St Kenelm’s Church of England (VC) School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

St Kenelm's Church of England (VC) School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

St Kenelm's is a welcoming and inclusive school. The school's ethos, based on the parable of the lost sheep, is realised so that every pupil is valued for the unique qualities that they bring to their school community.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive the care and attention that they need to help them thrive. Pupils are happy in school and they feel safe. Pupils are consistently kind and friendly.

This is because staff set such a positive example for pupils. They show pupils how to behave kindly and respectfully towards eac...h other. Pupils rightly demonstrate confidence that any rare incidents of bullying will be taken seriously and quickly resolved.

The school has high expectations for pupils' learning. Ambitious leaders have designed a curriculum which has a broad offer of academic subjects and a carefully designed programme of enrichment activities. Pupils are keen to learn, and they achieve well.

Pupils are proud to participate in a wide range of sporting activities and competitions. Different extra-curricular clubs are available to develop pupils' talents and interests, such as handbells, karate and gymnastics. Pupils enjoy serving their community through events such as singing for the elderly at Christmas.

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

There is an ambitious and carefully designed school curriculum in place. For every subject, the school has planned what pupils will learn and when they will learn it. The curriculum begins in Reception and progresses in a logical sequence to Year 6.

It ensures that pupils' knowledge builds over time. This prepares pupils to be ready to move on to secondary school.

Pupils achieve well across much of the curriculum.

The school is aware of any difficulties pupils may have that could prevent them learning as well as they could. Staff routinely adapt tasks to meet the needs of individual pupils. Pupils with SEND are given effective support.

This helps them to confidently develop their knowledge and understanding. The school ensures that staff receive high-quality training to teach the curriculum well. In most subjects, staff regularly recap previous learning.

This helps pupils to know and remember more over time. However, in some subjects, the school does not systematically and rigorously check whether pupils have learned as much as they should. Pupils, therefore, have some unidentified gaps in their understanding and cannot always recall and apply the knowledge they have learned.

The school prioritises the teaching and enjoyment of reading. Staff use their secure subject knowledge and teaching expertise to help pupils learn to read confidently. New information is presented in a carefully considered way.

The school's phonics scheme sets out the sounds and words that pupils should learn in a logical order. It is taught well. Pupils develop useful strategies to be able to read harder words.

Children begin to learn to read from their first days in Reception. They enjoy listening to a wide range of stories. This helps to foster a love of reading from a young age.

Pupils who are at the early stages of reading get targeted support from well-trained staff. This helps them continue to develop their confidence and fluency as a reader.

The school has effective systems to identify the needs of pupils with SEND.

Staff keep parents closely involved, offering support where needed. There is clear ambition for pupils with SEND to access the same curriculum as their peers. They benefit from useful resources that help them to do this successfully.

Classrooms are calm and purposeful. Across the school, staff work intelligently to support pupils to manage their emotions. This means that everyone is able to focus on their learning without disruption.

The personal development of pupils lies at the core of the school's values. Pupils are keen to explain their understanding of how to make a positive contribution to society. They learn to respect others' opinions during discussions and debates in lessons.

A wide range of experiences, such as visiting art exhibitions and participation in national theatre workshops, ensure that learning extends beyond the classroom. Equality and diversity are increasingly well promoted throughout the curriculum. Pupils show maturity and develop as responsible citizens.

They take pride in their efforts to help others, such as their recent coffee morning to raise money for a national charity.

Governors hold the school to account in how well the quality of education is serving pupils. Committees dig deep so that they are well informed about the school's strengths and weaknesses.

Full governing body meetings are used well to share this information so that all governors are equally knowledgeable, which helps ensure that school improvement priorities are addressed.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, checks on how well pupils are learning the intended curriculum are not precise enough.

This means that misconceptions are not always identified and gaps in understanding are not consistently addressed promptly. The school should ensure that current refinements to how assessment is used lead to pupils learning consistently well across the full 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 January 2014.

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