The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You have ensured that the curriculum is broad, balanced and filled with purposeful opportunities for learning. You and your dedicated team of staff maintain a focus on pupils’ well-being and their personal and social development, alongside their academic success. The school’s Christian values – including friendship, respect and thankfulness – permeate the school. As a result, pupils are happy to come to school, where they learn and behave well. You have an accurate understanding of what is working well and what needs to improve. This is because you carry out termly checks on the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress. Your action plans include clear priorities for improvement that focus on ensuring that pupils achieve as well as they can. Teachers and teaching assistants understand your vision for further improvement and share your high expectations of the progress pupils can make. Parents and carers are highly supportive of the school. They are confident that their children are happy and that they make good progress. All of the parents that I spoke to during the inspection – and those who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View – would recommend the school to others. Pupils told me that they enjoy coming to school because learning is interesting. They particularly enjoy art, music and physical education (PE). In addition, pupils told me how much they value philosophy sessions, when they explore important questions. Pupils appreciate the opportunities to take on additional responsibilities. These include being a member of the sports crew, a school councillor or part of the worship committee. Staff are also very positive about the culture of the school. They strongly agree that they are valued and respected. Governors are highly committed to the school. They provide support and challenge through their ‘champion’ role, with each member focusing on a specific area. This allows them to find out for themselves about the provision at the school. Governors understand their safeguarding responsibilities very well. They make regular checks on the school’s safeguarding procedures, for example the pre-employment checks that are carried out on all staff. At the last inspection, leaders were asked to improve the quality of teaching in mathematics, with a focus on better use of mathematical equipment and providing opportunities for pupils to apply their mathematical skills in the wider curriculum. You have provided training for all staff on how to use practical equipment to support pupils’ understanding of mathematical concepts. The use of equipment is now an integral part of all mathematics lessons. In addition, teachers carried out a review of the whole curriculum to identify appropriate opportunities for pupils to use their mathematical skills. As a result, pupils frequently use their mathematical skills in other subjects, including design and technology and science. You also ensure that pupils develop an understanding of mathematics in everyday life through problemsolving tasks. Nevertheless, some aspects of teaching in mathematics need further work so that pupils are able to fully stretch their mathematical thinking and knowledge. You were also asked to improve the way in which targets for pupils’ progress are set by ensuring that they are measurable and challenging. You ensure that all teachers use prior assessment information to set aspirational targets. Pupils’ progress is reviewed each term and additional interventions are put into place for anyone at risk of falling behind. The school’s current assessment information shows that most pupils are making strong progress in reading, writing and mathematics throughout the school. Safeguarding is effective. Leaders and governors ensure that safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. All staff have appropriate child protection training and you share updates regularly. Staff take their safeguarding duties seriously and they know what to do if they have any concerns. You and your staff act promptly should the need arise. You identify any additional support that vulnerable pupils and their families need. Pupils say that they feel safe in school. They told me that they learn how to stay safe online and to use their bicycles safely, and that they have an awareness of the danger strangers can pose. Pupils say that everyone behaves well at school. They have a clear understanding of bullying and they say that it does not happen at Pendock because everyone is kind to one another. They are proud of their friendship stop because it means that no one is on their own for long. Inspection findings My first line of enquiry was to find out how well mathematics is taught. Over the last two years, pupils have made less progress in mathematics than in reading or writing by the end of key stage 2. You have made improving outcomes in mathematics a priority for the school. You have ensured that teachers have strong subject knowledge and that they plan lessons that reflect the typical standard expected in each year group. Pupils’ books show that they have regular opportunities to practise and refine their calculation strategies. In addition, teachers ensure that there are purposeful problem-solving tasks to which pupils can apply their mathematical knowledge and reasoning skills. Pupils’ books show that, occasionally, they have had to complete work they find easy before they are moved on to more difficult tasks. This means that, sometimes, pupils do not make the progress of which they are capable. I wanted to find out about provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). This is because, over the last three years, the proportion of pupils with SEND has been higher than the national average. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) knows the individual pupils who have additional needs well. She ensures that all teachers and teaching assistants are aware of pupils’ specific targets so that they can be reinforced in a variety of subjects. She plans specific interventions that are well matched to the needs of individual pupils. Checks are carried out on pupils’ work to ensure that pupils are applying what they have practised in their everyday work. Pupils with SEND make good progress because their needs are well met. You and other leaders ensure that pupils experience a rich and well-balanced curriculum. Teachers plan topics that are interesting and often make links with the local area. For example, the recent ‘Flowers of the Fields’ topic included a focus on the young men of Pendock who lost their lives during the First World War. This makes learning meaningful and, as a result, pupil engagement is high. Pupils are given the opportunity to become ‘experts’ in a specific subject or skill, particularly in art, music and PE. High-quality work is displayed around the school and pupils are proud of their achievements. You ensure that teachers plan learning that meets the requirements of the national curriculum. As a result, pupils are developing their knowledge and skills in a wide range of subjects. You are still working on the curriculum plans for foundation subjects such as geography and history so that teachers are better able to assess progress. This is to ensure that planned tasks build on what pupils already know and can do as they move through each year group within a key stage. The curriculum is complemented with additional experiences that add awe and wonder to learning. For example, pupils observed a blacksmith creating a piece of work from pupils’ original designs. Also, pupils are working with a local author to write a play about the school. Pupils gain an understanding of a variety of world religions and they learn about cultures different to their own because of the close links the school has with a school in Tanzania. The key motto of the school centres on pupils of the school being the ‘pride of Pendock’, not only in the present, but in the past and in the future. This is important because pupils value their community and have high expectations of themselves and one another. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: teachers provide more challenging work in mathematics when pupils are ready, so that a higher proportion of pupils reach the standard of which they are capable leaders continue their work to refine the curriculum and assessment of pupils’ achievement in the foundation subjects so that teachers can plan work that builds on what pupils already know and can do in all subjects. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of Worcester, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Worcestershire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Jo Evans Her Majesty’s Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I met with you and the SENCo, parents and governors. I spoke to a representative of the local authority. We visited classrooms and looked at pupils’ work together. I also met with a group of pupils. I reviewed the school’s website and documents, including the single central record of recruitment and vetting checks and child protection systems. I also reviewed the school’s selfevaluation, improvement plans, monitoring information and pupils’ progress and assessment information. I took account of the 17 responses by parents to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and six responses to the staff survey. There were 15 responses to the pupil questionnaire.