Kingston St Mary Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Kingston St Mary Church of England Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils exemplify the school's values of kindness, respect, responsibility and resilience. They rightly describe Kingston St Mary as a calm, safe and fun place to learn. Pupils work and play happily together.

Positive relationships are evident in all parts of school life. This helps pupils to develop positive attitudes to their learning.

Staff care deeply about pupils.

They have high expectations, which are seen consistently in lessons and around the school. Pupils learn to live by these expectations and follow them well. Older pupils like to take... responsibility.

They look out for, and support, younger pupils. This all contributes to the family feel.

Bullying is exceptionally rare.

Pupils say they know adults will sort out bullying when it happens. Parents agree that their children are safe. Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the work of the school.

All parents who contributed to Ofsted's survey, Parent View, said they would recommend the school to another parent.

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

Leaders, including governors, know the school very well. They provide effective leadership.

Staff appreciate how their well-being has been considered, especially during the pandemic. Leaders prioritise pupils' learning. For example, they ensured that staff could focus on providing education as well as supporting pupils' well-being since the pandemic began.

This has helped maintain consistency in pupils' experiences and their enjoyment of the curriculum.

The reading curriculum is effective. Teachers and teaching assistants have expert knowledge in order to help pupils learn well.

As soon as children enter the Reception Year, they begin to learn phonics. Pupils who are at risk of falling behind are identified quickly. Extra support is given when needed.

Pupils take home carefully chosen books that allow them to practise the sounds they are learning. As a result, pupils quickly learn how to sound out words and read them accurately. This helps them to become competent readers.

Older pupils say they love reading. They speak confidently about stories their teachers have shared with them. They really like the school library, where there are plenty of books to choose from.

They enjoy the ways that they can contribute to the stories that their teachers might read them in the future.

Leaders have focused appropriately on improving the quality of the foundation subjects in the school. However, the impact of the pandemic means there is still a long way to go in some subjects, such as history, geography and art.

Curriculum planning in these subjects is very new and not yet established. Therefore, pupils do not always know and remember as much as they could in these subjects.

The mathematics curriculum is sequenced in a logical way.

Teachers have strong subject knowledge. They use a range of strategies to help pupils learn key mathematical knowledge. Pupils can use equipment to support their learning independently.

This means for pupils who find mathematics challenging, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), they learn useful ways to support their own learning without adult intervention.

The leadership of SEND is effective. Leaders have a strong overview of the pupils with SEND.

They work closely with teachers. Together, they plan, implement and review provision to ensure pupils' needs are consistently met. Staff receive useful training.

Early identification is supported well. For example, children are screened to check for any speech and language needs early in the Reception year.

Pupils' broader development is enriched in several ways.

The school ethos is underpinned by its strong Christian values. Pupils experience a range of spiritual opportunities, including through key events, such as the celebration of Christmas. Pupils enjoy the trips and visits that are used to enhance the curriculum.

Pupils talk positively about the clubs that are on offer, such as the gymnastics clubs.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Staff are knowledgeable and diligent.

They work closely with other agencies. Leaders know the families at the school exceptionally well. Similarly, they understand the community.

Staff are trained appropriately and supported to respond to these challenges.

Safer recruitment processes are followed attentively. Appropriate checks are made on staff and recorded on a single central register.

A governor is responsible for overseeing safeguarding. They ensure that leaders are held to account. They also check that processes are compliant and carried out properly, so that pupils are safe.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The school's curriculum is not yet sufficiently well planned and sequenced in some subjects. Leaders paused their work to improve the curriculum due to the pandemic. However, it is clear that leaders have already taken action to plan next year's curriculum and to train staff in how to deliver it.

For this reason, the transitional arrangements have been applied. Leaders now need to ensure an effective curriculum is in place for all 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 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 first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in December 2016.

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