Ashley Down Primary School

Inspection of a school judged good for overall effectiveness before September 2024: Ashley Down Primary School Downend Road, Horfield, Bristol BS7 9PD

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Inspection dates: 17 and 18 December 2024

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Outcome

Ashley Down Primary School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to school. They trust and respect staff, having confidence that adults will help them if they are experiencing difficulties. Pupils feel safe at school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations of what pupils can achieve. Pupils are enthusiastic about learning. They love reading and enjoy the range of subjects that they learn. Pupils achieve well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils develop their sense of personal responsibility. They understand what it means to be ready to learn and why it matters that they are. Pupils feel respected. They know they all have a contribution to make and that their thoughts and opinions matter.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school environment is vibrant. The rich diversity of the local area and community are visible across the school. Different faiths, cultures and backgrounds are celebrated. Pupils appreciate the common ground that people share. This helps pupils to feel welcome and included.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thrive at the school, both socially and academically. Staff are welcoming and approachable to pupils and their families. One parent commented on the ‘sense of joy when you enter the school’. This view is shared by many parents and carers, pupils and staff.

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

The curriculum is ambitious and broad, reflecting the high aspirations that the school has for all pupils. Learning is well sequenced, enabling pupils to build on what they already know. Pupils, including those with special educational needs 17 and 18 December 2024

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and/or disabilities (SEND), achieve well. The work that pupils complete is of a high quality. Pupils remember what they have learned and can link this to new knowledge.

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Staff have strong subject knowledge across all aspects of the curriculum. They explain new knowledge clearly and check what pupils already know. The work they give to pupils is well matched to the ambitious curriculum. Pupils have time to practise new learning and to apply it in different contexts. However, sometimes pupils’ misconceptions are not identified swiftly enough. This means they continue to make the same mistakes or do not understand new learning fully.

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Pupils of all ages love reading. Staff deliver the phonics programme effectively. As a result, pupils read with fluency, confidence and enthusiasm. The school understands the different barriers to reading that some pupils who speak English as an additional language and those with SEND have. Consequently, pupils who do not read well enough get the help they need to catch up.

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Pupils, including the very youngest, concentrate well. They work hard and are resilient. This enables them to learn well. Pupils are taught to manage their own emotions and how to cope when they face challenges. Pupils who struggle to manage their behaviour get the support they need. This contributes to a harmonious atmosphere where pupils are keen to support one another.

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Pupils learn how to stay safe and healthy. For example, they understand how a balanced diet contributes to good health. They learn how to maintain positive mental health, including specific techniques to help them to feel good.

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Pupils have an age-appropriate understanding of healthy relationships. They know what it means be a good friend and how to repair a relationship if there has been a falling-out.

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The school prepares pupils well for their next steps. Pupils develop their sense of responsibility and contribute to the wider life of the school and community. Pupils are knowledgeable about education after primary school. They have met with people from different careers. This helps them consider what is possible for them in the future.

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Staff have the expertise they need to perform their roles to a high standard. They are well trained to ensure that they provide highly effective support for pupils with SEND so that they can learn the same curriculum as their peers. Leaders protect staff from excessive workload. This enables staff to focus on what will have the most impact on pupils’ learning and wider development.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 17 and 18 December 2024

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What does the school need to do to improve?

 Pupils’ misconceptions are not always identified promptly or consistently. When this is the case, pupils continue to make errors in their work or to have an incomplete understanding of what they have learned. The school should ensure that staff are supported to identify and address pupils’ misconceptions to support pupils to achieve well.

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Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted’s website. From September 2024 graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade. This school was, before September 2024, judged to be good for its overall effectiveness.

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Background

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection. 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’s work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection. A graded inspection 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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good for overall effectiveness in January 2019.

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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 17 and 18 December 2024

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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). 17 and 18 December 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The local authority

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School details

Chair of governing body Sophie Moysey (Co-chair) Richard Croughan (Co-chair) Headteacher Amy Sood

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 30 and 31 January 2019

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Information about this school

 This school is part of a federation with Brunel Fields Primary School. Each of the schools has a separate headteacher. There is one governing body over both schools.  The school uses two unregistered alternative provisions and one registered alternative provision for a small number of pupils.

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Information about this inspection

 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. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and has taken that into account in her evaluation of the school.  The inspector visited a sample of lessons, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  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 17 and 18 December 2024

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the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The inspector held a meeting with members of the governing body.  Responses to the online survey, Ofsted Parent View, and the views of staff and pupils in Ofsted’s online surveys were considered. The inspector also spoke to pupils and staff in meetings and around the school site.

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Inspection team

Sarah Favager-Dalton, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 17 and 18 December 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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