All Saints Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Winfarthing

Inspection of a good school: All Saints Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Winfarthing Mill Road, Winfarthing, Diss, Norfolk IP22 2DZ

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Outcome

All Saints Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Winfarthing continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have experienced a lot of change in the past few years. This change has been for the better and in their interests. Nevertheless, although pupils are happy and safe, some would like fewer changes in teachers, so they can form more lasting bonds. The school is working hard to provide this stability.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are keen to do well. They study an interesting and challenging curriculum and produce high-quality work. Pupils get the support they need from teachers to improve and develop their work. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). However, a few pupils at the early stages of reading do not develop their reading fluency as well as they might.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils understand and apply the school’s positive behaviour values. They learn about tolerance and respect in assemblies and treat each other well. This means that classrooms and the playground are pleasant places to be.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils go on lots of interesting trips that broaden their experience beyond the local area. They recently went on a ‘Christmas extravaganza’, which was centred around the personal development theme of finding their ‘shining light’. This involved having fish and chips at the beach and participating in the ‘luminate light trail’ at Sandringham.

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

The school has undergone a period of significant but necessary change. The local authority has strengthened governance and oversight. Standards of education have been very significantly raised, as a result. However, this has meant significant changes in processes and staffing. This has caused some unavoidable instability for pupils. The Winfarthing 27 March 2024

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school has worked hard to ensure that sustainable plans are in place for the school’s future and that staffing is more settled.

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The school has ensured that high-quality curriculum plans are in place across all subjects. This includes tailoring planning for children in early years and mixed-age group classes. The school has developed subject leadership and trained staff in how to lead subjects effectively. As a result, in most subjects, pupils learn the intended curriculum well. The school continues to develop leadership across different staff.

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Teaching is effective. Pupils build subject knowledge well, and teachers check what pupils have learned. Teachers provide additional support where pupils need it, to close gaps in knowledge. Pupils produce high-quality work. This is also the case for pupils with SEND. Staff plan for and meet the needs of pupils with SEND. This means that they are fully included in lessons and achieve well.

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Pupils grow to love reading from an early age. Pupils look forward to story time and read regularly. The school has carefully thought through which high-quality books will enhance the curriculum. For example, pupils read a class book and different types of literature relating to their Viking project. This gives them the knowledge they need to be able to write in this style themselves and make connections across different subjects.

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The school has ensured that there is a consistent approach to teaching phonics for those at the earlier stages of reading. This works well for most pupils. However, there is some inconsistency in how well staff teach pupils to read and spell unfamiliar words. This is because not all staff implement the training they have had consistently well. Therefore, some pupils make slower progress with learning to read fluently than they might. However, pupils who are behind are supported to catch up.

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Pupils follow positive behaviour values. Levels of attendance are high. Children in early years benefit from following familiar routines. They learn to share, take turns, listen and sustain their focus on activities. Although the indoor classroom is a stimulating environment for children, the outdoor area is sparser and does not provide high-quality opportunities to develop children’s learning.

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The school promotes pupils’ personal development well. Pupils spend a week at the start of the year doing activities around an ‘up-up and away’ theme. They visit an aviation museum and design their own hot air balloons, capturing their aspirations. The school council leads charity work, which has included cake sales to support the homeless. Pupils learn about democracy by visiting the Houses of Parliament.

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The school is mindful of staff’s workload and well-being. For example, opportunities to share planning and work collaboratively on subjects across the federation have supported this well.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Winfarthing 27 March 2024

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Staff do not always teach phonics consistently well. There are some inconsistencies in how well staff model decoding of words and blending of sounds. This means that, although pupils use their phonics knowledge to read unfamiliar words, they make slower progress with reading more challenging words and sentences fluently than they might. The school should ensure that staff have the expertise to teach phonics consistently well so that pupils read with age-appropriate levels of fluency.

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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 November 2013.

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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.

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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). Winfarthing 27 March 2024

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provision

Appropriate authority Interim executive board

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provision

Date of previous inspection 22 May 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The headteacher is also the executive headteacher of The Saints Federation. They took up post in April 2022. The school works collaboratively with two other schools in this federation.  An interim executive board has had responsibility for governance since June 2022.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this ungraded inspection under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 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. Winfarthing 27 March 2024

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 To discuss governance an inspector met with members of the interim executive board.  Inspectors met with the headteacher, special educational needs coordinator, designated safeguarding leads, behaviour and personal development leads, school subject leaders and staff.  An inspector met with the local authority lead officer for the school.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, English, mathematics and computing. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors spent time in early years, including Reception, and spoke to children there.  Inspectors also considered the curriculum in some other subjects, including, science, history, personal social and health education (PSHE) and relationships and sex education (RSE).

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 Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons, around school and at social times.  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. Inspectors also held dedicated meetings to explore attendance.  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 comments.

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Inspection team

James Chester, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Hannah Stoten His Majesty’s Inspector Winfarthing 27 March 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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