Cabot Primary School

Inspection of a school judged good for overall effectiveness before September 2024: Cabot Primary School Halston Drive, St Paul’s, Bristol BS2 9JE

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Outcome

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

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Outcome

The principal is Felicity Llewelyn-Hodgson. The school is part of Excalibur Academy Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO) Nick Lewis and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Toby Watson.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Inclusion and equality sit at the very heart of Cabot Primary School. Pupils and staff are proud to be part of this diverse community. Staff know the pupils and families well. The school ensures that pupils, many of whom are disadvantaged, are ready to learn each day. The kind and nurturing relationships pupils form with staff help them to feel safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff have high expectations of pupil’s achievement and behaviour. Pupils demonstrate these on a day-to-day basis. They work hard and achieve well across the curriculum. From the Reception Year onwards, children follow the school rules of ‘ready, respectful and safe’. As a result, the school is calm and purposeful. During social times, pupils of all ages enjoy the wide range of organised activities on offer. This makes breaktimes and lunchtimes an enjoyable experience for all.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain. Pupils talk with an informed awareness of how people can be different and that this is something to respect and celebrate. They make a positive contribution to the life of the school. Pupils enjoy the roles and responsibilities the school offers, including house captains and the school and equalities council. This helps them to understand their roles as responsible citizens. 29 and 30 April 2025

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

The school has a successful and ambitious curriculum. The positive impact of the continual focus on reading, as well as the prioritisation of writing and number fluency, is clear. This is evident not only in the school’s published outcomes over time, but in practice across the school. For example, pupils in the Reception Year confidently recognise numbers to five, including how to make them. Older pupils use their knowledge of multiplications to add and simplify fractions. The strong focus on language and oracy supports pupils, many who speak English as an additional language, to speak with confidence and accuracy.

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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 reading. Pupils at risk of falling behind are swiftly identified and given the additional support they need. Skilled staff deliver the phonics programme consistently. This helps pupils to recognise letters and sounds to build words. Pupils read books that match the phonic sounds they know. This supports them to develop as fluent and confident readers. Older pupils enjoy listening to a wide and diverse range of texts. They are proud of their library and the books on offer to borrow. The strong focus on vocabulary continues as pupils progress through the school. They use their knowledge of ambitious vocabulary to describe concepts, such as endangered species and extinction.

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

Supported by the trust, the school has overhauled the wider curriculum. There is a well- designed curriculum that supports pupils to build on what they have learned before. For example, pupils use their knowledge of locational geography and physical features to identify mountain ranges in Europe. Younger pupils use their knowledge to recall the continents of the world and locate the equator. The school provides opportunities to revisit prior learning in order to check what pupils know and remember. Teachers have secure subject knowledge and quickly address any misconceptions. However, in some wider curriculum subjects, checks on what pupils have learned are not as effective. As a result, pupils have gaps in their knowledge and misconceptions persist. This hinders the progress that some pupils make in these subjects.

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

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are accurately identified by the school. The school puts an effective programme of support in place for these pupils. This means that most pupils with SEND successfully access the same curriculum as their peers. Where pupils have more complex needs, the school, in collaboration with external agencies, provides a bespoke curriculum. This supports these pupils to progress well across the curriculum from their starting points.

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

Pupils love their school. They have positive attitudes to learning. Lessons are free from disruption. The school is tenacious in improving pupil’s attendance. They work closely with families to ensure they provide the support needed in order to remove any barriers. This has resulted in an improving picture in how often pupils attend school.

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

Pupils learn how to stay well mentally and physically. They learn breathing techniques and enjoy the skipping challenge. The school plan trips to enrich the curriculum. It makes 29 and 30 April 2025

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good use of the school’s location. Pupils know they can make a difference to others. They talk enthusiastically about the ‘rags to riches’ project.

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The school and trust are relentless in their drive to be aspirational for pupils. Their actions have maintained the standards identified at the time of the previous inspection. Staff feel valued and enjoy working at the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some wider curriculum subjects, assessment is not used effectively to build on pupil’s knowledge. As a result, some pupils do not build knowledge sequentially and any gaps they have persist. The trust should ensure that teachers use assessment information to inform future curriculum design, so that pupils build a depth of knowledge across all subjects.

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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 predecessor school, Cabot Primary School to be good for overall effectiveness in December 2018. 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

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The principal took up the substantive post in June 2023.  The vice-principals took up their post in September 2024.  The school is part of the Excalibur Academies Trust.  The school does not use any alternative provision.  Cabot Primary School converted to become an academy school in September 2022. When its predecessor school, Cabot Primary School was last inspected, it was judged to be good for overall effectiveness.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision. 29 and 30 April 2025

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 This was the first routine 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 their evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with school leaders, representatives from the academy council and trust board, the CEO and the director of primary improvement.  The inspector visited a sample of lessons, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspector observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school site. Additionally, the inspector spoke to pupils to discuss their views about the school.  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 the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.

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 The inspector considered responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Ofsted Parent View, including free-text responses. They also looked at responses to Ofsted’s online staff surveys.

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Inspection team

Wendy D’Arcy, lead inspector His Majesty’s 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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