Bassingbourn Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 22 October 2024

Bassingbourn Primary School is a safe place. Pupils like school. They benefit from positive working relationships with caring and committed staff. Pupils learn an ambitious curriculum. However, this is new. Some pupils successfully build up their knowledge. Yet low expectations in the past have left others struggling. Pupils do not achieve as well as they should. That said, the school is seeing improvements. Children in Reception do really well. There is a positive culture of reading. Pupils talk enthusiastically about the books they read from the school library. Behaviour is variable. Classrooms are mostly orderly. However, some pupils lose focus too easily. Distracting or off-task behaviour frustrates those who want to learn. Some pupils use unkind language. Staff tend to address this, however, sometimes it persists. Pupils enjoy many opportunities that promote their personal development. They praise annual trips to places like Woburn Safari Park. At lunchtimes, pupils engage well with the wide-ranging activities on offer. For example, the curling club helps pupils who do not like sport to participate. While this is the case, the school does not help pupils develop positive character as well as it intends. Some struggle to embody its values fully. This is in traits such as respect, excellence and resilience.

What the school should improve

• The school does not deliver the curriculum consistently well. There is variability in how well staff plan, model and check learning. This means pupils achieve less well than they should. The school needs to ensure that staff receive the training they require to implement the curriculum the way the school intends.
• Pupils with SEND do not always get the quality of support that they need. Staff are not routinely clear on how to give these pupils the best help. As a result, some pupils with SEND do not understand the work and engage with their learning as well as they should. The school must ensure that staff are trained to use the guidance and support that these pupils need so that they can learn successfully.
• The school's new expectations of behaviour are not securely embedded. Behaviour is variable, both in lessons and throughout the school day. The school needs to establish its expectations fully to continue the shift towards a positive culture of behaviour.
• The school has not achieved its aims for developing pupils' positive character traits through the programme for personal development. The school does not support pupils fully to develop a deep and connected understanding of content in PSHE and other parts of the programme. They sometimes do not embody the school's values. The school should ensure pupils understand the aims and content of its programme better, so they develop positive character traits more confidently through applying these.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)