Cookley Sebright Primary School

Inspection of Cookley Sebright Primary School 16 Lea Lane, Cookley, Kidderminster, Worcestershire DY10 3TA

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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 Requires improvement 9 and 10 April 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils learn well at Cookley Sebright Primary School. Leaders have high expectations for what all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), can achieve. Parents and carers appreciate this. Pupils get off to a good start in the early years, and follow a wide-ranging, ambitious curriculum. Learning moves smoothly from one key stage to the next. Pupils especially enjoy practical activities such as filtering pond water in geography lessons. They quickly come to be competent and enthusiastic readers.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Adults forge warm relationships with pupils. Pupils benefit from a high standard of pastoral care. The school takes effective steps to help them learn about their mental health. Pupils learn about traditions and cultures beyond their own.

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What is it like to attend this school?

There is a calm and purposeful atmosphere in classrooms and corridors. Pupils behave very well in lessons. At social times, they play happily together. Pupils know there is always an adult to turn to who can resolve any issues. This helps all pupils to feel safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have several opportunities to take responsibility and to help others, as house captains or ‘well-being warriors’, for example. They take part in a wide range of extra-curricular activities, including several sports, Latin, gardening and farming.

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better?

The school ensures that learning to read is a high priority. Pupils follow a structured phonics programme from Nursery onwards. Pupils learn sounds and letters in a logical order. Staff use the programme’s resources in a consistent way. The school makes sure that pupils read frequently to an adult. Staff check on what each pupil knows and can do. Pupils who find reading more difficult are supported well to keep up. Books for younger pupils are well matched to their phonics knowledge. Across the school, pupils read widely, and appreciate the revamped school library.

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better?

Pupils study all the subjects in the national curriculum. In each subject, leaders have identified the most important knowledge for pupils to learn. They have planned the curriculum carefully, breaking learning down into manageable steps. These steps help pupils to build new knowledge on what they already know. On a day-to-day basis, teachers ensure that they implement the curriculum as intended. They make sure that pupils learn the key vocabulary in each unit of work. Across all subjects, teachers help pupils to use their literacy and numeracy skills effectively, for instance, to interpret graphs correctly in geography.

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better?

Teachers have good subject knowledge. They present information clearly and use resources effectively. In general, teachers assess learning well, for example by asking questions of specific pupils in class. At times, however, a few gaps in pupils’ 9 and 10 April 2024

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learning are missed. Sometimes, teachers do not review the key knowledge pupils most need to be secure in their knowledge in the longer term.

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The school identifies the additional needs of pupils with SEND precisely and promptly. Staff are expert in ensuring that these pupils’ needs are met. As a result, pupils with SEND make very good progress across the full curriculum. In particular, the school has addressed effectively the additional speech, language and communication needs of some children in the early years.

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The school has high expectations for pupils’ behaviour, which are well understood and applied consistently. From the early years onwards, pupils follow established routines. They have a noticeable enthusiasm for their work, and this helps to ensure that disruption to learning is rare. Pupils’ attendance has risen year-on-year, and is currently in line with the national average. Nevertheless, the number of vulnerable pupils who are persistently absent remains too high.

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Pupils follow a planned programme of social and personal education. This teaches pupils about healthy relationships and how to keep themselves safe. Older pupils are articulate and considerate, happy to help others as librarians or play leaders. The school has taken important steps to widen pupils’ social and cultural knowledge. Activities, including visits to places of worship and global arts experiences, help pupils to learn about a breadth of cultures and traditions.

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This is an inclusive school, with a strong commitment to all its pupils. Leaders have tackled the issues raised at the last inspection with determination and good judgement, working well with parents and carers and the local community. The school has provided effective training for staff, including in the leadership of curriculum subjects. Everyone works together as a team, and there is a shared commitment to improving the school further. Staff believe that leaders are considerate of their workload and always ready to listen to their views. Governors provide particularly effective oversight of the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Sometimes pupils’ learning is not checked carefully enough. This means that gaps in knowledge are sometimes missed, and teaching is not adapted to help pupils secure their learning. The school should ensure that pupils’ knowledge is 9 and 10 April 2024

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consistently and precisely checked, and, where needed, these gaps are addressed in subsequent learning.  Too many pupils, including several who are disadvantaged, are persistently absent. As a result, they miss out on important continuity of learning and many personal and social development opportunities. The school should ensure its ongoing work with parents focuses more closely on reducing the number of persistently absent pupils.

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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). 9 and 10 April 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Headteacher Victoria Crisp Website www.cookleysebright.co.uk

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 28 and 29 September 2021, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Some of the children in the Nursery attend part-time.  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 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.  Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the headteacher, with the special educational needs coordinator and with curriculum leaders. They also spoke with staff about their experience of the school. 9 and 10 April 2024

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 The chair and two other members of the governing body met with the lead inspector, with the vice chair joining the meeting remotely. The lead inspector spoke by telephone with 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 culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The inspectors reviewed a range of documents. These included information about pupils’ behaviour, attendance, the school’s curriculum, self-evaluation and improvement planning. The school’s website was also checked.  The inspectors took account of responses to Ofsted Parent View and the free-text comments. The lead inspector also met with parents in person. The inspectors

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also considered responses to Ofsted’s survey for staff.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics geography and science. For each deep dive, the inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited lessons, spoke to staff, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of their work. Inspectors also scrutinised pupils’ work in some other subjects.  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

Sam Cosgrove Ofsted Inspector 9 and 10 April 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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