The Raleigh School

The Raleigh School Northcote Crescent, West Horsley, Leatherhead, KT24 6LX

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected This inspection: Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1 Leadership and management Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  Pupils leave both key stages with standards of reading, writing and mathematics that are significantly higher than those expected for their age.  Children achieve exceptionally well in the Early Years Foundation Stage. In the rest of the school, pupils make good progress overall. Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs achieve at least as well as their peers, and sometimes better.  Teaching is typically at least good and some is outstanding. Extremely positive and mutually respectful relationships, and teachers’ effective use of questioning, support pupils’ learning well.  Pupils’ behaviour and attitudes are exemplary. Pupils know well the next steps they need to take to progress. Pupils are highly supportive of each other and able to work maturely and productively together. They feel exceptionally safe in school.  The headteacher, other leaders, staff and governors continually strive for excellence.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

The school’s principle of ‘children first’ is at the heart of all decisions.  Leaders at all levels take effective steps to sustain and build on existing strengths through accurately identifying areas they wish to improve. There is no sense of complacency.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Although some teaching is outstanding, it is not consistently so in Key Stages 1 and 2 for pupils to sustain sufficiently rapid progress to secure outstanding achievement.  Agreed points for improvement following leaders’ monitoring of the quality of teaching are not always precise enough.  Although there is some excellent practice in marking and feedback between pupils and adults, it is not always of high enough quality.  Pupils are not required frequently enough to make their own decisions through tackling open-ended problem-solving or investigation tasks.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed parts of 28 lessons, including six observed jointly with the headteacher.  They scrutinised pupils’ work alongside the headteacher, and held discussions with pupils about their work and experiences of school.  Inspectors also held discussions with staff and leaders at different levels, including members of the governing body.  They spoke with parents and carers and took account of 52 responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View), as well as a small number of letters and emails sent to the inspection team.  Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a range of the school’s records and documents, including information about pupils’ progress, monitoring and evaluation records, governing body minutes, incident and behaviour records, and safeguarding documentation.

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Inspection team

Clive Dunn, Lead inspector Additional inspector Avtar Sherri Additional inspector Jill Thewlis Additional inspector

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Information about this school

 The Raleigh School is much larger than the average-sized primary school.  The proportions of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs that are supported through school action, and at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs, are much lower than average.  Very few pupils are known to be eligible for the pupil premium funding. The proportion is much lower than the national average.  The school is part of a local confederation of schools, with leaders and staff at different levels working in partnership to both provide and receive support. This is not part of the formal governance of the school.  There is a breakfast and after-school club that is managed by the governing body.  The on-site pre-school provision is not managed by the governing body and was not part of this inspection.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum

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Information about this school

expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  The Raleigh School converted to academy status in August 2011. This is the first inspection of the new academy.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Secure greater consistency of outstanding teaching so that pupils sustain rapid progress across Key Stages 1 and 2 by:  increasing opportunities for pupils to make choices and work independently and collaboratively in open-ended tasks, such as problem solving and investigations, in order to deepen their learning and understanding  ensuring dialogue and feedback in written marking between pupils and teachers is of consistently high quality  increasing opportunities for pupils to assess each other’s work  ensuring leaders focus rigorously on the learning of different groups of pupils when observing lessons and refine written feedback on areas for improvement to make it absolutely precise.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children join school with skills broadly in line with those expected. They settle quickly and make an excellent start in the Early Years Foundation Stage. By the beginning of Year 1, pupils are already working at levels beyond those expected for their age.  Across the rest of the school, both boys and girls achieve well. Pupils reach levels that are significantly above average at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2 in reading, writing and mathematics. In the most recent results, three quarters of Year 6 pupils attained levels higher than those expected for their ages.  Although pupils’ rates of progress are good overall, and sometimes quicker, they are not consistently rapid enough to lift pupils’ achievement to outstanding. However, remaining variations in progress rates do not consistently affect particular year groups or subjects.  Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs achieve at least as well as their

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The achievement of pupils is good

peers. When participating in programmes that target specific needs, their rates of progress typically accelerate and they make quicker progress to close gaps with other pupils.  Pupils whose in-school support is enhanced by pupil premium funding, for example through being taught in a small group for mathematics or having daily individual reading sessions, achieve at least as well their peers, and sometimes better.  At the end of each key stage, pupils’ reading abilities are significantly above average. Younger pupils’ secure knowledge of letters and sounds (phonics) enables them to make quick progress. Pupils’ writing is thoughtful and develops well in maturity, structure and technical accuracy. Pupils use their impressive and extending vocabulary effectively in a range of genres from poetry to formal reports.  Pupils relish the chance to use and apply their mathematics skills to problem solve or

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The achievement of pupils is good

investigate. For example, in Year 5, pupils were required to find their own systems for recording their results when investigating which prison cells would be unlocked following a sequence of different jailers. Such opportunities are not always maximised. Occasionally, pupils are too reliant on formats the teacher provides when carrying out science experiments, rather than making their own decisions and exploring and developing their own ideas.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The positive learning atmosphere in lessons is founded on very strong relationships at all levels. When given the opportunity, pupils feel confident to ‘have a go’ and teachers emphasise the learning opportunities that arise from making mistakes.  Teachers have high expectations. Tasks usually have the right level of challenge for different pupils. When teachers refine this, for example building in further challenge for the most able, this is often a key factor in securing the outstanding quality of teaching that is sometimes evident.  A good example of this very effective teaching was observed in Year 2 when a focus group working with the teacher as part of ‘Thrilling Thursday’ investigated different length underground trains in preparation for the following day’s visit to London. The teacher’s timely introduction of more carriages and additional rules about the numbers that formed particular trains kept the level of challenge high.

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The quality of teaching is good

 In the Early Years Foundation Stage, children are quickly independent, confident and purposeful in their play. Adults’ skilled interactions very effectively extend the challenge as children select their own activities, for example, prompting problem solving of how to stop teddy slipping from his chair at his birthday party, or making the water wheel move round without pushing it with their fingers.  Using effective questioning skills, teachers regularly target their questions at particular pupils and take opportunities to probe further to extend or deepen their understanding. In Year 6, this prompted pupils to draw their learning together and make links with their preparation homework, and promoted their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development through reflection on the environment and everyday application of the skills they had been developing.  Teaching assistants have secure subject knowledge and often enhance pupils’ learning.

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The quality of teaching is good

Where they are most effective, their support is targeted carefully and allows pupils to retain enough independence, including disabled pupils and those with special educational needs.  Pupils know their individual next step targets well. These are regularly reviewed and updated, and pupils frequently use them to assess their own work to see how well they have done. There are fewer opportunities to deepen pupils’ understanding by assessing and evaluating each other’s work.  Marking regularly identifies how pupils can improve their work. Pupils often, though not always, have opportunities to respond to this. There is some high-quality marking and feedback evident. In Year 5, for example, marking forms an ongoing dialogue between teacher and pupil that moves their learning and skills forward very effectively.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 The school’s overwhelmingly positive atmosphere extends through lessons, assemblies, break times, and breakfast and after-school clubs. Pupils’ excellent attitudes to learning and exemplary conduct and manners make a significant contribution to this. High levels of mutual respect between adults and pupils are clearly evident.  Pupils are adept at working collaboratively. They are proactive in making sure everyone is included and providing each other with mutual support and encouragement. When given the freedom to choose, even younger pupils make mature and sensible choices about when they can complete a task independently and when they need to discuss it with a partner. Consequently, pupils remain productive and on task.  Pupils report that they feel safe at school at all times. Bullying is extremely rare, but pupils are fully aware of different forms it could take and entirely confident it would be effectively

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

dealt with should it occur.  Documentary evidence and the overwhelmingly positive views of pupils, parents and carers, and staff indicate strongly that outstanding behaviour is typical over time.  Attendance rates are much higher than average.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher’s ambition for the school and all of its pupils is shared by leaders, the governing body and staff at all levels. Together, they are determined to secure excellence in all areas. Effective systems underpin the relentless desire to secure improvements and enable the school to sustain and build on its success.  The achievement and well-being of individual pupils are paramount. The consistently positive achievement for different groups of pupils reflects the success of the school’s promotion of equal opportunities. The inspection found no evidence of discrimination of any kind.  Through reflective evaluation of the school’s performance, staff accurately identify the school’s strengths and areas for improvement. Leaders at all levels implement effective plans to address these, for example initiatives to raise standards in writing, thus significantly narrowing a historical gap in comparison to pupils’ performance in reading.

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The leadership and management are good

There is a strong link between whole-school improvement and performance management systems.  Frequent and varied monitoring of the quality of teaching and learning sustains and builds upon typically good practice. Leaders recognise that they do not always focus strongly enough on the learning of different pupils during lesson observations. Teachers value the focused and challenging, but supportive dialogue with leaders following observations, although written records of the points for improvement agreed with the teacher can lack precision.  Leaders work extremely proactively in close partnership with other schools in the confederation. Leaders at different levels share their own best practice, for example taking the lead in mathematics. Staff also readily seize opportunities to broaden in-school expertise, participating in the confederation dance training facilitated by the school’s leaders.  The curriculum promotes pupils’ academic skills well, although it does not consistently

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The leadership and management are good

promote and build on pupils’ investigative skills. The school actively promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, including through a wide range of enrichment activities. Leaders have recognised that pupils’ opportunities to experience and learn about cultural diversity are less well developed and are seeking ways to address this.  Parents and carers are almost entirely positive about the school. Those who submitted a response on Parent View were unanimous that their children are happy, feel safe and are well looked after. The school’s arrangements for safeguarding pupils meet statutory requirements.  The governance of the school:  provides an entirely appropriate balance of challenge and support for school leaders in their shared pursuit of excellence  is well organised, efficient and offers a broad range of experience  is knowledgeable about the school’s performance, including related to matters such as the

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The leadership and management are good

use and impact of pupil premium funding and the effectiveness of performance management systems  considers carefully the impact of budgetary decisions on pupils’ achievement.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 2 Good A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 3 Requires improvement A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school

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Grade Judgement Description

is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

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School details

Unique reference number 137014 Local authority Surrey Inspection number 403687

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Type of school Academy converter School category Non-maintained Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 429 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Melanie McLaren Headteacher Fiona O'Neill Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 01483 282988 Fax number 01483 285631 Email address head@raleigh.surrey.sch.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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School details

You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when and as part of the inspection.

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School details

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk, or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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School details

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille,

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School details

please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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