Budbrooke Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 24 January 2023

This is a friendly school. Pupils welcome visitors with a smile. Staff have high expectations of pupils. Pupils rise to these. From the early years through to Year 6, pupils work and play together happily. They achieve well. Pupils concentrate on their work in lessons. They are calm and sensible around the school. Pupils are kind to each other. They follow the school rule of 'consideration' diligently. Pupils feel safe in school. They know what to do when bullying happens. Leaders take the rare incidents that occur seriously. Pupils say that adults listen and help them when they have a problem. Pupils develop broad knowledge in many subjects. They find learning interesting and say that lessons are fun. However, in a very few subjects, some important concepts are not taught deeply enough. A small number of pupils need more help with their reading. Pupils relish opportunities to make decisions about their school. They vote for who will represent them in roles such as eco-committee members and maintenance masters. Pupils are proud of the difference they have made. They talk enthusiastically about planting new trees and moving to paperless newsletters. Leaders provide a rich range of after-school activities to broaden pupils' interests. Uptake is high.

What the school should improve

• There are a small number of pupils in the early years and key stage 1 who are behind in the school's phonics programme. Although they receive extra support, this is not frequent enough. This means that these pupils are not catching up as quickly as they could. Leaders should ensure that these pupils receive effective support so that they catch up more quickly.
• In some cross-curricular projects, subject leaders have not identified the pieces of knowledge that pupils need to learn to achieve national curriculum expectations. They have not given enough thought to how they want pupils' knowledge to build over time. As a result, teachers sometimes cover complex concepts in a superficial way and do not make links between past and future learning. Leaders need to ensure that they break national curriculum expectations down into what pupils need to learn and when so that they achieve what leaders intend.

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