Chapel Haddlesey Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Chapel Haddlesey Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe in school. Staff care deeply about the well-being of pupils.

Pupils enjoy school. They work hard in lessons and all pupils are well supported by staff. Pupils are respectful of differences.

During playtimes, pupils describe everyone as friendly. They say that no one is ever left to play on their own. Bullying is exceptionally rare and is not tolerated.

Relationships between adults and pupils are respectful. Pupils know adults will listen to them if they have any worries or concerns. Pupils make a good contrib...ution to the life of the school.

For example, school councillors work with leaders to improve learning resources. Other pupils set out cutlery and plates for lunch, while some tidy the playground.

Parents appreciate the work the school is doing to help their children develop personal and academic skills.

They say it is a lovely school with a family feel to it. Parents say their children can't wait to get to school in the morning.

Leaders are very ambitious for all pupils.

They ensure that pupils know what life is like in the wider world, beyond the village. Leaders are using the strengths in the federation to share teaching skills and experiences. This ensures that teachers get development opportunities they otherwise would not receive.

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

The curriculum develops pupils' knowledge and skills across a broad range of subjects. Leaders make sure the curriculum is suitably challenging for all pupils. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), achieve highly.

Governors have a good oversight of the curriculum. They know its strengths and what needs further development.

Teachers plan reading very effectively across the school.

This helps children in the early stages of learning to read to learn new sounds quickly. Staff spot errors quickly and step in skilfully to make sure children in the early years and other pupils pronounce phonemes and words accurately. Teachers read to all pupils, every day.

This fosters pupils' love of reading. Pupils who find phonics more difficult get the support they need to catch up. Leaders use their phonic assessments well.

Books are well matched to the sounds that pupils already know. Parents understand how their children learn to read and support them well at home.

Leaders have organised the mathematics curriculum in a logical way.

Teachers have a clear understanding of what they want pupils to know. They assess pupils' understanding regularly to check that pupils remember what they have learned. This helps pupils to recall previous knowledge and apply it.

For example, pupils understood how to use extended place value for whole numbers to use decimals. Pupils are curious about mathematics and staff give them opportunities to extend their skills. In the early years, children count well.

Staff direct them to a wide range of interesting resources. Staff listen to children counting out loud and provide extra support and challenge when necessary.

Subject leaders for art and science have designed a well-structured curriculum.

Pupils' work in science is well presented and of a high standard. In art, teachers give clear guidance so pupils can improve their work. For example, drawings of noses and eyes were improved several times to become excellent sketches.

The curriculum in history and geography is not as well developed. Plans in these subjects do not build carefully on what pupils have learned before. Subject leaders have not provided the support that teachers need.

As a result, pupils do not remember their learning in history and geography as well as in other subjects.

Pupils with SEND are well supported. The school's special educational needs coordinator works closely with staff and parents to make sure pupils have the resources they need.

Staff are ambitious for SEND pupils and skilled in developing their independence. As a result, SEND pupils are fully included in lessons.

Staff have high expectations of pupil behaviour.

Pupils respond by behaving very well in lessons. For example, during a baking lesson, children in the early years and Year 1 were working exceptionally well together. Their language and communication skills were strong.

Pupils learn about democracy by voting for their school council. Pupils are proud of the work the council is doing in school. The school council has arranged for another school to visit so that pupils can share and widen their cultural experiences.

Pupils have a good understanding of British values such as equality, freedom and liberty.

Staff are proud to work at the school and say leaders consider their well-being. They say teaching continues to improve because of links with the federation.

Governors are confident that leaders have the ability to make further improvements in the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

There is a strong culture of safeguarding because staff are vigilant to the risks pupils face.

Scripts of potential safeguarding incidents are used during federation training. This gives staff experience in deciding what should be done if incidents occur. The pastoral leader works closely with parents and picks up concerns at an early stage.

Leaders involve external agencies when necessary. Careful checks are made on the suitability of adults who work with pupils.

Pupils learn about road safety, online safety and staying safe at times such as Halloween and Bonfire Night.

All pupils know to respect others' personal space. They are confident that adults will take action to help them if needed.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Curriculum leaders in some foundation subjects have not provided the support that class teachers need.

As a result, teachers are not following curriculum plans or using assessments sharply enough. Leaders need to develop the role of curriculum leaders so that they can provide the support to teachers that they need.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called a section 8 inspection of a good or outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the section 8 inspection as a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good on 24 and 25 May 2016.