Tattingstone Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Tattingstone Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils reflect a culture of learning, caring and achieving together.

They are safe, knowing that their trusted adults will support them should they have any concerns.

Most pupils behave very well around school and in lessons. Pupils who sometimes struggle to manage their own behaviour benefit from sensitive support from their trusted adults.

Pupils are attentive and active participants in lessons. They are confident in explaining their knowledge and understanding. As a ...result, most pupils achieve well.

However, sometimes, teachers do not provide learning activities that encourage pupils to think more deeply or apply what they know in different contexts. This means that some pupils do not achieve as highly as they could.

Many pupils enjoy an ever-increasing range of opportunities to 'flourish as an individual' that are open to all.

This includes participation in clubs such as basketball, cooking, skiing, sailing and singing. Pupil also compete in tournaments such as tag rugby, football and dodgeball.

Educational visits extend pupils' interests, linking learning to the wider world.

These include visits to local museums, farms and theatres as well as residential experiences.

Pupils proudly adopt leadership roles such as junior road safety officers, school council, e-safety, 'ECO' and sports committee members.

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

The school has recently experienced a period of significant turbulence.

This has led to revisions in the curriculum to reflect changes to class structures. The revised curriculum is ambitious, broad and well-sequenced. The intent of 'turning small wonders into shining lights' remains strong.

This enables all pupils to build important knowledge and skills over time, in preparation for the next stage of their learning.

Children in the early years start to build a strong foundation for their future learning as soon as they start school. This includes in reading.

Children begin learning phonics immediately through effective lessons with expertly trained staff. Staff carefully check pupils' progress. Those pupils who need extra help with reading receive timely intervention to keep up.

This enables pupils to learn to read age-appropriate texts with increasing confidence and fluency. These texts increase in sophistication as pupils get older. Many pupils excel in reading by the end of Year 6.

Teachers provide regular opportunities for pupils to revisit their prior learning. This helps them remember important knowledge in the long term. However, in a few subjects, work is not yet consistently well adapted to meet the full range of pupils' understanding.

As a result, some pupils do not get enough opportunities to deepen their knowledge as extensively as they could. For example, some pupils have insufficient opportunities to apply their understanding to more complex challenges and different contexts.

Teachers do not have consistently high expectations for the quality of pupils' written work.

Some pupils do not receive the support they need to address errors in their spelling, punctuation and grammar. This means that the quality of their written work in subjects other than English is variable. In turn, this affects pupils' ability to express their ideas and understanding clearly in some subjects.

Staff identify the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) precisely. They adapt teaching so that pupils with SEND can succeed in their learning. The school make sure that ongoing training for staff ensures they have the knowledge and expertise to meet the needs of pupils with SEND.

The school ensures that pupils are very well prepared to be responsible citizens. Pupils learn about diversity, respect and tolerance through the curriculum. They have regular opportunities to debate topical issues and understand the views of others.

Pupils learn about democracy, for example through voting for their school representatives. These representatives play an active role, such as teaching their peers about positive mental health. Pupils have a strong sense of their role within the community.

The junior road safety officers, for example, encourage pupils to be safe when walking and riding bikes.

Staff enjoy working at the school. The school is sensitive to their workload and well-being.

Staff know that leaders value their commitment to the school. There have been some recent changes to the governing body. Governors are knowledgeable and proactive.

They provide an effective level of support and challenge for the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The work and activities teachers provide are not consistently well adapted to consider what some pupils already know and can do.

As a result, these pupils do not get sufficient opportunities to deepen their thinking and apply their knowledge in more complex contexts. The school should ensure that teachers take account fully of pupils' prior knowledge and adapt lessons and activities accordingly, to help all pupils build effectively on their prior learning and achieve as well as they can. ? Expectations of the quality of pupils' written work are variable in subjects other than English.

Sometimes, pupils do not receive the support needed to address weaknesses in spelling, punctuation and grammar. As a result, the quality of pupils' written work across the curriculum is not of a consistently high standard, which affects pupils' ability to express their ideas clearly. The school should ensure that teachers' expectations of pupils' written work are consistently high across all subjects and that teachers help pupils to consolidate their writing skills and apply them consistently well across the curriculum.

Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted's website. From September 2024 graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade.

This school was, before September 2024, judged to be good for its overall effectiveness.

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection. 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's work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection. A graded inspection 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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good for overall effectiveness on 11 and 12 June 2019.