Braithwaite CofE Primary School

Inspection of Braithwaite CofE Primary School Braithwaite, Keswick, Cumbria CA12 5TD

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Inspection dates: 28 and 29 February 2024

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Outstanding Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

The head of school is Laura Todhunter. This school is part of The Good Shepherd Multi Academy Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. Jo Laker is the executive headteacher of this school and of two other schools in the trust. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Claire Render, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Peter Ballard. 28 and 29 February 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud of their small, friendly school. They feel safe, secure and happy here. Many pupils join the school part way through the academic year, for example, when they are new to the area. These pupils receive a warm welcome. This helps them to settle in quickly and to make new friends.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations of what pupils can achieve, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils work hard. They learn to apply their knowledge in a range of contexts. Pupils know that staff will help them if they do not understand something. Typically, pupils achieve well in the subjects that they learn.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well. For example, children in the Nursery Year quickly learn the school’s rules and routines alongside their more experienced Reception classmates. Older pupils help their younger peers to use tools and resources carefully, for instance during their weekly woodland activities. This sensible behaviour helps to make the school a calm and orderly place.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s provision for pupils’ wider spiritual, moral and cultural development is exceptionally strong. Pupils benefit from an impressive array of experiences beyond the academic, including cookery, business enterprise and canoeing. The school takes care to ensure that all pupils access these opportunities, including those with SEND. Pupils are extremely well prepared for secondary school when the time comes.

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better?

The school has created an exciting and ambitious curriculum which spans a broad range of subjects. All pupils benefit from this curriculum, including those children in the early years and those with SEND.

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better?

The curriculum is well organised. Careful consideration has been given to the most important knowledge that the school wants pupils to learn. This key knowledge has been broken down further into smaller, well-ordered steps from the early years to Year 6. This helps to ensure that pupils develop and deepen their knowledge appropriately, including where they learn in mixed-age classes.

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better?

In most subjects, the curriculum contains guidance for staff about how learning should be delivered. Staff make effective use of this guidance to design activities for pupils that are enjoyable and that help pupils to remember learning over time. In a very small number of subjects, this guidance for staff is less well developed. This hinders staff’s ability to provide consistently memorable learning for pupils. In these subjects, from time to time, some pupils struggle to recall what they have learned previously.

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better?

Staff check regularly to ensure that pupils understand new knowledge before introducing new concepts. This helps to ensure that pupils’ misconceptions can be 28 and 29 February 2024

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identified and addressed successfully. The school is adept at using information from assessments to make any adjustments to teaching that might be necessary to help pupils learn well.

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The school has ensured that reading is prioritised in the curriculum. The phonics programme begins at the start of the Reception Year. With the help of the trust, the school has trained staff to deliver the phonics programme expertly. Children quickly build up their knowledge of letters and sounds. This continues in Year 1. Older pupils at the early stage of reading receive effective support to catch up quickly.

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Pupils of all ages develop a real love of reading. They enjoy striving for the awards that they receive when they read a diverse range of texts. Pupils generally achieve well in reading from their widely varying starting points, including those pupils with SEND.

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The additional needs of pupils with SEND are quickly identified by skilled staff. When necessary, these pupils benefit from well-targeted adaptations to the delivery of the curriculum. This enables pupils with SEND to fully access the school’s ambitious curriculum. The school communicates regularly and effectively with parents and carers, and with a range of professionals to secure extra support for pupils if it is needed. Pupils with SEND are fully included in all aspects of school life. They achieve well over time from their individual starting points.

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Most pupils attend school regularly and punctually. Relationships between adults and pupils are warm and respectful. Pupils work conscientiously and they rarely need to be reminded how to behave. This helps everyone to get on with their learning.

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The school, although small, provides pupils with an amazing range of experiences for their personal development. Every possible care has been taken to design an extensive programme of activities intended to prepare pupils for future life. Pupils are supported to understand the unique character of their own location. For example, pupils from an early age learn to walk safely on the fells through their regular work with the mountain rescue services. Equally, pupils learn to plan journeys on public transport in large cities.

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Pupils broaden their cultural knowledge through visits to galleries, theatres and museums. Pupils are provided with opportunities to develop interests and talents that they can continue beyond school, such as sports and sailing. By the time that they leave Year 6, pupils are more than ready to embrace the next stage in their education.

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The trust and the local governing body work closely with leaders to ensure that the school provides pupils with a high-quality education. There is due regard for any impact on staff’s workload and well-being in the decisions that leaders make about the school. 28 and 29 February 2024

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In a very small number of subjects, the curriculum does not contain enough information for staff about how to make key knowledge memorable for pupils. This means that on occasions, some pupils find it difficult to recall some of their learning in these subjects. The school should ensure that the curriculum provides sufficient guidance for staff so that the learning they provide helps pupils to remember knowledge over time.

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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). 28 and 29 February 2024

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 12 and 13 June 2018, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is part of The Good Shepherd Multi-Academy Trust.  Since the last inspection, a new head of school has been appointed. A new chair has also been appointed to the local governing body.  Leaders do not make use of any alternative provision.  The school is a Church of England primary school and belongs to the Diocese of Carlisle. The last section 48 inspection took place in January 2017. The next section 48 inspection is expected to take place during the next academic year.

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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. 28 and 29 February 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.  The inspectors met with the executive headteacher and with members of the senior leadership team.  The lead inspector spoke remotely to the chair of the trust. She also met with the trust’s CEO, with members of the local governing body, and with a representative of the diocese.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and geography. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to pupils and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The lead inspector also listened to some pupils reading to a familiar adult.  Inspectors also spoke to leaders about the curriculum in some other subjects and

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looked at a range of pupils’ books.  The inspectors considered the views expressed by parents and carers in their responses to Ofsted Parent View. This included free-text comments. The inspectors also chatted to a few parents at the end of the school day.  The inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted’s online surveys for staff and for pupils.  The inspectors spoke to some pupils about school life.  The inspectors spoke with staff to discuss leaders’ support for their workload and well-being.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector/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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Inspection team

Mavis Smith, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Amanda Whittingham Ofsted Inspector 28 and 29 February 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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