Christ Church CofE Primary School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Mrs Colette Morris Headteacher Christ Church CofE Primary School Batten Street Battersea London SW11 2TH

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Short inspection of Christ Church CofE Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 14 March 2017, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in February 2012.

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Short inspection of Christ Church CofE Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Since that time, you have brought stability to the school and secured the confidence of staff and parents. You have worked closely with senior leaders, subject leaders and the governing body to ensure that a good standard of education has been maintained. Your governors are knowledgeable, fully involved in the school’s work and offer you strong strategic support. Working together, you have developed an approach to teaching that encourages pupils to ask probing questions about the curriculum. They find their work enjoyable and this helps them to achieve well. The deputy headteacher works closely with you and takes on key areas of work, such as assessment. As a result, leadership capacity is strong.

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Short inspection of Christ Church CofE Primary School

Classrooms and open areas are attractive places for learning to take place and are well resourced and managed. You have acknowledged and utilised pupils’ interest in learning within the outside environment and have devoted display space for growing plants as part of the pupils’ work. There is importance placed on fostering a love of reading. This is seen not only in the attractive library but also in the work you have done to introduce the pupils to a range of contemporary and classic authors.

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Short inspection of Christ Church CofE Primary School

The development of mathematics teaching has ensured that outcomes in this subject are now as good as in reading and writing. You have made sure that teachers teach key mathematical skills such as problem-solving daily. These are then threaded through other areas of the curriculum. You have successfully addressed the areas requiring improvement identified during the inspection in 2012. Your determination to improve the quality of teaching and learning has helped the school continue to improve, particularly in key stages 1 and 2. Where teaching has not been as strong, support has been put in place to develop teachers’ skills rapidly.

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Short inspection of Christ Church CofE Primary School

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and of a high quality. All checks on the suitability of staff to work at the school are in place. The designated safeguarding leads are known to all and procedures are understood and followed. Clear systems are in place for making referrals when concerns arise and subsequent actions are checked carefully. Links with external agencies are strong, including the education welfare team. Staff training is kept up to date and your staff have a good local knowledge of potential dangers present within the community, such as gang affiliation and misuse of drugs.

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Short inspection of Christ Church CofE Primary School

Pupils report that they feel safe in school and they know they are listened to when raising a concern. This includes how to keep safe when they are using the internet as well as how to report potential bullying behaviour in school.

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Inspection findings

 We agreed at the start of the inspection that my first line of enquiry was looking at the progress made by the most able pupils, particularly in key stage 1. You told me that your leadership team had already identified this as a priority for the school.  On visiting classrooms and looking at pupils’ books, it became clear that progress for these pupils is currently strong and they benefit from clear advice from their teachers on how they can continue to improve. Having the ability to do more complex and challenging mathematical problems is helping them become more confident in applying their reasoning skills.  My second line of enquiry was about the quality of teaching. You believe ‘only the best is good enough’ for pupils at Christ Church School and work relentlessly to eradicate any variability in the quality of teaching and learning. To this end, you have developed strong partnerships with several local schools. This has enabled

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Inspection findings

teachers to share best practice and receive useful advice. The importance you place on their professional development means that teachers feel valued, work hard and are increasingly effective. New teachers also benefit from these opportunities and are quick to meet the school’s high expectations.  To improve teaching still further, we agreed that there should be a renewed focus on improving the progress children make in the Reception and Nursery class.  My third line of enquiry was about attendance. The most recent published information suggested that particular groups of pupils were persistently absent much more than is typical nationally. Discussions with school leaders and scrutiny of records quickly explained why individual pupils were absent. For instance, sometimes this relates to specific medical needs which pupils may have. The school has strong and effective strategies in place to monitor and improve

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Inspection findings

attendance further.  The early years foundation stage was a fourth line of enquiry. From visiting classrooms and discussions with senior leaders, it became apparent that this is an area of the school that you are keen to develop further, particularly with regard to consistency of practice across the key stage. I agree. As a result of improvement in the quality of teaching, recent significant progress has been made, particularly with regard to teaching reading and writing.  Children are polite and well behaved and have plenty of space in which to learn, where teachers encourage them to become independent learners. From the time they enter the school they consistently make good progress, particularly in developing their attitudes to learning. However, leaders have not been totally successful in ensuring that children are engaged in the way that you would like to see, with the teacher taking a central role in enabling their learning.

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Inspection findings

 You have identified that children at Christ Church learn best in a stimulating environment that makes full use of the outside learning environment. Coupled with this, you believe that children need firm boundaries in which to learn and apply core skills. You realise that this approach needs further refinement in the foundation stage.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 they further develop the quality of teaching within the Nursery and Reception classes so that children in this key stage make rapid progress from their starting points  planning for learning in the early years foundation stage is clearly structured so that children can grasp the skills necessary to prepare for the rigours of key stage 1.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of Southwark, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Wandsworth. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During this inspection, I held several meetings with you and the deputy headteacher. I met with representatives of the governing body and a representative of the local authority. I scrutinised the safeguarding procedures with the business manager. I met with some recently appointed teachers who teach in key stage 1 and key stage 2. You escorted me on visits to classrooms. I talked with pupils about their learning. I looked at their books and listened to a range of pupils read. I also made an evaluation of school documents provided by the school, including school development plans, reviews, safeguarding records and information about current pupils’ achievement.

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