Chandlers Field Primary School

Chandlers Field Primary School High Street, West Molesey, Surrey KT8 2LX

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Early years provision Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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This is a school that requires improvement

 Leaders and managers have not yet brought about the improvements required in teaching and the outcomes for pupils to make this a good school.  Improvement plans do not address all of the areas for improvement highlighted in the school’s self- evaluation.  The progress pupils make is too varied across key stages and within year groups. This is particularly the case in Key Stage 1, where improvements in phonics provision are yet to impact on outcomes in reading and writing.  Too many pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds in Key Stage 1 are not making sufficiently good progress from their different starting points.  The quality of teaching, learning and assessment has not been good enough over time. Recent improvements have not had enough time to support better outcomes for pupils.  Too few pupils are achieving at the higher levels in reading and writing by the end of Key Stage 2.  The most-able pupils sometimes do not make

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This is a school that requires improvement

good progress because they are not offered enough challenge by their teachers.  Behaviour within classrooms is not as good as it could be. As a result, learning is not as productive as it should be and progress is hindered.  There is insufficient breadth and balance in the range of subjects and topics pupils study.  Additional learning support staff are not used as effectively as they could be to support the learning of all pupils, including those who are in danger of falling behind.  The early years is not yet as effective as it could be, with children in the Nursery class not making as much progress as they might.

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The school has the following strengths

 Newly-appointed senior leaders have injected a new sense of purpose and energy across the school, leaving no doubt about the direction in which they are taking it.  Pupils are making good progress in Key Stage 2, with disadvantaged pupils in particular closing the gaps with other pupils within the school and nationally.  Pupils benefit from the school’s strong values- based culture. Their personal development and welfare needs are met well.  The school has recently managed to recruit and retain talented and committed staff who are well placed to take the school forward.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching by: – ensuring that it always meets the needs of different pupil groups, so that all pupils make at least good progress – challenging and extending the learning of the most-able pupils – strengthening the impact of support staff in order to maximise learning opportunities for all pupils – using the strengths in teaching evident in the Reception classes to enhance provision across the early years and Key Stage 1.  Ensure that the emerging strengths in governance and leadership at all levels are consolidated, and in particular that leaders: – make stronger links between self-evaluation and improvement planning in order to have a greater impact on outcomes for pupils – develop the curriculum to achieve greater breadth and balance – use the newly introduced system for assessment to closely monitor the progress of all groups of pupils – provide appropriate training for teaching and support staff

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

– eliminate low-level disruption in classrooms.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

 Leadership and management require improvement, because there has not been enough improvement in the quality of pupils’ learning and the progress they have made since the last inspection, especially in Key Stage 1.  The two interim executive headteachers have already brought about rapid improvements in all aspects of the school’s leadership and management. New systems and procedures are in place to improve teaching, learning and assessment. There is a clear sense of purpose to drive the improvements required to make this a good school.  Senior leaders and the governing body’s newly-formed executive working group have a clear vision for the future and demonstrate high levels of commitment to taking the school forward. They understand the need to bring about urgent improvements and have already achieved much in a short time.  The school’s self-evaluation is accurate and thorough. School leaders at every level understand the

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

strengths and weaknesses of the school. Plans for improvement are less well developed, focusing too much on areas identified in the past as requiring improvement. Leaders and governors are already taking action to address this.  Improving the quality of teaching has become a high priority and improvements can already be seen as a result of this focus. Leaders have set ambitious targets to ensure that this good momentum continues. Clear and useful links exist between performance management and the professional development of staff.  Support from the two local schools run by each of the interim executive headteachers has been highly instrumental in the improvements now taking place. Joint training and collaborative working, including the mentoring of middle leaders, have already had a positive impact.  Staff at all levels have welcomed the recent changes in the way the school is led and managed. Middle

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

leaders welcome the high levels of challenge and support provided by the executive headteachers. Other staff said that morale is better and they relish the new energy injected into the life of the school.  The school has commissioned a local authority-led review into the way support staff are deployed in order to ensure that this valuable resource can contribute more effectively to improved outcomes for pupils.  The school’s topic-based curriculum has become neglected as the school has worked to improve outcomes in English and mathematics. However, good opportunities for extra-curricular learning still exist, with pupils benefiting from a range of activities including visits to a farm, garden centre and local zoo.  The school’s values-based culture is a strength. Based on seven core values, it supports the delivery of spiritual, moral, social and cultural aspects of the education of pupils very well. The school promotes

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

fundamental British values through a broad range of initiatives and activities including ‘respect’ and ‘diversity’ assemblies and the input of pupils into the new policy for behaviour.  Additional government funding to support disadvantaged pupils has not been used effectively enough in Key Stage 1 or the early years provision, where outcomes are too varied. Leaders are working to build on the success of provision in Key Stage 2, where the gaps in progress and attainment between disadvantaged and other pupils within the school and nationally are either closing rapidly or have been eradicated entirely.  Physical education and sports funding is used effectively to provide equipment and specialist coaching. Pupils benefit from participation in local sporting events with other schools, including cross-country and football competitions. The school also hosts the local schools’ annual field and track athletics competition.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

 The local authority now supports the school well. They are working closely with the executive working group of the governing body to provide the extra funding and resources to enable rapid change to take place. They fully understand the urgent need to improve this school.  The governance of the school – Until recently, governance lacked direction and focus. Because of this, school leaders were not challenged or supported enough to produce the improvements required. The formation of an executive working group earlier this year, led by the newly appointed but very experienced Chair of the Governing Body, has brought about rapid improvements in strategic leadership. – Members of the executive working group bring a wide range of expertise and experience from their different backgrounds. They are insightful and have been careful not to become sidetracked in the day-to-day running of the school. They understand the school’s performance information well.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

– Governors now have a clearer understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses and are better placed to ensure that the improvements needed to make this a good school come about. There has been a marked change in the professional relationships between governors and school leaders, who are now held fully to account.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Staff are trained to an appropriate level and maintain high levels of vigilance with regard to the welfare of pupils. Policies and procedures are good. The overwhelming majority of parents who contributed to the online Parent View questionnaire said they feel their children are safe in school.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 The quality of teaching is improving. However, since the last inspection, teaching has not been good enough to secure good outcomes for pupils.  There has been a very strong focus on improving all aspects of teaching, learning and assessment since the start of this academic year. New staff appointments, including the appointment of eight new teachers, have quickly improved the overall quality of teaching.  The school’s own monitoring shows there to be more good or better teaching now. Inspectors were able to see clear evidence of this when reviewing pupils’ work and observing pupils’ progress in lessons.  Where teaching is strong, pupils working at every level are challenged appropriately and teachers are able to reshape tasks to ensure good opportunities to deepen learning. This means that all pupils can make good progress. Where teaching is less strong, pupils are not always inspired or motivated to do

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

their best and they say they find their work is too easy.  The school’s new focus on ensuring that pupils know how to improve their work has had a big impact in a relatively short time. Older pupils in particular now know what they have to do to make progress with their learning, and feel most teachers make sure that they work hard during lessons.  Teachers’ subject knowledge is secure. Because of this they are able to use a good range of subject- specific language to probe and question pupils’ understanding in an effective way. This was especially evident in the teaching of mathematics across Key Stage 2 and in phonics lessons in the early years and Key Stage 1, where outcomes for pupils have improved significantly as a result.  The use of additional staff to support pupils’ learning is not as effective as it should be. The school has rightly started to address this, in particular rethinking the way it makes use of additional staff in

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

supporting those pupils who are falling behind.  Support in lessons for disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is good. Expectations are high and work is set at an appropriate level, ensuring that these pupils make good progress and achieve well.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. The school is a happy place and the great majority of pupils come to school because they enjoy learning. They take pride in their work and show pride in their school. Pupils told inspectors they were proud to wear the uniform of Chandlers Field Primary School.  Pupils care about each other. There were a number of instances both in and outside of the classroom when inspectors witnessed pupils helping each other when problems had occurred, and when older pupils ensured that younger children were supported and made to feel safe. The school is a caring, nurturing environment.  Pupils told inspectors they feel safe in school. They are taught how to stay safe online and they benefit from a range of other training including for road safety. There are no problems with racism and bullying is rare and, if it happens, is always dealt with by staff.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement. However, it is clear that attitudes to learning have improved since the implementation of the new behaviour policy and that this is having a positive impact in classrooms, where most pupils are engaged with their learning for most of the time.  Parents, pupils and staff say that behaviour has improved dramatically since the start of this academic year. The school’s own records confirm this. However, there are still some instances where low-level disruption hinders learning and slows progress and this is the reason why behaviour is not good overall.  Behaviour around the school at break and lunchtimes is lively but well managed. Pupils enjoy the range of activities and equipment they can use. The outside environment is well designed and resourced.  Attendance continues to improve year on year and is now broadly in line with the national average. The

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Behaviour

school has good systems in place to make sure pupils come to school on time and attend well.

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

 The progress of pupils from their different starting points is improving, but there remains too much variation across year groups and within different groups of pupils for it to be good overall.  Achievement at the end of Key Stage 1 remains stubbornly below national averages. However, improvements in both progress and attainment at the end of Key Stage 2, indicating the school is now broadly in line or even above national averages on both measures in 2015, are testament to improvements in teaching and learning in this phase during the last two years.  This year the school has brought the proportion of children achieving a good level of development at the end of their Reception Year from well below to well above the 2014 national average. Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds in the Reception Year are also making much better progress, but gaps between their achievement and that of others are not closing quickly enough

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

 There are similar improvements in the Year 1 phonics screening check, where the school has improved outcomes from well below to well above the 2014 national average for pupils achieving the required level. Again, outcomes improved for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and the gap between them and other pupils nationally is closing. However, they have not yet started to close the gaps between other pupils within the school.  Outcomes in reading and writing are improving, especially in Key Stage 2, where results of national tests are better than in previous year. This is reflected in the school’s own progress information across different year groups and in the quality of work in pupils’ books, particularly in writing and in pupils’ grasp of grammar, punctuation and spelling. However, too few pupils achieve at higher levels in reading and writing at Key Stage 2.  Outcomes for pupils in mathematics are also improving. The school is pleased with the results of national

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

tests in Key Stage 2 this year; there was a substantial rise in the number of pupils making good progress, and a doubling of the number of pupils achieving at higher levels.

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Early years provision requires improvement

 An increasing number of children now leave the Reception classes well prepared for Year 1.  The early years provision is led well. Because of this, the school has an accurate picture of the strengths and weaknesses there, recognising that children need to make more progress in the Nursery classes before their move into their Reception class year.  Provision for children from disadvantaged backgrounds has improved, with many more achieving a good level of development this year, matching the improvements demonstrated by other children. However, the gap in outcomes for disadvantaged and other children remains too wide on transition to Year 1 for the early years provision to be judged good.  Children’s behaviour in the early years is good. They feel safe and are prepared to play and learn with a spirit of adventure as they develop their social and physical skills. Staff manage this well.  Children are not afraid to ask questions. They respond respectfully and appropriately to adults as they

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Early years provision requires improvement

develop their confidence and are happy to take turns and share equipment with others.  Children listen attentively to adults and each other. Their developing social skills enable them to work and play cooperatively to ‘fish for phonics’, to construct brick towers and to find dinosaur eggs in the sandpit. Inspectors were very impressed by a discussion about whether it was the boy or the girl dinosaur that had laid the eggs.  All staff in the early years are either qualified teachers or nursery nurses. Learning is well planned and children benefit from a language- and number-rich environment. Staff cater for the needs of individual children well and ongoing assessment and recording of progress is a strong feature of the provision.  Parents are very positive about the early years and the care and support their children receive there. They are particularly happy with the special sessions held for them to learn about phonics and how they

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Early years provision requires improvement

can help their children to learn to read.

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School details

Unique reference number 125125 Local authority Surrey Inspection number 10002312

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School details

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

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 426 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mr Chris Johnson Headteacher Mrs Kim Divey, Miss Gayle Jenkins (joint interim executive headteachers) Telephone number 020 82244731 Website www.chandlers-field.surrey.sch.uk Email address info@chandlers-field.surrey.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 15–16 October 2013

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Information about this school

 Chandlers Field is a larger than average-sized primary school.  The school meets the government’s floor standards, which are the minimum expectation for pupils’ attainment and progress.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium (additional government funding) is above the national average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is broadly average.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is slightly above the national average.  The school runs a nursery class where children attend on a part-time basis.  Children in the school’s Reception classes attend full-time.  Two interim executive headteachers were appointed in June 2015.  An acting head of school took up post on the day before the inspection.  A new deputy headteacher took up post in September 2015.  Eight new members of the teaching staff joined the school in September 2015.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 16 lessons, across all classes, six jointly with school leaders.  Meetings were held with pupils, parents, the interim executive headteachers, the deputy headteacher and senior assistant headteacher, middle leaders, two governors including the Chair of the Governing Body and two representatives of the local authority.  Inspectors looked at a range of pupils’ work, heard pupils read, observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school and at breaktimes and talked informally with pupils.  Inspectors considered the views of parents, taking into account the 84 responses on the online parent questionnaire Parent View. Inspectors also considered the 25 freetext question responses submitted by parents. Responses to the 50 questionnaires returned by staff were also considered.  Inspectors scrutinised a range of documents including those to do with safeguarding, behaviour and

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Information about this inspection

attendance, minutes of meetings of the governing body, records of visits by the local authority, information about pupils’ outcomes supplied by the school, the school’s evaluation of its own performance and the school’s improvement plan.

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Inspection team

Clive Close, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Rosemary Addison Ofsted Inspector Graham Marshall Ofsted Inspector guidance ‘Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted . 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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Inspection team

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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Inspection team

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.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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Inspection team

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, further education and skills, 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. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Inspection team

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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

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