St Andrew's CofE Primary School

Inspection of a good school: St Andrew’s C of E Primary School School Green Lane, North Weald, Epping, Essex CM16 6EH

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Outcome

St Andrew’s C of E Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy attending their welcoming school. They feel happy and well looked after. This is because the whole school community embraces the school’s values of friendship, courage and confidence. Pupils receive the help they need, when necessary, to become successful learners. Pupils are usually respectful of each other and the adults in school. Most pupils follow their school routines, which they learn from an early age.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are encouraged to debate and discuss important issues. For example, they talk with maturity in assemblies about helping others. Pupils develop the skills they need to become active, global citizens. Some pupils, for example, helped plant trees to establish a local woodland. Pupils are friendly and make sure everyone feels included. This means that pupils who are new to the school settle quickly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils actively participate in school life. Some pupils hold responsibilities as librarians and worship leaders. Play leaders encourage physical activity at lunchtimes. Pupils value their visits outside of school, such as to the theatre and the Houses of Parliament, and the links they have with a local residential home.

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

Leaders have a clear ambition for all pupils to receive a high-quality education. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well supported. Staff work closely with outside agencies and specialist providers to ensure that pupils with SEND are quickly identified and receive the support that they need. The school’s learning mentors provide additional support to help pupils build confidence and manage their feelings.

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

Leaders have considered thoughtfully the knowledge they want pupils to learn across a broad range of subjects. Teachers plan lessons that build on what pupils know and understand. In history, for example, pupils learned how Stonehenge was built as part of a series of lessons about people in ancient times. 12 and 13 July 2023

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Pupils read widely and often, which helps them become confident and fluent readers. They enjoy choosing books from their attractive and welcoming library and from their well-stocked classroom book corners. Pupils listen to high-quality texts often. Children in the Nursery and Reception classes start learning to read as soon as they start school. Staff diligently follow the systematic phonics and reading curriculums. Adults are well trained to deliver the reading programme. This ensures that pupils crack the phonics code by quickly learning the sounds that letters make. Pupils are given appropriate books to practise the sounds they are taught. For pupils who need extra help, support is timely and effective.

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Teachers present information clearly and confidently. They identify misconceptions when they arise. These are quickly remedied. For example, in mathematics, number formation is consistently practised and mistakes are corrected. Regular ‘conferencing’ sessions provide targeted support for pupils who need more practice to secure their understanding. However, in subjects other than English and mathematics, leaders have not checked closely enough on how well the curriculum is helping pupils to remember important knowledge.

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Children settle quickly into the early years. They are taught by caring and supportive staff. Leaders have identified the precise knowledge that children should learn by the end of the early years. Children in the Nursery and Reception classes play happily with friends and adults. They learn important routines and become independent in their learning and self-care. Staff use carefully crafted questions to extend children’s learning. For example, children are able to discuss why it is important to look after the planet and how to recycle their rubbish.

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Leaders carefully consider pupils’ personal development. The personal, social and health education curriculum fully prepares pupils for their next steps. Pupils demonstrate the fundamental British values of respect and tolerance through the way they take responsibility and care for others. They know how to keep physically and mentally healthy. Pupils learn to be safe when using online technologies. They know about the importance of equal rights and that families can be different from each other. The nurture and pastoral support that pupils receive from staff help pupils thrive.

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Leaders and staff value the support they receive from governors. Governors make regular and thorough checks on the school to ensure that the work of leaders is making a positive difference to pupils. Staff are appreciative of the care and support they receive for their well-being.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

There is a strong culture of safeguarding in the school. Leaders make sure staff receive appropriate training to identify pupils who are at risk of harm. Staff know how to report any concerns they may have that a child may be at risk of harm. Leaders act promptly to follow up any concerns. Leaders work closely with external agencies to ensure that families get the help they need at the right time. 12 and 13 July 2023

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Pupils are taught about how to keep themselves safe, including online.

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Governors make regular checks and keep a careful oversight of safeguarding procedures.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders’ monitoring of the wider curriculum is not well developed. This means that leaders do not know how well pupils are learning the intended curriculum across the full range of subjects that they study. Leaders should ensure that they evaluate the impact of the curriculum to ensure that in science and the foundation subjects the curriculum is supporting all pupils to achieve 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 May 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. 12 and 13 July 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 30 January 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 There is an early morning childcare club that is run by school staff, and after-school childcare that is run by a private provider.  The school provides nursery provision for children from the age of three years.  The school does not use any alternative providers.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector met with the headteacher, members of the school’s leadership team and the two learning mentors. The inspector also met with three members of the governing body, including the chair of governors.  The inspector spoke on the telephone to the local authority’s school effectiveness partner.  The inspector carried out deep dives in the following subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, the inspector met with the subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke with pupils about their learning and looked at pupils’ work. 12 and 13 July 2023

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 The inspector looked at a range of documents, including development plans, curriculum documents, governor visit reports, local authority visit reports and minutes of governor meetings.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector looked at the single central record of pre-employment checks. The inspector spoke to leaders, school staff and pupils to review the school’s records and arrangements for safeguarding.  To gather and consider the views of parents, the inspector spoke to parents on the playground at the start of the school day. The inspector considered the 83 responses made by parents to Ofsted Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire for parents, including 59 free-text responses. The inspector also considered the 45 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire for staff. There were no responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire for pupils.

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Inspection team

Nick Rudman, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 12 and 13 July 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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