Cavendish Church of England Primary School

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

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Sean Cornish Interim Executive Headteacher Cavendish Church of England Primary School The Green Cavendish Sudbury Suffolk CO10 8BA

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Primary School

This letter sets out the findings from the monitoring inspection that took place on 19 and 20 November 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 require special measures following the graded (section 5) inspection that took place in April 2024.

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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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Primary School

During the inspection, I discussed with: you; the director for the local authority; the school excellence partner; the director of education from the diocese; the consultant headteacher from a multi-academy trust; representatives from the governing body, including the chair; and staff, 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 visited lessons, looked at pupils’ books, spoke to pupils, checked school improvement documentation and reviewed the school’s system for safeguarding. I have considered all this in coming to my judgement.

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Leaders have made progress to improve the school, but more work is

necessary for the school to no longer be judged as requiring special measures.

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The position regarding the appointment of early career teachers will be

considered again during any monitoring inspection we carry out.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

The school’s substantive headteacher has been absent since the graded inspection. The local authority provides support to the school. It has seconded you as an executive headteacher to lead the school for two days per week. You have led the school’s positive changes and worked hard to communicate with parents and gather their views. Pupils are learning a sequenced, broad, and highly structured curriculum. Further monitoring of how effectively the curriculum is implemented and training to support staff to teach all subjects effectively are required, but this has improved since the previous inspection. A multi-academy trust has recently provided a consultant headteacher for two additional days. The school’s staff have mostly remained the same since the previous inspection. They are dedicated to improving the school but have found the leadership changes challenging. Both you and the consultant headteacher ensure that staff have the support

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

they need to carry out their roles more effectively. However, at present, the school relies on external support for much of this work.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

During my monitoring visit, I evaluated the school’s plans and associated actions to address the inadequacies identified during the previous inspection. I checked the effectiveness of the provision for pupils in reading, writing, and phonics. I also considered the effectiveness of various aspects of the broader curriculum, including personal, social, health, and economic education (PSHE) and the content of the relationships and sex education (RSE) curriculum. Additionally, I evaluated the school’s actions to improve the provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Finally, I reviewed the school’s progress towards enhancing the provision for children in the Reception class. This letter will highlight the effectiveness of leaders’ actions in improving the school since the last inspection.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

The school has focused resolutely on teaching reading, writing, and phonics. The phonics programme is now more established. However, not all teaching approaches are consistent, and staff need further support and training to teach the programme effectively. Pupils across key stage 2 learn a highly structured reading programme, which develops their vocabulary. They are also learning about different texts and genres. Teachers teach writing in a more structured and consistent manner. Pupils develop key skills in grammar and sentence structure. Their knowledge in reading and writing is developing well from their current starting points. However, due to weaknesses in the past, pupils have gaps in their knowledge and understanding in both reading and writing. Phonics assessment systems positively impact pupils’ knowledge development because teachers understand what pupils know and what they need to learn next. However, this is not yet the case in

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

reading across key stage 2 and writing across the school. There remains a lack of training for staff in the Reception class. Children still do not learn effectively in many aspects of the curriculum. Children’s behaviour in the Reception class also hinders their learning. Pupils’ behaviour is better across key stage 2 because routines in this phase are well established. Across key stage 1, routines and expectations are not followed as consistently and some pupils sometimes lose their focus in lessons, which hinders their learning.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

Pupils are now learning a broad and balanced wider curriculum. In all subjects, there is now more clarity for teachers about the important knowledge pupils need to know. Some aspects of the new curriculum ensure pupils learn content more than once and that knowledge connects sequentially, which results in a more secure understanding. The PSHE and RSE curriculums are well sequenced and contain relevant content. The school prioritises the teaching of important information about bullying, so that pupils know what this is and how they can ask for help if needed. However, some pupils need to learn more important content about relationships education to ensure they are ready for secondary school.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

Leaders have developed appropriate plans to improve the quality of education that pupils receive. These accurately identify the areas that require further improvement and outline the necessary steps to achieve that outcome. However, currently it is still unclear who will be responsible for completing this important work after December 2024.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

In the absence of the substantive headteacher, the local authority’s external support has enabled the school to maintain effective leadership. The local authority ensures that current leaders understand what needs to happen at the school and they complete ongoing checks. Additionally, this support has focused on enhancing the provision for pupils with SEND. It includes developing a leader to oversee this and provide ongoing support. There are clear pathways to identify pupils’ needs and current targets are more appropriate for pupils. Staff know how to provide more effective support to pupils with SEND. There remain ongoing staff training needs to develop this area of the school’s work further. However, many pupils with SEND now have appropriate and individualised support, which is positively impacting on their progress in the curriculum.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

External support from the local authority has also developed effective systems and arrangements to keep pupils safe. Safeguarding is effective. The school has a robust safeguarding culture. Staff know how to recognise the signs that pupils may be at risk of harm. They are aware of local contextual risks. Pupils learn about online safety and how to stay safe in the community. Pupils, parents and carers and staff agree that pupils are safe here.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

The diocese provides support to the school for the teaching of religious education and collective worship. The governing board, which has been developed with support from the local authority, checks for the impact of leaders’ actions. There are currently no diocesan governors. I am copying this letter to the chair of the board of governors and the director of education for the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, the Department for Education’s regional director and the director of children’s services for Suffolk. This letter will be published on the Ofsted reports website.

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