Christ Church Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Christ Church Church of England Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils spoke with joy and enthusiasm about their life at school.

They love to talk about their learning and are proud of their achievements. Pupils behave well and are friendly and welcoming. They enjoy being part of the Christ Church community and get on well together.

Pupils said that they feel safe and happy at school and that they would recommend their school to anyone. They are confident that staff sort out any bullying or any other problems really well.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well supported in this... caring and inclusive community.

Pupils respect and value the adults that they work with.

Leaders and staff have high expectations of themselves and of pupils. Staff make sure that pupils do well across all subjects.

They keep a watchful eye on pupils' individual needs and give pupils extra help when they need it.

Pupils enjoy all the special things the school has to offer. During the inspection, for example, children in Reception took great delight in learning and exploring in the woodland area.

Pupils in Year 6 enjoyed painting in the community garden.

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

Leaders and governors work well together within the school and across the federation. They have identified the right priorities to make sure that pupils continue to receive a good quality of education.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders and staff worked together to revise the curriculum. They aimed to make sure that pupils build up their knowledge in each subject in a logical way. Despite some delays caused by the pandemic, staff have implemented the curriculum successfully.

They continue to review and evolve it together. Across all subjects, the curriculum is well planned.

Reading has a high profile in the school.

Pupils enjoy the stories teachers read to them and develop a love of reading. When children start in the Reception class, they make a prompt start at learning their sounds and letters. This is then built on effectively as they move up to Year 1.

Teachers have prioritised filling gaps in pupils' knowledge in phonics. However, sometimes teaching is overly focused on going over sounds and letters that pupils already know securely. This means that some pupils do not move as speedily through the planned phonics curriculum as they could.

Nevertheless, pupils use their phonics knowledge well to develop fluency in reading and to help them spell accurately when writing. Books selected for pupils to read match well to the sounds that they are learning.

Teachers also choose books to help them bring the revised curriculum to life.

For example, Year 6 pupils read 'Goodnight Mr Tom' while they study the Second World War in history. The curriculum is carefully sequenced to build up pupils' knowledge and skills. However, in history, for instance, some aspects of teachers' subject knowledge are not as strong.

As a result, sometimes teaching does not extend pupils' existing knowledge of important concepts, such as chronology in history.

Children experience a lively, well-planned mathematics curriculum in the Reception class. This is built upon across the school so that pupils do very well in mathematics.

To secure pupils' understanding, teachers help pupils to practise and apply their mathematical knowledge in different contexts. For example, Year 4 pupils enjoyed using their mathematical knowledge to measure the perimeters of large shapes taped onto the floor.

Provision for pupils with SEND is a strength.

Adults support pupils extremely well and help them to access all that the curriculum has on offer. This support is underpinned by strong, caring professional relationships between staff and pupils. Some pupils also benefit from additional support in the well-resourced 'launch pad' room.

Here, pupils enjoy taking part in sensory circuits and other activities planned to meet their needs.

The school offers a wide range of experiences for pupils. Pupils enjoy a variety of after-school clubs, such as guitar and basketball.

They spoke enthusiastically about trips out of school. For example, pupils enjoyed a recent visit to the Tower of London. The community garden gives pupils the opportunity to take on responsibilities, such as looking after bees.

It also provides them with links to the wider community, such as the local residents who visit the garden.

Pupils enjoy school life and approach most things with a smile. They behave well in class, in the playground and around the school.

They try their best in lessons and understand the consequences of poor behaviour.

Staff are proud to work at the school. They feel well supported by leaders in managing their workloads.

They value the training and support they receive from leaders across the federation.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders and staff know their pupils very well.

They have prioritised building strong, trusting relationships with families. This helps leaders and staff to identify quickly those who may be in need of extra support, including during the pandemic. Leaders and staff continue to work closely with parents and carers.

They make sure that pupils get the right support from external services when needed.

Staff and governors receive up-to-date safeguarding training. Staff are vigilant.

They raise any concerns about pupils immediately and leaders act swiftly upon them. Pupils spoke confidently about how they learn to keep safe online and outside school.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Not all teachers are secure in using assessment in phonics.

This means that, on occasions, teaching is not helping pupils to make speedy progress through their phonics programme. Leaders need to provide further training for teachers to help them do this. ? Teachers' subject knowledge is not consistently strong across all subjects.

For example, while teachers have worked hard to implement the revised history curriculum, some staff need more guidance on how to deliver elements of subject planning and, in turn, help pupils build on what they already know. Leaders should further support staff to strengthen their subject expertise.

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 second section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in January 2017.

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