Keston Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy, well cared for and enjoy attending this school.

Staff know the pupils very well and provide support swiftly when needed. This helps pupils to feel safe and to be kept safe at school. Parents and carers are overwhelmingly positive about the school.

Staff are proud to be members of this warm and welcoming community.

The school is ambitious for all pupils. Pupils are eager to attend school and take part positively in learning.

Classrooms are calm, inviting spaces, including in the early years. Routines are well established, which helps pupils to focus on their learning. Reading is at the heart of the school's curriculum, which supports... pupils to achieve well.

The school makes sure that pupils behave well. Pupils are polite and kind. They are encouraged to help others and are taught to understand how to be good citizens.

For example, older pupils are 'buddies' to younger pupils, which fosters positive relationships. Staff promote the school's values, including friendship and trust.

Pupils value the opportunities that support their wider development.

This includes a range of clubs such as coding, dance, choir and football. Pupils visit local places of worship and the Isle of Wight.

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

The school has developed a broad and ambitious curriculum.

In most subjects, the important knowledge and skills that the school expects pupils to learn and remember have been carefully planned. The learning is well sequenced, ensuring pupils return to prior learning regularly. This helps pupils to practise key skills so that they can tackle more complex concepts.

For example, in mathematics, pupils explore indices with increasing complexity before moving on to inverse indices.

Teachers' subject knowledge is a strength. Staff are highly skilled and very positive about the regular training they receive in school and from the trust.

Teachers are knowledgeable about how pupils learn. Learning is adapted so that all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), access the same ambitious curriculum. Teachers typically check what pupils know and can do well.

The school is very well resourced, which ensures learning is creative, including in the early years. For example, pupils have access to a local outdoor area, which promotes curiosity and physical development in the early years.

In a small number of curriculum areas, including in the early years, the knowledge, skills and vocabulary pupils are expected to learn have not been explicitly identified.

This limits the checking of what pupils know and can do. This limits pupils' deeper learning and development in these subjects.

The school's approach to teaching reading is highly developed.

Staff are all trained to be experts in teaching phonics. Reading is promoted daily across the school. Parents are very positive about the support they receive to help their child in the early stages of reading.

Rich texts extend pupils' vocabulary and lead to strong outcomes in reading and writing. Carefully selected texts also help pupils to explore themes of diversity. In the early years, this helps children to understand the world around them.

Where pupils need additional support to catch up and keep up with their reading, the school uses targeted help. For instance, highly skilled staff read regularly with pupils.

Behaviour in lessons and around the school is calm.

Most pupils' attendance is strong. Where necessary, the school is providing effective support to help improve attendance for some pupils. Pupils concentrate well in lessons and are respectful of others.

Pupils with SEND are well supported through support plans to meet the behaviour expectations set. The school encourages pupils to use 'zones of regulation', which promotes their emotional well-being.

The school provides pupils with a carefully planned curriculum focused on their personal development.

Pupils learn how to be healthy, travel safely and develop first-aid skills. Pupils are very positive about the clubs available to them and enjoy the trips on offer.

Staff are proud to work at this school.

They feel very well supported by the school and trust leaders. Workload is well managed, and staff well-being is a priority.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a small number of subjects, including in the early years, the school has not fully identified the key knowledge and skills pupils must learn to ensure their readiness for their next stage. This means that, sometimes, the key vocabulary, knowledge and skills that the school intends pupils to know are not explicitly taught. The school should ensure that the precise knowledge, skills and vocabulary they want pupils to know and remember are set out clearly.

• In a few subjects where new schemes have been recently implemented, summative assessment systems are not fully embedded. This limits the school's oversight of gaps in pupils' learning. The school should ensure that assessment in all subjects enables it to have a clear oversight of any gaps in pupils' learning so that these can be addressed effectively.