Chudleigh Church of England Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

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

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel happy and safe in the nurturing environment that leaders provide. Respectful relationships are a feature of the school. Pupils have a strong sense of justice.

They respect the views of others even if they are different to their own. Bullying is rare. Pupils have every confidence that staff will listen and support them if it happened.

Leaders promote an inclusive culture. They expect and enable all pupils to do their best regardless of their background. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), receiv...e the help they need to learn well.

Leaders provide a range of clubs to develop pupils' talents and interests. Many pupils benefit from this offer. Leaders help pupils to pursue their interests further, such as by performing with a local orchestra.

Leaders foster strong links with the local community. Pupils plan activities to support charitable projects. They develop their understanding of being active citizens and helping others.

Parents and carers have positive views of the school. They comment that pupils feel motivated to 'be the best version of themselves'. Parents are particularly positive about the fast action leaders take in response to any concerns.

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

Leaders make sure that all pupils, including those with SEND, learn an ambitious curriculum. Leaders identify the important knowledge they want pupils to learn, starting in the early years. They support staff to break learning down into smaller steps.

This helps most pupils to learn well. However, in some foundation subjects, teachers do not always use the information they get from checking pupils' learning well enough. Learning is not always based on what pupils already know or where there are gaps in their knowledge.

As a result, some pupils do not build knowledge as well as they could and find it hard to remember their learning.

Leaders focus on expanding and developing pupils' vocabulary over time. This begins in early years, where staff ask children questions about their learning that challenge them to use new vocabulary.

Pupils throughout the school have many opportunities to discuss their learning. For example, in mathematics, pupils regularly articulate their reasoning. This helps them to understand and learn from any mistakes.

Pupils enjoy reading. Leaders make sure that it has a high profile across the school. They give pupils regular opportunities to listen to adults reading aloud.

Books are carefully chosen to represent a range of text types and authors. All staff who teach phonics understand the programme well. They check pupils' understanding before moving on.

Pupils read books that contain the sounds they know. They use their phonic knowledge with confidence if they come across any words they are unsure of. In the early years, children have plenty of opportunities to recognise the sounds that letters make.

They explore these with staff and in their independent play. As soon as children begin to learn phonics in Reception, staff carefully check their understanding. They provide extra help for those who struggle to read.

Pupils apply their reading skills to their writing. They spell words with increasing accuracy. Leaders share information with parents about how to help pupils at home.

Parents say they find this useful.

Pupils want the school to be the best it can be. They are proud to belong to Chudleigh School.

Pupils take pride in their roles, such as sports and well-being ambassadors. These roles increase pupils' independence and understanding of responsibility. Leaders listen to pupils' views through the many pupil leadership roles they hold.

Pupils see the impact of these, most recently through improvements to playtimes.

Pupils behave well. They show positive attitudes to learning.

Pupils understand that it is important to always treat others with respect and behave well. They jump at the chance to help pupils who feel upset or hurt. Pupils and parents consider the school to be a caring place.

Leaders help pupils to understand how their actions impact others. They provide sensitive support to help pupils make the right choices. Some older pupils replicate this and act as behaviour mentors for younger children.

Governors ask appropriate questions to check the quality of education pupils receive. They check that leaders' plans and actions have the desired positive impact on pupils. Staff feel well supported in their roles.

Leaders take staff well-being into account when planning how to further improve the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders provide suitable training that helps all staff to understand the safeguarding procedures.

Staff are confident to identify pupils who may be at risk. Concerns are recorded with accuracy and in a timely manner. Leaders act quickly when responding to concerns.

They challenge external agencies when they do not feel that fast enough action is taken.

Pupils learn how to keep safe through the curriculum. They recognise the potential risks in their local area as well as online.

Governors check regularly that leaders' actions keep pupils safe.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some foundation subjects, teachers do not use assessment as well as they could. Learning is not always based on what pupils already know or gaps they may have in their knowledge.

As a result, some pupils do not build knowledge as well as they could and find it hard to remember their learning. Leaders need to strengthen the effectiveness of assessment in some foundation subjects and provide teachers with the expertise to use assessment effectively.

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 second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in March 2014.

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