St Edburg’s Church of England (VA) School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

St Edburg's Church of England (VA) School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy to belong to this welcoming community. They value the warm relationships that they have with staff.

Pupils say that staff are helpful and caring and this makes them feel safe. They enjoy playing with their friends and get on well together.

Leaders and staff have high expectations of all pupils.

These expectations reflect the ambitious curriculum that leaders have created for pupils, including in the early years. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are expected to achieve highly both academically and personall...y. All pupils are fully prepared for the next stage of their learning.

Pupils behave well. This means that the school environment is calm and orderly. Pupils are well mannered and respectful.

Pupils know who to talk to if they have worries, including about bullying. Bullying is dealt with quickly and decisively by senior leaders.

The school offers many additional activities to broaden pupils' horizons and interests.

For instance, pupils develop their skills as film critics and in traditional dancing from the Punjab. Pupils have the opportunity to go on many trips including to the Woodlands Centre in Glasbury on Wye.

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

Leaders have designed an interesting and ambitious curriculum to give pupils the knowledge and skills they need to be successful.

Leaders, including in the early years are aspirational. They have identified the knowledge that pupils should know and remember. In mathematics, teachers give pupils time to be able to instantly recall important number facts such as times tables.

The mathematics curriculum is structured so that pupils have time to secure their understanding before moving on to new content. In a small minority of subjects, the order in which pupils should learn new knowledge is not always clear enough.

Teachers carefully check how well pupils remember the essential knowledge before introducing more complex ideas.

As a result, pupils achieve well because tasks set for pupils match the curriculum ambitions for pupils. This includes pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils.

Teaching pupils to read well is a key priority.

Leaders make sure that there is a consistent approach to the teaching of reading. This starts with phonics in the Reception Year. Children in the early years engage very well with their well-taught daily phonics lessons.

Those who fall behind are quickly identified and appropriate support is provided. Older pupils are enthusiastic about reading. They speak highly of the texts that they read.

The library provides a rich opportunity for all pupils to access a wide range of books. This includes book types that they may not have read before, including audio books. The knowledgeable librarian helps pupils to develop a real passion for reading.

Leaders identify pupils with SEND accurately. Staff draw up detailed learning plans that set out the help that a pupil will receive in the classroom and outside of lessons. Skilled support staff enable pupils with SEND to access the same curriculum as other pupils.

Staff help pupils effectively and have high aspirations for this group of pupils. Consequently, pupils with SEND achieve well.

Pupils across the school, including in the early years have positive attitudes towards their learning.

They try hard and are keen to do their best. Pupils focus diligently on their work and listen carefully to their teachers. In the early years, there is an effective balance between tasks that children complete independently and those that they do with others.

Pupils' learning is rarely interrupted by low-level disruption.

Leaders prioritise pupils' all-round development. Pupils benefit from learning about the rule of law, democracy and human rights.

Leaders provide many opportunities through assemblies and the personal, social and health education curriculum to teach pupils about the world in which they live. They learn about different cultures and religions through well-planned events and activities.

Leaders and governors look after their staff exceptionally well.

Teachers and support staff are positive about the school leader's management of their workload and well-being. Leaders make changes where possible to reduce it.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders, including governors know and carry out their safeguarding responsibilities well. They promote a strong safeguarding culture across the school. Well-trained staff recognise when a child may be at risk from harm or is vulnerable.

Leaders make sure that pupils and their families get the right support when they need it. Partnership with other agencies is effective. This ensures that specialist help is available if it is required.

The appropriate checks are carried out when recruiting new staff. Records are thorough, detailed and checked regularly by governors.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a small number of subjects, leaders have not made sure that the curriculum is sufficiently well sequenced.

This means that pupils do not achieve as well as they could in some foundation subjects. Leaders should ensure that, across subjects, curriculum plans sequence learning more effectively.

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 a section 8 inspection of a good or outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the section 8 inspection as a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good/outstanding on 23 and 24 November 2016.

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