St Andrew's CofE Primary School

Inspection of a good school: St Andrew's CofE Primary School Park Lane, Shifnal, Shropshire TF11 9HD

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Outcome

St Andrew's CofE Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The core values of ‘respect, friendship and perseverance’ permeate through the school. Pupils, staff, parents and carers are proud of their school, which sits at the heart of the local community. Pupils typically describe the school as having a calm atmosphere where each day runs smoothly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff have high expectations of how well pupils should behave. Pupils are exceptionally polite and considerate of others. During lessons, they listen well and do what is asked of them. Pupils are eager to learn. At playtimes, they play games cooperatively with their friends.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils attend extra-curricular sports clubs, including cricket, rugby, dance and choir. They have opportunities to learn to play a musical instrument, such as the keyboard and guitar. Pupils visited a local Royal Air Force museum as part of a history topic, Stafford Castle and a local farm. Year 6 pupils take part in a biennial residential.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils take leadership roles seriously and see the value in being helpful around school. They have opportunities to become, for example, school councillors, play leaders and bronze ambassadors.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are expected to work hard, to which they fully subscribe. They achieve well in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

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

Following a period of change in senior leadership, parents speak positively about improvements to the running of the school and the impact on the school community. However, despite recent changes to methods of communication with parents, they would like to be better informed about the curriculum that pupils will be taught and how successfully they are learning. 7 and 8 June 2023

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Governors are well trained and understand their roles and responsibilities. They are fully committed to the work of the school. Governors seek advice externally to help them get an accurate view of the school’s performance, and act on this advice. Leaders and governors carefully consider staff workload and well-being. As a result, staff feel well supported.

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Leaders are fully committed and determined to keep improving pupils’ achievement across the whole curriculum. They have an accurate understanding of what the school needs to do to secure further improvements, and have set to work on improving the curriculum. This work is having a positive impact on pupils’ outcomes in most subjects.

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Leaders have redeveloped the curriculum recently with success. Subject leaders have sequenced learning successfully for the vast majority of subjects. Staff have received training to develop their subject expertise. Subject leaders make checks on how well the curriculum is being taught. In these subjects, pupils’ achievement is improving. However, in a few subjects, the curriculum is not sequenced effectively to build on pupils’ knowledge from year to year. In addition, checks on pupils’ learning are not as well thought through. As a result, pupils do not achieve as well as they could in these subjects.

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Reading is central to the revised curriculum. Leaders introduced a new phonics programme at the beginning of the school year. All staff received training and have secured the expertise they need to teach early reading well. Books are well matched to the sounds that pupils are learning. Staff use assessment to identify pupils who need extra support. Some pupils receive extra daily phonics lessons to help them to catch up. This additional work, including hearing the pupils read regularly, helps pupils to read with increased accuracy and fluency. Pupils achieve well in phonics by the end of Year 1.

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Relationships in the early years are warm and nurturing. Adults work with parents to make sure that children settle quickly when they begin school. They swiftly identify additional support that children need and celebrate achievements. Children take part in outdoor woodland learning that is fully integrated into the early years curriculum. For example, they worked cooperatively to create bug hotels for the school site. Children are well prepared for Year 1.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified swiftly. The delivery of the curriculum for pupils with SEND is adapted appropriately to meet individual needs. Leaders work with external agencies and follow professional advice. They work in partnership with parents to gain their views and help them to access support beyond the school.

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Pupils learn about fundamental British values. They understand and respect that others may have different views and opinions to their own. Pupils take part in raising funds for national charities and donate to a local food bank. 7 and 8 June 2023

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

There is a strong safeguarding culture. Safer recruitment checks on new staff are detailed and appropriate. Staff know how to spot pupils who might not be safe and how to report concerns. Leaders involve external agencies swiftly when needed and follow this up appropriately. A range of early help is in place to support families, and this has a positive impact on the most vulnerable pupils.

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Safeguarding

Pupils say they feel safe in school. They learn how to stay safe online and have a range of strategies to do this.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In a few subjects, the curriculum is not well sequenced to build on pupils’ knowledge from year to year. Teachers’ checks on pupils’ progress are not well thought through. As a result, pupils do not achieve as well as they could in these subjects. Leaders should ensure that they identify what they want pupils to know and sequence learning in all subjects from the early years so that pupils’ knowledge builds progressively. They should also ensure that checks on how well pupils achieve in these subjects are well thought through.  Parents do not feel as well informed about the curriculum that their children will be taught and how successfully they are learning. Leaders should make sure that parents are informed about what pupils are learning in the curriculum and how well they are succeeding.

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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 March 2017. 7 and 8 June 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. 7 and 8 June 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10226899 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Interim Executive Headteacher Amanda Skidmore

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School details

Date of previous inspection 14 March 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The interim executive headteacher has now been appointed as the new substantive new headteacher.  The school’s last section 48 inspection was in March 2017.  Leaders do not use any 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 interim executive headteacher, subject leaders, governors, including the chair of the governing body, a representative of the local authority and a representative of the Lichfield Diocese. 7 and 8 June 2023

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 Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, and design and technology. 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 interim executive headteacher and the deputy headteacher, who are also the designated safeguarding leaders. Pupils’ case files were reviewed. The single central record of checks on staff’s suitability to work with children was scrutinised.  Inspectors met with staff to discuss their workload 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 lead inspector considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View and the staff and

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Inspection team

Emma Titchener, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector 7 and 8 June 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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