Fawkham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Fawkham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at this school are at the heart of the 'Fawkham family'.

They enjoy school and attend frequently. Pupils are polite, kind and respectful. Relationships are warm and caring.

Staff have high expectations for what all pupils can achieve. One parent said, 'All staff care about the children, their happiness and their academic progress.'

The school is highly inclusive.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported well to learn the same broad and ambitious curriculum as other pupils. When ne...eded, pupils with SEND get extra help to enable them to keep up. Pupils show positive attitudes to their learning.

They are proud of what they achieve. In lessons, pupils are eager to share their knowledge and opinions with the class. Pupils confidently use the vocabulary they have learned in lessons to explain their thinking.

The school sets high expectations for pupils' behaviour. Staff model courteous and considerate behaviour. This is reflected in pupils' positive conduct throughout the school day.

Pupils work and play together sensibly. They know that staff listen and will be fair and consistent when solving any problems that should arise.

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

The curriculum has been carefully designed with the needs of all pupils in mind, starting in the early years through to the end of Year 6.

Staff have received training so that they know what to teach, and the order in which to teach it. They value the detail of the curriculum because it helps them ensure that their subject knowledge is strong.

In most subjects, the school has adapted the curriculum to make it interesting and relevant to pupils in the school.

Where this is the case, pupils develop knowledge, skills and a comprehensive vocabulary. They talk confidently about their learning and achieve well. However, a very small number of subjects are in the earlier stages of development.

In these subjects, pupils struggle to recall prior knowledge or make links in their learning. This is due to pupils having gaps in their knowledge from weaker curriculum thinking in the past. The school has identified that pupils remember most when learning is meaningful.

The school recognises the need to fully develop these subjects.

Teachers understand the needs of pupils well, including pupils with SEND. They use this knowledge to plan the right provision for all.

This helps pupils produce high-quality work. In the mathematics curriculum, pupils practise their skills in fluency and problem-solving daily. However, the school does not give pupils enough opportunities to reason about number.

This means that some pupils are not always able to make sense of mathematical ideas and apply them to solving problems.

The school prioritises reading from the moment children start in Reception. Teachers help children to understand the sounds that letters make through daily phonic lessons.

As a result, pupils quickly learn how to read and become increasingly confident over time. This enables them to fully access the school's broad curriculum. Teachers regularly check that pupils are keeping up.

If pupils start to fall behind, the school is quick to provide extra help so that they can catch up. Pupils love to read. One pupil said that reading made their 'imagination go wild'.

In class, pupils behave very well, and learning is not disrupted. Pupils' behaviour around the school is positive. Attendance and punctuality of pupils are very strong.

Persistent absence is very low overall. This is also the case for the most vulnerable pupils.

The school has a strong personal, social, health and economic curriculum.

Pupils are taught how to stay mentally and physically healthy. Pupils learn values such a democracy through activities including electing their school council. There are many opportunities for pupils to undertake roles of responsibility, for example, e-safety ambassadors and play leaders.

The school ensures that pupils understand the value of being a good citizen. For example, pupils visit elderly residents in the local nursing home at Christmas, harvest and Easter, where they sing songs and spend time talking to the residents.

Staff are extremely positive about working in this school.

They feel valued and well supported by leaders. The school provides teachers with ongoing professional development that helps them to plan effective learning for pupils. Teachers appreciate that leaders and school governors are genuinely mindful of their workload and well-being.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Pupils have gaps in their knowledge in some foundation subjects. This means that some pupils cannot remember essential knowledge or make links across the curriculum.

The school should continue to develop these subjects so that pupils can recall and remember important learning. The school should monitor how the improvements help pupils to learn and remember more over time. ? In mathematics, pupils are not given enough time to reason about number.

Pupils are not always able to apply logical thinking to decide on the correct problem-solving strategy. The school should ensure that all staff know how to ensure that pupils are able to learn and practise reasoning problems in all areas of the mathematics curriculum.

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 November 2013.