Beckers Green Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Beckers Green Primary School Beckers Green Road, Braintree, Essex CM7 3PR

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Outcome

Beckers Green Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Beckers Green Primary has a welcoming, nurturing and community feel. This contributes towards enabling pupils to learn and develop very well. Pupils are safe. The school’s core values and ‘bee’ awards inspire pupils to do their best. Pupils say the school is a family where anyone is welcome.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have high expectations of themselves. They are respectful and attentive in lessons. Collaborative work in pairs or ‘huddles’ helps pupils to be successful learners.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are clear about the expectations of behaviour. They consistently demonstrate this everywhere. Pupils across the key stages have opportunities to play together at lunchtimes. They are kind and friendly to each other.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils say bullying is rare. If it happens, they know that leaders will deal with it quickly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have leadership opportunities for roles such as play leaders, reading prefects and being on the school council. They visit a local residential home for the elderly. These experiences help pupils contribute to the wider school community. Pupils develop their interests and talents. They like the variety of visits, visitors and clubs such as BMX, taskmaster and drama.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents are overwhelmingly supportive of leaders and staff. They feel well supported.

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

Leaders have included staff in the work to design an ambitious curriculum. Leaders have made conscious decisions about the important knowledge, skills and vocabulary pupils need to know. For the vast majority of subjects, this means that pupils are learning and remembering more. 27 and 28 June 2023

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High-quality teaching, alongside regular checking of what pupils know, helps pupils to achieve well. Teachers set work that helps pupils to retain important ideas. Staff give pupils opportunities to practise what they need to. Teachers use the information from their checks intelligently to identify gaps in pupils’ knowledge. They quickly identify pupils who are falling behind and provide support for them to catch up effectively. As a result, pupils take pride in their work and move successfully on in their learning.

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In a small number of subjects, curriculum planning and teaching are not as well established. In these subjects, pupils do not learn as well as they do in most.

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Leaders have made learning to read a priority. All staff teaching phonics have been trained to do so. They have the expertise needed to teach phonics well. They check accurately how well pupils are learning to read and step in to provide help for those who are struggling. Leaders are rolling out a new phonics scheme to further enhance the way early readers are taught. They have started with the early years, and this has improved the way children learn to read. Older pupils are currently still learning to read using the school’s previous programme. While this works, it does not support all pupils as well as the new scheme, so some pupils do not learn to read as quickly as they could. All pupils learning phonics from September 2023 will follow leaders’ new chosen scheme.

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Pupils read often. Staff make sure that the books pupils read match the sounds they know. Adults skilfully help pupils develop fluency and understanding. A love of reading permeates across the whole school.

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This is a very inclusive school. Leaders recognise and prioritise the needs of all pupils. Staff make appropriate adaptations in and out of classrooms to support the learning of pupils with SEND. Consequently, pupils with SEND learn well alongside their peers.

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Pupils’ behaviour is consistently good. Pupils settle quickly to work. They are clear about what is expected of them. They have opportunities to think about their learning and use this to recognise whether they need further support. Low-level disruption is rare.

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Pupils’ personal, spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is woven throughout the curriculum. Pupils know about differences and discrimination. The curriculum content provides them with an understanding of diversity across every subject. This is complemented by assemblies that promote the school’s and British values.

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All staff have the necessary skills and knowledge to fulfil their role well. Staff are extremely happy. They value how leaders take their well-being and workload into account.

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Governors and trustees take an active role. Their regular visits help them to know more about the school. They hold leaders to account as well as being supportive. Leaders work closely with the trust to share good practice.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 27 and 28 June 2023

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There is a strong safeguarding culture in the school. Pupils are kept safe. Robust systems are in place to safeguard pupils. Leaders act swiftly when concerns are raised. They challenge other agencies and are relentless in ensuring that pupils and their families get the help they need. Regular communication with staff and parents ensures that safeguarding remains a priority.

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Staff and governors undergo regular training on safeguarding. They are knowledgeable about how to identify, and report, concerns that arise.

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Pupils talk confidently about what is safe, respectful behaviour. They instinctively identify trusted adults with whom they can share concerns.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Phonics is stronger and more effective in some year groups than in others. Where it is less strong, some pupils do not learn to read, or catch up with their peers, as quickly and as well as they could. Leaders should take action to ensure that phonics is taught highly effectively throughout the school, to all pupils at an early stage of learning to read.  A small number of subjects are not as well developed as the rest of the curriculum. As a result, pupils do not receive the same high-quality education in these subjects as they do in others. Leaders should ensure that all subjects are planned, sequenced and delivered highly effectively.

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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 January 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. 27 and 28 June 2023

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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. 27 and 28 June 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10269049 Type of school Primary

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School details

Date of previous inspection 13 October 2020, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Beckers Green Primary School is an academy that is a member of the Saffron Academy Trust.  Leaders do not currently use any alternative providers.  The school runs its own breakfast club.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with leaders and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspector spoke with school leaders, including the headteacher, deputy headteacher and subject leaders. She also spoke with teachers, the chair of governors, representatives from the local governing body, the chief executive officer, deputy chief executive officer and trust director of improvement.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and art. For each deep dive, the inspector spoke with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke with teachers, spoke with some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. 27 and 28 June 2023

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 To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector reviewed records and policies and met with the designated safeguarding lead and other staff to discuss safeguarding in the school.  The inspector considered the 43 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Ofsted Parent View, including 41 free-text comments. The inspector also considered the 24 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey. There were 71 responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey.

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Inspection team

Nina Kemp, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 27 and 28 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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