Setting

Mrs S Garner Headteacher Kings Farm Primary School Cedar Avenue Gravesend Kent DA12 5JT

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Primary School

Thank you for the help which you and your staff gave when I inspected your school on 7 December 2010, for the time you gave to our phone discussion, and for the information which you provided during the inspection. Please pass on my thanks to the staff and pupils who gave up time to speak to me.

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Primary School

As a result of the inspection on 6–7 May 2009, the school was asked to address the most important areas for improvement which are set out in the annex to this letter.

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Primary School

Having considered all the evidence I am of the opinion that at this time the school has made good progress in making improvements and good progress in demonstrating a better capacity for sustained improvement.

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Primary School

Following the last inspection, the attainment and progress of pupils at the end of both Key Stages 1 and 2 showed clear improvement on previous years. Overall attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 is still lower than the national average, but in mathematics, national test results in both the last two years were broadly average. This is a great improvement. Improved provision in English has been slower to show such strong improvement and results fell back a little in 2010 from their 2009 peak. However, the general trend of closing the gap with the national average has continued since the inspection. Floor targets have been exceeded for the first time.

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Primary School

The progress of pupils has improved dramatically. In both 2009 and 2010, overall pupils’ progress was significantly above the national average. This was also the case in mathematics but, while progress in English was significantly above average in 2009, it slipped back to broadly average in 2010. Nevertheless, this represents a considerable improvement from the situation reported at the last inspection. Tribal 1-4 Portland Square BRISTOL BS2 8RR T 0300 123 1231 Text Phone: 0161 6188524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T 0845 123 6001 Direct F 0117 315 0430 Direct email :rebecca.jackson@tribalgroup.com The good improvement in pupils’ achievement results from good teaching, coupled with extra interventions such as one-to-one tuition. This has been especially successful in mathematics. Mathematics teaching is strong. Pupils enjoy it because they can clearly see its relevance to the real world. The school is acutely aware of

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Primary School

the need to give pupils real-world experiences and, as a result, has introduced inspirational trips to stimulate writing. In this way, teachers are tackling the challenge of improving the quality of boys’ writing. Much-improved subject leadership has been focused on raising achievement through analysing pupil performance and providing specific training to address weaknesses. Literacy is improving and new leadership in this subject is effective but has had less time to have an impact than in mathematics. Within the Early Years Foundation Stage, there is a very strong emphasis on the development of phonics (the sounds that letters make). Understanding of this good practice has been shared across the whole staff. The school has developed a ‘raising attainment team’ which includes the middle leadership. Middle leaders are well involved in training and monitoring.

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Primary School

Since the inspection, there has been a focus on developing marking and target setting leading to good improvement. Work scrutiny routinely checks that the new marking strategy is implemented so that pupils know how to improve their work. Pupils are developing good skills of self- and peer-assessment. They are assisted in this by lessons having clear objectives and success criteria, against which they can judge their performance. Pupils know and understand their targets. These are usually well matched to individual learners, but in Year 6, the literacy targets are for groups rather than individuals. This sometimes results in the most-able pupils loosing pace in their progress.

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Primary School

Since the inspection, governors have developed their role. The governing body has grown numerically and in its understanding of its role and responsibilities. With the help of the headteacher, they have begun to question and probe the leadership about the school’s performance and hold it to account for it.

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Primary School

The school’s good capacity to improve further is demonstrated by clear improvements in outcomes for pupils over the last two years. Four joint lesson observations were undertaken during the monitoring visit with the headteacher and there was full agreement on the quality of each.

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Primary School

I hope that you have found the inspection helpful in promoting improvement in your school. This letter will be posted on the Ofsted website.

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place on 6–7 May 2009

 Ensure that the quality of teaching and learning is consistently good so that all pupils throughout the school are set suitably challenging tasks.  Use marking and target setting consistently to make clear to pupils how to improve their work and what the next steps are in their learning.  Develop the roles of middle leaders and the governing body in monitoring the quality of provision in order to bring about sustained improvements.

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