Bressingham Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Bressingham Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils live and breathe the school's 'ACORN' values. Adult's high expectations of pupils ensure they 'Aspire' to be the best they can.

Similarly, pupils 'Collaborate' with, and 'Respect', one another. This means the school is a happy and harmonious place for pupils of all ages to learn, play and have fun together. Pupils know that when play stops and work starts it is time to focus and do their best.

They take pride in their learning and know right from wrong.

Pupils trust that adults will do their best for them. They know it's okay to share worries or concerns with ad...ults.

When they do, adults help and support pupils to overcome issues and make things better. Pupils know everyone is an individual and it is okay to be yourself. They celebrate differences between themselves and others.

Pupils develop a rich appreciation of different cultures, religions and beliefs.

Pupils experience many memorable moments. These include growing vegetables in the allotment, visiting the Houses of Parliament and developing a keen sporting interest.

By the end of Year 6, pupils are extremely well prepared, both academically and socially, to fly the nest as they head to secondary school. They leave the school as confident, well-rounded young people.

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

The school has ensured pupils learn an ambitious curriculum.

Consequently, pupils develop rich and detailed knowledge in many subjects. Pupils remember a great deal about what they have learned. This is because teachers explain concepts and ideas clearly.

Teachers support pupils to revise and recap their learning regularly. This further supports how well pupils retain important knowledge.

Teachers have strong subject knowledge of the subjects they teach.

They use this knowledge well, for example to provide pupils with precise guidance to develop their vocabulary in different subjects. Pupils across the school produce high-quality artwork because they learn the specific skills and techniques they need to achieve well. Tasks become more complex as pupils know more and remember more.

In mathematics, pupils tackle tricky problems successfully because they have learned the important knowledge they need to solve them.

Adults provide effective support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They make careful adaptations to activities in lessons where these are needed.

The individual plans for pupils with SEND clearly set out the extra help and support they receive. At times, it is not always clear precisely what pupils need to know, remember or be able to do as a result of this extra work. This means teachers and leaders cannot always check if pupils have learned exactly what they need to learn.

Children in Reception learn to read well. They build on their knowledge of phonics effectively into Year 1. Almost all become accurate and confident readers.

Those who find reading tricky, and need more help, receive this from skilled adults. Pupils have ample opportunity to read books that are closely matched to the sounds they know. Older pupils confidently read rich and thought-provoking books.

They know the importance of reading. Pupils value and enjoy reading books from a range of cultures that help broaden their understanding of the wider world.

Pupils behave extremely well in school.

They are kind and courteous to one another, and to adults. If pupils need additional help with their behaviour, adults provide this extremely well. Pupils' attendance is high.

The school do all they can to promote high attendance. If pupils miss too much school, they are well supported to improve their attendance.

The school has ensured pupils have rich and meaningful opportunities to learn about people from different cultures, backgrounds and with different beliefs.

Much of this is through the well-established relationships, sex and health education programme. Pupils are well guided to learn about different relationships and how to stay healthy, including looking after their physical and mental health. The 'operation exercise' initiative ensures pupils see the benefits of regular exercise.

They are inspired to be active. Members of the school council are proud of their roles and contribute positively to the life of the school.

Leaders take great care to look after staff's well-being.

They consider the workload of staff before making any changes. Staff feel valued, and consequently enjoy working in school.

Governors hold a clear and accurate oversight of the strengths and weaknesses of the school.

They remain strategic in their work, holding leaders to account well. They receive much useful information from leaders, but do not take this at face value. They make regular visits to check for themselves and ask pertinent questions of information provided by leaders.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The school has not ensured that individual targets for pupils with SEND are consistently precise enough. They do not always precisely set out what pupils need to know, remember and be able to do as a result of the additional activities they undertake.

This means some additional support that pupils receive is not always tightly focused. Leaders should ensure that staff put in place specific, measurable and time-focused support to ensure that these pupils achieve well.

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 October 2013.