Edward Peake CofE VC School

Inspection of Edward Peake CofE VC School Potton Road, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire SG18 0EJ

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The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 8 and 9 January 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is a warm and welcoming community. Pupils are proud of their school. They place high worth on how the entire school comes together every day to celebrate each other’s successes and reflect on the important values that they share. Pupils welcome visitors and talk confidently about their experiences at school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils know that the school has high expectations for them. They understand that all staff want them to achieve highly. Pupils work hard to meet these aspirations. They enjoy learning. Pupils know that to achieve their ambitions, they need to attend school regularly. Consequently, they attend, learn and achieve well. Pupils in Year 9 are looking forward to remaining at Edward Peake to study for GCSEs for the first time.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are polite and respectful. They behave well in class and learning proceeds without distractions. Pupils make sure that everyone feels included. Individual differences are shared and openly celebrated.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), benefit from the range of visits offered. Residential and overseas trips provide pupils with life- defining experiences and help them bring their classroom learning to life.

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

The school has designed a broad and ambitious curriculum. Subject experts have identified the important knowledge that pupils should know and in what order this should be taught. The school is preparing to teach key stage 4 for the first time. Careful thought has been given to ensuring that the curriculum in key stages 2 and 3 prepares pupils well for their later study.

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

The school has ensured that teachers have strong knowledge of the subjects they teach. This helps teachers explain new concepts in a way that is easy for pupils to understand. Well-crafted questions help pupils remember what they have been taught in the past. This helps pupils layer new knowledge on top of what they already know. Routine checks enable teachers to address gaps and misconceptions in pupils’ understanding quickly.

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

The school has accurately identified the individual barriers to learning of pupils with SEND. Detailed information is provided to teachers, who then adapt their approaches to support pupils, including those with SEND, to secure the important information they need to progress. As a result, the majority of pupils now learn and achieve well.

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

Most pupils produce high-quality work that illustrates what they have learned. This work is routinely checked for factual accuracy. However, these checks do not always support pupils to produce written work of a standard that enables them to explain their thinking in depth. Consequently, while pupils’ work is stronger than historical key stage 2 outcomes suggest, some pupils’ learning is not as deep as it could be. 8 and 9 January 2025

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The school has prioritised reading. Many pupils read widely and often. However, some pupils do not always read books that are appropriate for their reading knowledge. The school supports those pupils who struggle with reading well. Individualised approaches help these pupils to become confident and fluent readers.

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The school’s ‘life skills’ programme is well designed. It helps pupils link the school’s values to important concepts, such as tolerance and respect. The school carefully adapts the curriculum to address local issues. This helps pupils, including those with SEND, to keep themselves safe online and in real life.

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The school has carefully thought about how visits and visitors can help pupils understand and apply the knowledge they have learned in the classroom. The careers programme explains how different subjects link to different jobs. This is integral to raising pupils’ aspirations. Pupils access information from a range of employers and different routes of study. This has helped pupils make well-informed choices about the subjects they will study in key stage 4.

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The opportunity for pupils to develop their leadership skills and contribute towards school life is limited. This hinders pupils’ ability to contribute towards their school and develop important life skills.

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Governors have clarity of what the school is doing well and the actions it takes to improve. Alongside the local authority and diocese, they effectively hold leaders to account. Most staff enjoy working at the school. They value the efforts the school makes to manage their workload and support their general well-being.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Assessment does not always effectively support pupils to improve the depth of their written work. This means that sometimes pupils are not able to produce work that accurately reflects their understanding. The school should ensure that staff have the expertise to check and support pupils to improve the quality of their written work.  The opportunities for pupils to develop their leadership skills and contribute to school life are limited. This means that pupils do not have an active voice in how their school develops and they miss out on potential character development opportunities. The school should ensure that it provides all pupils with the opportunity to take advantage of leadership opportunities and make a positive contribution to their school and community. 8 and 9 January 2025

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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). 8 and 9 January 2025

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 24 and 25 May 2022 under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this school

 The school is changing from a middle school for Years 5 to 8 to a secondary school for Years 7 to 11. This is the final school year where primary-age pupils will attend the school. The school will begin teaching pupils in key stage 4 in September 2025.  The school has a religious character and is a Church of England school. It was last inspected under section 48 of the Education Act 2005 on 10 June 2019.  The school does not use any providers 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. 8 and 9 January 2025

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 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision.  Inspectors discussed any continued 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, assistant headteachers, and special educational needs coordinator. The lead inspector also met with representatives of the governing body and held telephone discussions with a representative of the local authority and a representative of the diocese.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: English, mathematics, design and technology, art and design and history. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to staff, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. An inspector also listened to a sample of pupils read.

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 To further inspect the curriculum, inspectors reviewed curriculum documentation for modern foreign languages and science, and reviewed documentation setting out support for pupils with SEND.  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 considered the responses to the online survey, Ofsted Parent View, and the free-text comments submitted. They also considered the responses to Ofsted’s questionnaire for staff.  Inspectors spoke to groups of pupils about their experiences of school life and their learning in lessons to understand what it is like to be a pupil in their school.

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Inspection team

Dave Gibson, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Wayne Jarvis Ofsted Inspector 8 and 9 January 2025

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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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