Wellesbourne Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Wellesbourne Community Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Wellesbourne is a happy school that pupils enjoy attending. Pupils said that they have lots of friends and 'everyone is made to feel welcome'. They said that they feel safe because staff care for them and look after them well.

Leaders are aspirational for all pupils, including those pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and disadvantaged pupils. In most subjects, leaders have organised a well-structured curriculum that helps pupils to build on earlier learning and achieve well.

Leaders and staff have high expectations for pupils' behaviour....

As a result, pupils are polite and well mannered. They play and learn in a calm and orderly environment. Pupils said that staff treat them fairly and that pupils generally behave well.

They said that teachers will sort out any incidents of bullying quickly if they should happen.

Pupils appreciate the many opportunities to hold responsibilities, for example as school councillors, prefects and history ambassadors. They also enjoy the many clubs on offer at lunchtime and after school, such as choir practice, gymnastics and ukulele.

They look forward to school trips, including residential trips for older pupils to develop their team-building skills.

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

In almost all subjects, leaders have designed a suitably ambitious curriculum that supports pupils, including those with SEND, to achieve highly. In these subjects, leaders have carefully organised learning so that pupils, including children in the early years, build on what they already know.

Teachers are clear about what pupils should be learning and when this should happen.

In most subjects, teachers revisit previous learning as a matter of routine. This helps pupils to remember earlier learning and deepen their knowledge and understanding of these subjects over time.

For example, in mathematics, pupils practise recalling multiplication facts regularly. This helps them to use this knowledge confidently when undertaking new learning in mathematics.

Teachers have benefited from a range of appropriate training.

In the main, they display a secure knowledge of subject content, which they use to deliver curriculums well. Teachers use assessment strategies effectively to identify and resolve pupils' misconceptions. As a result, teachers have an accurate view of how well pupils are learning the planned curriculum.

In a very small number of subjects, the curriculum is not as well thought through. In these subjects, teachers are not as clear about how pupils' learning builds over time. This hampers teachers in their efforts to design learning that supports pupils to deepen their understanding of concepts.

Leaders have thought carefully about how they have structured the early reading curriculum. As soon as children join the school in the early years, they start to develop their phonics knowledge. Younger pupils practise their reading frequently.

They are supported well by highly skilled staff. Staff ensure that the books they choose for pupils, including children in the early years, are matched well to the sounds that they know.

Pupils who fall behind with their reading are identified quickly by staff.

These pupils receive appropriate and timely support to help them to catch up. Teachers carefully choose the books they read to pupils so that they capture pupils' interest and encourage a love of reading. Pupils understand why reading is important and they are keen to read regularly.

By the end of Year 2, almost all pupils become confident and fluent readers.

Leaders ensure that the curriculum supports pupils' wider development. Pupils learn about the importance of equality and democracy.

They enjoy learning about faiths and cultures that are different to their own. Leaders organise trips to support pupils' learning and provide new experiences such as visiting local beaches and museums. Pupils enjoy receiving certificates in assemblies for their work and behaviour, such as being well-mannered or kind to others.

They are also proud of their work to support local and national charities.

Staff ensure that children settle into positive routines as soon as they begin in the Nursery class. Staff apply the systems to manage pupils' behaviour consistently well.

As a result, classrooms are orderly and pupils focus on their learning.

Leaders ensure that pupils with SEND are identified early and are supported effectively by staff. Staff are knowledgeable.

They work closely with a range of external agencies and parents and carers to ensure that pupils with SEND benefit from the help that they need.

Leaders keep a close check on how well pupils, including children in the early years, are learning the curriculum. They have an accurate understanding of the school's strengths and those aspects of the curriculum they want to develop further.

Members of the governing body are similarly ambitious for pupils. They hold leaders to account effectively for the quality of education that pupils receive. Staff are proud to work at the school.

They feel that they are supported well by leaders and they appreciate leaders' work to look after their well-being.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders' procedures for keeping pupils safe are robust.

Leaders ensure that all staff are trained appropriately to identify potential safeguarding concerns. Staff understand the systems that they should follow if they are worried about a pupil. Leaders' safeguarding records are detailed.

Leaders follow up any concerns in a timely manner.

Staff know families well and they work effectively to support them. When necessary, leaders work successfully with outside agencies to support vulnerable pupils.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders and governors have prioritised the support for pupils' well-being and mental health.

Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe, such as the steps they can take to protect themselves when learning online.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a very small number of subjects, leaders have not organised the curriculum as carefully as they have in most other subjects.

This hampers teachers in designing learning that supports pupils to make connections and deepen their knowledge and understanding of concepts over time. Leaders should ensure that, in these subjects, teachers are supported to design learning that helps pupils to make links with earlier content and build successfully on what they already know.

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 in December 2016.