Bentley Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Bentley Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Church Road, Bentley, Ipswich, Suffolk IP9 2BT

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Outcome

Bentley Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy school. The warm nurturing environment means they are safe and ready to learn. Pupils know staff are always available to help them. The nurture club offers a safe haven if pupils have a worry. They learn strategies to cope with life’s challenges, make friends and develop confidence. Older pupils are proud to become trained ‘mentors’ who help their peers in times of need. Pupils understand what bullying is and know if this happens, it is dealt with quickly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils respond well to the high expectations the school has of them and most achieve well in mathematics and reading. Learning is not disrupted because pupils are calm and settled in lessons. Pupils build resilience to setbacks and understand they can learn from their mistakes. Pupils are highly motivated learners. Pupils love to receive ‘brain stickers’ for their achievements. They relish the challenge to read five times a week. This helps pupils become self-disciplined in their work.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are very well supported. They participate fully in the life of the school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy well-planned educational visits and trips such as meeting a local engineer and going sailing. These enrich pupils’ learning and broaden their horizons.

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

The school has an ambitious curriculum that sets out the key knowledge pupils will learn and by when. This is designed to help pupils make connections in learning as topics are woven across subjects. Pupils have time to integrate new knowledge and revisit key 23 May 2024

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Leaders have set out how they want the curriculum to be delivered. Pupils like the quizzes that help them remember what they learned recently. During lessons, teachers check individual pupil’s learning. They give pupils ‘thinking time’ so they can consider their answers. Paired work helps pupils reflect on their learning so they can decide how to apply new knowledge. These strategies are not always consistently used across the school. As a result, some pupils find the work either too easy or too hard. In some instances, this means pupils do not remember key information and this impacts the quality of their work.

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In reading and mathematics, pupils achieve in line with others nationally. This is because early reading is prioritised, and there is important emphasis put on pupils applying their mathematical learning in meaningful problem-solving tasks. Well-trained staff lead daily phonics sessions and hear pupils read. Books match the sounds pupils already know. This helps them become fluent readers quickly. Frequent checks identify pupils at risk of falling behind early on. Extra help ensures they catch up quickly and achieve well. Books are carefully chosen to interest children and complement learning. Pupils like the challenge of more tricky texts, such as ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ by William Shakespeare. They remember the plot and characters with amusement.

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Pupils with SEND are fully included in all aspects of school life. Plans identify precise targets for them. Staff use these well to adapt work so that pupils with SEND succeed in meeting their targets. Parents are highly positive about the work the school does to identify their children’s needs and involve them in the life of the school.

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Children in the early years are enthusiastic and curious learners. High importance is placed on developing their communication and language skills. This means children become confident to talk to each other, play cooperatively and help each other with tasks such as washing up the painting equipment. Children develop their artistic skills. For example, they persevere to create intricate drawings of African baskets. They strengthen their hand muscles and manipulate clay to make ‘golden’ pots. This helped children connect learning to the story they are reading, set in Africa.

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The school sets high expectations for pupils’ attendance. Pupils with persistent absence receive help to improve their attendance. Relationships among pupils and staff are highly respectful. Pupils support each other’s well-being. They are consistently calm and polite around the school.

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The school promotes pupils’ personal development extremely well. Pupils take part in a range of trips to places such as the seaside, a farm and a museum. This widens their horizons and generates new interests. Carefully chosen books evoke pupils’ discussion about social and moral dilemmas. Visits to different places of worship help pupils learn about other beliefs and cultures. The newly introduced ‘metacognition’ approach helps develop positive character traits. Through it, pupils are learning to be self-evaluative, independent and resilient.

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The school has a highly reflective leadership team. Leaders make well-considered 23 May 2024

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strategic decisions that benefit pupils. There is a positive culture of professional development. All staff feel supported and are proud to work at the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The teaching approaches the school has introduced to support curriculum improvements are not consistently executed as leaders intend. This means that there are instances when pupils’ knowledge is not as secure as it could be, and this impacts the quality of their work. The school should ensure that teachers are supported to implement the agreed teaching approaches consistently across the school so that all pupils learn as well as they can.

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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 2018.

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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 23 May 2024

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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). 23 May 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 27 November 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school has a breakfast club operating on the site. This provision is managed by the school.  The school does not currently make use of an alternative provision.

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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 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.  Inspectors spoke to the headteacher, the assistant headteacher, teachers, pupils, subject leaders and the special educational needs coordinator.  The lead inspector met with members of the governing board, including the chair and vice-chair.  The lead inspector spoke with a representative from the local authority and with a 23 May 2024

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representative of the diocese.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics and art. For each deep dive, the inspector held discussions about the curriculum, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspectors also looked at samples of pupils’ work in English books.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, 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 that puts pupils’ interests first.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour during lessons, around the school and at lunchtime. Inspectors spoke to pupils and staff about pupils’ behaviour.  The lead inspector reviewed a wide range of documents, including the school’s self- evaluation, improvement plans, governor minutes and information on the school’s

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website.  Inspectors considered 24 responses to Ofsted Parent View, including parents’ free-text responses. Inspectors also took account of responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.

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Inspection team

Mireille MacRaild, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Steve Woodley His Majesty’s Inspector 23 May 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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