a school not in a category of concern of Bulford St Leonard's C of E (VA) Primary School

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

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Karen Jeffery Headteacher Bulford St Leonard's C of E (VA) Primary School John French Way Bulford Village Salisbury Wiltshire SP4 9HP

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Leonard's C of E (VA) Primary School

This letter sets out the findings from the monitoring inspection that took place on 25 September 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 took place because the school meets the monitoring threshold as set out in the Monitoring Inspection Handbook .

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Leonard's C of E (VA) Primary School

The purpose of a monitoring inspection is not to grade the school's key and (where applicable) provision judgements, 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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Leonard's C of E (VA) Primary School

During the inspection, I discussed with you and other senior leaders, trust leaders, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the trust, the chair of trustees and the chair of governors, 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 reviewed school improvement documents and visited some lessons. I met with your special educational needs coordinator (SENCo), the designated safeguarding lead (DSL), subject leaders and teachers. I have considered all of this in coming to my judgement.

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Main findings

Since the previous inspection, you have been appointed as headteacher. A new SENCo and DSL have also joined the school. The school is now fully staffed with permanent teachers in post and is working more closely with trust leaders. The school has made progress with the areas of improvement set out in the previous report. While some of the work needs time to embed, it is evident that the school is moving in the right direction.

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Main findings

You have led work to refine the curriculum. This has ensured that the key knowledge and skills pupils need to learn are clear. The curriculum is cohesive and well designed. These changes are having a positive impact on the quality of education that pupils receive. More work needs to be done to ensure that all areas of the curriculum are delivered to a consistently high quality. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are known well to teachers. Teachers have a deep understanding of these pupils’ needs. There is increased rigour around the identification of these pupils. However, the support these pupils receive in the classroom is not yet consistent, so pupils’ learning remains variable.

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Main findings

Since the school’s previous inspection, you have wasted no time in acting on the areas for improvement. Alongside the trust, you have accelerated necessary changes to improve the arrangements for safeguarding and the quality of education. Trustees, governors and trust leaders have an accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and where it needs to develop further. Changes have been made to the way that improvement plans are written. These are now robust and are used meaningfully to ensure the school is making progress at an appropriate pace. Trust leaders use this plan to challenge school leaders and hold them to account for the impact of their actions. The school is receptive to, and appreciative of, this support.

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Main findings

Following the previous inspection, all staff participated in training to improve the information that is recorded about safeguarding incidents. This is now appropriately detailed. Staff have a clear understanding of what is expected of them. As a result of recommendations from the trust, there is now greater clarity about the completion of actions taken in response to any safeguarding concerns.

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Main findings

The school has engaged with a wide range of external support, which has increased its capacity and expertise. The work of these external partners is focused and has clear aims. For example, you have used their support to provide quality assurance of different aspects of the school’s provision. Leaders at all levels speak positively about this experience and can point to specific examples of the impact that it has had.

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Main findings

I am copying this letter to the chair of the board of trustees, the CEO of Acorn Education Trust, the director of education for the Diocese of Salisbury, the Department for Education's regional director and the director of children's services for Wiltshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted reports website.

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