Lea CofE Primary School

Inspection of Lea CofE Primary School Lea, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire HR9 7JY

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Inspection dates: 17 and 18 October 2023

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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 Previous inspection grade Good 17 and 18 October 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Lea CofE Primary School welcomes everyone. Staff know the pupils as individuals. Staff provide a high-quality pastoral care and take good steps to promote pupils’ well-being.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations for pupils’ behaviour. Pupils settle into a calm and orderly classroom routine from the very start. They quickly come to respect each other and the staff. Disruption to learning is rare. Pupils know that there are always adults to talk to, and that any disagreements will be resolved straight away. Pupils feel safe, and play happily at social times.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have opportunities to take up positions of responsibility and to influence how the school runs. Older pupils help younger ones as reading buddies. They become confident, caring and articulate young people. A high proportion take part in a range of after-school activities, including craft clubs and choir.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has planned an ambitious curriculum in which learning builds on what pupils already know. Learning moves smoothly from one key stage into the next. Pupils quickly become fluent and enthusiastic readers. They study a wide range of subjects and enjoy the variety of their learning. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), learn well.

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better?

The school makes learning to read a top priority, and learning to read is a strength of the school. Starting in the Nursery class, a structured and rigorous programme ensures that children learn about letters and sounds in an effective sequence. Staff use resources in a consistent way. They check on what each pupil knows and can do. The school makes sure that pupils read frequently to an adult. Pupils who find reading more difficult are supported to keep up. Books for younger pupils are matched well to their knowledge of phonics. Pupils read widely and develop a strong appreciation of the purposes and joys of reading across the school.

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better?

Pupils study all the subjects of the national curriculum. The school has designed learning opportunities well, so that they build on what pupils already know. Day-to- day activities in lessons ensure that the school’s longer-term learning aims are met. However, in mixed-age classes, the work set is sometimes not as well suited as it could be to all the pupils in the class.

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better?

Teachers know their subjects well. The school has identified the key knowledge for pupils to learn. Pupils are helped to remember it, such as by testing what they can recall at the start of a lesson. In class, teachers ask questions to check effectively on what pupils have learned. Activities in the early years help children get off to a very strong start. For example, in mathematics, ‘paying’ for their snacks with plastic coins reinforces children’s early understanding of number. Pupils have ample opportunities to practise their skills before applying their mathematical learning. In general, the 17 and 18 October 2023

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curriculum is put into effect successfully in most subjects, but a level of inconsistency remains. The school has not checked how well the curriculum is implemented with sufficient rigour.

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The school identifies the additional needs of pupils with SEND promptly and accurately. It makes sure that staff across the school understand how individual pupils with SEND learn best. Pupils who attend the resourced provision take great strides in overcoming their social and emotional difficulties.

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The school’s approach to managing behaviour is rooted in its values. Staff apply the school’s rewards and sanctions fairly. Where necessary, staff support pupils who need help with their behaviour well. Pupils are keen to learn, and concentrate hard in lessons. They care for each other and cooperate well, both in the classroom and the playground.

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Pupils follow a planned programme of personal development that teaches them about healthy relationships and how to stay safe. They learn about different cultures and traditions, for example through the link with a school in Uganda. Staff encourage pupils to think about others. Serving as school councillors or librarians helps pupils to develop leadership skills and confidence. They learn how to demonstrate social responsibility, such as through their recent involvement in action to clean up the River Wye.

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The school has successfully been steered through a period of change and the next steps the school needs to take are known. The school works effectively with parents, for example to show them how to support their children’s reading. The school provides effective support for teachers joining the school at an early stage of their careers. Staff are happy, motivated and believe that the school is considerate of their well-being and workload.

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Responsibility for subject leadership is arranged across the two schools in the federation. In recent times, there has been insufficient opportunity to check on how well teachers are implementing the curriculum.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school has not ensured that staff are sufficiently clear about how to provide effective learning opportunities for pupils in mixed-age classes. As a result, the tasks sometimes do not precisely meet pupils’ needs. The school should ensure that teachers are able to plan work so that pupils in these classes learn best. 17 and 18 October 2023

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 The school has not established an effective approach for checking on how well the curriculum is being implemented in all subjects. As a result, the school does not evaluate how well pupils learn what is intended as well as it might, which hampers the school in providing further guidance to staff. The school should make sure that it evaluates how well pupils are learning the intended curriculum and relevant development for colleagues when required.

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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). 17 and 18 October 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair of governing body Rev Mark Dunning

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School details

Headteacher Simon Manning (Executive headteacher) Sally-Anne Vines (Head of school) Website www.lea-primary.hereford.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 3 May 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Lea CofE Primary School is smaller than the average-sized primary school. Most pupils are taught in mixed-age classes. There is considerable variation in the number of pupils in each year group.  The school is a Church of England faith school within the Diocese of Hereford. The religious character of the school was last inspected in May 2016. The next section 48 inspection will take place before May 2024.  The school and Gorsley Goffs Primary School are a federation with a single governing body.  The school incorporates Gateway Lodge Nursery, which provides additional pre- school places for children aged two to four, some of whom attend part time.  The school has a specially resourced provision for some early years and key stage 1 pupils with social and emotional difficulties.  The school runs a breakfast club and an after-school club.  The school does not make use of any alternative provision.

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Information about this school

 The executive headteacher joined the federation in September 2023. 17 and 18 October 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 this into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the executive headteacher, the head of school and other leaders. Meetings were also held with the SEND coordinator and curriculum leaders.  The chair of governors met with the lead inspector. The lead inspector spoke by telephone with a school adviser and a representative of the local authority.  The inspectors spoke with pupils at social times, and with groups of pupils more formally.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the 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

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Information about this inspection

culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  Inspectors reviewed a range of documents, including evaluations and improvement plans, and minutes of the governing body. They also reviewed the school’s attendance and behaviour records.  The inspectors took account of responses to Ofsted Parent View. An inspector met with parents at the start of the second day of the inspection. The inspectors also considered responses to Ofsted’s survey for staff and pupils.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, art and history. For each deep dive, the inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to staff, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of their work.  The lead inspector listened to a sample of pupils from Years 1, 2 and 3 reading to a familiar adult.

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Inspection team

Martin Spoor, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Stuart Evans Ofsted Inspector 17 and 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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