The Raleigh School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

The Raleigh School continues to be an outstanding school.

The headteacher of this school is Elizabeth Carter-McQueen. This school is part of The South Farnham Educational Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school.

The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO), Andrew Carter, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Linda Ross.

What is it like to attend this school?

The Raleigh School is an integral part of the local community. Pupils thrive because they have a very strong sense of belonging at school.

Staff ensure that each pupil's talents and interests are identified, valued and nurtured over time.... Pupils develop a deep understanding of how they can contribute positively locally and globally. Each class, for example, plans and carries out an annual 'good deed', such as visiting a local care home.

The whole school is currently engaged in a project to learn about the impact of humans on our oceans. This will culminate in an exhibition later in the year.

The school has exceptionally high expectations for every pupil.

Staff consistently ensure that every pupil, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, achieves the best possible outcomes, including at the end of key stages 1 and 2. An exciting programme of trips, visits and experiences enrich the school's carefully planned curriculum significantly.

Pupils' behaviour is exemplary.

Pupils actively contribute to the school's highly positive atmosphere in a range of ways. Older pupils, for example, care for younger ones, helping Reception children to settle in and feel confident at school. They rightly take a great deal of pride in their school and carry out a broad range of pupil roles for the benefit of others.'

Food friends,' for example, help in the school lunch hall.

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

Pupils achieve exceptionally well academically. This is because the school has designed its curriculum very carefully to ensure that, at every stage, all pupils acquire the knowledge and skills they require to access the next stage fully and successfully.

This starts in Reception, where every child gets off to an excellent start in reading. Expert teaching and support ensure that all pupils keep up with the school's reading programme. Each pupil's love of reading is carefully nurtured.

Staff read aloud to pupils regularly. As pupils progress through the school, they are supported to become increasingly independent readers, who read widely with great enjoyment.

Teachers are experts across the subjects that they teach.

As a result, they explain learning very clearly to pupils and ensure that all pupils have fully understood their learning. Pupils have regular opportunities to revisit and apply their learning so that, over time, they develop a rich and deep body of knowledge. They make connections within and between subjects.

For example, pupils in Year 6 were able to successfully use their scientific understanding of how fossils are formed with their geographical understanding of mountain formation to understand why marine fossils have been found on Mount Everest. The high-quality work that pupils produce in all subjects fully reflects the school's ambition for an exceptional education for all.

School life is rich and varied at The Raleigh School.

The extra-curricular opportunities for all pupils are of very high quality. The school participates in a wide range of sporting events, ensuring that, over time, every pupil has the opportunity to represent the school. The school's club offer caters for every possible interest, including 'French breakfast club', musical theatre club and tag rugby club.

The school works with external providers, such as a local theatre club, to enable pupils to extend their participation in the arts or other areas of interest. Through pupil leadership roles, such as 'House Captain', pupils further develop their sense of self-confidence and an understanding of the importance of giving back to the school community.

Through the school's curriculum for personal, social and health education (PSHE), pupils are supported to develop a strong understanding of how to stay physically and mentally healthy.

Regular 'calm me' sessions throughout each day provide moments of calm for every pupil. Pupils feel very well supported by school staff, both academically and emotionally. Regular training ensures that all staff feel confident to deliver the school's relationships and sex education (RSE) curriculum, and pupils feel confident that they can talk to staff and ask any questions they might have.

The school considers diversity and equality very carefully. Books are carefully chosen to ensure that pupils see a range of families and ethnicities represented in stories. Other books are sensitively selected to challenge gender stereotypes.

Pupils learn about a wide range of faiths and religions and have opportunities to visit a range of places of worship and meet faith leaders from multiple religions.

School and trust leaders engage very effectively with staff. The staff feel part of the school's journey.

Through the trust's 'faculty groups', staff benefit from and contribute to expertise within the trust. Through these groups, staff are also able to be part of curriculum decisions made centrally. This ensures a real sense of 'buy-in' from all staff.

Those responsible for governance know the school extremely well and work effectively to ensure that the school continues to provide all pupils with an exceptional education.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Background

When we have judged a school to be outstanding, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains outstanding.

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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be outstanding in December 2017.