Sutton Bonington Primary School
Catchment Area, Reviews and Key Information

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Since the previous inspection, there have been significant staff changes. These include your appointment as headteacher in September 2018, and that of the two assistant headteachers in January 2019. Leaders and the governing body have focused their efforts on managing staff changes as well as other priorities they have identified. You and the new senior leadership team are establishing systems and procedures to better hold staff to account while being aware of teachers’ workload. You are developing better communications with parents and carers, and ensuring greater consistency in pupils’ progress and attainment. Leaders and the governing body have a clear vision for continuing improvement. At the start of the inspection, we reviewed the priorities identified at the previous inspection and agreed the key lines of enquiry that I would investigate to test whether the school remains good. The current school improvement plan is focused with clear criteria for success. To support the school in achieving its improvement priorities, you have established a more robust process for managing the performance of staff. This includes the meetings you and senior leaders hold with staff to discuss and review the progress of pupils in each class, including pupils who are disadvantaged or who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). You check standards in the school carefully and provide staff with focused feedback to help them improve the quality of teaching. You also provide detailed information to the governing body about different aspects of the school’s work. However, governors’ and senior leaders’ grasp and analysis of the progress of different groups of pupils are not as sharp as they could be to more effectively hold staff to account. Linked to this, reviews of the impact of additional funding, including the pupil premium, are not as thorough as they could be. The governing body cannot be certain that the funding is having the maximum impact on improving pupils’ outcomes. The governing body has provided effective support for the new senior leadership team in a challenging period of the school’s development. Members of the governing body are now committed to ensuring that they both support and hold leaders to account for all aspects of the school’s work. At the last inspection, leaders were asked to further improve pupils’ progress in writing. We saw that pupils are able to write at length in a range of different styles, including in their ‘exciting writing’ books. In some classes, pupils complete work in different subjects that is of similar quality as work in their English books. However, some inconsistencies remain. Teachers do not have equally high expectations of the quality of pupils’ work in different subjects. Sometimes, they do not help pupils to improve their writing as well as they could. Since your appointment, leaders and the governing body have identified relevant priorities for improvement, including improving standards of behaviour. You and other staff have been effective in this. I saw that pupils are well behaved. They are friendly, positive and polite at all times of the school day. Leaders and other staff support pupils who need help to improve their behaviour. You have sought the views of parents in reviewing the behaviour policy. Pupils know the new school approaches, including the system for gaining rewards and what will happen if they do not behave well. New school rules and the ‘role-models’ and ‘ready to learn’ initiative are well understood and encourage pupils to be responsible and make positive decisions. Many parents commented positively on the ‘family’ ethos of the school, friendly staff and recent improvements. Many commented on the efforts you and your staff are making to improve communications and involve parents. These include the creation of a parents’ forum, for example. The large majority of parents said their children were happy coming to school, were taught well and are making good progress. Safeguarding is effective. There is a secure culture of safeguarding. Leaders ensure that all members of staff are kept up to date with the latest guidance on keeping pupils safe in education. Leaders take timely actions where there are concerns about pupils’ welfare, including the involvement of external agencies where this is relevant. You carefully record the actions you take. The governing body also checks that the school meets safeguarding requirements, including records of the checks made before people can work or volunteer in the school.