Cockwood Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Cockwood Primary School Cofton Hill, Cockwood, Exeter, Devon EX6 8RB

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Outcome

Cockwood Primary School continues to be a good school.

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Outcome

The head of school is Alison Roper. This school is part of Ivy Education Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Katy Quinn, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Tony Smith. There is also an executive headteacher, Lorraine Curry, who is responsible for this school and two others.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Cockwood Primary School are confident and considerate. They are enthusiastic about their education and knowledgeable about the wider world around them. The school encourages this through the vast array of opportunities and experiences they provide. These include pupils taking on leadership roles, residential trips, sporting events and entrepreneurial projects. As a result, pupils learn to be responsible and respectful members of their communities.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Younger pupils view the older pupils as positive role models. There is a whole-school ethos, shared by staff and pupils, to expect the very best of each other; support and encouragement is constantly on offer. The school values of ‘perseverance, respect, reflection, creativity, ambition and happiness’ underpin this.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils meet the high expectations that the school has of their behaviour and conduct in lessons and during social times. This ensures the school is a calm and purposeful place to be. Pupils feel safe and attend well. They are keen and successful communicators. Through the school’s focus on oracy, pupils express their views and opinions adeptly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils flourish at Cockwood. Parents and carers agree that the school develops self-belief and a love of learning in their children. This supports pupils well for the next stage in their education. 18 October 2023

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

The school has designed an ambitious curriculum and provision for wider development for all pupils. The school ensures that pupils have a broad education, from the very start in Reception, so that they can be active participants in society as they move on to secondary school and beyond.

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

The school has prioritised the curriculum in the core areas of mathematics and reading. Effective action has been taken to improve the quality of education following weaker, historic published outcomes. Through training, collaborative working across the trust and effective use of external support, the school ensures that teachers have secure subject knowledge. They deliver learning with confidence, in a clear and sequential way so that pupils can build new learning successfully. In mathematics, pupils, including those in the youngest class, are able to reason and problem-solve, making use of their increasing fluency in number.

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

Pupils have a love of reading. They become reading experts as they move through the school. Pupils know how learning increases their confidence and fluency so they can read, and enjoy, more complex texts. There is a broad range of books for pupils to choose from in the library. Pupil voice had a significant part in the overhaul of the library to ensure it promotes a love of reading for all. At the earliest stages of reading, pupils learn the sounds they need, to read with increasing accuracy. The school quickly identifies pupils who may fall behind. They receive the help they need to catch up.

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

The school acknowledges the importance of the wider curriculum in achieving the ambitious aims it has for pupils. The work to ensure that all subjects are of the same high-quality and design is ongoing. Where this is secure and fully embedded, pupils can recall their previous learning with ease and make links, for example in history. Some subjects in the wider curriculum are not as well embedded. Pupils are not as confident about their learning in these areas. They are not able to recall their learning in the same way that they can for subjects that are more established.

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

The school is inclusive. Leaders identify and meet the needs of the range of pupils at the school. Teachers have the knowledge to ensure that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) get the support they need in order to learn the same ambitious curriculum as their peers. The school works with external professionals so that pupils and families get the right help at the right time. Consequently, pupils attend well and overcome possible barriers to learning. The school is robust in its actions to address potential concerns around absence. These actions make a positive impact.

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

The wider development of pupils, beyond their academic learning, is a strength of the school. Pupils learn to keep themselves safe. This includes additional learning in pertinent aspects for pupils currently at the school, such as online safety. Pupils recall their learning about diversity. They show tolerance and respect when discussing how people can be different. Their learning is reinforced through the well-considered provision on offer. Pupils have plentiful opportunities to perform and express themselves, strengthening their resilience and character. 18 October 2023

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Those responsible for governance have a secure knowledge of the school. They know its areas of strength and what it is working to strengthen. They gain the necessary assurances that leaders make the decisions needed to continue moving the school forward.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some subjects in the wider curriculum are not as well embedded as others. Where this is the case, pupils do not recall their learning as successfully as they do in other areas. The trust should work to fully embed all subjects in the wider curriculum. This should include an appropriate approach to checking how well pupils are progressing through the curriculum, so that pupils learn as well as they do in the subjects that are fully established in design and implementation.

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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 predecessor school, Cockwood Primary School, to be good in November 2014.

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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. 18 October 2023

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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 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). 18 October 2023

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School details

Website www.cockwood-primary.devon.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school does not use any alternative provision.  Cockwood Primary School converted to become an academy school in June 2019. When its predecessor school, Cockwood Primary School, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be good overall.  The school joined Osprey Learning Trust in June 2019. The trust merged with the Estuaries Trust in June 2022. The trust is now known as the Ivy Education Trust, which consists of three secondary schools and five primaries.

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Information about this inspection

Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school. 18 October 2023

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 Inspectors met with the executive headteacher, the head of school, the special educational needs coordinator and subject leaders from the school. In addition, an inspector met with members of the local governing body, including the chair, the trust’s CEO and executive director of education.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers and pupils and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  An inspector listened to pupils in Years 1, 2 and 3 read to an adult.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.

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 Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school site.  Inspectors analysed school documentation, including leaders’ evaluations and plans for improvement. Inspectors scrutinised a range of policies and procedures, including those that relate to the curriculum, SEND, safeguarding and behaviour.  An inspector listened to the views of parents at the beginning of the inspection. Inspectors considered responses to Ofsted Parent View and the free-text comments. Inspectors evaluated responses to Ofsted’s staff and pupil surveys.

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Inspection team

Leanne Thirlby, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Jyotsna Paranjape Ofsted Inspector 18 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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