Comberton Primary School

Inspection of Comberton Primary School Borrington Road, Comberton Primary School, Kidderminster, Worcestershire DY10 3ED

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Inspection dates: 14 and 15 January 2025

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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 14 and 15 January 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

Comberton Primary School is a caring community. Pupils enjoy being part of this happy, inclusive school. Staff build positive relationships with pupils. Pupils feel safe. They know that they can talk to adults about any worries and they will sort things out for them. The school has high expectations for pupils’ learning. Pupils rise to these expectations and achieve well, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are polite to one another and respectful to adults. The school has introduced a new approach to managing behaviour and, mostly, pupils behave well. However, where staff do not consistently apply the behaviour policy, some pupils sometimes do not uphold the school’s high expectations.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils take responsibility for a range of roles in school. For example, the ‘sports crew’ encourage pupils to be physically active and demonstrate the school games’ values. A range of carefully chosen visits and visitors are used to enhance the curriculum and bring learning to life. The school provides a well-planned programme of enrichment. Pupils appreciate the wide range of clubs on offer to them, such as football, netball and chess. They talk positively about how these opportunities allow them to develop their talents and interests.

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

The school has developed a broad and ambitious curriculum for all pupils. It has mapped out the important knowledge pupils should learn from the early years onwards. From Nursery, there is a strong focus on developing children’s vocabulary and communication skills. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are accurately identified and given the support they need to access the full curriculum.

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

Teachers know what they should teach and how the curriculum develops over time. They deliver the well-designed curriculum effectively. Pupils appreciate the support offered to improve and deepen their learning in core subjects. Where learning is most effective, teachers check carefully on what pupils have remembered. They address misconceptions and help pupils build their understanding. However, in some subjects, these checks are less effective. This can prevent pupils from building the depth of knowledge they need.

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

The school fosters a love of reading and stories from the start. Children in the early years, enjoy listening to stories and re-enact them in their play. The school ensures a wide variety of books are available for pupils to borrow from the library and the ‘golden shelf’. Pupils speak with enthusiasm about their favourite authors and enjoy listening to stories by the author of the half term. The school also involves parents and carers in reading initiatives, such as inviting them to school to share stories as part of ‘Welcome Wednesdays’. The published outcomes at the end of key stage 2 in 2024 show that pupils consistently achieve very well in reading.

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

The school prioritises the effective teaching of early reading. Staff are well trained and use their strong subject knowledge to teach letter sounds effectively. Pupils who fall 14 and 15 January 2025

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behind their peers get the help they need to catch up. In phonics lessons, staff provide pupils with opportunities to practise writing sounds and words. However, staff do not always give sufficient attention to developing younger pupils’ letter formation. As a result, weak letter formation and handwriting in early years continue into key stage 1 for some pupils.

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Children in early years are happy and well cared for. They get a positive start to their education. Children interact with each other and adults positively. They sustain concentration through a range of engaging learning activities. Adults build on children’s understanding using carefully considered questions. This enables children to build their knowledge over time.

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The school promotes pupils’ personal development very well. Pupils develop an understanding of how to stay safe and healthy. They know about the importance of mental health. The well-being champions remind everybody of the importance of being emotionally healthy. Pupils visit places of worship to learn about different views and beliefs. The school provides many opportunities for pupils to become active citizens in the local community.

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The school monitors attendance closely. The school puts in place appropriate strategies and support for pupils and families, so that attendance improves. Pupils are keen to come to school and enjoy learning.

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Leaders are dedicated to continuing to improve the school in all areas. Staff feel valued and are positive about their experience of working at the school. They appreciate the school’s consideration of their workload. Governors know the school well. They provide effective challenge and support to the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Assessment is not used well enough in some wider curriculum subjects. As a result, some pupils have gaps in their understanding and do not build their knowledge well enough over time. The school needs to ensure that teachers use assessment effectively across all subjects and use this information to inform future learning.  The school’s focus on letter formation for children in the early years is not sharp enough. As a result, not enough children in the early years form their letters correctly. The school should focus on teaching correct letter formation and provide more practise to improve handwriting fluency. 14 and 15 January 2025

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 On occasion, the school’s high expectations of pupils’ conduct are not always upheld consistently. This means that pupils do not routinely demonstrate high levels of self- control. The school must ensure its expectations of behaviour are understood by all staff, so that the behaviour policy is applied consistently.

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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). 14 and 15 January 2025

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 8 and 9 January 2020, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school offers before- and after-school wraparound provision.  The school makes use of one registered alternative provider.  The new headteacher has been in the role since September 2022.

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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.  Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision. 14 and 15 January 2025

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 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the headteacher and senior leaders.  The lead inspector met with representatives from the governing body.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, history and geography. For each deep dive, the inspector held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at a sample of pupils’ work.  The lead inspector listened to pupils read to a familiar adult.  Inspectors considered a range of documents, including the school’s self-evaluation and improvement plans. Minutes of governing body meetings were also scrutinised.  Inspectors looked at records of pupils’ attendance and behaviour. They observed pupils’

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behaviour in lessons and around school and talked to them about behaviour, bullying and welfare.  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 talked to parents at the start of the school day and considered the Ofsted Parent View survey and free-text comments. They also reviewed the responses to the staff survey and gathered the views of staff and pupils through discussion.

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Inspection team

Janice Wood, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Gill Turner Ofsted Inspector 14 and 15 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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