Walkern Primary School

Inspection of a school judged good for overall effectiveness before September 2024: Walkern Primary School High Street, Walkern, Stevenage, Hertfordshire SG2 7NS

p.1

Outcome

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

p.1

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at this school are happy, safe and successful. They benefit from following an ambitious and varied school curriculum from the early years upwards. The school has high expectations. It ensures that pupils achieve well in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6. This means that they are well prepared for secondary school. The support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive allows them to make good progress with their learning.

p.1

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud of their school vision statement, ‘choose learning, choose friendship, choose kindness’, which they helped to create. They live out these values by showing independence, responsibility and respect. Unwelcome behaviours are rare. This results in a calm and harmonious school. Pupils know that they have trusted adults to help them if needed. Pupils appreciate how much staff care about their well-being.

p.1

What is it like to attend this school?

Older pupils look forward to a residential trip that develops their resilience and teamwork. Pupils enjoy visitors coming into school to help them understand road safety. Pupils know how to stay safe online. They enjoy visits to museums and re-enactments to help them understand the past. They aspire to playing in the school football team. Pupils and their families enjoy raising funds to improve the school environment, such as the new trim trail and astro turf.

p.1

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

The school has successfully navigated a period of restructuring due to a change in pupil numbers. It has ensured that during this time, outcomes in reading, writing and mathematics have remained strong. 11 March 2025

p.1

2

Reading has remained a key focus. From the early years onwards, pupils follow a well- structured reading programme. Most pupils become fluent and confident readers. Those who find reading tricky are helped to overcome barriers to reading. Pupils with SEND also benefit from this attention to their reading needs. The school works quickly to address any gaps in pupil’s knowledge, such as its current focus on times tables. The school has adapted its writing curriculum, including in early years, so pupils are clear on what standards they are expected to achieve, and they are rising to this.

p.2

2

Across other subjects, the school has carefully adapted the order in which topics are taught to accommodate changes in year group structures. The wider curriculum is designed to build knowledge over time and within units of work. However, the curriculum does not detail exactly what pupils need to know and remember. While pupils can explain well what they are currently learning, they struggle to recall prior knowledge in these subjects. This limits the depth of understanding and connections pupils can make in their learning.

p.2

2

The school has made sure that pupils with SEND have targets linked more precisely to their needs. Staff ensure that reasonable adjustments are in place. This means that these pupils are accessing the full curriculum with increasing independence. However, there are some instances where the school’s strategic oversight of SEND is less robust, for example the checks made around the criteria for identifying if a pupil has SEND and how well they too are recalling prior learning.

p.2

2

In early years, children enjoy the range of learning activities on offer. Adults interact well with the children to check their understanding. Children take turns and listen attentively.

p.2

2

Behaviour is good across the school. Pupils know and follow the school rules based on the school values. Attendance has improved. Staff support pupils well who need extra help to be in school regularly.

p.2

2

Pupils are ready to be citizens of a multi-cultural Britain. Pupils are taught to celebrate differences. They understand why learning about different religions and beliefs is important for positive community relations. They experience democracy through using votes to make decisions. Pupils are taught about challenging stereotypes and about treating everyone equally and fairly. They know there are many forms of discrimination, including about race and gender. They do call out any unjust behaviour if they see it.

p.2

2

The school has succeeded in this period of change to keep the support and confidence of pupils, staff and the community. Parents are hugely positive about their child’s experience here. Leaders and governors know the school well. They carry out their statutory duties effectively. Staff appreciate how mindful the school is of their well-being. Governors use the school improvement plan to hold school leaders to account. However, this plan is not aligned precisely enough to some of the most important aspects of what the school needs to work on. This can hinder how well governors maximise their strategic oversight of the school. 11 March 2025

p.2

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

p.3

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects, pupils are often not able to recall prior learning. This hinders how well pupils can build their knowledge and deepen their understanding to meet the school’s ambitious curriculum aims. The school needs to ensure that in these subjects the detailed prior knowledge pupils need is explicitly signposted. The school needs to ensure that all checks on learning provide the assurances it needs that all pupils have secured key knowledge before they move on to new learning.  The school’s improvement priorities are not matched precisely to the curriculum areas the school needs to work on most. This can hinder how swiftly and accurately the school addresses some areas that need attention. Leaders, including governors, need to sharpen their strategic oversight of the curriculum so they check more robustly on the impact of their actions on areas of most importance.

p.3

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 good for its overall effectiveness.

p.3

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.

p.3

Background

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good for overall effectiveness in February 2020. 11 March 2025

p.3

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.

p.4

How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

p.4

Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

p.4

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). 11 March 2025

p.4

School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

p.5

School details

Dates of previous inspection 25 and 26 February 2020, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

p.5

Information about this school

 The school currently does not use any alternative educational provision.  It has a before- and after-school provision that is run and managed by school staff.

p.5

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 inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspectors met with the headteacher, assistant headteacher, special educational needs coordinator, subject leaders, teachers and support staff.  The lead inspector met with the school’s local authority effectiveness partner and read their notes of visits. 11 March 2025

p.5

6

 The lead inspector met with the chair and vice-chair of the local governing board and two governors.  To evaluate the quality of education, the inspectors met with staff, visited classes, looked at pupils’ work and spoke to pupils from across the school.  The inspectors also reviewed documentation provided by the school, including the school development plan, its self-evaluation document and governor minutes.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and children; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children’s interests first.  The inspectors met with groups of staff and considered the opinions expressed through the staff survey.  The inspectors took account of the views of parents expressed through Ofsted Parent View, including free-text comments and from meeting some parents at the school gate.

p.6

6

 The inspectors also reviewed the responses to the pupil survey, as well as talking to pupils from all year groups during the inspection.

p.6

Inspection team

Sara Boyce, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

p.6

Inspection team

Michele Geddes Ofsted Inspector 11 March 2025

p.6

7

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.

p.7

7

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

p.7

7

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open- government-licence/ , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.7

7

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.7

7

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.7