Greenfield CofE VC Lower School

Inspection of Greenfield Church of England Voluntary Controlled Lower School Pulloxhill Road, Greenfield, Bedfordshire MK45 5ES

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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 Outstanding Personal development Good Leadership and management Good 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 Debbie Drawbridge. This school is part of Greenfield and Pulloxhill Academy, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO), Debbie Drawbridge, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Alan Euinton.

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Overall effectiveness Good

Ofsted has not previously inspected Greenfield Church of England Voluntary Controlled Lower School as an academy under section 5 of the Education Act 2005 as, until November 2020, the school was exempted by law from routine inspection, so there has been a longer gap than usual between inspections. Judgements in this report are based on the current inspection framework and also reflect changes that may have happened at any point since the last graded inspection of the predecessor school. School 28 and 29 February 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are positive about their experiences at this school. They are motivated to learn, persevere and work hard. Pupils are determined to earn ‘smilies’ or a leaf for the ‘values tree’. They listen carefully and act immediately on teachers’ advice. Pupils like answering the ‘big question’ in topics. As a result, they are successful learners.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils display high levels of respect and empathy. They follow the school’s rules and values consistently well. Older pupils relish being positive role models and play friends. All pupils mix happily and safely together. They like the sense of community this creates.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ behaviour is exemplary. They learn in calm and well-ordered lessons. Pupils know what is expected of them and conform to this. Incidents of poor behaviour are rare and effectively addressed. Pupils appreciate how staff listen to them and deal straight away with any concerns.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have the chance to be on the school council, in the choir, to run class worship or to be a hall monitor. Pupils love to read. They enjoy how the curriculum is brought to life, such as through an Ancient Egyptian Day or a visit to the zoo or to church. Year 4 pupils develop teamwork on their residential trip. Extra-curricular sports clubs are popular.

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better?

The school has in place a well-designed and ambitious curriculum. Pupils achieve well. However, leaders have recently updated curriculum content to develop pupils’ knowledge even further. Staff have started to have training on these changes, starting with phonics and mathematics. This is having a positive impact.

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better?

In all year groups, staff know what content they need to teach and when. Pupils are provided with activities and vocabulary to broaden their understanding. However, some staff are still becoming familiar with the new curriculum content in some foundation subjects. They are not yet fully secure about the depth of knowledge they need to teach or how it builds exactly on what has been taught before. Pupils therefore are not always given work that precisely matches the ambitious curriculum aims. Pupils can recall what they have learned but they do not always apply learning to the depth they might.

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better?

The school keeps a close eye on how well pupils are learning the curriculum. Staff address misconceptions. Pupils who need extra help, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), have specific learning targets. They receive additional support. However, the school does not routinely use these checks or targets to adapt activities well enough in lessons to meet the needs of all pupils. This means that some pupils complete work that they can do already. Some others do not have gaps in learning filled quickly enough. School 28 and 29 February 2024

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Children develop a love of reading as soon as they start in early years. Phonics is taught well. Pupils read books that help them practise the sounds they have learned. Most pupils are confident and fluent readers by the end of key stage 1. Older pupils enjoy reading a range of authors. They read regularly at school and at home. Staff keep checks on how often pupils read. They quickly spot any gaps in reading knowledge and provide effective interventions.

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Children in early years make a positive start to school. They follow clear routines. Children know how to share and take turns. They sustain concentration well. Staff provide engaging activities to stimulate children’s learning. Children are well prepared for Year 1. However, sometimes, opportunities are missed to then extend children’s knowledge further during their play.

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All pupils, including the very youngest, behave exceptionally well. This means that pupils can fully concentrate on learning. Through the school’s deliberate teaching of the values of respect and acceptance, pupils get along well. They help each other out and suggest ways to improve school life. Pupils have high attendance. Pupils who are off school when unwell are supported by teachers to catch up when they return.

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The personal development curriculum ensures that pupils understand how to follow healthy life choices and to stay safe. Pupils understand British values, such as democracy, through elections to leadership roles. In early years, children vote for different activity choices. Older pupils attend transition sessions with their middle school and so are well prepared for the next stage in their education.

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There have been some recent staff changes. New staff feel welcome. All staff appreciate that leaders consider their well-being and provide support to ensure that they can carry out their roles.

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Governors and members of the trust fulfil their statutory duties. They check on how well the school is performing. Governors are working to ensure that there is a clear, long-term strategic plan for the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Staff are still getting used to some of the updated curriculum expectations, and so there are occasions when the curriculum is not taught as well as leaders intend. This means that in some subjects, some pupils are not yet taught knowledge in the detail or depth desired or always build well enough on prior learning. The school needs to ensure that all staff have the subject knowledge School 28 and 29 February 2024

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and pedagogical support to deliver the ambitious curriculum aims fully and confidently.  Checks on what pupils know are not used precisely enough to inform pupils’ next steps in learning. This means that there are missed opportunities for some pupils, including pupils with SEND and in early years, to extend their learning further or have gaps filled more quickly. Staff need to ensure that they use checks on learning precisely to meet the specific needs in their class. Leaders need to check that this happens so that all pupils achieve what they are fully capable of.

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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). School 28 and 29 February 2024

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School details

Website www.greenfieldpulloxhillschools.org.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 6 November 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 This school is part of a two-school academy trust called Greenfield and Pulloxhill Academy. The school joined the trust as one of the founding schools in August 2011.  The school works closely with the other school in the trust, and leaders and governors share roles across both schools.  The chair of the trust is also the chair of the governing board. There is also a board of members.  The school had a monitoring inspection in November 2019. The inspection was carried out to enable Ofsted to better understand the quality of education in specific subjects provided by outstanding primary schools at that time. This visit focused on the teaching of history.  Greenfield Church of England Voluntary Controlled Lower School converted to become an academy in August 2011. When its predecessor school of the same name was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be outstanding overall.  The school does not use any alternative education provision.

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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 had 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.  The inspectors held meetings with the headteacher (who is also the CEO of the trust), assistant headteachers, the special educational needs coordinator, subject leaders, teachers and support staff.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in early reading, mathematics, history, and design and technology. For the deep dives, inspectors spoke with subject leaders, visited lessons, spoke with pupils, looked at pupils’ workbooks and spoke with teachers and support staff. The lead inspector also listened to pupils reading to a familiar adult.  The lead inspector met with the chair of the board of members and three

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Information about this inspection

members of the governing body, including the vice-chair.  The inspectors scrutinised a range of documentation, including the school’s self- evaluation and improvement plan. The lead inspector also reviewed minutes of governor meetings and those of the board of members.  The inspectors reviewed notes of visits from the school’s external improvement partners.  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.  The inspectors considered the responses gathered through Ofsted’s online survey for parents and carers, Ofsted Parent View, which included 31 free-text comments. There were 15 responses to the staff survey. No pupils completed the pupil survey. However, inspectors spoke to several pupils from different year

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Information about this inspection

groups during the inspection, as well as a range of staff.

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Inspection team

Sara Boyce, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Michael Scott Ofsted Inspector School 28 and 29 February 2024

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