Kingshill Church School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Kingshill Church School continues to be a good school.

The headteacher of this school is Lisa Harvey. This school is part of the Bath and Wells Multi Academy Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Nikki Edwards, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Oliver Cofler.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and safe at Kingshill Church School. The school supports them to be 'ready, respectful and safe'. Relationships are positive.

Adults know pupils well. Pupils use the 'worry box' to share concerns with adults.

Pupils feel valued.

...>The school supports families to ensure that pupils attend well. Many pupils join at different points in the school year. They settle in quickly and are made to feel welcome.

The school has high expectations of pupils. This begins in Reception Year, where children know and understand class routines. In lessons, pupils are eager to share their ideas.

They have positive attitudes to learning. Adults support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities well. These pupils well access learning alongside their peers and contribute to class discussions.

Adults manage behaviour effectively so that pupils learn without disruption.

The offer for pupils' wider development is carefully designed by the school. Opportunities for pupils to showcase and celebrate their work bring the community together.

Pupils are proud of the leadership roles the school offers them. This includes making decisions for the school council and organising visitors to school to talk about environmental issues.

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

The school and trust are ambitious for all pupils.

The new leadership team at the school has brought about recent improvements. Its members are relentless in their drive to secure a high-quality education. The historically weak curriculum design meant that pupils did not learn a well-designed curriculum.

This led to weak published outcome for pupils. The school has rectified this. They have identified precisely what they want pupils to know and remember.

The curriculum is implemented effectively. As a result, pupils are now progressing well across the curriculum.

Reading is at the front and centre of the school's priorities.

The school is uncompromising in the importance it places on reading. As soon as children begin in Reception Year, they learn to read. Pupils read books that match the sounds they know.

Adults quickly spot pupils who are at risk of falling behind. Swift support helps pupils to catch up quickly. Ongoing coaching ensures that adults are experts in the delivery of the phonics curriculum.

The focus on reading continues beyond phonics. Older pupils learn how to understand texts and develop their comprehension knowledge. They read a range of books that help them to understand different cultures and places.

Pupils 'magpie' ideas from what they read and use it in their writing. Pupils' understanding of grammar, punctuation and vocabulary supports them to write well.

The curriculum design supports pupils' learning well.

The granular detail in the curriculum addresses any gaps in pupils' knowledge and new knowledge builds on what they already know. For example, in Reception Year, children learn to compare two objects using scales. Reception children use 'heavier' and 'lighter' to describe objects.

This knowledge is built on by adding weight to read scales. Year 1 pupils explain the need to keep things equal and use their recall of number bonds to make sure the scales balance. The strong focus on developing pupils' fluency means that older pupils can complete more complex concepts such as converting mixed numbers into improper fractions.

However, in some wider curriculum subjects, the curriculum has had less time to embed. Pupils struggle to remember important knowledge. For example, in geography, pupils' understanding of countries that make up the United Kingdom and the capital cities of the UK is not secure.

This makes it more difficult for pupils to build their knowledge.

Adults and pupils appreciate the school's work to develop a positive environment for learning. Pupils and staff say that behaviour has much improved.

Pupils understand the school's new behaviour system and staff appreciate the clarity it brings. The number of recorded incidents of poor behaviour has reduced considerably as a result. Pupils' behaviour during lessons and social times reflects this.

Pupils of all ages play well together.

The personal, social and health education (PSHE) curriculum supports pupils to understand healthy relationships. This begins in Reception Year, where children learn to take turns.

Older pupils talk about the importance of honesty and trust in a friendship. The computing curriculum supports pupils to stay safe online. Pupils understand the risks involved when using social media.

The school has worked with pupils to better develop their understanding of protected characteristics. Pupils know that discrimination of any kind is unacceptable.

Pupils learn how to keep themselves physically and mentally healthy.

They enjoy the opportunity to be calm and reflective in PSHE lessons. Pupils are proud to represent the school in local football tournaments. Trips in and around the local area enrich pupils' learning cross the curriculum.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Over time, pupils have not experienced a well-designed curriculum. As a result, there are gaps in what pupils know and can do.

This hinders pupils' ability to build their knowledge. The trust needs to ensure that the gaps are identified and adapt learning so that pupils know more and remember more across all curriculum subjects.

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 January 2015.