Bledlow Ridge School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a happy village school where everyone is welcomed and made to feel part of the community. Relationships are warm and nurturing. Pupils know that staff care about them and are always there to listen and support them if they are worried about something.

The school's values, such as curiosity, empathy and respect, are lived out daily. Pupils describe how these values help them to make the right choices and to be kind and caring to others. They also learn that to achieve success they need to be resilient when they encounter new challenges.

Pupils make the most of all that the school has to offer. From 'hedgehog club' to sporting clubs, there is something for every...one. Pupils benefit from extensive opportunities to make music, and all pupils from Year 1 learn to play a musical instrument.

Enrichment weeks offer pupils inspiring and memorable learning experiences.

Staff have high expectations and enable pupils to build the 'foundations for a love of learning' successfully. Most pupils achieve well and enjoy learning.

Their performance in the end of key stage 2 national assessments is consistently strong. Pupils leave the school well prepared and confident to embrace the challenges of secondary education.

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

The new leadership team has worked tirelessly to strengthen the school's curriculum.

This hard work has paid off. Pupils benefit from an interesting, ambitious and well-sequenced curriculum. Additionally, staff have clear guidance about what and when they need to teach new content.

This provides consistency across the school and helps to reduce staff workload. Staff are fully on board, appreciate these improvements and enjoy working here. Governors too have played their part in providing clear direction for the school and supporting it to maintain the momentum of change.

Staff have good subject knowledge, plan interesting lessons and explain new concepts clearly. This helps pupils to build their knowledge across a breadth of subjects. However, some pupils do not always achieve as well as they could.

This is because the curriculum is not consistently adapted well enough in all subjects to meet pupils' needs. As a result, sometimes pupils find it difficult to get started with or complete learning tasks. This is particularly so for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and for pupils who find learning more challenging.

Strong induction processes and the school's positive partnership with parents enable children in early years to settle quickly into school. They soon develop their confidence and become curious, independent learners. Children learn how to follow routines and how to get along with others.

Throughout the school, staff have high expectations of behaviour, and the school is a harmonious community. Respect and courtesy are the norm.

As soon as pupils join the school, any additional needs are quickly identified and support put in place.

This includes a range of targeted help for reading, writing and communication. Most staff check how well pupils have learned and remembered what they have been taught. However, processes to check what pupils have learned are not fully effective across the school.

As a result, not all staff identify or address gaps and misconceptions in pupils' learning as well as they could.

The school's new approach to teaching reading is successful. Younger pupils get off to a good start in learning to read.

They soon acquire phonics knowledge and delight in the success of being able to read. Reading continues to be a priority as pupils progress into key stages 1 and 2. Class texts and regular reading lessons successfully develop pupils' comprehension, fluency and enjoyment.

Pupils acquire new vocabulary, which supports their learning in other subjects.

The school provides an exceptional range of extra-curricular clubs and enrichment activities. These include many trips to places far and wide and a residential visit.

Pupils enthuse about these and enjoy the healthy competition afforded by inter-school events. These experiences combine to enrich pupils' learning significantly. The different pupil leadership groups help to develop pupils' sense of citizenship and enable them to contribute to decision-making.

Pupils develop a strong understanding of equality. In religious education, pupils learn about faith and beliefs. They learn that different religions have many commonalities, such as prayer, worship and holy books.

Pupils talk confidently about the importance of the protected characteristics and of values such as democracy. They learn about significant figures in modern history who have changed our world for the better.

Pupils and parents know that every day in school is important, and this is reflected in pupils' very high attendance rates.

Parents have nothing but praise for the school and support the school wholeheartedly.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

There is a strong culture of care in the school.

Staff are alert to anything that may indicate a concern. They feel confident in reporting their concerns, knowing that they will be listened to and any worries acted on. When needed, additional help and support are provided for families.

This includes support from the local authority family support team. Recruitment procedures are thorough, ensuring that all the necessary checks are completed for staff and adults working in the school.

However, there are some minor weaknesses in the school's safeguarding arrangements.

The school has not always been proactive in sharing information as early as possible with other agencies when problems are first emerging. In addition, record-keeping is not as consistent as it could be to enable leaders to gain a clear enough understanding of safeguarding concerns over time. Leaders are already taking swift action to strengthen these aspects of the school's work.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a small number of classes, staff do not consistently identify and address pupils' misconceptions or weaknesses in their learning. This risks errors and misconceptions becoming embedded and hinders pupils' learning. The school needs to ensure that assessment processes are fully effective so that errors, gaps and misconceptions in pupils' learning are systematically addressed.

• Not all staff adapt learning well enough to meet pupils' needs, particularly for pupils who have barriers to their learning. As a result, some pupils do not always achieve as well as they could. The school needs to ensure that staff have the knowledge they need to adapt learning more consistently and effectively to meet pupils' needs.

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