Nutfield Church CofE Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Nutfield Church CofE Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 9 July 2019, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in October 2015. This school continues to be good.

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Together with the deputy headteacher and governors, you have led a successful drive to improve the school. Senior leaders and governors have high expectations for how well pupils will achieve, not only academically, but also in their perso...nal, social and spiritual development.

Teachers and support staff embrace leaders' ambition and work hard to realise it fully. This united staff are proud to be part of the school and enjoy coming to work each day. The school's Christian values permeate all aspects of its work, creating a nurturing, inclusive ethos, where pupils and staff are all known and valued.

One boy explained to me that, 'Everyone is friendly and happy with each other.' Pupils enjoy and benefit from the many opportunities on offer to take responsibility and to serve other people. Older pupils look after younger ones and this leads to a happy, harmonious community.

Leaders listen carefully to pupils' views and opinions from the school council, the eco-team and the worship team. Parents are delighted with the school. Everyone that I spoke to on the playground and all of those who completed Parent View, Ofsted's survey for parents, said that pupils are happy, safe and well cared for in school.

One spoke for many when saying, 'The atmosphere in the school is always friendly and supportive, and the teachers are always open to discussion of the children's progress and any special needs.' Those who have been involved with the school over the years praise the many improvements that you and other leaders have brought about. At the previous inspection, senior leaders were asked to ensure that teaching in the upper part of the school was consistently strong.

You have focused unswervingly on improving the quality of teaching across the school. Teachers have had regular professional development opportunities closely tailored both to their needs and those of the school. Senior leaders monitor the quality of teaching regularly and work with staff to improve any areas identified for development.

The quality of teaching is good and has led to pupils making strong progress across the school. Attainment in English and mathematics is typically above the national averages and has risen further in key stage 2 this year, including the number of pupils who achieve the higher standards. The proportion of pupils who achieve the expected standard in key stage 1 is consistently well above the national averages.

Outcomes in reading, writing and mathematics at greater depth at the end of Year 2 have remained largely unchanged this year, just below the national averages of recent years in writing and mathematics. Inspectors also asked senior leaders to make sure that teachers ask a wide range of questions to make sure that pupils of all ability levels think deeply. As a result of improvements in teaching, teachers choose questions carefully to probe pupils' understanding and to sharpen their thinking.

This helps pupils to become articulate and able to explain their ideas clearly. At the previous inspection, leaders were also asked to use assessment information to promote the best learning, including for the most able pupils. Leaders have a wide range of pupils' tracking information, but it does not always include the proportion of pupils exceeding the expected standard for their age.

This is also true of the school's improvement plans, where targets do not systematically include the pupils capable of achieving these higher standards. Safeguarding is effective. Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Policies and procedures contribute to a secure, vigilant culture of safeguarding. Regular training and updates in all aspects of safeguarding ensure that staff understand the particular risks that pupils in this school face. Staff have a shared understanding of how to report even minor concerns.

Leaders keep comprehensive records of these concerns and, if needed, take further action to safeguard pupils. When necessary, leaders are tenacious in securing the support of external agencies. Pupils struggle to remember any incidents of bullying in the school.

This is because : leaders constantly raise pupils' awareness so that all are on the lookout to make sure it never happens. Staff have the complete confidence of pupils, who trust adults to listen to any concerns that they have and to act decisively. Pupils also learn to stay safe in a range of situations, including when they are online.

Inspection findings ? We agreed to look at three aspects of the school more closely. The first of these was to consider senior leaders' and governors' ambition for pupils to exceed the expected standards in reading. Pupils get off to an excellent start in school.

No pupils have left key stage 1 in recent years without the necessary phonics knowledge needed to read fluently. Almost all can read well by the end of Year 1. Governors noticed that in 2018 attainment in reading at the end of key stage 2 was not as strong as in previous years.

This led to a review of the reading curriculum and improvements in the way that reading was taught in the school. Outcomes in reading have improved this year as a result. ? Reading now permeates all aspects of the English curriculum.

Teachers use exciting and challenging texts to engage pupils' interest and to fire their enthusiasm for both reading and writing. Teachers have high expectations for pupils, including the most able pupils, who say that work is almost always challenging and makes them think hard. However, senior leaders do not have a sharp enough focus on making sure that those who are capable consistently achieve the higher standard in reading across the school.

• The second area we focused on was how leaders ensure that disadvantaged pupils attend school regularly and achieve well. In 2018, too many disadvantaged pupils were persistently absent. You wasted no time in redoubling efforts to engage with families to stress the importance of regular attendance at school.

This has led to a significant improvement in attendance for these pupils. Only a tiny handful are still persistently absent. ? Disadvantaged pupils typically achieve well in the school.

Staff know their needs and barriers to learning and use the additional funding to help them overcome these. The pupils also benefit from the same good quality of teaching that enables a high proportion of the pupils to achieve well in the school. ? Finally, we considered how well the curriculum enables pupils to make good progress in subjects other than English and mathematics and in their personal development.

Senior leaders provide a curriculum that provides well for pupils in this school. They consider carefully what pupils need to know, particularly recognising that the school is in an area that is not representative of multicultural Britain. Teachers open a window on the wider world to pupils by studying different places and cultures, both past and present.

The school's religious education curriculum enables pupils to have a strong understanding of Christianity. However, teachers also make sure that pupils develop an understanding of other faiths, including by visiting different places of worship, such as a Jewish synagogue and a Sikh gurdwara. The curriculum has a strongly positive impact on pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

• Pupils also achieve well in music, art and physical education. In science, pupils plan and run experiments, usually drawing accurate conclusions from their findings. Pupils in Years 4 and 6 benefit from some lessons that are taught by a specialist from a local secondary school.

However, at times learning in science lacks depth and rigour. Leaders have plans to address this and strengthen teaching in both science and design technology. They are particularly keen that all pupils should be successful and have positive attitudes to these subjects.

Leaders proactively tackle any stereotypes associated with this area of learning, for example, encouraging girls to see themselves as engineers and scientists. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? their plans are sharply focused on further strengthening teaching, so that the most able pupils are able to achieve the higher standards, especially at the end of key stage 1 ? they continue to develop science and design technology in the school, so that pupils deepen their understanding and develop their skills more effectively. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of Southwark, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Surrey.

This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Bruce Waelend Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection I met with you and the deputy headteacher to discuss various aspects of the school's work and also met with three middle leaders to discuss the curriculum. Staff members around the school spoke to me during the day about their views of the school and their understanding of safeguarding arrangements.

Four members of the governing body met with me to discuss their roles in the school. I spoke to a representative of the local authority on the telephone. Together with the deputy headteacher, we visited all classes to observe teaching and learning, to talk to pupils and look at their work.

I observed pupils' behaviour around the school, including at playtime. Several pupils spoke with me on the playground during morning break. I also had a meeting with 10 pupils from Years 2 and 6 to gather their views of the school.

I spoke with parents on the playground at the end of the day and took into account 39 responses to Parent View (including 24 free-text responses) and 19 responses to the staff questionnaire. There were no responses to the pupil survey. Several school documents were also taken into account, including the school's self-evaluation, leaders' development plans and the single central record of pre-employment checks.

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