Crowhurst CofE Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Crowhurst CofE Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thrive in this friendly primary school. They show care for one another and are respectful of others. Pupils are engaging, confident and witty in conversation.

They feel valued and listened to by the adults in the school. They uphold the school's values to love their neighbour and love the world.

Pupils behave well in lessons and around the school.

They build strong friendships with one another and with adults. Staff and parents say pupils feel safe. Pupils trust adults to resolve any worries that they have.

Pupils say that when bullying happens, adul...ts work quickly to put things right.

Pupils enjoy learning across the curriculum. This is shown by the work they produce in books and in work displayed on walls around the school.

Expectations are high for pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and disadvantaged pupils. They develop a love of story and build their reading skills as they move through the school. Pupils use their reading and mathematical skills across a wide range of subjects.

This helps them to strengthen their understanding and builds their enjoyment of what they learn. They are inspired by what they learn, leading them to think carefully about the world they live in.

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

Subject leaders map out what pupils need to learn in each subject.

They share essential knowledge with teachers for each topic taught. This helps teachers to reflect on what pupils need to remember. Teachers make sure pupils connect what they already know to new learning.

In most subjects, teachers carefully check pupils' understanding. They work hard to fill the gaps in pupils' knowledge that have appeared during the COVID-19 pandemic. While this works well in subjects such as science, it is not yet fully developed across all subjects.

Teachers build a sense of curiosity, exploration and enjoyment in pupils. They make sure that pupils are clear about what they need to learn and remember. Pupils are encouraged to talk about what they learn, helping them to build their vocabulary and strengthen their understanding.

They enjoy lessons and build a strong body of knowledge about what they learn.

Pupils enjoy reading. They build essential reading skills and develop a love of reading as they move through the school.

Children in the early years and pupils in key stage 1 have daily phonics lessons that help them to recognise the sounds that letters make. Staff support pupils who find reading difficult through extra phonics lessons. As pupils move through the school, they build fluency in reading.

However, a few do not because there are some inconsistencies in the choice of books that pupils take home to practise their reading skills. Leaders are aware of this and have improvements in hand.

Pupils behave well in this school.

Both staff and parents are rightly proud of the pupils' behaviour. Leaders have highly effective rules and routines that help pupils know what is expected of them. Pupils have very positive relationships with one another and with adults.

If pupils misbehave, there are clear systems in place to help them to improve. Pupils reflect thoughtfully on their own beliefs and are respectful of the beliefs of others.

School leaders widen pupils' horizons through activities beyond the curriculum.

These include music tuition, sports specialists and themed days. Pupils develop an understanding of social and cultural issues through assemblies and lessons. Teachers encourage pupils to think carefully and compassionately about global issues that impact on their lives.

This has led to pupils fundraising and championing ecological initiatives within the school.

The identification and support for pupils with SEND is strong. School leaders have trained staff in areas such as emotional literacy, to make sure that pupils with SEND are supported both in class and when at play.

Teachers adapt lessons to support the needs of pupils. As a result, pupils with SEND can learn the same curriculum as their classmates.

Staff enjoy working at the school and feel valued.

They say that leaders help them to manage their workload. Governors have a clear understanding of what the school needs to do to improve. They make regular visits to the school to meet with leaders to make sure the plans for improvement are being followed through.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

School leaders create a culture where pupils feel safe. Leaders make sure that staff receive training that helps them to identify pupils who need help.

Staff act on concerns quickly to help pupils to stay safe. School staff help pupils and families who need support at difficult times. The school has well-established links with outside agencies and, when needed, readily seeks their support.

Governors check that policies and procedures are up to date. Pupils learn about different risks and how to manage them. This includes an age-appropriate understanding of keeping safe when online.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Teachers' checks on what pupils know and remember are not yet fully matched to the sequence of learning planned in some subjects. As such, teachers are not necessarily clear whether pupils are making the small gains in learning they need to reach end points at the end of a topic or series of lessons. Leaders should continue to refine the use of assessment across the foundation subjects, enabling teachers to make accurate assessments of pupils' progress.

• The books that pupils take home to read are not always chosen carefully enough to help pupils rehearse the reading skills they have been taught in lessons. Leaders should continue with plans to introduce a new phonics programme with phonetically decodable texts and ensure that pupils are better guided when selecting books from the school library.

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 June 2013.