Boynton Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Boynton Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Boynton Primary School is a warm, inviting and welcoming school.

Pupils and staff say they are proud to be part of the 'Boynton family'. Pupils spoken with say they are safe and happy here. Staff and pupils show respect for each other.

Pupils are confident that staff will help them if they have any worries.

The school has undergone many changes in recent times. The recently appointed executive headteacher is determined to raise expectations and improve pupils' outcomes.

Much has been done to review the curriculum in some areas of learning, such as reading. However..., further development is needed in other parts of the curriculum.

Behaviour in the school is excellent.

Pupils enjoy learning and listen to staff well. They say that staff support them fairly in managing their behaviour, using the 'traffic lights' system. Pupils say there is no bullying.

A minority of pupils say that they do occasionally hear inappropriate language, but do not always tell teachers about it.

Parents value the wide range of school clubs and enrichment activities that take place. The school creates lots of opportunities to support pupils to develop an understanding of the world beyond the school.

The school works tirelessly to encourage pupils to attend regularly. However, a significant minority of children do not. They miss school for minor issues or for holidays in term time.

This prevents them from learning successfully.

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

The school is aware that previous learning outcomes have not supported pupils to achieve highly enough. The school's new leadership team members are clear about the work they are undertaking to improve this.

The school has implemented rigorous improvements to the curriculum. Leaders, at all levels, are determined and ambitious. A number of subjects, such as reading, demonstrate sustained improvements.

Some other subjects are at an earlier stage of improvement. However, the school is clear about how they will be further reviewed and improved.

The school has ensured there is a clear curriculum offer in place for all subjects.

The learning within this matches the ambition of the national curriculum. In a small number of subjects, there is insufficient detail about the knowledge the school wants pupils to learn. This means that teachers do not always have enough support to plan for learning to build over time.

Some pupils have gaps in their learning because of previous weaknesses in the quality of education and the impact of the pandemic. In some subjects, these gaps are not being addressed quickly enough.

Inclusivity, respect and acceptance of difference are at the heart of this school.

The school welcomes all children. Previously, pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) were not always identified quickly enough. However, there are now robust systems of support in place to ensure that all individual needs are recognised.

The school acknowledges that it has more to do to support teachers to adapt learning for pupils with SEND.

The school has worked extensively to raise the profile of reading. The new library area is bright and welcoming.

Staff have carefully chosen books to excite and interest pupils. Parents have been involved in choosing books for their children to read from carefully chosen lists. The school uses these books to teach pupils about diversity in the wider world.

Author visits and book weeks add to the positive 'buzz' about reading.

Children in the early years get off to a good start with phonics. The school has very recently introduced a new phonics programme.

All staff are trained to follow it consistently. Lessons are fun and interesting. Children enjoy phonics lessons and are proud to share the sounds they know.

In the key stage 1 class, all pupils are currently accessing the same phonics lesson daily. For some pupils, this means they are repeating learning about sounds they already know. This prevents them from making more rapid progress.

Pupils who need further support access 'keep-up' sessions. This helps them to close any gaps in learning to read.

Recently, the school has placed a significant focus on broadening pupils' understanding of the diversity of the world.

Trips and experiences are planned to show pupils the world beyond the school. In the past, pupils have visited a Buddhist Centre and a mosque. The curriculum for pupils' personal, social, health and economic education ensures pupils learn important knowledge about relationships, fundamental British values and protected characteristics.

However, there is a lack of clarity in some areas of this curriculum. This results in some pupils not remembering important learning.

Leaders, at all levels, are determined to improve the school further.

They actively seek advice from external sources such as the local authority, or partner schools. This is having a highly positive impact and improvements have taken place rapidly. Governors are regular visitors to the school.

They have a clear understanding of where the school is on its journey and the next steps it needs to take. However, the school will benefit further from future expansion of the governing body. This is needed to ensure that it can effectively challenge and support the school in all areas.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, the newly introduced curriculum is at the early stages of development. In these subjects, the school has not ensured that staff have sufficient subject knowledge or use effective pedagogy to identify and address pupils' misconceptions.

The school needs to continue to embed the planned curriculum and ensure that teachers clearly understand and can implement it effectively. ? Staff do not have sufficient understanding of how to adapt and scaffold learning to meet the needs of pupils with SEND. This means that pupils do not achieve as well as they could or are not prepared sufficiently for the next stages of learning.

The school must ensure that staff have support to adapt lessons to meet individual or specific needs, without lowering expectations. ? Pupils' attendance is too low. Some pupils do not attend school often enough.

This hinders pupils' progress with learning. The school should ensure that it continues to work with families to improve attendance for all pupils, and ensure that they are clear about the impact on learning when pupils do not attend school.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in November 2013.