Guildford Grove Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Guildford Grove Primary School Southway, Guildford, Surrey GU2 8YD

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Outcome

Guildford Grove Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel valued members of this friendly school community. They look forward to social times when they enjoy playing games and dressing up to act out each other’s stories on the outdoor stage. Pupils respect their teachers, who they know want the best for them. Trusted adults help pupils with any concerns. As one parent commented: ’Staff always have children’s best interests at heart. The children love being at school. It is an environment where the children love to learn every day’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The Lighthouse Centre, which provides specialist provision for deaf children, is an integral part of the school. Interactions between pupils in this and the main part of the school demonstrate the inclusive culture. British sign language is a shared form of communication used by adults and pupils throughout the school. Pupils are proud of their signing skills, which they anticipate putting to good use as a valuable skill in the future.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well around the school and concentrate hard on their learning in lessons. The school has created a positive and kind ethos where pupils feel safe and supported. Adults provide strong role models for the schools’ values through their daily interactions with pupils. Staff are proud to be a part of this school, where they work effectively together towards their shared, ambitious vision for pupils.

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

Leaders recognised that after missing early education during the periods of national restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, some pupils had a lot of catching up to do in order to achieve as well as they should by the end of Year 2. In response, the school has worked tirelessly to raise expectations across the curriculum and their efforts are already proving to be successful.

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

The school has made reading a priority. In Nursery, children are immersed in stories, songs, and rhymes, preparing them to learn phonics from the start of Reception. Reading is taught consistently well. Pupils who struggle to read, including any who join the school 19 and 20 June 2024

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mid-year, are supported well to catch up. Pupils have frequent practice reading books which match the sounds they are learning. Leaders have set out in detail the technical vocabulary pupils must learn in each area of the curriculum. As pupils become fluent readers, they put this vocabulary into practice through activities focused on speaking and listening and by reading texts closely linked to the curriculum.

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Teachers have secure subject knowledge. They explain and model new ideas well. For example, in mathematics, they show pupils how to approach problems before they try for themselves. Teachers use questioning effectively during lessons to check pupils’ understanding. They spot pupils’ misconceptions quickly and correct them. Teachers adapt activities and resources well, so that all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, learn the same ambitious curriculum. Teachers provide regular opportunities for pupils to recap the most important knowledge and skills they have learned. This helps them to deepen their knowledge and commit it to long term memory.

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Leaders are at the early stages of developing more formalised assessment in some areas of the wider curriculum. In these areas, it is less clear what pupils understand about what they have learned. As a result, some pupils have gaps in their knowledge and struggle to connect new learning with bigger ideas. For example, they delighted in explaining the details about what they recently learned about the seasonality of vegetables when making soup but could not link this with prior learning in design technology or science. Longer- term assessment is used more effectively to influence future teaching where the curriculum is more fully developed. In these subjects, teachers systematically, over time, find out what pupils understand and remember. This information is used to identify gaps in learning and re-teach these areas frequently.

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The school offers pupils many wider development and character-building opportunities. Pupils look forward to attending breakfast club to play board games with their friends and taking part in lunch time and after school clubs. Pupils visit the seaside, theatres and historic sites of interest, which brings the curriculum to life. They are taught about the values of tolerance and respect which they put into practice as they work co-operatively with their talk partners in class. Pupils learn how to take responsibility through their roles as school councillors, sports leaders, art ambassadors and raising money for charities.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Assessment expectations in some wider curriculum subjects are not yet fully established. As a result, leaders do not routinely know enough about what pupils understand in these subjects. The school should continue to develop a consistent approach to assessment that identifies what each pupil understands and remembers, so that any gaps or misconceptions in their learning are addressed swiftly. 19 and 20 June 2024

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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 predecessor school, Guildford Grove Primary school, to be good January in 2014.

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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). 19 and 20 June 2024

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School details

Website www.guildfordgrove.surrey.sch.uk/

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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 currently uses one source of registered alternative provision.  The school is a member of the Learning Partners Academy Trust.

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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. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  During the inspection, the inspector met with the headteacher and the senior leadership team.  The inspector carried out deep dives in reading, mathematics and design and technology. For each deep dive, they discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. 19 and 20 June 2024

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 To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector: 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 inspector reviewed a range of the school’s documents, including self-evaluation reports, minutes of local governing body meetings and behaviour incident logs.  The inspector observed pupils’ behaviour during lessons and at playtimes. They spoke with pupils about bullying, behaviour, and leaders’ expectations of pupils’ behaviour.

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Inspection team

Jo Brinkley, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector 19 and 20 June 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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