Bridgemere CofE Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Bridgemere CofE Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy to belong to this caring school that is at the heart of the local community. They know that staff care for them well.

Strong relationships with staff help pupils, including children in the early years, to feel settled in school. Pupils appreciate that there is a trusted adult who they can turn to if they have any worries or concerns.

The school has high expectations of what pupils can achieve, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Most pupils rise to meet these high standards. Typically, pupils achieve well. The...y are well prepared for the next stage of their education.

Pupils enjoy learning, and they behave well. Staff's consistent approach to managing behaviour helps pupils to demonstrate positive attitudes in lessons. Pupils develop strong friendships at school.

Older pupils actively support younger pupils throughout the school day. For example, play leaders help younger pupils to try new sports and to play safely at lunchtime.

The school provides numerous enrichment opportunities for pupils to pursue their talents and interests, such as pickleball, gardening and a wide range of sporting activities.

Pupils take great pride in representing their school in, for example, choral performances and in sports competitions.

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

The school has an ambitious and well-ordered curriculum. Pupils, including those with SEND, access a broad range of subjects.

The school has carefully designed curriculum content so that pupils in mixed-age classes learn all that they should. The important knowledge that pupils should learn from the early years to the end of Year 6 has been clearly identified. The school has thoughtfully connected ideas and themes across different curriculum subjects.

This helps pupils to deepen their understanding of broad concepts.The school provides valuable curriculum guidance for teachers. This helps to build and enhance teachers' subject knowledge.

There are clear expectations for how teachers should assess what pupils know and remember. In most subjects, this helps teachers to check how well pupils are learning the curriculum and to address any misconceptions or errors quickly.

In a small number of subjects, the school's assessment strategies are not tailored closely enough to the knowledge defined in the curriculum.

On occasion, this can hinder teachers from identifying gaps in pupils' knowledge as swiftly as they could. From time to time, this means that some pupils do not secure the knowledge that is essential for subsequent learning in these subjects.

Reading is highly prominent across the curriculum.

Pupils spoke with enthusiasm about their favourite books and authors. The recently developed school library is enticing and appealing. Books have been carefully selected to inspire pupils to read widely and often.

Pupils especially enjoy reading to Charley the dog, who visits each week.

Staff are appropriately trained to deliver the phonics programme well. Children get off to a rapid start in learning to read when they join the Reception class.

Skilled staff provide effective support for pupils who fall behind in the phonics programme so that they can catch up with their peers. The books that pupils read are well matched to the sounds that they already know. Pupils become confident and fluent readers in readiness for key stage 2.

Children learn to write well in the early years. Staff help children to learn to form their letters with precision. Children often practise writing the letters and words that they have learned in phonics lessons in a wide range of learning opportunities.

Pupils eagerly come to school each day, and attendance is high. When there are any slight dips in pupils' attendance, the schools acts quickly and effectively to ensure that pupils' attendance improves.

The school identifies the additional needs of pupils with SEND quickly and accurately.

Staff ensure that these pupils have the support that they need to access the same curriculum as their peers. Appropriate external agencies work with pupils as required.

The school supports pupils' wider development well.

Regular visits, trips and residentials help pupils to thrive socially as well as academically. Pupils take on leadership responsibilities that enable them to act as positive role models who actively seek ways to help others. For instance, pupils enjoy being school councillors and book monitors.

Parents and carers were overwhelmingly positive about the school. They value the approachability of staff and the care afforded to their children. Parents appreciate opportunities to take part in reading workshops that help them to support their children's learning at home.

Governors work successfully with the school to make sure that staff are well supported in their roles. For instance, staff's workload and well-being are considered when any changes are made to the quality of education that pupils receive. This helps staff to feel respected and valued.

Staff are proud to work at the school, and morale is high.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a few subjects, the school's strategies to assess pupils' learning are not matched to the knowledge in the curriculum carefully enough.

On occasion, this can hinder teachers from checking that pupils have learned essential knowledge securely. The school should ensure that approaches to assessment in these remaining subjects enable teachers to identify and address any gaps in pupils' knowledge swiftly and accurately.

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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in June 2018.