Ilmington CofE Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Ilmington CofE Primary school is a caring school at the heart of its community.

Pupils enjoy attending. They know the school rules and values. The school motto, 'believe in being better' shines through.

Pupils behave very well around school and in lessons. Older pupils 'buddy' with younger pupils to help them settle quickly into school life. Pupils say that they can always be honest with the adults in school.

They value opportunities to talk if they have a worry. As a result, they feel safe and listened to. Many love to spend time with Albi, the school's therapy dog.

The school has high expectations for all, both academically and for personal develop...ment. Pupils enjoy living up to these expectations. They are well supported in their mixed-age classrooms and achieve well.

Pupils enjoy taking on a range of responsibilities. For example, they can be school librarians, mental health ambassadors or eco-councillors. Pupils enjoy working towards badges as part of the 'Ilmington 11' challenges.

For example, pupils can achieve badges for being 'church mice' or 'international friends'. Pupils value the life-long skills they build up through the 'learning toolkit'. Through these, and other opportunities, pupils learn to become positive, active citizens in their local community and the world beyond.

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

The school is determined that every pupil will thrive. There is a very well-considered and cohesive offer for all, which goes beyond the academic curriculum.

The school's personal development work, rooted in the early years, is a real strength.

Relationships between adults and pupils are strong and built on mutual respect. Pupils build skills in their 'learner toolkit' such as 'pondering' and 'perseverance'. Children in Reception know not to give up if they do not succeed the first time and older pupils understand that these skills will help them in later life.

Pupils are aspirational and the school ensures that they learn about different career paths.

Very carefully thought-out transition into Reception means that children settle into school quickly and are ready to learn. Children in Reception enjoy activities such as visits to the seaside, blackberry picking in the village and making crumble.

All pupils benefit from trips to the local theatre. Established links with local secondary school music groups and sporting competitions broaden pupils' interests and talents.

The school has developed an ambitious curriculum.

The important knowledge that pupils need to learn has been clearly identified and carefully sequenced. Pupils learn the right things at the right time. This starts in Reception.

For example, children delight in problem solving when building dragons to help them celebrate Chinese New Year. They use their knowledge of numbers and measures to compare different dragons they have drawn and made.

The school is developing how it checks that pupils have learned what is laid out in the curriculum.

For example, in history, 'sticky knowledge' quizzes and other low-stakes tasks help pupils to recall learning, so they know and remember more. In mathematics, pupils in Year 5 recall previous learning about times tables and connect it to new learning about fractions.

As soon as children start in Reception, they begin learning to read.

All pupils spoken to delight in reading and thoroughly enjoy the wide range of books and authors planned across the curriculum and available for them to read themselves. Well-trained staff deliver the phonics scheme. Regular assessments check the sounds that pupils know and any pupils at risk of falling behind are quickly identified.

Very effective support is put in place so that they can achieve well.

The school ensures that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) learn happily alongside their classmates. However, their individual targets, which outline what they are expected to achieve each term, are sometimes not set or reviewed in line with the school's own policy.

That said, strong classroom practice means that staff know pupils' needs well. They are skilful in making any necessary adaptations so that all pupils can achieve.

Leaders and governors have made many very positive changes since the previous inspection, which have benefited pupils and staff.

However, there are some small instances where intended actions are not carried out or checked as thoroughly as they could be.

The school has strong links with the local community. Pupils learn that they can make a difference.

For example, pupils have designed a village calendar which is sold in the community shop. They make scones and serve afternoon tea to elderly 'village friends'. School 'houses' vote for charities to fundraise for.

Visiting paramedics teach first aid skills and pupils in Years 5 and 6 make links with pen-pals in France. These opportunities, and a wealth of others, mean that pupils are being incredibly well prepared for life in modern Britain.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The school knows pupils and their families well. There is an established culture of safeguarding to keep pupils safe from harm. Staff have received appropriate training and there are systems in place to report any concerns they may have.

However, some actions relating to ensuring that the most vulnerable pupils are kept as safe and supported as well as they could be have sometimes been missed. In addition, some aspects relating to the administration of safer recruitment checks have not been overseen carefully enough by those responsible for leadership, including governance. These concerns were resolved before the end of the inspection.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Although the culture of safeguarding means that pupils are kept safe, in a few instances, safeguarding arrangements lack some rigour and oversight. Because of this, there is the potential for some safeguarding actions to be missed. The school needs to ensure that all those responsible for carrying out and overseeing safeguarding understand and fulfil their roles effectively and that there are suitably rigorous and systematic arrangements to maintain the culture of safeguarding.

• The school does not always check that all of the actions it intends to take are followed through well enough, for example in terms of setting and checking the targets and provision for pupils with SEND. This means that some intended processes are not always followed carefully to bring about the best outcomes. Leaders at all levels should ensure that where they identify an action that they need to take or a process that they want to put in place they ensure that these are carried out as intended.