West Walton Community Primary School

Inspection of West Walton Community Primary School School Road, West Walton, Wisbech, Norfolk PE14 7HA

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The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Good 29 and 30 April 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

West Welton Community Primary School is part of the Windmill Federation. Their motto is ‘if we all smile and believe, we will succeed’. Staff place a high emphasis on establishing positive relationships with their pupils and families. This starts as soon as the pupils join the school in the Reception Year. As a result, most parents and carers consider that the school has improved in recent months.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have recently begun to learn a curriculum that is now well sequenced and is ambitious for all pupils. However, pupils do not achieve as well as they could. This is because the school’s previous curriculum did not support pupils in achieving well in different subjects. Pupils were not given effective opportunities to build on their previously learned knowledge.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has clear behaviour systems in place. Staff have high expectations. They ensure that lessons and social times are calm. Pupils say that behaviour is better now than in the past. However, the behaviour of a few pupils has meant that sometimes, pupils have not been able to learn as well as they could. Bullying is rare. This is because when it does happen, staff treat it seriously and deal with it quickly.

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

The school has taken action to improve the curriculum. However, in some subjects, gaps remain in pupils’ learning that teachers do not address effectively or consistently. This results in pupils not achieving as well as they should. In some subjects, the essential knowledge pupils need to learn has not been sequenced into logical steps so that pupils can build on their learning over time. Additionally, staff have not had the effective training and support they require to teach the curriculum well. For example, in writing, pupils do not have a firm grasp of what they need to construct grammatically correct sentences. This limitation affects their written work across the curriculum.

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

The school accurately identifies pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Leaders have a clear overview of pupils’ individual needs. Consequently, effective help is put in place promptly. For example, targeted extra support in early reading helps pupils to catch up quickly.

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

Staff foster a love of reading. They regularly share stories and provide pupils with access to high-quality books. Leaders provide frequent staff training to improve their early reading expertise and to ensure that staff teach the reading curriculum well. This year, the school is using a new phonics curriculum. Teachers follow this with fidelity. Staff model the letter sounds accurately. This supports pupils in developing their early reading skills effectively. As a result, an increasing number of pupils learn to read confidently and fluently.

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

Staff in the early years create a warm, welcoming environment where children feel safe and valued. Staff have skilfully planned an engaging curriculum. Activities promote children’s curiosity and independence. Routines are established as soon as the children 29 and 30 April 2025

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join the school. Staff consistently observe and check children’s progress across all areas of learning. Extra support is quickly provided if children need more help. For example, staff place a high priority on developing children’s gross motor skills in response to children needing more support with their physical development.

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The school has strengthened behaviour systems and procedures. These appropriately support most pupils. However, a few pupils do not adhere well to the school’s expectations. As a result, learning in some classes is disrupted by the poor behaviour of a minority of pupils.

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Attendance is an ongoing priority for the school. Leaders have implemented clear procedures for tackling absence and promoting the importance of regular attendance. These actions are working and beginning to have a positive impact.

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The school provides a curriculum that supports the pupils’ personal, social and health education development well. Staff teach pupils how to manage their feelings. This helps pupils to resolve disagreements and conflicts when they happen. The school provides a range of trips and welcomes a variety of visitors to the school. These experiences broaden pupils’ horizons and help to bring their learning to life. Pupils particularly enjoy workshops and trips linked to their learning in history about the Anglo-Saxon and Victorian eras. Visiting speakers such as from the police and the local MP support pupils to understand the importance of safety, the rule of law and democracy

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The school has a knowledgeable governing body. Governors understand the school’s strengths and areas for improvement. They work closely with staff and also ask challenging questions when needed.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Teachers do not make sure that gaps in pupils’ previous knowledge are identified and addressed effectively before moving pupils on to new learning. This means pupils may not achieve as well as they should. The school should ensure that teachers receive appropriate training and support, so they know how to identify gaps in pupils’ learning and can teach the curriculum well so that pupils can achieve increasingly ambitious outcomes in a range of subjects.  The school’s approaches to behaviour management are not consistently effective across the school. This means the behaviour of some pupils disrupts the learning of others. The school should ensure systems and procedures to manage pupils’ behaviour are implemented appropriately, fairly and consistently. 29 and 30 April 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). 29 and 30 April 2025

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 7 and 8 November 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this school

 The school uses two registered alternative provisions.  The executive headteacher started in January 2024.

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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.

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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. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school. 29 and 30 April 2025

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 The lead inspector met with governors, including the chair of the governing body, and a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors met with the executive headteacher, the head of school, school leaders, staff and pupils.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school site.  The lead inspector listened to pupils in Years 1, 2 and 3 read to a familiar adult.  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

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safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  Inspectors considered responses to Ofsted’s pupil and staff surveys. They also considered responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Ofsted Parent View, including the free- text comments.

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Inspection team

Benjamin Axon, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Carol Dallas Ofsted Inspector 29 and 30 April 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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