Offord Primary School

Inspection of Offord Primary School Millers Close, Offord Darcy, St Neots, Cambridgeshire PE19 5SB

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Inspection dates: 30 and 31 January 2024

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Outstanding Leadership and management Outstanding 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 Kate Ruddock. This school is part of The Cam 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, Stephen Munday, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Sue Williamson. There is also an executive headteacher, Shelley Desborough , who is responsible for this school and two others. 30 and 31 January 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are very happy at Offord Primary School. They learn to recognise and handle different emotions and feelings. They care about each other’s well-being. Older pupils support younger ones. Pupils treat each other with tolerance and respect.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils who experience any anxiety or worries are supported to feel at ease. They quickly build their confidence to form friendships. They get lots of opportunities to be at the heart of the local community. This includes participating in the village fete which takes place at the school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils want to learn. They behave considerately in lessons and around the school. The foundations of this are built in early years.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school motto of be ready to learn, speak up if there is a problem, be engaged and be respectful captures perfectly how pupils are.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils learn an ambitious curriculum. They get the support they need to be included. They make strong progress particularly in writing and mathematics, so that they attain in line with pupils nationally by the time they leave.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have a wealth of wider opportunities that bring learning to life. This includes visits to science labs, theatre trips and visiting experts who have taught them about making a healthy smoothie.

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better?

Leaders have worked, highly effectively, to completely redevelop the curriculum. This has been carefully designed around mixed-age classes. School leaders have worked with trust subject experts to ensure that important knowledge is identified and built over time. For example, in computing, teachers revisit programming knowledge from previous years. Teachers ensure pupils connect, retain and build upon this knowledge as they progress through the school. Consequently, across all subjects, pupils are prepared well for secondary school.

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better?

Teachers are skilled at spotting pupils’ misconceptions. They support pupils in addressing these. For example, in mathematics, teachers model different methods for solving problems and then check that pupils can apply these successfully, before moving on. This ensures pupils secure knowledge well.

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better?

The school has ensured that phonics is now taught effectively. This begins from the start of early years. As a result, pupils use phonics to learn to read well. Those pupils that need it get more specialised support that helps them to catch up. The library is at the heart of the school. Pupils use it regularly. They talk with enthusiasm about what they read. Pupils’ love of reading is further inspired by authors’ visits and workshops. 30 and 31 January 2024

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Pupils learn the intended curriculum well. However, in the lower school there is too much variation in the quality and depth of their writing. Older pupils spend time catching up, rather than developing their writing further because their early foundations are not secure enough.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive carefully tailored support. This ensures that pupils with SEND are included and achieve well. For example, pupils with social and communication needs are supported so that they have the confidence to engage in classroom discussion. This ensures they do not miss out.

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Right from the start in early years, children learn to share, take turns and develop their communication skills. They learn to understand the world through a range of interesting and engaging activities, both indoors and outside. They play happily together in the forest school and respect each other’s feelings. This forms the foundation for the respectful and tolerant way pupils behave across the school.

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Pupils have an exceptional range of personal development opportunities. These extend well beyond the school and village. They hugely enrich the curriculum and bring learning to life. For example, to learn about democracy, pupils take part in workshops at the Houses of Parliament. There is an extensive range of clubs, festivals and competitive sporting opportunities. For example, as part of ‘young voices club’ pupils recently performed in Birmingham. Pupils actively learn about community and citizenship through being at the heart of the village community.

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Leaders have transformed provision since the inspection of the predecessor school. The trust has ensured school leaders have been supported effectively to be able to do this. Innovative governance arrangements, such as the West Village Partnership, have enabled small schools to come together, to share and combine expertise, both at a school and governance level. This has ensured that governors challenge and support in a highly effective way. Staff at all levels have been able to use shared expertise to accelerate improvement. Staff are highly positive about support for their well-being. They have benefited extensively from the comprehensive range of development and training opportunities that help them develop their teaching and provide a good quality of education.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Staff do not always ensure that pupils have enough opportunities to produce high-quality writing. As a result, the quality of writing that pupils produce, in the lower school, is too variable and can lack sufficient depth. The school should ensure that all staff provide pupils with sufficient opportunities to develop the 30 and 31 January 2024

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quality and depth of their writing, so that pupils’ writing is of a consistently high standard.

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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). 30 and 31 January 2024

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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.  Offord Primary School converted to become an academy in September 2019. When its predecessor school, Offord Primary School, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be inadequate overall.  The headteacher took up their post in September 2019.  As detailed on the first page of the report the school is part of Cam Academy Trust.  Within Cam Academy Trust the school is part of the West Village Partnership, where three schools share a single local governing body.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 30 and 31 January 2024

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 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.  Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  To discuss governance an inspector met with the chair of the local governing body, who is also a trustee, and other governors. An inspector met with the trust’s chief executive officer and separately with the primary executive head, to discuss the role of the trust.  Inspectors met with the executive headteacher, headteacher, special educational needs coordinator, designated safeguarding lead, school subject leaders and staff.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics and computing. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum,

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visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors also considered the curriculum in some other subjects, including design and technology; science; personal, social and health education; and relationships and sex education. Inspectors spent time in early years on both days of the inspection and visited the forest school.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons, around school and at social times. They considered pupils’ views about behaviour and bullying in school. They also spoke with staff about pupils’ behaviour, their workload and well-being.  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 culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.

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 Inspectors considered responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey and Ofsted’s staff survey. They considered responses to the parent survey, Ofsted Parent View, including free-text messages.

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Inspection team

James Chester, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Lisa Massey Ofsted Inspector 30 and 31 January 2024

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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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