Fladbury CofE First School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

There has been no change to this school's overall judgement of good as a result of this ungraded (section 8) inspection. However, the evidence gathered suggests that the inspection grade might not be as high if a graded (section 5) inspection were carried out now. Inspectors are recommending the next inspection to be a graded inspection.

What is it like to attend this school?

Fladbury CofE First School's motto of 'happy hearts, open minds and bright futures' captures leaders' aspirations for all pupils. Staff are kind and caring, and pupils reflect this in their own behaviour. Pupils know who they can speak to if they have a worry.

They are confident that any problems would be sort...ed out quickly.

Staff have consistently high expectations for children from the early years. Pupils behave very well during lessons and at playtimes.

On the rare occasions that bullying happens, the staff sort it out to make it stop. Pupils are safe in school.

Pupils take part in a wide range of opportunities that broaden their understanding of the wider world, such as visiting Worcester city centre and museums in Birmingham.

They take on leadership roles by being an eco-committee member, school councillor or playground buddy. Children are taught to swim, right from the start of school in the early years, because of the school's proximity to a river.

Pupils achieve well in reading, writing and mathematics.

They are proud of their achievements and enjoy earning rewards, such as special points for reading. However, because the planning of the curriculum is not carefully organised, pupils do not learn as much as they could in some subjects.

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

Leaders have devised a curriculum that covers the broad aims of the national curriculum.

However, they have not carefully considered the important concepts and knowledge they want pupils to learn in different subjects and how this knowledge should build over time. Sometimes, pupils unnecessarily repeat the same curriculum content for some subjects over successive school years. Sometimes, teachers do not teach what leaders intend.

Where the curriculum is well organised, such as in reading, pupils achieve well. In several other subjects, it is not so well developed. This means that pupils do not remember important knowledge, and struggle to make links with other learning.

Consequently, pupils do not achieve as well as they might.

Leaders make sure that reading is a high priority from the early years onwards. Staff have been trained in how to teach the phonics and reading curriculum.

This is taught well. Pupils receive extra support to catch up in reading. This is having a positive impact on reading outcomes.

Leaders have ensured that parents and carers understand how to help their children to read at home. Pupils read with increasing confidence, accuracy and fluency. They leave school well prepared for the next stage in their education.

They enjoy reading, both at school and at home.

The mathematics curriculum has been redeveloped recently. Leaders have carefully considered the important knowledge and skills they want pupils to learn and when.

Teachers possess the necessary subject knowledge to teach the mathematics curriculum. Mathematics is taught well by most staff. A small number of staff lack the necessary expertise to teach mathematics effectively.

Leaders are aware of this and have begun addressing this.

Children in pre-school and Reception classes are well cared for. Relationships are strong.

Staff in the early years ensure that children are settled and nurtured. They understand the need to focus on early language development and have taken steps to address this through the curriculum. Children enjoy listening to stories at the end of each day.

They learn to take turns with others and play in the home corner cooperatively. Consequently, children develop their vocabulary and a love of reading successfully.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified early on.

Leaders ensure that the right provision is in place from the early years to support pupils with SEND. Staff have the necessary expertise to meet the needs of pupils with SEND. They take advice from external agencies and adapt the delivery of the curriculum appropriately.

As a result, pupils with SEND usually do well.

Through the curriculum, pupils learn about fundamental British values, and other religions and cultures. They understand that it is important to respect the beliefs of others.

Pupils have the opportunity to take part in a biannual residential visit. They perform in an annual music concert at an arena in Birmingham. Pupils take part in bell boating on a nearby river as part of their physical education.

Leaders foster good links with the local community, including participating in an annual local regatta.

Staff are proud to work at the school. Leaders take account of their workload and well-being when introducing new initiatives.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders carry out appropriate safer recruitment checks on all staff. However, before the inspection, these checks were not appropriately collated and stored in one central record.

This was addressed during the inspection. Despite this oversight, there is no indication that pupils were left unsafe in school.

Staff receive safeguarding training.

They know what to look for and record any concerns. Leaders respond to concerns appropriately. They seek and follow the advice of external agencies.

Pupils are taught about how to stay safe, including when online.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Leaders had not checked that their new approach to storing pre-employment checks met the requirement of establishing a single central record, in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education 2022. This meant that, before the inspection, there was no completed record in place.

Leaders and governors should ensure that any changes in their approach to centralising records of pre-employment checks follow the statutory guidance. ? Some areas of the curriculum are at an early stage of re-development. As a result, the curriculum is not consistently taught as leaders intend.

Leaders should review and embed the new curriculum to ensure that planned sequences of learning are taught as leaders intend. They should do this so that all pupils can achieve well across the whole curriculum.

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 January 2018.