Chartham Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school Pupils are great ambassadors for their school.

They like coming to school, enjoy their learning and promote the school values of respect, fairness, honesty, perseverance and kindness extremely well. Behaviour is good. Pupils are friendly, polite and courteous.

They conduct themselves well in lessons and around the school. The headteacher, deputy headteacher and senior leaders, including governors, have successfully improved the school since the previous inspection. Senior leaders' work has ensured that teaching has improved and is now good.

As a result, pupils now make good progress and achieve well. Children get a good start to ...school in the early years. They make good progress and rapidly develop confidence and independence.

Good, trusting relationships between pupils and teachers mean that pupils work hard, want to do well and are confident to try things out for themselves and learn from their mistakes. Pupils feel safe and happy at school and are well looked after. The school's relentless focus on improving reading has had a very positive impact on pupils' achievement.

As well as very successfully promoting an enjoyment of reading, pupils are more able than previously to use their reading skills to achieve in other subjects. Senior leaders and governors share the ambition and determination to provide the best possible experiences for all pupils. Considerable changes to the governance of the school have resulted in a skilled, well informed governing body that holds the school to account very effectively for its performance.

One parent summed up the views of many and wrote, 'I am very pleased with the ethos and atmosphere of the school and its staff. They work together to create a positive learning environment and the children are polite, caring and engaged in their learning.' It is not yet an outstanding school because : Leaders' checks and the work in pupils' books show that despite some outstanding teaching and learning, not enough is of the same highest quality to ensure that all pupils consistently make the rapid progress of which they are capable.

Teachers' questions, challenges and comments do not always promote pupils' depth of learning, knowledge and understanding, especially in history and geography.

Information about this school

The school is larger than the average-sized primary school. Most pupils are of White British heritage.

The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is above average. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils who are supported by the pupil premium is above average. The pupil premium is additional government funding for those pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and those who are looked after.

The school meets the current government floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics. There is a Nursery on the school site, which is managed by a private provider and subject to a separate inspection. Since September 2015, some pupils from St Nicholas' School attend Chartham in a satellite class, known as Penguin class, for four days a week.

These pupils remain on the roll of St Nicholas' School and are taught by their own teachers but join the rest of the Chartham pupils for some of their time. For example, they join in assemblies and playtimes. The school provides daily breakfast and after-school clubs.

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