matched to their stage of development. Where pupils find learning to read more difficult, they are given the help and support they need to catch up quickly.

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Leaders and staff encourage pupils to develop a love of books and reading. The library is attractive and welcoming, with a plentiful stock of well-chosen books. Older pupils work as librarians, reading stories to younger pupils at lunchtimes and helping them to choose books.

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Although well developed, there is more work to do to further improve the curriculum and how it is delivered. The curriculum does not focus as closely as it could on ensuring each curriculum area concentrates on what is most important for pupils to remember, and be able to do, in the longer term. For example, lists of the knowledge and vocabulary leaders want pupils to learn are sometimes too extensive, and not sufficiently tightly focused on the most important aspects. This affects how well pupils remember and apply what they have been taught. As a result, although they achieve well, pupils do not achieve consistently highly in all subjects, and pupils with SEND do not achieve exceptionally well.

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Pupils have strong attitudes to learning. They show great interest in their work and listen carefully to their teachers. This helps classrooms to be productive places where pupils can concentrate on their work.

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Pupils receive a broad range of experiences. They go on visits to places of interest and take part in special, themed days in school. The school’s oldest pupils have the opportunity to go on a residential trip and take part in a range of outward-bound activities.

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The school’s values are given a high priority. They are ‘lived’ by everyone in the school community. Pupils are given lots of opportunities to take on responsibilities, such as becoming lunch helpers, travel ambassadors and reading buddies. Pupils in Year 6 take part in a structured programme to gain a ‘Young Leaders’ award.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe in a range of situations. Pupils have strong relationships with staff. They know whom to talk to if they are worried about anything. 4 May 2023

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Staff are trained well to identify possible signs of abuse or neglect. They report concerns promptly. The designated safeguarding leads are well trained. They have a tenacious approach to dealing with safeguarding concerns that arise.

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Leaders have strong systems in place to ensure that only suitable people are employed to work with pupils. All the required checks are carried out before new staff are allowed to start work.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The curriculum is not optimally planned and delivered. As a result, pupils do not achieve as highly as they could. Leaders should fine-tune the curriculum, and how it is delivered, so that the school provides an exceptional quality of education that enables all pupils to achieve consistently highly across all subjects and pupils with SEND to achieve exceptionally well.

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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 November 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. 4 May 2023

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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

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 6 October 2020, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school has a religious character. It is a Church of England school and is part of the Diocese of Ely. The school’s previous Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools under section 48 of the Education Act 2005 took place in October 2016.  The headteacher joined the school in September 2018.  The school admits up to 20 pupils to each year group. As a result, pupils are taught in mixed-age classes.

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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 met with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, the special educational needs coordinator, other leaders and a group of governors, including the chair of the governing body. The lead inspector spoke with a representative of the local authority on the telephone. 4 May 2023

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 Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, inspectors 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.  Inspectors also listened to pupils reading, scrutinised a range of school documents and observed pupils during playtime and lunchtime.  In order to check the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors checked the single central record of pre-appointment checks, looked at records of child protection concerns, met with leaders and spoke with staff and pupils.  Inspectors took account of 35 responses to Ofsted Parent View and 32 free-text comments. They also took account of nine responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.

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Inspection team

Wendy Varney, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Ania Vaughan Ofsted Inspector 4 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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