Archbishop Benson CofE Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Archbishop Benson CofE Primary School Bodmin Road, Truro, Cornwall TR1 1BN

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Inspection dates: 3 and 4 October, 9 November 2023

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Outcome

Archbishop Benson CofE Primary School continues to be a good school. The headteacher of this school is Helen Giblett. This school is a single academy trust school. Other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Mandy Hoare.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud to attend Archbishop Benson CofE Primary School. They are polite and live up to the school’s values of respect, wisdom, creation, hope and fellowship. This gives pupils a strong sense of belonging and helps them to make the right choices. Pupils are proud to hold positions of responsibility, such as reading ambassadors or house captains.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations of pupils’ behaviour. Around the school, pupils are settled and calm. Pupils can explain what bullying is. They say that bullying sometimes happens, but adults will deal with it quickly. The school has reduced incidents of bullying. Bullying is not tolerated. Pupils that have been involved in bullying incidents learn how to manage their emotions and restore friendships. As a result, pupils feel safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school ensures that is an exciting place to learn. This starts in the early years, where children flourish in the well-resourced classroom and outside area. Children are engaged and inquisitive in class. These positive attitudes to learning continue through the school. Pupils focus well and enjoy learning in and out of school. A wide range of trips and visits helps to bring the curriculum to life.

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

Reading is at the heart of the learning that pupils do. Books are celebrated and enjoyed. Children in the early years quickly develop a love of reading. They are immersed in language-rich classrooms in which adults model the use of language and new vocabulary very well. For example, children use books about insects to help them identify different bugs when outside. The phonics programme sets out precisely what pupils need to know and by when. The school makes regular checks on the progress pupils make. Pupils who 3 and 4 October, 9 November 2023

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fall behind receive effective support to catch up. They develop into confident readers. Pupils read books that match the sounds they know. As they move through the school, carefully chosen books broaden their reading and introduce them to different cultures.

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Similarly, there is excitement in the school around mathematics. For example, in the early years, children learn to count and understand number in different ways. In Reception, children enjoy sending cars down ramps to explore how far the car will travel. Further up the school, pupils enjoy mathematics and understand its value. Staff use quizzes and lesson summaries to help pupils remember what they have been learning. Pupils value these parts of the lesson. It engages them with their learning. The school uses innovative ways to involve parents with their children’s learning. The recent mathematics open day allowed pupils and their parents to explore different ways to solve problems together.

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In some subjects, curriculum plans are under further development. In these subjects, the school has not identified the small steps of knowledge precisely enough. The school is not as clear on the key knowledge, and how it builds over time. This means pupils do not secure knowledge that will help their learning across the curriculum.

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The school has a growing number of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). These pupils are quickly identified, and support is put in place to reduce barriers to learning. The school ensures that planning for pupils with SEND is based on the needs of each individual pupil. Staff adapt learning, breaking it into smaller steps and scaffolding it appropriately.

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The school provides opportunities for pupils to develop their talents and interests. Clubs are popular and oversubscribed. Pupils take part in many sports competitions. They experience democracy first-hand when they elect their school council representatives. Well-considered assemblies broaden pupils’ understanding of world faiths, differences of opinion and cultures.

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Staff are positive about the school. They work closely together and support each other well. They are reflective and thoughtful about their work. They feel that leaders and trustees make time for them and listen to their views. Trustees have a secure understanding of the school. They know the school well and have established clear lines of accountability that ensure leaders are held to account for the progress of the school.

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Some parents feel that the school does not share information about changes it has made. As a result, some parents are unclear about the steps taken to address any concerns they have raised.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 3 and 4 October, 9 November 2023

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The school keeps records of safeguarding matters, and for the most part they are detailed. However, some safeguarding records do not make clear the actions that the school has taken with enough precision.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects, the school has not identified the essential knowledge that pupils need to learn. Series of lessons in these subjects do not enable pupils to make links between concepts securely enough, so that they build knowledge systematically. The school needs to refine the curriculum, so that pupils can achieve highly across all subjects.  Some parents raised concerns that the school does not communicate with them well enough. As a result, some parents do not understand changes and improvements in the school. The school needs to ensure that they have effective communication with all parents.  There are some minor issues with some safeguarding records. This means that a small number of records are not clear enough about the actions that leaders have taken to keep pupils safe. The school must ensure that all safeguarding records contain details that enable staff to gain a clear overview of actions taken.

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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 June 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. 3 and 4 October, 9 November 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' 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, 9 November 2023

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School details

Website www.archbishop-benson.cornwall.sch.uk

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 12 December 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Archbishop Benson Church of England Primary School is a single academy trust school.  The school uses one registered alternative provider.  The last section 48 inspection was carried out in February 2020.

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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. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and has taken that into account in his evaluation of the school.  Very occasionally, Ofsted receives information after a visit to a school that may suggest there are gaps in the inspection evidence base, which will cause Ofsted to conclude that the inspection is incomplete. This happened at Archbishop Benson CofE Primary School. One of His Majesty’s Inspectors returned to the school on 9 November 2023 to 3 and 4 October, 9 November 2023

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gather additional information to secure the evidence base. In such cases, the inspection report is not published until Ofsted is satisfied that the inspection is secure.  The inspector held meetings with the headteacher, deputy headteacher and assistant headteacher. He also met with other members of senior leadership team, trustees and the Diocese Director of Education.  The inspector carried out deep dives in early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, he discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. Other subjects were considered as part of the inspection.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector: 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

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safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The inspector considered responses to Ofsted’s online survey for parents and carers, Parent View, including free-text comments. The inspector also considered responses to the staff survey.

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Inspection team

Gavin Summerfield, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 3 and 4 October, 9 November 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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