St Germans Primary School

St Germans Primary School

Address: Lower Fairfield, St Germans, Saltash, Cornwall, PL12 5NJ Unique reference number (URN): 151213

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, pupils are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect schools for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The school has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. All legal requirements are met. Not met: The school has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Early years Strong standard

Leaders are ambitious and relentless in their drive to give every child the best possible start in their education. Children in the early years benefit from a high-quality early years provision. Staff know every child well and respond precisely to their needs. Staff have strong knowledge of child development. The curriculum shows clear, well-sequenced progression across all areas of learning. Trust-wide improvement systems sustain the high quality of provision and keep practice under continual review.

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Early years Strong standard

Children benefit from a well-resourced learning environment. Reading is prioritised from the start. Children learn through a systematic synthetic phonics programme and experience a rich diet of stories, rhymes and high-quality texts. Staff are successful in developing children's language through purposeful interactions, both in play and daily routines. The mixed-age early years and key stage 1 structure ensures smooth transition, with children’s starting points well understood.

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Early years Strong standard

Parents value the support and care their children receive and the opportunities to be involved in their learning. Staff understand each child’s next steps. Leaders analyse progress closely to ensure provision meets individual needs. Targeted interventions address specific gaps for disadvantaged children and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, enabling all children to make strong progress. As a result, they are well prepared for Year 1.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

School leaders, including those from the trust, provide strong strategic direction and are relentless in their drive to secure improvement. They have established clear systems, raised expectations and ensured that staff receive high-quality professional learning. Leaders analyse performance rigorously. They act swiftly to address priorities, such as strengthening inclusion practices across the school. Their work has transformed the culture of the school. Morale has been rebuilt while the quality of provision has improved significantly.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders place staff wellbeing at the centre of the improvement journey. The supportive and collaborative approach has enabled staff to feel valued and confident, contributing to the positive culture evident across the school. Staff at all levels benefit from research-informed, professional learning opportunities. This includes regular networking across the trust, which has created a strong culture of continuous professional growth.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Governors and trustees understand their statutory duties and fulfil them effectively through robust trust-wide processes. They have a clear grasp of the school’s priorities and hold leaders to account with appropriate challenge and support. Their work, alongside the trust’s significant investment in expertise, training and resources, has contributed to the school’s rapid improvement. Trust specialists work closely with staff and pupils, providing regular support and challenge that is timely and school-specific.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

As a result of the strong leadership at all levels, many areas of the school’s work have significantly improved. This represents a remarkable shift in the quality of education pupils

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Expected standard

receive. Leaders remain focused on the necessary next steps and continue to drive improvement with clarity and purpose.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders have embedded a well-planned personal, social and health curriculum that builds progressively from the early years to Year 6. This meets all statutory requirements, including relationships and sex education. Teachers ask purposeful questions to support pupils' learning. They carefully plan opportunities across mixed-age classes, which enable pupils to revisit and deepen key concepts. As a result, pupils develop secure knowledge about physical and mental health, healthy lifestyles, emotional regulation and personal safety. They speak confidently about body changes, healthy relationships and consent, and they articulate these ideas with maturity and respect.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders place a strong emphasis on developing the whole child. All pupils benefit from a rich and ambitious programme of extra-curricular opportunities. Carefully planned trips and outdoor experiences, often delivered with trust partners and alongside peers from other trust schools, broaden pupils' horizons and build confidence, resilience and teamwork. Examples include fossil hunting in Dorset, canoeing in a quarry, coast path walks and trail mountain biking in Devon. Pupils have a wide range of creative and sporting opportunities. Leaders have specifically designed these so that they support those pupils who face barriers to their learning or development. These include inclusion residentials, sporting festivals and music clubs. Pupils speak positively about trips and visits and recognise their impact on their learning and personal development.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Pastoral provision is a strength. Staff know pupils and families well and respond effectively to individual needs. Leaders work closely with families to understand barriers and secure appropriate support.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Pupils learn about fundamental British values across the curriculum and wider school life. They build a detailed understanding of tolerance through learning about different religions and cultures. This is strengthened by residential visits to cities across the United Kingdom. Assemblies provide exploration of moral dilemmas and current issues. Pupils engage in meaningful charity work, such as bake sales to raise money for a local hospice charity. They feel their views influence school improvement through the school council.

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Achievement Expected standard

Pupils achieve well in national tests, and many perform better than their peers nationally. This includes those who are disadvantaged.

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Achievement Expected standard

Pupils have a secure understanding of subjects across the wider curriculum. They enjoy learning and demonstrate detailed, age-appropriate knowledge about what they have studied. For example, pupils explain clearly how bays and headlands form through coastal erosion. Staff know pupils well and use assessment effectively to address gaps. Well- designed adjustments ensure pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive targeted support that helps them make steady progress in line with their peers.

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Achievement Expected standard

Leaders prioritise the important skills of spelling, handwriting, number formation and number facts. This focus is improving pupils' accuracy and confidence, although there is some variability across the wider curriculum. As a result, written work across subjects is not of a consistently high quality and expectations for what pupils can achieve are uneven.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Pupils enjoy attending school. Overall attendance is in line with the national average. Levels of persistent absence are low. Clear systems enable staff to track and monitor attendance closely. Leaders understand well the barriers pupils face. Leaders take appropriate action to reduce or remove barriers to improve pupils' attendance.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Leaders have established a positive and respectful culture across the school with clear systems and expectations. Pupils and staff adhere consistently to the clearly understood behaviour policy. Pupils show consideration for one another and take pride in their environment. Behaviour during social times is respectful and cooperative. Incidents of poor behaviour are rare. Bullying is not tolerated. Lessons are largely calm and orderly, where pupils are focused on their learning tasks. At times, some pupils do not pursue the further challenge provided for them and become less engaged once they finish a task. However, the overall culture and behaviour expectations set by leaders have created a settled learning environment in which pupils behave well and value being in school.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

The curriculum is ambitious and carefully designed to meet the needs of mixed-age classes. Teachers organise subject content effectively so that pupils build up their understanding. Teachers provide opportunities to revisit key concepts and make meaningful links across subjects. For example, in geography, pupils explore life in a rural Tanzanian village, which is reinforced in social, moral and cultural learning where they reflect on cultural diversity.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Leaders focus appropriately on reading, writing and mathematics. Teachers teach reading through a well-embedded, systematic phonics scheme. Pupils in key stage 2 move on to engaging reading that develops their fluency. Teachers link texts to other subjects, strengthening pupils' understanding of language and the choices authors make. Mathematics and writing are taught consistently well, using clear small-step structures. However, teachers' expectations for written work across the wider curriculum are not as high. Vocabulary sits at the centre of the curriculum. Teachers take time to explore the meaning of new words. Activities in the local area successfully bring learning to life. For example, pupils deepen their learning about crime and punishment when they visit Bodmin Jail.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Staff know pupils well. Teachers use assessment effectively and provide feedback that helps pupils to improve. Teachers adapt their teaching strategies to ensure that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported to learn as well as their peers.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders have embedded effective systems that identify and assess the needs of disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff attend regular training, which means they can use these systems with increasing accuracy and impact. By prioritising pupils with the strongest barriers, leaders ensure that the most vulnerable pupils receive support first. This approach has proved highly effective. Provision for these pupils is precise and well matched to need. Leaders now aim to extend this approach so that all pupils with barriers have their needs addressed swiftly and effectively.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Staff carefully monitor the progress of pupils and adjust interventions accordingly. They adapt their provision to address specific needs, often using advice from external professionals. As a result, pupils with SEND make clear progress from their starting points. Parents of pupils with SEND value the school’s inclusive approach and the care their children receive. The trust’s model of support, challenge and accountability has strengthened this improvement journey and is evident in the quality and consistency of current practice.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders use additional funding effectively. They know each disadvantaged pupil very well and tailor support to individual circumstances. This ensures that barriers are addressed and demonstrates leaders' commitment to improving provision and all pupils' life chances.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

A necessary and rapid journey of improvement has taken place at St Germans Primary School. Leaders have successfully transformed the school. Pupils are happy to come to school and are kept safe. As a result, attendance is high and pupils achieve well. Staff know each pupil as an individual with their own character. Pupils thrive in a positive culture of belonging. Each pupil and their family are made to feel valued as part of the active school community.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

The curriculum is skilfully designed by leaders to suit the mixed ‑ age classes. Teachers make well-considered and appropriate adaptations in lessons for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and for those who face other barriers to learning. Pupils benefit additionally from many other experiences and opportunities. These extend beyond the curriculum with a strong emphasis placed on developing pupils' interests and talents. Pupils value the school's very positive 'Bring It' vision. They develop their character and fitness through experiences such as the 'Three Peaks Challenge'. When any area of the school’s performance falls below the expected standard, swift action is taken by leaders to address it.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils typically behave well. They benefit from learning in calm and focused classrooms. Pupils treat each other with kindness and respect. Bullying is not an issue. Pupils feel listened to and they value the importance of having a voice.

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Team inspector:

Marcus West, Ofsted Inspector Pupils enjoy using the school’s vast and well ‑ maintained grounds well for outdoor learning and play. Thoughtful improvement has been made to the indoor learning environment. There are bright, welcoming spaces in which pupils can thrive. Pupils play an active role in both their school and the wider community. For example, they take on many leadership opportunities and raise money for local and national charities.

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Next steps

Leaders should ensure the monitoring of progress for those pupils who face any barriers to learning is more rigorous to ensure their needs are swiftly and effectively addressed. Leaders should ensure that teachers' expectations of what pupils can achieve and the quality of the work they produce are consistently high across all subjects, especially in the accuracy of their writing. Leaders should further develop pupils' enthusiasm for learning and aspirations for themselves so that they develop self-discipline and a greater dedication to their education.

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About this inspection

This school is part of St Barnabas 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), Sean Powers, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Steve Bulmer.

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About this inspection

Inspectors carried out this full inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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About this inspection

Following our renewed inspection framework, all inspections are now led by His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMIs) or by Ofsted Inspectors (OIs) who have previously served as HMIs.

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About this inspection

Inspectors spoke with the head of school, special educational needs coordinator, area hub lead, trust inclusion lead, trust early years lead, deputy chair of the board of trustees and the CEO during the inspection.

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About this inspection

The inspectors confirmed the following information about the school:

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About this inspection

The school currently uses no alternative provision.

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The data was used by the inspector(s) during the inspection. More recent data may have been published since the inspection took place.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils currently at this school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils who can attend the school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years. National average: 26.3%

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan. This covers pupils with more support than is available through special educational needs support.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with reported special educational support needs at the school.

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What does this mean?

Based on the English Indices of Deprivation (2019) and the school's location, we have calculated whether the school is located in a more or less deprived area.

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What does this mean?

Whether school has Resourced Provision or SEND unit (if applicable).

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standards in a combined reading, writing and mathematics measure.

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading.

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing.

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics.

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after.

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mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher- assessed writing.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics.

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average

2022/23 59% ‘S’ in the table above indicates the data has been suppressed, which is usually due to small cohorts. The suppression rules applied by the DfE when publishing the data have been mirrored and applied in the report card.

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance gap

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after. The school disadvantage gap is the difference between the performance of the school's disadvantaged pupils compared to the performance of all non-disadvantaged pupils nationally.

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mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics, including the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading and the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher- assessed writing and the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics and the disadvantaged gap.

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average

‘S’ in the table above indicates the data has been suppressed, which is usually due to small cohorts. The suppression rules applied by the DfE when publishing the data have been mirrored and applied in the report card.

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Overall absence

The percentage of all possible mornings and afternoons missed due to absence from school (for whatever reason, whether authorised or unauthorised) across all pupils.

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national average

2024/25 (3 term) 4.8% 5.2% Close to average

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Persistent absence

The percentage of pupils missing 10% or more of their possible mornings and afternoons.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other schools can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The school reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The school is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The school needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care. services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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

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