West Chinnock Church School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils do not receive an acceptable standard of education at this school. Leaders' actions have not secured a coherent or well-sequenced curriculum. As a result, pupils do not have the necessary knowledge and skills to be ready for the next stage of their education.

Nevertheless, pupils are happy and feel safe. They get along well with one another in lessons and during breaktimes. Older pupils enjoy the opportunities to be role models for younger pupils.

Pupils say that bullying does not happen and that everyone shows respect towards one another.

Learning is not disrupted by poor behaviour. Pupils listen carefully and respond well to instructions.

St...aff give some rewards to pupils. However, there is not a consistently understood system used across the school. When learning, pupils' attitudes are variable.

This is because the curriculum does not always meet their needs. As a result, some pupils do not engage well with their learning.

Pupils enjoy a range of enrichment opportunities which they, and parents, value.

Experiences such as forest school, sporting events and trips all contribute positively to their personal development. Pupils say these experiences help them to develop skills such as teamwork and resilience. However, pupils do not have a secure knowledge of different faiths or cultures.

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

Pupils experience a disjointed curriculum that lacks ambition. Leaders have not set out the knowledge they want pupils to learn from Reception Year to Year 6. Therefore, pupils cannot build on prior learning successfully.

For example, in geography, leaders have not considered the knowledge pupils need about settlements or economic impact in order to be able to understand more complex concepts. Older pupils are unable to recall specific knowledge about historical periods studied, and, sometimes, they have misconceptions about historical events.

Leaders ensure that younger pupils acquire the knowledge they need to learn to read fluently.

Teachers are developing confidence and accuracy when delivering phonics to pupils. For those pupils who struggle to learn to read, support is effective in helping them practice segmenting and blending. However, leaders have not ensured that there is a reading curriculum which develops more sophisticated reading strategies for those older pupils who can read fluently.

Expectations within the curriculum are not high enough. Older pupils do not have an age-related understanding of grammar or multiplication tables. This means they are not prepared for the next stage of their education.

Reception Year children have not yet begun focused learning across all areas of the early years curriculum.

Pupils are sometimes working on content that is too hard for them. In mathematics, for example, some pupils in key stage two struggle to understand fundamental aspects of number, which means they do not get on to reasoning or problem-solving opportunities.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have barriers to their learning identified. However, the plans to address these are too broad and do not identify what success looks like. Teachers do not know how to ensure that these pupils secure the small blocks of knowledge they need.

The implementation of the personal, social, health education programme is very new. Pupils learn about how their bodies change. They know about different types of relationships and understand personal space and boundaries.

The curriculum does not ensure that they have a secure understanding of diversity or life in modern Britain.

Governors are over-reliant on senior leaders' evaluations of improvements. They do not provide robust challenge to leaders, which means they do not know whether actions are having the necessary impact on outcomes for pupils.

Staff feel that they work well as a team. They appreciate leaders' work to manage their workload. All staff recognise that there is a lot of work to do to get the curriculum to where it needs to be.

They are very positive about the focused training in phonics and how this has developed their skill and confidence.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders make sure there is a culture of 'it could happen here'.

Training ensures that staff know signs of different types of abuse. Staff are confident in reporting concerns and use agreed systems for this.

Leaders work with external agencies to make sure that pupils are safe.

Information-sharing is appropriate and ensures that the right people have the right information to support pupils when needed.

Pupils know how to stay safe when they are using the internet. They trust adults in the school to listen to them if they are worried or upset.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Leaders have not set out the knowledge they want pupils to learn across the curriculum. As a result, pupils are not able to build on prior knowledge successfully. Leaders must identify, and sequence, the key knowledge they want pupils to learn in each subject's curriculum so that pupils know and remember more over time.

• Leaders have not designed a reading curriculum for pupils who have completed the phonics programme. Older pupils do not build on their decoding skills to develop a range of reading strategies. Leaders should ensure that there is a suitable reading curriculum in place for pupils to ensure breadth and depth.

• Subject leadership is underdeveloped. Subject leaders do not all have the knowledge and skills to implement an effective curriculum. Senior leaders must ensure that all curriculum leaders have the expertise they need to improve the quality of the curriculum.

• Teachers do not have sufficient knowledge of how to reduce barriers to learning for pupils with SEND. Therefore, these pupils do not always have their precise needs met. Leaders need to ensure that teachers develop the skills to identify the support pupils with SEND need for them to make consistent progress through the curriculum.

• Planned learning opportunities within the early years curriculum are not ambitious or intentional enough. Children experience a range of activities that are not designed to further their knowledge or understanding. Teachers must ensure that learning is intentional and designed so that children can build on prior knowledge.

• Governors do not have an accurate view of the quality of education, because they are over-reliant on senior leaders' evaluations. This hampers their ability to provide robust challenge when holding leaders to account. Governors' oversight of the effectiveness of leaders' work needs to improve.