Bourne Westfield Primary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Bourne Westfield are expected to achieve highly and they do. They understand the school's 'CORE' values of community, opportunity, respect and excellence. They know what these mean for their work and conduct and do their utmost to live up to them.

Provision for pupils' personal development is exemplary. Pupils are prepared very well for life in modern Britain. As one pupil summed up, 'It doesn't matter what you look like or what you are, you can do anything in life as long as you work hard.'



Pupils have a multitude of opportunities to make a positive contribution to their school and wider community. The school's 'cultural promise' sets out the bro...ad set of experiences that pupils, as a minimum, will benefit from before leaving the school. This includes visiting a gallery, working with a professional artist, performing to an audience, and representing the school in sporting activities, to mention but a few.

The school makes sure that all pupils, especially those who are disadvantaged, achieve this goal.

Outside, pupils play imaginatively and cooperatively. They are well-mannered and courteous and learn to take and manage risks.

Making the most of the vast array of resources that are available to them, they thrive.

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

Children get off to the best possible start in the early years. They are happy and looked after well.

The curriculum makes clear what they are expected to know and remember at each stage through Nursery and the Reception Year. The activities on offer, both indoor and outdoors, help children to learn, explore and revisit this content over time. Adults skilfully check on children's knowledge and help them to remember their learning.

As a result, children develop a broad, detailed and rich knowledge base that prepares them extremely well for the next stage of their education.

Beyond the early years, the school has a well-designed curriculum. Across all subjects, content is taught in a logical order.

Pupils' knowledge builds cumulatively over time. In most subjects, including English and mathematics, pupils have an impressive recall of what they have learned. However, in a small number of subjects, there are some inconsistencies in how well staff ensure that pupils know and remember key learning.

Reading is a top priority at the school. Those at the earliest stages of learning to read get off to a strong start. The school's phonics programme makes clear which sounds pupils are expected to know at each stage of their education.

Any pupils who begin to fall behind are quickly identified and helped to keep up. Beyond phonics, the reading curriculum enables pupils to learn about a wide range of texts, genres and authors. It helps pupils to read, understand and appreciate increasingly complex texts and vocabulary.

Pupils develop very positive attitudes towards reading.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well-supported. The school carries out thorough assessments to ensure that these pupils' needs are identified and understood.

Detailed plans make clear what help will be provided. Pupils with SEND who learn in the recently established 'willow room' and 'learning base 2' receive well-tailored support. However, these initiatives are at an early stage of implementation.

The school has not yet established how it will measure the impact of these on pupils' learning and development over time.

The school has meticulously planned a broad, rich and varied programme to support pupils' personal development. It provides opportunities and experiences that build cumulatively as pupils move through the school.

It includes a detailed and cohesive programme of personal, social and health education, work around the school's core values, fundamental British values, the protected characteristics, and curricular and extra-curricular provision.

Pupils behave well. They hold doors open for one another.

They understand the 'Westy Way' and describe the importance of each of these rules. The school's behaviour policy is consistently understood. Pupils enjoy earning 'Westy points', being included in the golden book and being selected as a star of the week.

They know what happens in the event of poor behaviour but say that 'red reminders' are very rare. Pupils who need extra help to live up to the schools' expectations are well-supported.

The school is well-led and managed.

Leaders at all levels, including trust and governance, are highly ambitious for the school. They know what is working well and what needs to be improved. However, in a small number of cases, the school does not use all the information that it has available to evaluate the impact of some recently introduced initiatives.

This means that it does not have a fully rounded view of how well these initiatives are working. The school has a dedicated team of staff who are proud to work at the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• There are some minor inconsistencies in how well the school helps pupils to know and remember the key learning that is set out in the curriculum. As a result, in a few areas, pupils do not remember what they have learned as well as they should. The school should ensure that, across all subjects, teaching results in pupils learning and remembering the content of the curriculum well.

• The school does not use all the information that it has available to evaluate the impact of some recently introduced initiatives. This means that the school does not have a fully rounded view of how well these initiatives are working and whether any changes are needed. The school should ensure that it establishes effective methods to measure and evaluate the impact that new initiatives have, both currently and over time and whether they need further refining.

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