Bosmere Community Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by:
  • ensuring that leaders increase the rigour and accuracy of monitoring, focusing especially on pupils’ progress, so that weaknesses are identified and tackled more quickly than in the past
  • increasing the quality of support and challenge given to teachers, to help teaching to improve more quickly identifying clear targets in action or development planning to show what is being done and how success will be measured
  • ensuring that governors provide more challenge to other school leaders
  • ensuring that the website is fully compliant with statutory guidance.
• Improve teaching across the school and pupils’ progress, especially in English and mathematics, by:
  • ensuring that teachers have higher expectations of what pupils can achieve, particularly the most able, so that pupils can fulfil their potential
  • ensuring that teachers plan activities that are not too hard or too easy for pupils
  • ensuring that good practice in the Nursery is shared more frequently with the Reception classes, especially with regard to the timeliness and quality of interventions when children are working independently. External reviews of governance and the school’s use of the pupil premium are recommended to determine how these aspects of leadership and management can be improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• Leaders at all levels have been too slow to respond to weaknesses in pupils’ progress, which became apparent in Year 6 national assessments in 2016. Until recently, they have not done enough to ensure that pupils begin to make good progress. They have an overgenerous view of school performance. This means that the pace of change, while improved, has been too slow.
• Senior and middle leaders do not monitor provision with sufficient rigour. While they have a wealth of data on pupils’ progress, they do not use this information well enough to evaluate school effectiveness and to evaluate the quality of teaching. They are not setting clear enough targets for improvement so that they can measure the success of any initiatives. Over time, teachers have not been given sufficient support and challenge to help them improve so that pupils’ progress improves more rapidly than in the past.
• Additional government funding is not used to good effect to help disadvantaged pupils attain as well as other pupils nationally. Support funded by the pupil premium is focused more on some year groups than others. Consequently, not all disadvantaged pupils benefit equally and progress is too uneven. For this reason, a review of the school’s use of the pupil premium is recommended.
• The local authority is providing more support and challenge to the school in the current year than in the past. It is too soon to be certain that this will secure the needed improvements.
• Leaders have a clearer picture than in the past of where improvement is needed. In some areas such as mathematics and the teaching of phonics, recent initiatives are already securing higher attainment. This is being supported well by the sharper use of in-school assessment information to identify where targeted support is needed to help pupils who are in danger of falling behind.
• The curriculum covers all subjects, but focuses strongly on teaching basic skills in English and mathematics. Learning is made interesting for pupils by being linked around a central theme or a book. The school enriches provision well by providing a wide range of clubs, visits and visitors. These contribute greatly to pupils’ enjoyment of school and they enhance learning significantly. For example, pupils in Years 1 and 2 produced some good-quality writing because they were highly motivated following a visit to a local zoo.
• The school’s sports premium is used effectively to support pupils’ physical development. Pupils have many opportunities to take part in sporting activities, either for fun or competitively. Teachers have been supported to become more confident about teaching physical education because they are able to work alongside skilled practitioners.
• The school’s curriculum has a clear focus on pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and provides them with opportunities to understand key issues of life in modern Britain. School councillors talk about how they were elected to their positions. Pupils happily raise funds for charities such as a local foodbank. The culture of respect and tolerance, which underpins all aspects of the school’s work, prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain.

Governance of the school

• Governors do not provide enough challenge to other school leaders. They know what the school is striving to improve, but have not been successful in ensuring that the underachievement that emerged in national tests at the end of Year 6 in 2016 has been tackled with sufficient speed. Although governors are supportive and make productive visits to the school to find things out for themselves, they have an overgenerous view of the school’s performance.
• Governors do not monitor the impact of additional government spending, such as sports funding or the pupil premium, with sufficient rigour. They do not ensure that reporting on these areas on the school website complies with statutory requirements.
• Governors are kept well informed by the headteacher. This means that they have a clear picture of where teaching is stronger or weaker and how it is being strengthened. They check that systems to manage staff performance are properly implemented and that teachers’ pay rewards only good teaching.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Procedures for keeping pupils safe are robust and are effectively managed. Leaders and staff know pupils and families well. Pupils who are encountering situations which make them vulnerable are supported sensitively, as are their families. This support is a strength of the school.
• Checks on the suitability of staff meet statutory requirements. Procedures to identify and respond promptly to concerns are well understood by staff. Staff have been trained to protect pupils from radicalisation and extremism through the government’s ‘Prevent’ duty programme.
• The school has established good links with other agencies to ensure that pupils are kept safe. The overwhelming majority of parents spoken to, or who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, indicated that their child felt safe in school and that their child is well looked after.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Teaching requires improvement because it has not been sufficiently good to enable pupils to make good progress and achieve well over time.
• Teachers do not have high enough expectations of what pupils can achieve, especially the most able. At times, work is too easy for some pupils and too demanding for others, including those who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities.
• Teachers do not respond quickly enough to increase the level of challenge when it is clear that pupils are ready to move on or to give them additional guidance where it is needed. Some less-able pupils become over-reliant on adult help to complete their work. Consequently, some pupils complete work without having a clear understanding of the concepts they are learning.
• Although the quality of teaching is not yet good, work in pupils’ books shows that they are benefiting from improving teaching over the last year. Pupils, such as some disadvantaged pupils, who receive additional support make rapid progress because teachers at these times are skilled at adapting work so that it is more closely matched to need.
• Teachers manage pupils’ behaviour well and have good relationships with them. They successfully encourage pupils to work without fear of failure. There is a happy atmosphere in class when pupils are working.
• Phonics is taught well and this is securing better progress for pupils, especially in key stage 1. This is reflected in the improving outcomes in the Year 1 phonics check. Teachers have good phonics subject knowledge and introduce skills in a fun and engaging way.
• In mathematics, attainment has been improving because teaching is taking more account than in the past of the need to include skills such as problem solving and reasoning in activities. This is helping to make work purposeful and is having a good effect on pupils’ learning, so that more are beginning to fulfil their potential.
• Pupils reported that they enjoy their homework and feel that it helps them to do better at school.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils’ attitudes to learning and towards school life are good. They enjoy school and talk happily about their work. They especially like the large number of clubs and other activities outside lessons that are offered by the school. They enjoy the well-attended breakfast club, and one commented, ‘It helps my mum get me to school.’
• Pupils show good respect and care for others. They value their classmates’ opinions and work together happily, supporting each other enthusiastically in lessons.
• Pupils stated that they feel safe at all times – a view supported by almost all parents. Pupils are fully aware of how to stay safe, including online. They talked knowledgably about the potential pitfalls of using social media and know what to do if they have a concern.
• Pupils said that there is occasional bullying, but they reported that teachers or other adults quickly sort it out. As one commented, ‘There is always someone who will listen to us.’
• The school rightly prides itself on the nurture of its pupils, including those who have specific needs. Staff are quick to identify pupils’ emotional and health needs and to take steps to seek additional help for them where it would be beneficial.
• Pupils are keen to do well later in their lives. They keenly take responsibility. School councillors carry out their roles responsibly.
• Across the school, pupils are proud of their work, although there are occasions when they do not take enough care to present it neatly.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils have a good understanding of the school rules and follow them carefully. They like the school’s rewards system and feel motivated to do well by the possibility of receiving a ‘high five’ from the headteacher at the end of the week.
• Pupils are polite and courteous and conduct themselves well when moving around the school building or at playtimes.
• Pupils work hard and listen carefully most of the time in lessons. They only occasionally become inattentive when teaching does not engage them fully.
• Pupils’ attendance has been improving and was slightly above average last year. The vast majority of pupils attend regularly and arrive at school on time and ready to learn. Leaders are proactive in tackling poor attendance. They continue to work closely with outside agencies and families to improve the attendance of the very small number of pupils who are more persistently absent.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Pupils’ achievement over time has not been good enough. There are pockets of underachievement across the school and, while improving, pupils’ books show that progress continues to be uneven.
• In the middle of the last academic year, the school recognised that outcomes, especially in Year 6, needed significant improvement. Leaders responded to this and did all they could to ensure that Year 6 pupils in particular did better in the short time that remained for them at the school. As a result of this focused support, pupils’ attainment at the end of Year 6 rose in 2017 to broadly average levels in reading and mathematics, but writing remained below average. However, this still reflected below-average progress from the end of Year 2 for many of these pupils. In the current year, the school is still over-reliant on giving Year 6 pupils extra support to help them catch up.
• Less-able pupils and those who have SEN and/or disabilities do not make good progress because work is not matched well enough to their needs. Work is sometimes too hard for them.
• The most able also make variable progress. There are too many occasions when work does not challenge then well enough. As a result, across the school, including in the early years provision, too few pupils are reaching the higher standards for their age.
• Disadvantaged pupils make better progress than their peers when they receive additional support outside lessons. However, this progress is not seen consistently across all year groups because support is spread too thinly. As a result, by the end of Year 6, too few disadvantaged pupils reach or exceed the standards that are expected for their age.
• While progress remains uneven, visits to lessons and school assessments show that it is improving. Work in pupils’ books confirms this. Consequently, pupils’ attainment is beginning to rise in some year groups. This is especially evident in mathematics, in which attainment at the end of Year 2 in 2017 was slightly above the national average. Across the school, pupils are becoming much more confident about applying their mathematical knowledge to practical activities such as problem solving.
• In Year 1, outcomes in phonics have also improved. The proportion of pupils reaching the expected level in the national phonics check was above average in 2017. This is as a result of improvements made by leaders in the quality of phonics teaching in the early years and key stage 1.

Early years provision Requires improvement

• In 2017, the proportion of children reaching a good level of development was broadly average. However, progress is not consistently strong across the early years setting. Children are now being prepared more effectively for life in Year 1, but not all are making rapid enough progress, especially the most able.
• Children make slower progress in the Reception classes than in the Nursery because teaching in these classes does not meet differing needs well enough. In the Reception classes, adults do not respond quickly enough when children have finished a task or are ready for the next stage of their learning. This means that the improvement in skills is not rapid enough, particularly for the most able.
• In contrast, adult interventions in the Nursery are timely and helpful. Adults question children skilfully, using this information effectively to check their understanding and to extend their learning.
• In the Nursery, adults plan a particularly wide range of interesting and purposeful activities that motivate and engage children well. Work is often linked around a central theme. For example, as part of a theme about ‘pirates’, children counted treasure, drew and labelled maps and made models.
• Across both the Reception and Nursery classes, adults focus effectively on supporting children’s social and emotional development. Children are given calm and sensitive support throughout the school day and quickly learn how important it is to behave well and work hard. Consequently, most children have good levels of concentration and develop high self-confidence.
• Children have good access to well-resourced outdoor areas. They work sensibly outdoors, developing good physical skills. A forest school is used well to bring subjects alive. During the inspection, Nursery children were highly motivated as they explored the forest to find materials for making a musical instrument.
• Leaders have an overgenerous view of the quality of provision. This is because monitoring is not rigorous enough. The early years leader is a skilled practitioner and has already identified that she needs to do more to check provision in the Reception class so that she can identify more clearly what is going well and what needs improving.
• Leaders are demonstrating the capacity to secure the needed improvements. For example, there has been a strong recent focus on improving children’s writing skills and this is proving effective. Children are developing good writing stamina and are very keen to make marks on paper or to attempt to write words or short sentences.
• Parents are pleased with the quality of early years provision. They like being able to contribute to their children’s learning through an online assessment system. The views of parents were summed up by one who commented, ‘My child settled really quickly in the Nursery and cannot wait to get to school each day.’

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 124674 Suffolk 10037646 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Community 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 331 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Kirsten Sharpe Elizabeth Green 01449 721750 www.bosmereprimary.net admin@bosmere.suffolk.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 4–5 December 2013

Information about this school

• The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information about school sports funding and the pupil premium on its website.
• This is a larger than average-sized primary school with 11 classes. Children in the early years are taught in two Reception classes and a Nursery.
• Most pupils are from White British backgrounds.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is broadly average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium is below average.
• The school met the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics.

Information about this inspection

• The inspectors observed pupils’ learning in lessons, many of which were observed jointly with the headteacher or the deputy headteacher. In addition, the inspectors made some short visits to observe learning at other times.
• Discussions were held with pupils, staff and members of the governing body and representatives of the local authority.
• The inspectors took account of the views of 77 parents and carers who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. Inspectors also talked with parents at the end of the school day.
• The inspectors listened to pupils read and looked at their work. They looked at school documents, including: the school’s own information about pupils’ learning and progress; planning and monitoring documents; the school development plan; records relating to behaviour and attendance; safeguarding information; and health and safety documentation.
• The inspectors analysed responses to inspection questionnaires from 28 members of staff.

Inspection team

Mike Capper, lead inspector Clare Fletcher Sandra Jones

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector