Ditchling St Margaret’s Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The headteacher provides effective and inspiring leadership.

Parents appreciate the many improvements she has made, with governors and other leaders, to teaching, learning and the curriculum. Governors share the headteacher's ambition to provide the very best. Well-targeted training has ensured that staff have good subject knowledge so that lessons motivate pupils.

Good teaching enables pupils to achieve well. Teachers' effective questioning and guidance deepens pupils' understanding. Children get off to a good start in the early years and are well prepared for Year 1.

They make good progress from their starting points. Leaders m...ake effective use of the extra funding to support disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities. However, systems to check the difference it makes are new and are not yet embedded.

Pupils are kept very safe in school and have an excellent understanding of how to manage risk. They have a mature understanding of challenges faced by our modern society. Pupils' behaviour is exemplary.

They are considerate, thoughtful and highly committed to learning. Respect for others underpins everyone's experiences at this school. Pupils benefit from a rich and engaging curriculum.

They thrive on the motivating opportunities staff organise. Sport and physical education greatly enrich school life. Pupils know how to stay healthy and show a keen interest in their diet and mental health.

Many leaders are new to post and have not yet developed precise enough plans for improvement. Their systems to measure progress lack rigour. Pupils achieve well by the end of key stage 2 particularly in reading.

However, pupils' spelling and reasoning skills have weaknesses. Teachers have good subject knowledge in most subjects. However, some teachers lack confidence in teaching the new computing curriculum.

Information about this school

The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school. Most classes are organised in single-age groups. Years 5 and 6 are in a mixed-age class.

Cohort sizes are very small and vary considerably from year to year. Most pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is below average, as is the proportion of disadvantaged pupils.

Since the previous inspection, there have been significant staff and leadership changes, including the appointment of a headteacher, who took up her substantive post in September 2016. In 2017, the school met the government's current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress in key stage 2. The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

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