Setting

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Ingrid Bennett Headteacher St Germans Primary School Lower Fairfield St Germans Saltash Cornwall PL12 5NJ

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Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of St Germans Primary School

This letter sets out the findings from the monitoring inspection that took place on 11 June 2024 on behalf of His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills. The monitoring inspection was carried out under section 8(2) of the Education Act 2005 and was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to have serious weaknesses following the graded (section 5) inspection that took place in November 2023.

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Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of St Germans Primary School

The purpose of a monitoring inspection is not to grade the school's overall effectiveness, but to identify and report on the school's progress. It is to highlight to the school and parents any improvements that school leaders have made since the school's previous graded inspection.

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Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of St Germans Primary School

During the inspection, I discussed with you the actions that have been taken to improve the school since the most recent graded inspection. We discussed the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. I also met with executive leaders from the multi-academy trust who are supporting the school, two representatives from the local authority, members of staff, a group of pupils and two members of the governing body, including the chair. I also conducted a tour of the site. I have considered all this in coming to my judgement.

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St Germans remains inadequate and has serious weaknesses. Leaders have

made insufficient progress to improve the school.

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St Germans remains inadequate and has serious weaknesses. Leaders have

The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.

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St Germans remains inadequate and has serious weaknesses. Leaders have

The school should take further action to:  As a matter of urgency, the school must ensure all checks on staff and volunteers are carried out in accordance with Keeping Children Safe In Education 2023 guidance and that all gaps in record keeping are addressed.  Clearly define who is responsible for oversight of the school’s process for carrying out recruitment checks and ensure members of staff are thoroughly trained to do so.

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Since the last inspection, several members of staff have left. There has been some long- term staff absence. The school intends to join St Barnabas Church of England Multi Academy Trust in September 2024. The trust has helped to support the leadership of provision pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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During the monitoring visit, I focused particularly on the school’s actions in safeguarding and the early years.

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The school continues to be in a difficult period. Your capacity to lead the school has been stretched as a result of staff absence. Staff morale, while it has improved slightly, remains fragile. While all staff are keen to help the school improve, the school has not established a shared vision of how to do this. This continues to hamper improvements. However, staff are looking forward to the transfer to the new trust. They value the initial interactions with its leaders.

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The transition process from the local authority to the trust has not been a smooth one. Relationships between all parties are strained. This has resulted in improvement plans that have overwhelmed the school. While the plans accurately identify what needs to improve, there are too many areas to focus on at once. This has meant that establishing effective safeguarding arrangements has not been the key priority above all others.

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The school still does not have a robust safeguarding culture. Systems for checking that staff, governors and volunteers are safe to work with children are not rigorous enough. The school does not have clearly defined roles and responsibilities for this crucial area. There is weak oversight of ensuring the appropriate checks have taken place. A small number of checks are incomplete. There are unexplained gaps on records. Even when checks are made, some are not recorded in a timely, accurate fashion. Staff lack the necessary expertise to maintain these systems well.

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Other areas of the school’s safeguarding work have improved. The local authority has supported this process. Staff know how to identify pupils at risk of harm. They now consistently use the school’s recording system to note concerns. Staff have confidence that concerns will be acted on swiftly. The school has developed systems which ensure pupils who are most vulnerable are closely monitored. Pupils feel safe in school. They know how to keep themselves safe at the beach or when crossing roads. Nevertheless, the school has not ensured that staff have had all necessary training. This includes online safety and safer handling of pupils.

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The school is making improvements to its early years provision. This has been affected by instability in staffing. However, the introduction of a permanent teacher, with strong expertise, has helped to bring about improvements recently. Warm relationships have quickly been established. In conjunction with the trust, the school has stripped back the physical environment. This ensures it is now used to help support children’s learning more effectively. The school has drawn up further plans to improve the environment in the autumn term. Staff have visited other schools to see good practice.

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Staff have raised expectations of what children can do in the early years. Children are starting to rise to this challenge. Children respond well to adults' instructions. They settle to their work quickly. Staff have started to better plan how children will learn through play.

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Governors feel they have received mixed messages in the transfer of the school. This has affected their evaluation on aspects of the school’s work, such as safeguarding. Governors have worked hard to support you at a tricky time.

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The trust is in the early days of its support. It has helped to ensure that systems for reviewing the progress through the curriculum of pupils with SEND are in place. It has started to support some staff, particularly in the early years, to begin to improve the quality of education.

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I am copying this letter to the chair of the board of governors, the Department for Education's regional director and the director of children's services for Cornwall. This letter will be published on the Ofsted reports website.

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