Chantry Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Chantry Community Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy in this school. As one parent said, 'Chantry is truly a wonderful, safe and happy environment where children are allowed to be their true and authentic selves.'

Pupils form positive relationships with one another and enjoy the company of their peers at playtimes. Staff support pupils who struggle to cope with playtimes well. This helps pupils to remain calm and develops their ability to manage their own behaviour.

For example, pupils attend small group play sessions in 'Rainbow class' and enjoy spending time with Evie, the school dog. If bullying happens..., leaders act on this swiftly. This helps pupils to feel safe.

Leaders have high expectations for all pupils. They know their pupils well. They consider their needs and interests when planning activities and experiences.

For example, pupils with social and emotional needs attend art therapy sessions that help them to strengthen their confidence in class. Most pupils achieve well and develop the skills, knowledge and understanding needed to succeed. Pupils delight in the wide range of activities on offer, both in class and beyond.

One pupil said, 'I love going to 'Chatterbooks' club, where we talk about our favourite books and drink orange squash.'

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

Leaders provide a curriculum that is matched to the needs and interests of the pupils well. They ensure that teachers are clear about what pupils need to learn in each subject.

They link what pupils learn to the locality and their own cultural heritage in a meaningful way. Leaders are responsive to the needs of teachers and support them effectively. They offer training that enables teachers to develop their delivery of the curriculum.

This helps teachers to refine their teaching. Leaders are conscious of the workload faced by teachers and ensure that the demands on them are manageable.

Teachers support pupils to develop their knowledge and skills across the curriculum well.

For example, in art and design, they enable pupils to rehearse their own artistic skills and learn about the work of different artists. Teachers use questioning well to help pupils acquire and use subject-specific vocabulary. They use quizzes and probing questions to identify gaps in pupils' understanding and use this information to inform future learning.

Leaders help teachers to identify the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) well. However, the quality of support for pupils is not consistent in all classes. This means that some pupils with SEND struggle to learn as well as they could in some classes.

In 2022, pupils in key stage 1 did not achieve well enough in mathematics. Since then, leaders have worked diligently to help those pupils who had fallen behind to catch up swiftly. Current pupils are now doing well.

They are gaining the reading and mathematical knowledge and skills needed to succeed. Pupils in the early years learn to count with confidence. They rehearse their learning through play.

This helps them to develop a strong understanding of number. Teachers provide activities at the start of lessons to help pupils draw on what they already know. This helps pupils to strengthen what they learn.

Teachers deliver the programme for reading consistently. Children in the early years learn how to read simple words and develop a love of story. Staff support pupils who have fallen behind in their reading to catch up quickly.

As a result, pupils develop their reading fluency well and have a genuine love of reading.

Most pupils behave well in class. Recent changes in the school's approach to managing behaviour have been effective.

Pupils now settle well into learning once directed by staff. However, improvements are not yet fully embedded. Some pupils continue to need guidance to regulate their behaviour.

Leaders provide pupils with a compelling range of wider opportunities. For example, pupils sing at local events and display their artwork in the community. This develops a sense of social awareness and celebrates the pupils' own cultural backgrounds.

Staff link their curriculum to local community organisations that include museums, libraries and galleries. For example, each year group visits and hosts visitors from these organisations across the year. This helps pupils to connect to their locality and develop their own interests well.

Leaders ensure that all clubs and activities are accessible for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND. Pupils attend clubs such as football, gardening, judo and 'eco-fashion'. Pupils perform in local events.

For example, pupils learn the viola and perform at a local music festival. This develops a sense of pride and connects what pupils learn in class to their growing interests.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Pupils are safe in this school. Leaders ensure that all staff and visitors to the school receive training to help them to identify pupils who may be at risk of harm. Staff keep accurate records of any concerns raised, and leaders diligently follow these through.

When a pupil is at risk of harm, leaders provide swift support both in school and through outside agencies.Pupils learn about staying safe. They learn about the risks of being online and what to do when they feel worried.

They are confident that there is a trusted adult in school who will listen to their worries.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Teachers do not consistently adapt learning well enough to support pupils with SEND. As a result, some pupils do not achieve as well as they could in all subjects.

Leaders need to ensure that staff have the knowledge they need to provide effective support and, when needed, adapt learning for pupils with SEND to enable them to achieve success across the curriculum. ? The recent changes to the school's approach to managing and supporting the behaviour of pupils are not yet fully embedded. This means that not all pupils settle quickly into learning or work with positive attitudes.

Leaders need to provide support to staff to enable them to fully embed the school's new approach to behaviour. They need to ensure that staff have the expertise they need to provide effective support for any pupils who find it difficult to self-regulate.

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

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

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in October 2017.