Northampton primary school is a ‘happy and welcoming place’, says Ofsted

Ofsted have found that Blisworth Community Primary School continues to be a good school in their latest inspection.

The school, situated in Courteenhall Road in Blisworth, was judged to be good in July 2017 so a follow-up inspection was carried out by the education watchdog in September this year to ensure that it remained good.

This ungraded inspection is carried out under section eight of the Education Act 2005. Good schools are usually inspected every four years - or at any time if concerns are raised.

In the subsequent report, Ofsted said: “Everyone at Blisworth Community Primary School goes to great lengths to make this a happy and welcoming place.

“Staff make sure that pupils feel safe in school and are able to talk freely about any worries they have. Pupils behave well. They say that bullying is extremely rare.”

The Ofsted inspector noted that sport plays a “huge part” in school life with many opportunities for pupils to participate in a range of sports and competitions.

The report said: “Pupils are proud of their sporting prowess. They say that the desire to do their best in sport inspires them to try their best in everything.”

The inspector also said that pupils talk enthusiastically about their learning, love art and writing and strive to produce work of a high standard. Pupils love hearing their teacher read to them every day and admire how teachers bring texts to life.

Ofsted commended the school’s cosy reading lounges, which encourages pupils to enjoy reading independently too.

According to the report, older pupils explained to the Ofsted inspector how the school’s values encourage them to be caring and responsible citizens of the world, think about the environment and try to use recycled materials.

Ofsted said that parents hold Blisworth Community Primary School in “high regard.”

The report stated: “They say that their children are well cared for and achieve well. A common parental view was that they ‘could not wish for a better school’.”

The inspector had a lot of praise for leaders for taking extra steps to increase opportunities for disadvantaged pupils and staff for fostering positive relationships with pupils and thus promoting a calm and purposeful learning environment.

Ofsted noted that staff are particularly nurturing of pupils with social and emotional difficulties.

To improve, leaders need to ensure that older pupils with gaps in their phonics knowledge regularly practice their reading with books carefully matched to their abilities.

Leaders also need to embed the curriculum by further defining the required knowledge and developing the sequences of learning in some foundation subjects.

Sometimes the curriculum is not adopted well enough to match SEND pupils’ specific needs so leaders need to ensure their needs are met so that pupils’ learning is not hindered.

Blisworth Community Primary School had 169 pupils on roll at the time of their latest inspection.

Read the primary school’s full Ofsted report here.