Chattenden Primary School

Chattenden Lane, Chattenden, Rochester, ME3 8LF

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected This inspection: Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Early years provision Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The Principal provides strong and effective leadership and is highly ambitious for this improving school.  Leaders and managers work well together as a team to improve the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement.  The governors support and challenge senior leaders effectively and share their high expectations of staff and pupils.  Pupils are courteous and respectful. Their behaviour is good and staff ensure that they are safe. Pupils have very positive attitudes to their learning and this supports their good progress.  Pupils enjoy coming to school, as reflected in their good attendance.  Most teaching is at least good across the school. In Year 6, consistently outstanding teaching contributes significantly to pupils’ overall progress.  Pupils achieve well and make good progress. By the end of Year 6, pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics is significantly above the national average. The proportion attaining the highest levels

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

is also above average.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress from their starting points because teaching is closely tailored to their individual needs.  Disadvantaged pupils make good progress, often reaching higher standards than their peers in school and nationally.  The early years provision is good. Children in Reception are taught well and receive good care and support from staff. They make good progress from their starting points.  The school’s promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. Pupils are prepared well for life in modern Britain.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Teachers in lower Key Stage 2 do not always expect enough of pupils. As a result, pupils’ progress in these classes is slower than it could be.  The new marking policy is not applied consistently. This can adversely affect pupils’ progress, especially in writing.  Teachers do not have enough opportunites to learn from the excellent practice in the school.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited 14 lessons or parts of lessons. The headteacher completed three joint observations with the lead inspector.  The behaviour and attitudes of pupils were observed during lessons, in the breakfast club, at lunchtime, in an assembly, at play times and when pupils moved around the school.  Inspectors spoke to some pupils from Year 6 and heard pupils in Year 2 and Year 6 read. Pupils’ work in reading, writing and mathematics, including that found in some topic work, was scrutinised.  Meetings were held with leaders and managers, pupils, and members of the governing body.  Inspectors met parents at a parents’ evening and considered the 31 responses to the online survey, Parent View. They also considered responses to 18 questionnaires completed by staff.  Documents reviewed included the school’s self-evaluation summary and improvement plans; arrangements for safeguarding; behaviour and attendance records; the governing body minutes; and

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Inspection team

Angela Konarzewski, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Chattenden Primary School converted to become an academy in July 2012, setting up the Peninsula Gateway Academy Trust. When Ofsted inspected its predecessor school, also Chattenden Primary School, in July 2010, it was judged to be good overall.  The Principal was appointed in September 2014, having been Vice-Principal for the previous four years.  The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  All children attend the Reception class full time.  Almost all pupils are of White British heritage. A very small proportion of pupils are from minority ethnic groups; of these, very few speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is above the national average. The majority of these have behavioural, emotional and social difficulties and speech, language and communication needs.  The proportion of pupils eligible for the pupil premium, additional funding to support pupils known to be

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Information about this school

eligible for free school meals or in the care of the local authority is above the national average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics.  The school provides a daily breakfast club.  There is a pre-school group on the same site as the school which is managed by a private provider.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching to match the best in the school by ensuring that all teachers:  have consistently high expectations of what pupils can achieve  implement the new policy for marking and feedback so that pupils can do as well in writing as they do in reading and mathematics  have the chance to learn from the excellent practice already existing in the school.

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The leadership and management are good

 The Principal, other leaders and governors have raised the school’s expectations of pupils. These high expectations have resulted in improvements in pupils’ achievement and in the quality of teaching.  Leaders’ checks on the quality of teaching and their management of the performance of staff are robust. Staff know what is expected of them and are given good support to help them to improve their work. However, there is still some weak teaching in lower Key Stage 2 and pupils’ progress in writing is sometimes too slow.  Senior and middle leaders are confident and effective. They work well together as a team and share the Principal’s aspirations for the school. Subject leaders, some of whom are newly appointed, lead staff training in their subjects and have introduced improvements. Pupils’ achievement has improved as a result, especially in reading and mathematics.  Leaders, including middle leaders, regularly and accurately evaluate the school’s strengths and

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The leadership and management are good

weaknesses. The school’s plans for improvement are effective and leaders have ensured that staff are ready to teach the new National Curriculum.  The curriculum is well designed to develop pupils’ literacy and numeracy in all subjects. Well-structured topics have helped to close historical gender gaps where in the past girls attained more highly than boys in English and boys more highly in mathematics.  The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Chattenden is a United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Rights Respecting School, and the rights and respect agenda informs the ethos of the school. In this way, the school does well in promoting equality of opportunity, fostering good relations and tackling discrimination. Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain.  The pupil premium funding is spent wisely to ensure that all disadvantaged pupils make progress that is at

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The leadership and management are good

least as good as that of their peers.  The primary sport funding is spent effectively on developing teachers’ confidence and expertise in aspects of physical education and on enhancing pupils’ competitive engagement in sports across Medway schools.  The school communicates effectively with parents and works with them well. For example, those attending the parents’ evening held during the inspection said that they were very pleased with the information they receive on their children’s progress. Most parents who responded to Parent View said that the school was led and managed well. Almost all said that they would recommend the school to others.  The school’s safeguarding arrangements are robust.  The governance of the school:  The governing body has a good grasp of the school’s performance in relation to other schools. Governors understand the school’s priorities and know how to challenge and support the leadership

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The leadership and management are good

team to make sure that it continues to improve. Statutory requirements, including safeguarding, are fully in place and effective. Governors understand the changes to the curriculum and the revised approaches to assessing pupils’ achievement. They know how good the teaching is and understand the management of teachers’ performance and how the national Teachers’ Standards can inform performance-related pay. Governors monitor spending carefully and know how the school is using additional funds, including the pupil premium, to improve pupils’ overall achievement. Governors have undertaken recent training in safeguarding, safer recruitment of staff, and managing the performance of the Principal.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  Pupils take pride in their achievement, their work and their school. They demonstrate positive attitudes to learning, which contribute well to their progress.  On the whole, pupils concentrate in lessons, although a few lose focus when teaching does not engage them.  Pupils work and play happily and cooperatively. They are well behaved in the playground, during lunchtime and when moving around the school. They are courteous, respectful and friendly towards adults and each other.  The school’s use of a ‘buddy’ system, which involves older pupils looking after younger ones, promotes caring behaviour and a sense of responsibility. As one Year 6 pupil said, ‘We are a calming influence and someone for the younger children to turn to at playtimes and lunchtime.’  The school manages pupils’ behaviour effectively. Behavioural expectations are communicated positively through class charters and charters for playground and lunchtime behaviour. The school has recently been

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Behaviour

awarded the UNICEF Recognition of Commitment for its work on this.  Pupils’ attendance has improved and is now good, suggesting that pupils enjoy coming to school. The breakfast club is very well run and provides a nurturing start to the busy school day.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils are taught about risk assessment and keeping safe in different situations.  E-safety is promoted effectively and pupils have an annual update, after which they design their own e- safety posters to reinforce its importance. They have a good understanding of cyber-bullying, although they say they have not experienced it directly.  The school teaches pupils how to guard against all types of bullying, although some pupils reported low- level name-calling and some parents felt that bullying is not always dealt with effectively. Pupils have very little knowledge and understanding of homophobic bullying, and said that the word ‘gay’ is sometimes used as a derogatory term. On the other hand, they said that there is no racist behaviour in the school, a view supported by the school’s records.  All parents who responded to Parent View feel that the school keeps their children safe.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching in the school has improved over the past year. Most is now good and some is outstanding. As a consequence, pupils’ achievement has strongly improved.  Phonics (linking letters to the sounds they make) is well taught right from the start in Reception, and pupils across the school use their phonics skills well so that their achievement in reading is now especially impressive.  While most teachers challenge pupils to do as well as they possibly can, in lower Key Stage 2 some teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve are too low; the work set does not always stretch pupils sufficiently.  There is a new system for marking and giving pupils feedback on their written work and a chance to respond. Where the system has been properly implemented, for example in Year 6, pupils are clearly making faster progress. This is not the case throughout the schoool, however. In lessons where teachers

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The quality of teaching is good

do not give pupils adequate feedback, particularly about their writing, they do not make the progress they should. This is especially inhibiting for the most-able pupils.  Teaching assistants are deployed well to support pupils, including those with disabilities or special educational needs and disadvantaged pupils eligible for additional funding. Teaching assistants contribute effectively to pupils’ progress, both in class and in the nurture group.  Most parents who responded to Parent View think their children are well taught.

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is good

 In 2014, in Key Stage 1, pupils’ results were broadly in line with national averages in writing and mathematics, but slightly lower in reading. At the end of Key Stage 2, their results were above average in writing but significantly above average in mathematics, reading and English grammar, punctuation and spelling.  By the end of Year 6, all pupils, including disabled pupils and those with special educational needs and those eligible for the pupil premium, attained at least average levels in mathematics, reading and writing in 2014. The proportion attaining the highest levels in mathematics and reading was significantly above average.  Pupils’ progress has improved rapidly, especially in reading. Pupils in most classes now make good progress, but there are still two classes in lower Key Stage 2 where progress is not consistently good.  The school’s results in the national phonics screening check have improved over time. The most recent

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is good

phonics scores are higher than the most recent national averages.  Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs, including those who attend the nurture group, make progress that is in line with, or better than, that of other pupils. Achievement for these pupils has improved over time because effective use is made of assessment information and work is tailored to their individual needs.  The same is true of disadvantaged pupils, who did better than their peers in 2014, in school and nationally, in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Key Stage 2.  More than a quarter of pupils in the current Year 6 are in the most-able category and are on track to attain the highest levels in all areas in 2015. The work produced by these pupils is often of a very high standard. For example, one Year 6 boy, whose writing has improved as a result of the teacher’s excellent subject knowledge and detailed marking, wrote evocatively, ‘Very quickly, Crystal Palace, which was in

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is good

roaring flames, burnt to a crisp. Every second was made of smoke and fire.’ In some classes, the most- able pupils make slower progress when the work set for them during lessons is not sufficiently demanding.  Pupils of all abilities are very well prepared for the next stage in their education.

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is good

 Most children join the Reception class with levels of skill and understanding that are below those typical for their age. They learn quickly and make at least good progress so that by the time they leave Reception, most have reached a good level of development and are well prepared for Year 1.  Phonics is well taught and children make particularly fast progress in developing their communication and language skills, their reading and writing, and their number skills.  The leadership of the early years is good and staff work effectively with parents to ensure that children make a good start to their education. Children settle quickly into routines and generally behave well because they feel secure. However, there is no free-flow between the indoor and outdoor activities and sometimes children are kept waiting too long when they want to go outside to play. This can lead to some poor behaviour, especially in the afternoons when they are beginning to tire.

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is good

 Activities are well planned to build on children’s previous experience and to engage them in their learning. Children learn well through play activities both indoors and outside, and through tasks that are teacher- led, because teaching is good and appropriately matched to children’s needs and abilities.  Children’s involvement in school assemblies and learning, playing and eating with older pupils who look after them, helps them to develop confidence and to feel fully involved in school life.  Staff know the individual needs and interests of the children. Observations and planning are effective, and assessments accurately reveal if any child is falling behind so that targeted support can quickly be put into place. As a result, different groups of children, including disabled children and those who have special educational needs and disadvantaged children, all make similar progress.  Children’s behaviour and attitudes to learning are usually good. They are kept safe by caring and

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is good

supportive staff, and safeguarding procedures comply with statutory requirements.

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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 is failing

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Grade Judgement Description

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 138328 Local authority Medway Inspection number 444326

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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 Primary School category Academy converter Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 207 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Ruth Lindsay Principal Timothy Muggridge Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 01634 250861 Fax number 01634 256770 Email address muggt001@medwaymail.org 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 and 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, please

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School details

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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