Broxbourne CofE Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The school has ambitious aims to prepare pupils for long-term success. Consequently, high-quality learning experiences are made a priority for all pupils in the school.

Pupils love to come to school and engage fully with lessons and the wider opportunities on offer. As a result, they achieve highly and excel as individuals. There are high aspirations for all pupils, regardless of their starting point or needs.

They receive exceptional levels of care and support. As a result, pupils have equal access to a first-class experience that helps them to succeed.

The reliable routines pupils follow from the early years support them to feel confident.

They app...reciate the guidance adults provide and learning about the important knowledge they need to keep themselves safe. Pupils are happy, highly resilient and willing to take on challenges in lessons. They show high levels of respect and demonstrate impressive levels of empathy for others.

This is seen in the impeccable way pupils conduct themselves in lessons and at playtimes.

Pupils are prepared excellently for their future learning. They develop academic ambition and the personal and social skills they need to thrive in the future.

They leave school empowered to positively impact their world.

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

Leaders at all levels in the school share a vision for excellence. Through their daily work, leaders, staff and governors champion the value of inclusivity.

This ensures that the school provides for every individual equally well. All pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), achieve highly.

The school has devised a detailed and ambitious curriculum.

Plans are demanding and expect pupils to gain a broad range of knowledge. From the start of the early years, the goals of the curriculum go beyond the expected. At every stage, pupils have the chance to apply their growing knowledge in relevant, real-life contexts.

Starting in Nursery, children learn new concepts in a logical and structured way. Children explore and learn early mathematics independently, through a meaningful range of tasks. This approach builds a strong foundation for future learning.

Pupil knowledge progresses in well-defined steps, year by year. The quality of learning in lessons is impressive. This is because teachers have very secure knowledge of the subjects they teach.

As a consequence, pupils gain an excellent understanding and a wide vocabulary. Pupils have the confidence to expressively share their thoughts and ideas.

The school's approach to developing staff expertise is notable.

This is true in the teaching of phonics and early reading. Staff use proven approaches to help pupils learn. Pupils rapidly gain the phonics knowledge and confidence to read words and sentences.

Staff check that pupils remember what they know. If needed, staff provide helpful, high-quality support to help pupils keep up. Pupils practise reading using books that align with their stage of reading.

The matched books support pupils to build fluency and confidence. As pupils move through the school, books continue to be a cherished feature of both learning and life.

Teachers use routine assessment in all subjects to check whether pupils remember.

Teachers respond by shaping lessons to provide extra rehearsal and practice, if useful. This means pupils recall with ease the 'sticky' knowledge needed for future learning. Staff know pupils with SEND very well.

They strive to make appropriate adaptations to help these pupils get the most out of each lesson. Precise support also helps pupils facing other social and emotional barriers to learning.

The school's dedication to pupils' wider development is exceptional.

Pupils access a well-designed range of quality extra-curricular opportunities. As well as clubs and trips, pupils benefit significantly from expert visitors. Pupils explore the world with the help of poets, authors and professional musicians.

This contributes well towards pupils' own goals and aspirations.

Leaders' engagement with parents is a strength. An established forum identifies priorities for equality, diversity and inclusion in the school.

This work supports meaningful discussion and impacts positively on pupils' learning and experience. This includes exposure to a broader diversity of books and their key characters. This exciting work is already inspiring practice in other schools in the region.

Staff also have the secure knowledge to connect lesson content to these key issues. In response, pupils are reflective about cultural differences. They are free to celebrate their individualities with their peers.

This contributes to the excellent conduct seen around the school.

Governors consider the well-being and workload of staff and hold leaders to account. Governors have a secure understanding of their roles.

They conduct visits to school and track school development priorities with skill. Leaders enable staff to focus their time on delivering exceptional provision for pupils.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.