Robert Le Kyng Primary School

Inspection of a school judged good for overall effectiveness before September 2024: Robert Le Kyng Primary School Westcott Street, Swindon, Wiltshire SN1 5HS

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Outcome

Robert Le Kyng Primary School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

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Outcome

The headteacher of this school is Susan Smith. This school is part of Blue Kite 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), Gary Evans, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Pauline Miller.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Robert Le Kyng Primary is a well-led, diverse school where every pupil can thrive and belong. The school provides a highly inclusive and positive environment. Pupils are seen for what they can do, rather than what they cannot.

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What is it like to attend this school?

A strong sense of values, known as ‘RESPECT’, is central to the school’s work. Pupils benefit from the empathy, perseverance and enthusiasm modelled by staff. The school ensures that everyone can learn and achieve, no matter what their starting points or barriers to learning are.

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What is it like to attend this school?

As well as strong relationships and a clear set of values, expectations are high. Pupils respond to this by working hard during lessons and behaving well. They enjoy their lessons because learning is interesting and fun.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy here. They know that they are safe and secure at school. Pupils are confident in the adults that care for them, knowing that they will be supported and helped if they ever need it.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Outside, during breaks, pupils enjoy playing with their friends. They make the most of the varied and well-organised activities. Pupils learn from the strong models around them. They become good friends, caring for and respecting each other. 13 and 14 May 2025

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

Strong, consistent and cohesive leadership ensures that this school continues to go from strength to strength. Roles and responsibilities at all levels, including for the trust and governors, are clearly understood. This clarity supports the development of the school’s improvement priorities. Everyone at the school is ambitious for all pupils. Improvement areas are tackled calmly, thoroughly and deeply. This ensures that real change happens over time. Staff appreciate how well they are led. They enjoy working at the school. They feel valued and trusted to do their jobs well.

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

Pupils enjoy being at school and know help is available from the school’s caring staff. Attendance has improved over recent years and is now in line with national averages. Close, productive relationships with parents and carers contribute to this success. Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the school, including the support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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

Right from the start of the Reception Year, there is an absolute determination that every child will learn to read. Leaders have recently changed the way that phonics is taught. This change has been managed particularly well. Staff receive regular training and coaching to ensure that the agreed approaches are delivered consistently and effectively. The school provides ongoing support for parents to help their child learn to read. Reading workshops and events such as the annual ‘reading breakfast’ all help to demonstrate how much reading is valued.

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

A strength of the school is how well pupils are supported to catch up with learning if this is needed. Some pupils join the school at different times during the year. Staff ensure that no time is lost in assessing what pupils already know so that the right support can be put in place. Many pupils speak English as an additional language. These pupils are supported well to learn vocabulary and to become confident, fluent readers. Staff across the school are highly skilled at providing additional phonics and reading sessions for any pupils who need this. Pupils who attend the specially resourced provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (specially resourced provision) are particularly well included in the life of the school. Staff are determined that these pupils, just like everyone else, will develop as readers and enjoy stories and books.

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

Pupils achieve well in reading, writing and mathematics. The school has worked hard to develop a strong curriculum across different subjects so that, from Reception upwards, pupils experience coherent, sequenced learning. There is a well-organised system to evaluate how well pupils are learning the curriculum.

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

Staff bring learning to life through real-life experiences that enhance pupils’ understanding. Consequently, pupils are proud of their work in different subjects. Most can recall their previous learning. However, there are times when pupils are not as confident when linking new learning to what they have learned over time. Therefore, the school’s intention for pupils to learn and deepen their understanding of some key concepts is not being realised as well as it could. 13 and 14 May 2025

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Learning includes rich and varied experiences that take pupils outside of the classroom. The school aims to ensure that all pupils learn from first-hand activities so that they are prepared well for their next steps. Sports and outside activities are also well organised to ensure that every pupil has something that appeals to them. This helps them to understand the benefits of a healthy, active lifestyle.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects, the school has not ensured that pupils are able to make useful links between previous and current learning. This means that pupils do not always build a secure and growing understanding of important concepts as they progress through the curriculum. The school should ensure that the curriculum is implemented in a way that enables pupils to achieve the depth of knowledge and understanding intended in its curriculum design.

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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 second ungraded inspection since we judged the predecessor school, Robert Le Kyng Primary School, to be good for overall effectiveness in September 2011. 13 and 14 May 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). 13 and 14 May 2025

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 Robert Le Kyng Primary converted to become an academy school and joined The Blue Kite Academy Trust in September 2022. When its predecessor school, Robert Le Kyng Primary, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be good for overall effectiveness.  The school includes a specially resourced provision. This provides ten places for primary-age pupils with physical disabilities.  The school does not use any alternative provision.  The school provides a before-school breakfast club for its pupils.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision. 13 and 14 May 2025

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 This was the first routine inspection 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 her evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with the headteacher and deputy headteachers, as well as other leaders and teachers in the school. She also met with the CEO of the trust, the chair of the trustees and a group of governors.  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.  The inspector visited a sample of lessons, spoke to pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspector looked at and considered the responses to the online survey for parents,

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Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text comments. The inspector also took the responses to Ofsted’s online survey for staff into account.

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Inspection team

Tonwen Empson, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 13 and 14 May 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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