Sawtry Infants' School

Inspection of Sawtry Infants’ School Middlefield Road, Sawtry, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE28 5SH

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The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Good 6 and 7 November 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils, along with their parents and carers, receive a warm welcome from leaders and staff at the start of each school day. This provides an opportunity for parents to share important information about pupils, allowing the school to quickly address any issues that may arise. Having adults in school who listen and resolve problems helps to keep pupils happy and safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are achieving more under the school’s high expectations. They read confidently, supported by daily access to high-quality books. A well-stocked library encourages them to choose books to share at home. Pupils also remember what they learn. For example, Year 1 pupils recall facts about shapes in mathematics, and Year 2 pupils understand what it means to be a good friend through their personal, social health and economic (PSHE) lessons.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils learn how to behave in an age-appropriate way. For example, the school’s mascots, including Brave Badger and Friendly Fox, teach pupils concepts like determination and kindness. Their adventures are shared in assemblies. Rewards, such as the ‘golden table,’ recognise positive behaviour. These give pupils the opportunity to dine with the headteacher or deputy headteacher to foster a sense of pride.

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

Recent changes to the phonics programme have brought about rapid improvements. Pupil outcomes are improving, and their confidence is growing. With the support of external experts, leaders introduced a more consistent approach to the teaching of early reading. Staff receive ongoing coaching and training to ensure high-quality practice across the school. Staff share the school’s ambition that every pupil is supported to keep up. For example, in the Reception Year, children have two daily reading sessions, with one specifically focused on closing knowledge gaps.

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

The school has introduced more structure to the early years curriculum. For example, staff have a clear understanding of the purpose of activity stations. This enables them to offer the guidance children need to apply their knowledge and skills. Areas like early reading and mathematics provide structured opportunities to practise and succeed. However, the approach to writing currently lacks enough opportunities for children to connect their phonics knowledge to their writing. As a result, some children struggle to make connections, which affects their confidence and interest in writing.

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

The curriculum is well thought through and structured. Staff have a clear understanding of the words, concepts, and skills pupils should learn. In a few foundation subjects, work is underway to finetune systems to check what pupils know and can do to better inform teaching. With all curriculum development, governors and the local authority, acting as supportive partners, help the school identify what is working well and guide it in planning the next steps. 6 and 7 November 2024

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The school identifies and meets the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) well. This follows recent training and support from the local authority. While interventions and individualised targets are in place, checks on whether pupils are meeting their targets are not precise enough. Consequently, pupils work does not always align to the targets they have been set. This slows their progress.

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A positive learning environment exists here. Pupils generally demonstrate polite and resilient behaviour. Leaders guide staff to instil behavioural expectations through clear expectations and routines. For example, Reception-age children sit with a plastic zip wallet containing their whiteboard, pen, and eraser during carpet time. This keeps resources neatly stored until needed, helping children to focus during lessons.

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The school has a well-planned personal development programme, supported by the PSHE curriculum. Pupils learn key ideas, including how to make friends and why exercise is important. Parents are involved in the programme, such as through ‘When I grow up day’. Here, pupils explore different careers to broaden their aspirations. Cultural awareness is developed through events like ‘International week.’ During this, pupils take part in hands- on activities. These include, navigating a mock airport and learning about the cultures, art, and food of different countries.

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Leaders and governors’ care and through clear communication have built a strong, collaborative school community. Parents respect leaders’ decisions and value their openness. This has helped, for example, to raise attendance. The school’s proactive communication with parents sets expectations and resolves issues. As a result, more pupils are attending school regularly to benefit from what is on offer.

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Staff value the strong focus on their training, which enhances expertise, builds confidence, and supports well-being. Pupils, parents, and staff acknowledge how the school continues to go from strength to strength.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In the early years, the school’s focus on developing children’s transcription skills is not yet sufficiently precise. As a result, some children are not given regular opportunities to practise their early writing skills in a way that reinforces their phonic knowledge. The school should support staff to enhance children’s early experiences with written communication, ensuring they have consistent, purposeful practice to build confidence and success in this area from the start.  For pupils with SEND, short-term targets are not always aligned with their long-term goals. This leads to inconsistencies in adapting their schoolwork and limits progress. 6 and 7 November 2024

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The school should ensure that staff set measurable, well-connected short-term targets that are frequently reviewed and lead to pupils with SEND progressing well in all areas of the curriculum.

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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). 6 and 7 November 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 4 July 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The headteacher started the substantive role in May 2023.  The school shares its site with three separately registered and inspected providers: a sessional day care for children aged 2 to 4, an out-of-school day care for children aged 4 to 11, and a junior school for pupils aged 7 to 11.  Since the last inspection, the school has increased its published admissions number to 70 to accommodate the growing local population. As a result, some pupils are in single- year classes, while others are in mixed-year classes.  The school does not make use of alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. During a graded inspection, we grade the school for each of our key judgements (quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management) and for any relevant provision judgement (early years and/or sixth form provision). Schools receiving a graded inspection from September 2024 will not be given an overall effectiveness grade. 6 and 7 November 2024

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 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation 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 held meetings with leaders, including the headteacher, deputy headteacher, special educational needs coordinator, early years leader, seven governors and a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, design technology and physical education. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers and education support staff, and held discussions with some pupils about their learning. They also reviewed samples of pupils’ work and listened to a selection of pupils reading to a

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familiar adult.  To further inspect the quality of education, inspectors met with leaders to discuss the art curriculum, writing programme and provision in the early years.  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 reviewed school documentation, including the school’s self-evaluation, school development plan, policies, analysis of attendance, minutes of meetings of the governing body, and reports from reviews of the school conducted by the local authority.  Inspectors considered the responses to the surveys, including Ofsted’s pupil survey, staff survey, and responses to Ofsted Parent View, which included free-text responses.

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Inspection team

Daniel Short, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Katie Devenport His Majesty’s Inspector 6 and 7 November 2024

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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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