Wimborne Primary School

Inspection of Wimborne Primary School Wimborne Road, Southsea, Portsmouth PO4 8DE

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Previous inspection grade Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005 13 and 14 June 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders encourage all pupils to ‘reach for the stars’ at this welcoming and inclusive school. From day one, pupils learn the school’s ‘star values’ and ‘star powers’ that underpin everything at the school. These include sincerity, teamwork, achievement and respect, while also encouraging pupils to be resilient and creative.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders want all pupils to immerse themselves in their lessons and do their best. Pupils behave very well indeed. When any rare incidents do happen, staff deal with them in a well-informed, calm manner. Leaders reward pupils for doing the right thing with a traditional house point system. The simplicity of this process is a strength because pupils understand exactly what staff want them to do.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils learn well due to leaders’ well-planned and coherent curriculum. Leaders enhance this through a strong programme of ‘hook days’, assemblies and enrichment activities. Pupils learn about equality and diversity. They talk about people from different backgrounds with sensitivity. Pupils are grateful for the opportunities that leaders provide to take part in clubs, day trips and residentials. Pupils are keen to volunteer for pupil leadership roles and are proud to represent the school in a variety of sporting or musical events.

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better?

Leaders ensure there is a clear and ambitious vision for providing a high-quality education for all pupils. Pupils make a strong start to school life in the very well led early years foundation stage. Children’s communication in the early years develops well through carefully planned activities. Children speak to adults and classmates with confidence. The learning environment is engaging, with a range of resources for children to construct, paint, explore and create. Children use the resources respectfully and move around the provision with care and purpose.

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better?

Leaders prioritise pupils learning to read through the school. They know that getting this right will help pupils to flourish. For pupils at the early stages of reading, staff deliver the school’s phonics scheme well. Leaders ensure all pupils have access to books they can read and enjoy. If pupils struggle to read with fluency, leaders provide support. However, the effectiveness of support is inconsistent across classes. As a result, not all pupils are catching up as quickly as they could.

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better?

In all subjects, staff have the thorough knowledge and skills needed to teach pupils well. This enables pupils to be confident to discuss key elements they have learned. The quality of pupils’ work across the curriculum is now secure, including in mathematics, history and physical education (PE). Classroom staff check how well pupils are learning the curriculum. However, as the curriculum is relatively new, assessment processes are not completely secure. Leaders are not always clear how well pupils have learned the curriculum. This means pupils are not always learning as much as they could. 13 and 14 June 2023

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Leaders ensure that classroom staff make appropriate adaptations to activities so all pupils can learn. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils and parents are very much involved in the formulation of plans and targets for pupils with SEND. This includes developing a ‘life profile’ for these pupils to understand what their support should look like.

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Pupils’ behaviour and attitudes are very strong. Leaders promote the importance of building relationships between staff, parents and pupils. Pupils look after and care for one another with high levels of respect. Leaders have implemented a useful ‘behaviour blueprint’. This details the strategies that all staff use to provide consistent behaviour management. For consistency, some parents have also adopted these strategies to use at home. Should a pupil struggle with leaders’ behaviour expectations, staff take fair and long-term action to support them.

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Leaders have designed a purposeful curriculum to support pupils’ personal development. Leaders ensure that all pupils can take part in all school activities and they provide financial and personalised support if needed. Pupils develop a strong sense of character as they grow up and they learn how to relate to others from all backgrounds. This helps pupils to be ready for the next step at secondary school.

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Governors carry out their duties effectively. During the recent amalgamation, governors kept a clear vision of how they wanted the two schools to come together as one. This enabled a successful, smooth transition for pupils, parents and staff. Leaders have the support of parents and communicate with them effectively. As one parent commented, ‘My daughter has loved every minute of her time at Wimborne School. The staff go over and above every single day to ensure children are happy, safe and well supported.’

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders ensure a strong safeguarding culture is in place throughout the school. Training is thorough and regular. This helps staff to identify when a child might need help and to know what to do. When leaders need to take further action, they do so without hesitation. Record-keeping is thorough and detailed, including checks on staff employment.

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Safeguarding

Through the curriculum, pupils learn to keep safe in a variety of ways. Online safety is a key element. For example, Year 6 pupils understand the concept of misleading websites and the negative impact that trolling and cyber-bullying can have on others. 13 and 14 June 2023

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some pupils receive more effective support than others if they are struggling to learn to read. This means that some pupils make slower progress and do not learn to read as quickly as they could. Leaders must ensure that all pupils who need additional effective support receive it.  Leaders have worked to develop the curriculum so that it is ambitious for all pupils. However, as the curriculum is relatively new, assessment processes are not completely secure. Leaders are not always clear how well pupils have learned the curriculum. Leaders need to implement monitoring systems to ensure all pupils successfully learn the intended curriculum in every subject area.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to 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. 13 and 14 June 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school was formed in September 2020 through the amalgamation of Wimborne Infant School and Wimborne Junior School.  The current headteacher was previously the headteacher of Wimborne Junior School.  The school currently uses one registered alternative provider.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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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 two deputy headteachers and eight members of the governing body, including the chair of the governing body. Inspectors also met with a representative of the local authority and other leaders within the school. 13 and 14 June 2023

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 Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, science, PE 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.  The inspectors reviewed the arrangements for safeguarding by scrutinising safeguarding records, interviewing staff, and through discussions with pupils.  The inspectors considered the views of parents shared through Ofsted Parent View. They gathered the views of pupils and staff through surveys, interviews and discussions conducted throughout the inspection.  The inspectors reviewed a range of the school’s documents, including self- evaluation reports, minutes of governing body meetings and behaviour incident logs.

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Inspection team

Chris Parker, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Justin Bartlett Ofsted Inspector 13 and 14 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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