St Peter's Church of England Primary School Whetstone

Inspection of St Peter’s Church of England Primary School Whetstone Wale Road, Whetstone, Leicester, Leicestershire LE8 6NJ

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good 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

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Overall effectiveness Good

The headteacher of this school is Paul Bolstridge. This school is part of Embrace Multi Academy Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Sharon Mullins, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Russell Andrews. 3 and 4 October 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school mission statement of ‘inspiring our children, enriching their academic journey and achieving excellence’ is consistently demonstrated in the actions of staff. Parents and carers say that the school feels like a community. They typically comment that their children enjoy attending school and sharing what they have learned when they return home each day.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils throughout the school form positive relationships with staff. They are able to talk about the value of education. One pupil said that they like St Peter’s because ‘teachers encourage you to keep learning’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils live up to the school’s high expectations in relation to what they learn and how they conduct themselves. They say they rarely have worries but they have trusted adults with whom they would share any concerns. Pupils feel safe. They value the support and care that adults at the school provide.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils benefit from a range of wider opportunities. They enjoy taking part in football and dodgeball clubs. Pupils learn to play musical instruments, including the ukulele, violin and guitar. Visitors build on pupils’ learning in the classroom, such as an actor telling the story of Florence Nightingale. Residential trips for older pupils help to build their confidence and resilience.

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better?

The curriculum is ambitious and sets out, in detail, the knowledge and skills that pupils should learn. The early years curriculum is similarly well sequenced and helps to ensure that children are ready for Year 1. Staff know exactly what to teach and when. There are deliberate connections in the planned curriculum between different subjects to enable pupils to see the relevance of what they learn to their lives beyond school.

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better?

Teachers break learning down for pupils into manageable chunks. They model how to think effectively about the subjects they teach. Sometimes, teachers skilfully help pupils to connect previous and current learning. On occasions, teachers do not provide pupils with tasks that are precisely matched to what pupils already know.

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better?

In the early years, staff talk to children with a deliberate focus on the knowledge and skills that children should learn. This helps children to build their knowledge. They proudly share their writing and mathematical understanding.

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better?

Assessment systems are in place in all subjects to check pupils’ understanding. In some subjects, these systems are being improved so that teachers can more precisely identify what pupils know and understand. In most subjects, pupils develop secure knowledge. They can confidently share their learning. For example, they can talk about the causes of the First World War, different artistic techniques and the skills that they learn in physical education (PE) lessons. However, some pupils are 3 and 4 October 2023

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much less certain about their learning in a small number of other subjects. When this is the case, they are less able to recall learning from previous terms and academic years.

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Reading is a priority. Children begin to learn to read as soon as they start school. They develop their knowledge of sounds and how to blend those sounds to help read words and sentences. Children read books matched to the sounds they are familiar with to help them become more fluent readers. Pupils learn about the skills of reading, such as inference and prediction. They are knowledgeable about the books they read with their teachers each day.

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The needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are promptly identified. This was not always the case previously. Teachers receive the information they need to support these pupils. Staff use a range of strategies so that pupils with SEND can learn the same important knowledge as their peers.

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Staff and pupils are familiar with the systems to encourage good behaviour. Staff apply the school rules consistently. Pupils respect one another and staff.

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Pupils value the school’s focus on respecting others. They learn about faiths and beliefs different from their own. Pupils become active citizens by taking part in a community project focused on graffiti and by being involved in choosing the endangered animal that the school has adopted. Pupils know the school values, including respect, compassion and trust. They are not as familiar with key terms and definitions related to British values.

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The school has a shared vision based on inclusion and community. Staff are overwhelmingly positive about working at the school. They say that their workload is manageable and that leaders care about their well-being. The trust provides a range of support and training opportunities that staff take up and value. Some checks on the quality of the curriculum and of the provision for pupils’ personal development are not yet rigorous enough to identify precisely what improvements need to take place.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 On occasion, teachers do not precisely match the tasks that pupils complete to what pupils already know. As a result, pupils are not always able to build their knowledge as securely as they could. The school should ensure that teachers know how best to select the most effective strategies to help pupils build their knowledge. 3 and 4 October 2023

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 Some checks on the curriculum and on the provision for pupils’ personal development lack the necessary rigour. When this is the case, these checks do not help to inform what the next steps are to improve the provision further. The school should ensure that checks on the quality of provision have the necessary precision and focus to provide the right information that will help to bring about further improvement to pupils’ experiences of school and of learning.

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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’ is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding ( this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 3 and 4 October 2023

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 As the school is designated as having a religious character it is inspected under section 48 of the Education Act 2005, most recently in May 2016.  The school does not currently use any alternative provision.  The current headteacher and deputy headteacher took up their posts in September 2023.

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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

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school. 3 and 4 October 2023

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 Inspectors met with the headteacher, other senior leaders, subject leaders, staff, the chair of trustees, the chief executive officer, the director of education and members of the governing body.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in reading, mathematics, science and history. For each deep dive, inspectors met with subject leaders, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors met with the subject leads and scrutinised curriculum documentation for art and design, French and PE.  Inspectors met with leaders responsible for pupils’ behaviour and attendance, personal development and the provision for pupils with SEND.  Inspectors met with the leader responsible for the early years and visited the early years setting.  Inspectors met formally and informally with groups of pupils.

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 To evaluate the effectiveness of the school’s arrangements for safeguarding, inspectors read the school’s relevant policies, scrutinised the single central record, checked the school’s procedures for the safe recruitment of staff and met with the safeguarding team. Inspectors also spoke with staff and pupils.  Inspectors considered responses received on Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text responses. They also considered responses to the Ofsted staff and pupil surveys.

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Inspection team

Matthew Fearns-Davies, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Wendy Gordon Ofsted Inspector 3 and 4 October 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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