Cranbourne Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

Enhance the curriculum by ensuring that all subject leaders build on existing plans for each subject to further develop pupils’ subject-specific knowledge, understanding and skills.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• Having joined the school in September 2018, the headteacher has provided strong leadership, maintaining and building on the already high-quality of teaching, learning and assessment. In collaboration with her leadership team, she has ensured that all staff share her vision of excellence.
• Leaders at all levels, including governors, hold very high expectations and aspirations for the academic success of each pupil, as well their social and emotional well-being. Strong leadership at all levels is evident throughout the school’s work. Teachers model outstanding leadership of their classes through their carefully structured lessons and unwavering commitment to enable each pupil to achieve well. Consequently, pupils develop into independent leaders of their own learning.
• Teachers, teaching assistants and the wider-school workforce are proud to be part of the school. The work of each member of staff makes an impressive contribution to this school’s well-established journey of continuous improvement.
• Leaders at all levels ensure that the impressive approach to teaching and learning is consistent across the school. In every class, teachers structure their lessons with great skill, demonstrating their in-depth understanding of each pupil’s starting point. Consequently, pupils make rapid progress in the development of their skills, knowledge and understanding across the curriculum.
• The curriculum is exceptionally broad, balanced and highly creative. The headteacher has a comprehensive understanding of the knowledge and skills required for success in each subject. Pupils learn in a speaking-and-listening rich environment. For example, pupils develop their understanding of complex scientific concepts by discussing their hypotheses and methodologies and presenting their findings to the class.
• A wide range of enriching activities are carefully planned for all subjects. For example, inspectors observed pupils discussing the important elements of a town in a Year 1 geography lesson. Pupils regularly visit places of importance to consolidate and broaden their knowledge in history, geography and science. Year 4 pupils told inspectors about the trip to Verulamium to extend their understanding of the impact of Roman civilisation on the south of England.
• The leadership of English is extremely effective. Through insightful reflection, drawing on evidence-based research, leaders revised the reading curriculum to strengthen pupils’ progress. Pupils read an impressive breadth of high-quality texts such as ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ in Year 6 and the poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ in Year 5. Through skilfully structured teaching, pupils develop a sophisticated understanding of how writers use language to create specific effects. Consequently, pupils across the school make very strong progress in reading. Pupils’ well-developed reading skills are impressively applied to their own writing. Inspectors observed Year 5 pupils writing with maturity and an empathic understanding of what soldiers experienced in the trenches during the First World War.
• The leadership of mathematics is extremely robust. Through the design of the well-structured mathematics curriculum, leaders ensure that pupils develop strong skills, knowledge and understanding. Pupils demonstrate these in their mathematical reasoning and problem-solving, drawing skilfully on their prior learning. Consequently, pupils’ mathematical outcomes are extremely strong at the end of Reception Year, key stage 1 and key stage 2.
• Provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development is outstanding. Leaders have ensured that the SMSC programme is at the heart of the curriculum. Pupils develop an informed understanding of cultural and religious diversity. The values of tolerance, respect and democracy are threads running throughout the curriculum.
• In their responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire, all staff agreed that leaders do all that they can to ensure that the school has a motivated, respected and effective team. Staff commented very positively on senior leaders’ focus on their workload and emotional well-being.
• Support for pupils with SEND is extremely effective as a result of leaders’ strategies to ensure that pupils make strong progress in all subjects. Through regular training, leaders have ensured that teachers and teaching assistants work collaboratively to enable pupils to access the curriculum successfully. Leaders monitor and track pupils with SEND, reviewing their academic progress as well as progress in their social and emotional well-being.
• Leaders use the pupil premium funding very well. Leaders work closely with teachers to evaluate the needs of individual disadvantaged pupils. As a result, teachers provide tailored approaches to enable pupils to make strong progress and attain well across the curriculum.
• Leadership of non-core subjects is very strong overall. The schemes of work for most subjects are extremely well defined and embedded in the school’s overall curriculum. Pupils extend their reading, writing and mathematics skills and knowledge through their study of other subjects. For example, in Year 2, the detailed study of the life of Florence Nightingale and the Crimean War culminated in pupils’ impressive non-fiction writing. While curriculum planning is particularly effective in history and geography, in a few other subjects, plans for learning over time lack the precision to ensure even greater pace in pupils’ learning.

Governance of the school

• The skilful team of governors is highly effective. They are passionate about ensuring that pupils receive a high-quality education. They use their skills to provide all leaders with challenge and support in equal measure.
• As frequent visitors to the school, governors gathered ample evidence to support their work to ensure an effective transition between the two headteachers.
• Governors monitor closely the school’s use of additional funding for pupils with SEND, the pupil premium and the primary PE and sport premium. They scrutinise the impact of this additional funding on pupils’ outcomes.
• Governors are not complacent and evaluate the quality of their own performance carefully. They challenge themselves to ensure that the school continues to provide an outstanding education for all pupils.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The headteacher is vigilant and alert to pupils’ safeguarding needs. Since taking up post, she has thoroughly reviewed all safeguarding arrangements, strengthening them further and ensuring that all pupils at risk of harm receive swift and appropriate support. Safeguarding is a standing agenda item for every governors’ meeting.
• Senior leaders and governors are meticulous in ensuring that systems and procedures are secure and fit for purpose. Senior leaders are tenacious in ensuring that vulnerable pupils receive the required support from external agencies and that it is timely.
• The school has a strong safeguarding culture in which pupils’ physical and emotional well-being is nurtured and protected. The overwhelming majority of parents and carers agree that this is the case. In discussions with inspectors, some parents shared their experience of how the school has helped them and supported their children.
• The school’s family link worker provides an effective range of therapies and interventions, meeting the emotional and psychological needs of pupils. The family link worker liaises very closely with the designated safeguarding lead to ensure that pupils’ needs are closely monitored and tracked.
• Staff provide high-quality support for vulnerable pupils. The welfare and care of pupils are of utmost importance to staff. As a result of the exceptional relationships developed between adults and pupils, and resources such as ‘worry boxes’, where pupils can post their concerns, staff are alert to the slightest change in a pupil’s behaviour and respond swiftly.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• Teachers’ high expectations and aspirations underpin the high-quality teaching, learning and assessment in all year groups and across the curriculum. Classrooms are harmonious learning environments where pupils’ enthusiasm for learning is nurtured and developed. Consequently, pupils develop very strong, independent learning skills.
• Pupils are challenged throughout their lessons. Lessons are skilfully structured to develop pupils’ skills, knowledge and understanding. Consequently, pupils develop knowledge that is revisited, enabling them to apply their prior learning and deepen their understanding. For example, pupils in Year 3 reflected on the symbolism of light in the religious festivals of Diwali and Hanukkah. They then applied this to the use of light in the depiction of the Nativity in Renaissance paintings.
• Teachers embed an exceptional focus on pupils’ language development across the curriculum. Consequently, pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, broaden their vocabulary and select well-considered words and phrases when writing. Across the school, pupils develop a sophisticated understanding of the effect and impact of writers’ word choice.
• Teachers use research evidence to inform their planning and delivery of lessons, alongside regular training sessions with subject specialists. Teachers’ subject knowledge is very strong. Consequently, all pupils engage extremely well with lessons in all subjects and make very strong progress.
• Teaching assistants work collaboratively with teachers to provide exceptional support for pupils with SEND. Tailored questions and supportive discussion help these pupils access lessons with confidence and success.
• Teaching and learning in phonics are strong. Through a systematic approach, pupils make strong progress. As a result of high-quality phonics teaching in Reception, many pupils start Year 1 with very strong early reading skills.
• The teaching of writing is exceptionally strong. Pupils write for a wide range of purposes and audiences, crafting their writing with care, precision and understanding. They focus on the accuracy and clarity of their work and the needs of their audience as they edit and redraft. For example, inspectors observed pupils in Year 3 enthusiastically discussing the effective use of adjectives to describe a mythical creature.
• The teaching of mathematics is exceptional and enables pupils to swiftly develop their understanding of complex mathematical concepts. Pupils are helped to consider different approaches to solving mathematical problems and evaluate them with insight and clear understanding.
• Teachers provide very strong feedback to enable pupils to make rapid progress. Pupils regularly reflect on this guidance to identify their misconceptions and to improve their work. Inspectors observed Year 4 pupils reflecting on their teacher’s guidance before writing. Consequently, pupils’ work in their books demonstrates rapid progress in a range of subjects.
• Teachers ensure that all pupils, including the most able pupils, are challenged to extend their knowledge, skills and understanding. For example, inspectors observed the most able pupils in Year 6 write the opening to a horror story, demonstrating an exceptional focus on their language choices. Additionally, inspectors observed the most able pupils in Year 1 writing with strong, empathic understanding about a greedy animal.
• Teachers use questioning very skilfully to stimulate pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding. For example, in a Year 1 science lesson, pupils’ intellectual inquisitiveness was stimulated by questions about the differences in the qualities of waterproof and non-waterproof materials.
• The teaching of history and geography is particularly strong. Pupils develop a real depth of understanding of a range of complex subjects through sequenced lessons. This is less clear in areas such as French, where curriculum plans provide less effective support for teachers.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Pupils’ welfare is at the heart of the curriculum. Pupils develop the qualities of kindness, empathy and tolerance for each other through explicit teaching and implicit guidance. For example, each classroom has a twitter board which celebrates pupils’ acts of kindness to one another.
• Pupils feel safe and well cared for. Members of the school council and the headteacher’s monitors told an inspector that they feel valued as leaders within the school. They also said that the school prepares them exceptionally well for secondary school. Pupils’ comments such as, ‘I wish to make decisions to benefit other people,’ and, ‘We help each other to stand strong on our own feet,’ exemplify the ways in which the school has developed pupils’ care and empathy for others.
• Pupils’ work in their books demonstrates the great pride they take in their learning. All pupils who spoke to inspectors voiced their love of coming to school.
• Pupils have a breadth of opportunities to develop their understanding of the world in which they live. For example, pupils engage in charity work, raising funds for those less fortunate than themselves. Consequently, pupils are extremely thoughtful and considerate of the feelings of others.
• Pupils told inspectors that they knew who to go if they have a problem and that they feel very safe and well cared for. Pupils understand the potential dangers of the internet and know how to keep themselves safe.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Pupils’ behaviour is exemplary, both in the classroom and around the school. Pupils are extremely attentive in class. Pupils are kind and considerate in the way they interact with each other at breaktimes and lunchtimes.
• Pupils enjoy coming to school and have very positive attitudes towards learning. This is reflected in pupils’ high levels of attendance which are consistently above the national average. Leaders are tenacious in reinforcing the links between high-quality learning and pupils’ presence at school.
• Pupils with complex needs receive excellent care across the school. Consequently, there is very little disruption in lessons. The family link worker provides tailored support to strengthen pupils’ resilience and emotional well-being. Collectively, pupils are respectful and supportive of each other’s differences and staff manage pupils’ behaviour very well. As a result, the school provides a highly inclusive learning environment in which all pupils can succeed.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• Pupils make strong progress from their starting points in a wide range of subjects. In 2018, the proportions of pupils who attained the expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics were significantly above the national averages at both key stage 1 and key stage 2. The attainment and progress of current pupils in reading, writing and mathematics are very strong.
• Pupils’ reading skills are extremely well developed in Reception, key stage 1 and key stage 2. Pupils read regularly for pleasure. Inspectors listened to pupils who read with impressive fluency and appropriate expression in key stage 1. In 2018, the progress of pupils at the end of key stages 1 and 2 was significantly above the national averages.
• The proportions of pupils reaching the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check are consistently above the national average. Pupils apply their phonics skills well and swiftly learn to read with fluency and understanding.
• Pupils at both key stages 1 and key stage 2 have achieved above the national averages in science over the past three years. Pupils currently in school are developing very strong investigative skills in their science lessons. For example, inspectors observed Year 6 pupils using circuit boards to investigate the properties of light.
• Pupils with SEND receive highly effective support that enables them to access lessons successfully. Consequently, these pupils make very good progress across all subjects from their various starting points.
• Pupil premium funding has demonstrable impact. Leaders and teachers monitor and track the progress of disadvantaged pupils closely to ensure that they do not fall behind. Teachers provide tailored additional support to meet the specific needs of individual pupils with great success. Pupils achieve well across the curriculum.
• The most able pupils make very strong progress in all subjects. Teachers provide appropriately challenging lessons that extend pupils’ skills, and deepen their understanding and knowledge. As a result, the proportions of pupils who achieved greater depth at the end of key stage 1 and the higher standard at key stage 2 were significantly above the national averages, in 2018.

Early years provision Outstanding

• Inspirational leadership has ensured that the early years setting prepares children exceptionally well for learning in Year 1. Children make very strong progress in the development of their skills, knowledge and understanding.
• The curriculum has been expertly designed to stimulate and nurture children’s innate curiosity and thirst for discovering and learning about the world around them. Through skilfully structured activities, children become immersed in imaginative experiences that enable them to develop their language, social skills and understanding. For example, inspectors observed children operating a spaceship to Mars, decorating a picture of the moon with sand and creating colourful rockets.
• Children’s learning journals document the impressive progress that they make in the development of their reading, writing and mathematical skills. Children are enthusiastic learners and embrace opportunities to write letters and apply their phonics skills.
• Children’s imaginations are further stimulated by the exciting repertoire of stories that they listen to. Children’s understanding of story structure and character description is very well developed as a result of adults’ skilful questioning. For example, inspectors observed one child’s impressive writing about the evil wolf in their version of ‘The Three Little Pigs’.
• Children’s language skills develop very quickly through activities focused on extending their vocabulary. Teachers and teaching assistants make enriching children’s vocabulary a consistent priority, recognising the very strong impact on progress.
• Adults ensure that children understand how to keep safe both physically and emotionally. Children’s relationships with adults and each other demonstrate their understanding of the importance of kindness and sharing. Teachers successfully reinforce the link between exercise and healthy eating at snack time.
• Children develop strong mathematical and scientific investigation skills through well-structured activities in both the indoor and outdoor areas. For example, inspectors observed children exploring the concept of spinning with ribbons and hoops. As a result of adults’ skilful questions, children were able to articulate their thinking about what affected the speed of the spinning ribbons and hoops.
• Staff training is highly effective. The early years leader ensures that all staff members receive high-quality training and ongoing support to ensure that children receive the best possible education.
• As a result of the high-quality education in Reception Year, the proportion of children reaching a good level of development by the end of early years is consistently above the national average.

School details

Unique reference number 109835 Local authority Bracknell Forest Inspection number 10054136 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 4 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 211 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Graham Wedgebury Headteacher Paula Jenkins Telephone number 01344 882350 Website www.cranbourne.org.uk Email address head@office.cranbourne.bracknell-forest.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 30 January 2018

Information about this school

• The school is slightly smaller than an average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged and supported by pupil premium funding is below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is below the national average. The proportion of pupils with education, health and care plans is below average.
• Most pupils are of White British heritage with small numbers of pupils from a range of different minority ethnic backgrounds.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors made visits to classrooms, some jointly with the headteacher, to observe learning and to talk to pupils about their work.
• Inspectors met formally with the headteacher and other leaders, including the special educational needs coordinator.
• Formal meetings were held with four governors, including the chair of the operations committee, 16 pupils and the school council.
• Inspectors listened to pupils read and discussed reading with pupils across the school.
• Inspectors scrutinised pupils’ work across all subjects and year groups to determine the accuracy of leaders’ and teachers’ assessments and whether pupils’ strong progress is being maintained.
• The lead inspector checked the school’s documentation regarding: the school’s approach and systems for safeguarding pupils; pupils’ behaviour and attendance; and the quality of teaching and learning. She also considered the school’s self-evaluation and improvement plans.
• Inspectors considered 151 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, including 52 free-text comments and the views of parents at the beginning of the school day. Inspectors also took account of 18 responses to the Ofsted staff survey.

Inspection team

Susan Aykin, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Catherine Davies Ofsted Inspector