Buntingford First School

Buntingford First School

Address: London Road, Buntingford, SG9 9HZ Unique reference number (URN): 149748

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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

The provision in the school's Nursery and Reception classes is a real strength. There is a very well-designed curriculum in place that sequences clearly the knowledge children need. The curriculum forms the building blocks for further learning across the school. For instance there is a strong focus on children's communication, vocabulary, social and emotional development. Leaders effectively adapt the curriculum around children's varying needs and starting points.

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Early years Strong standard

Staff develop children's emotional knowledge well. Staff teach children how to 'try again' and be resilient with their endeavours. Children play well, sharing resources and taking turns. Children grow in confidence and independence. Children love learning and the books they share in class. They are happy, safe and well looked after.

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Early years Strong standard

Staff form close, effective partnerships with children and their families. They take time to learn about children's backgrounds, needs and interests. As a result, adults support children very well. Teaching is highly effective. Accurate checks ensure that adults know what help children need and when. Staff expertly support children through talk and play. They pose well-considered questions which enable children to build their knowledge effectively. By the end of the Reception Year, children achieve well across all areas of the curriculum and are more than ready for Year 1.

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Inclusion Strong standard

The success of the school's approach to inclusion stems from the detailed knowledge and understanding staff have about pupils' needs and aspirations. Working very closely with pupils and their families, staff quickly identify the precise support pupils require. This includes pupils who transition into the school at non-standard times, for instance in Year 2 or Year 3. Highly effective support is put in place to reduce barriers to learning and attendance or to support pupils with their behaviour. Leaders closely track and monitor the effectiveness of this support, making careful and effective adjustments to ensure any help is working.

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Inclusion Strong standard

The well-qualified inclusion team works closely with external agencies to arrange expertly chosen and highly effective therapies. A support worker helps the school to foster close relationships with pupils' families and to develop a deep understanding of their needs. Well- trained staff use a range of effective strategies to adapt school life for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. A meaningful pupil premium strategy is in place. It is working very well to support disadvantaged pupils. Leaders use part-time alternative provision appropriately and in order to complement the school curriculum. Regardless of their barriers, all pupils can access school life and learning.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Inclusion has been at the heart of the school's work since it opened in September 2023. Working closely with the trust, families and the local community, leaders have built a successful school with a number of areas of strength. Leaders analyse information methodically about how well the school is working. They have an accurate understanding of the school's strengths and areas for development. They continually refine what they do as the school continues to grow in size. Leaders provide high-quality professional learning. This ensures that all staff are equipped with the tools they need to support pupils with barriers to learning, such as special educational needs and/or disabilities. Leaders prioritise staff support, learning and wellbeing, especially as the school expands. Leaders engage well with parents. Staff organise workshops and other effective support to help and guide parents in how to support their children. Staff and parents are highly supportive of leaders' work to

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Governors and the trust have helped leaders on all parts of the journey since the school opened. Leaders work closely with other school leaders in the trust to effectively peer-review and check the efficacy of their work. The governing body and trust are adept at supporting and challenging leaders. Governors have significant expertise in the areas they monitor. They commission external reviews, where necessary. These help leaders to further improve the school for the benefit of pupils.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

The personal development programme is the important thread that runs through school life. A well-planned personal, social, health and economic education curriculum complements the subject curriculum. It links well to the school's education for social responsibility programme. These programmes support pupils to develop a detailed and rich understanding of themselves and the world around them. Furthermore, the impact on pupils can be seen through how they understand difference, treat each others with respect and live by the school's values. Each trip and experience is carefully planned so it builds on pupils' knowledge, raises their aspirations and gives them an opportunity outside of their everyday lives. Despite the small size of the school, the school clubs are regularly changed to reflect pupils' interests or to offer something different. Leaders canvas pupils and their families to see whether there is anything else they could offer. Staff carefully track attendance at extra-

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

curricular activities to ensure there are opportunities for all. Where possible, experiences take place within the school day so no one misses out. Staff ensure reasonable adjustments are in place. This means that events are accessible to all pupils.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

As a result of the highly effective personal development programme, pupils have very secure knowledge about a range of topics, including different cultures, sustainability, online safety and conservation. These experiences set pupils up well to become responsible citizens and to respect the world around them. Children in early years develop positive personal, social and emotional knowledge.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Excellent pastoral support helps pupils when school life gets tricky. Leaders invest heavily in ensuring that the right wellbeing help is available for pupils at the right time. This includes spending time with Alfie the school dog, when needed. As a result, pupils get back on track with their learning as well as improving their behaviour and/or attendance.

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Achievement Expected standard

Pupils achieve well from their varied starting points. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Children in early years, including in the Nursery, build secure knowledge that provides a firm foundation for future learning. Children's achievement in speech, language and communication is worthy of note. High-quality demonstrations by staff support children to build confident language and phonics knowledge. The school's phonics outcomes in Year 1 continue to improve against a backdrop of increasing pupil numbers. In mathematics, pupils continue to build their number fluency. The highly effective approach to inclusion ensures staff know where pupils may need further support or have gaps in their foundational knowledge. Across the curriculum, pupils ably build knowledge in subjects such as art and science. Pupils' work shows increasing levels of detail and depth of understanding as pupils move towards Year 4. Pupils are well prepared for their next school.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

A number of pupils arrive at the school with significant barriers to regular attendance. Leaders work closely with pupils and their families to understand what support they might need in order to attend well. There are carefully considered support mechanisms and adjustments on offer which enable families to get to school regularly and on time. As a result of leaders' intelligent actions, many pupils improve their attendance and are on the journey to attending well. The importance of high attendance is shared regularly and effectively across the school. It is everyone's responsibility. Overall school attendance is improving, with persistent absence reducing. Leaders are clear about the work needed to improve attendance further.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

The school's approach to supporting behaviour is most effective. Leaders ensure that appropriate interventions and therapies help pupils who have difficulty controlling their emotions. Pupils behave well and are resilient learners. Children in the early years learn about their feelings. They engage animatedly with their peers and school life. Staff have built a positive behaviour culture linked to the school's values. It is supported well by the personal development programme. Staff deal with serious incidents of behaviour, including bullying, robustly. They use suspensions rarely and only when necessary.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

The ambitious school curriculum covers a range of subjects, including education for social responsibility. The curriculum builds from a high-quality early years curriculum. It is suitably adjusted around mixed year group classes and pupils' needs. As the school grows, leaders carefully adjust the curriculum around changing class sizes. Staff know their pupils' needs and prior knowledge well, particularly for those new to the school. Staff quickly spot if pupils need further help with important foundational knowledge such as early reading. High-quality interventions support pupils to catch up and plug any gaps in their understanding. A robust focus on speech, communication and language, for instance, supports children to talk well and to learn important vocabulary. Staff ably model spoken language to children. Pupils enjoy and learn from the books that underpin the curriculum and the extensive personal

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

development programme. The teaching of reading is prioritised across the school.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Typically, teaching is high quality, particularly in the early years. Teachers choose effective activities that support pupils to learn well. Pupils get plenty of practice to build their knowledge and understanding. Leaders' effective checks identify where teaching needs further strengthening, for example in the rare cases where learning activities are less precise and they hinder pupils' progress.

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

Pupils are happy and safe in this warm, welcoming and inclusive community. Staff take time to get to know pupils' needs very well. Attentive, caring staff put in effective help and support so pupils thrive and succeed. Pupils behave well and focus on their learning with resilience. Pupils listen to others' opinions with respect and contribute sensibly to discussions. They show kindness to each other and play happily on the playground together. Staff ensure that poor behaviour, such as rare incidents of bullying, are dealt with effectively. Pupils trust adults to sort out issues. The 'values' ambassadors take pride in awarding house points for those pupils that contribute positively to school life.

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

Children in early years get off to a strong start due to the highly effective early years provision. Staff support children to develop important language skills and to learn new words. Staff support children to grow in independence. As a result, children take great joy in playing, talking and learning together. A wealth of books, stories and rhymes ensure children love reading and build important reading knowledge. Children become confident, resilient individuals, ready for learning in Year 1 and beyond.

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

The personal development programme is a strength of the school. It is tightly linked to the school's values. Through this, pupils develop detailed knowledge about themselves and the world around them. Older pupils take their leadership roles seriously. They are fantastic role models for younger pupils. Pupils lead assemblies which show their knowledge of key topics such as fair trade and the importance of sustainability.

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

Pupils access a rich range of clubs, trips and other experiences. Each experience is carefully designed to meet pupils' needs and aspirations and is linked to the personal development offer. Pupils support local charities, meet inspirational people and take part in clubs that expand their talents and interests.

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Next steps

Leaders should ensure that highly effective teaching is embedded consistently throughout the school so pupils can further deepen their knowledge of important content. Leaders should continue to embed and refine their effective attendance strategies to support all pupils to attend well.

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Lead inspector:

Damian Loneragan, His Majesty's Inspector

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Team inspector:

Michael Williams, His Majesty's Inspector

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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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About this inspection

The school is part of the Scholars' Education Trust, which means that other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The co-chief executive officers are Claire Robins OBE and Matthew Gauthier. The trust is overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Geoffrey Payne.

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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 headteacher, senior leaders, the co-chief executive officers, the chair of trust, trustees, governors, staff, parents and pupils 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 makes use of one unregistered alternative provision.

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About this inspection

The school opened in September 2023 to pupils in all year groups.

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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.

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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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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

2023/24 (3 term) 5.4% 5.5% 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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national average

2023/24 (3 term) 13.5% 14.6% Close to average

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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

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 .

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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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