Bidford-on-Avon CofE Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 21 January 2025

The school provides a nurturing environment where adults listen to pupils. This helps pupils feel safe. Pupils attend well as they enjoy what the school has to offer for their learning, behaviour and wider opportunities. Pupils follow a curriculum that helps them to develop their knowledge and skills year-on-year. This enables pupils to achieve well. Pupils enjoy their learning and talk enthusiastically about it. They have opportunities to develop their talents and interests beyond the curriculum. This includes music lessons and a wide range of clubs. Older pupils talk excitedly about their residential visit. Pupils thoroughly enjoy bell boating as part of their physical education curriculum. Pupils show respect for one another and the adults around them. They behave well during all parts of the school day. Older pupils serve as positive role models for younger ones, demonstrating kindness and helpfulness through their leadership roles. There are lots of games and activities for the pupils to enjoy at breaktimes. 'Blue bander' pupils help others to play together respectfully and engage in activities. Pupils benefit from the caring adults around them, and they trust them to offer help if they are worried.

What the school should improve

• In a few subjects, the essential curriculum knowledge is not clearly identified to enable pupils to achieve long-term aims as well as they should. This means that, sometimes, pupils do not securely build their learning on what they have learned previously. The school should ensure that, in all subjects, the key knowledge is clearly set out to support pupils in achieving the long-term curriculum aims.
• The school's oversight of curriculum implementation is not as robust as it should be. Sometimes, it does not check with sufficient rigour how well teaching leads to pupils securely grasping new knowledge. This means pupils may have gaps in their knowledge that are missed. The school should check more thoroughly the effectiveness of how well the curriculum is implemented and identify and address any gaps in pupils' knowledge.
• The additional support for pupils who are struggling with their reading does not always include enough planned opportunities for them to rehearse reading aloud. This slows the progress pupils make to read with good fluency. The school should ensure that pupils have ample opportunities to practise reading aloud to develop their confidence and fluency.

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