Kendall Church of England Primary School

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

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Mrs Clare French Headteacher Kendall Church of England Primary School Recreation Road Colchester Essex CO1 2HH

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Short inspection of Kendall Church of England Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 6 March 2018, 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 June 2014.

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Short inspection of Kendall Church of England Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Since your appointment as headteacher in 2015, you have created a strong leadership team whose members share your passion and commitment to provide the best opportunities for pupils. The changes you have made since your appointment have continued to motivate pupils to learn and raised their expectations. As a result, standards in reading, writing and mathematics continue to improve. All staff share your high aspirations for the pupils.

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Short inspection of Kendall Church of England Primary School

Pupils are enthusiastic learners as the school provides a stimulating learning environment. Lessons are planned to match pupils’ interests. Most subjects are taught through a variety of stimulating topics. Pupils told me how much they enjoy their outside learning experiences. They talked enthusiastically about building a Viking longboat in the forest.

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Short inspection of Kendall Church of England Primary School

Pupils are well behaved and considerate towards one another. They work and play well together and told me that lessons are rarely disrupted and any misbehaviour is quickly dealt with by teachers. Pupils value the reward system and enjoy presentation assemblies where they can share their success with their family.

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Short inspection of Kendall Church of England Primary School

Children get off to a good start in Reception. This is because transition arrangements are carefully planned and implemented. Interesting and challenging learning activities are well matched to the children’s needs and sustain their concentration. The number of children leaving early years with the expected level of development is consistently above average. The proportion of pupils persistently absent from school is above average. You have introduced a number of strategies that have successfully improved the attendance of many pupils. However, you agree that you still have more work to do with those parents and carers who do not fully appreciate the impact of poor attendance on their child’s progress.

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Short inspection of Kendall Church of England Primary School

You have an accurate understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school. School improvements are sharply focused on the right priorities. The governors also have a clear understanding of standards within the school and its strengths and weaknesses. They carry out their statutory duties effectively and provide an appropriate level of challenge and support for school leaders.

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Short inspection of Kendall Church of England Primary School

You make good provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils learn about different religions and cultures, take part in community activities and raise money for their chosen charities. Outside learning opportunities teach pupils how to safely carry out potentially harmful activities such as building a camp fire because they are taught by well-qualified staff. The wide range of clubs, trips and visits enriches their learning.

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Short inspection of Kendall Church of England Primary School

The overwhelming majority of parents are supportive of your work and would recommend the school to other parents. Parents described the school as ‘caring’, ‘happy’, ‘great’ and where ‘children are well taught’.

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Short inspection of Kendall Church of England Primary School

Pupils’ safety is a high priority for the school. Leaders ensure that policies are up to date and meet the latest guidance. All staff are provided with safeguarding training when they join the school and this is updated annually. Staff are kept up to date with any changes as they occur. You ensure that all the appropriate pre- employment checks are carried out on staff and volunteers prior to their appointment.

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Short inspection of Kendall Church of England Primary School

Pupils say that they feel safe in school and parents and staff agree. Pupils have a very good understanding of internet safety. They told me, ‘The computer room is full of information and we are reminded how to keep safe every time we use a computer.’ Parents are kept up to date via the website and workshops. Pupils also understand how to keep themselves safe outside school. Pupils say that bullying is rare and were it to occur, there are adults who will listen and support them.

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Short inspection of Kendall Church of England Primary School

Staff know their pupils well. Any concerns are reported, considered carefully and prompt action is taken. Case files are detailed and well organised.

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Inspection findings

 To ascertain whether the school remained good, I agreed the following lines of enquiry with you: – the use of the pupil premium funding to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils – how successful leaders have been in improving standards in writing since the previous inspection – whether teachers match the work to meet the needs of all groups of pupils.  Leaders have identified the factors that hinder learning for disadvantaged pupils and have ensured that each pupil has an individual plan of support. These plans target pupils’ social and emotional needs as well as their academic achievement. Support for learning is varied and closely matched to the needs of individual pupils and is improving their learning. You ensure that pupils have access to the full range of trips, visits and after-school activities so they are fully included in school life.  Results at the end of key stage 2 in 2017 indicated that disadvantaged pupils

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Inspection findings

were making progress close to that of pupils nationally in both reading and mathematics and that progress was improving in writing. The work in the books of current pupils indicates that most of the disadvantaged pupils are making good progress.  Leaders responsible for managing the pupil premium funding monitor pupils’ progress carefully and adjust the support as and when required. However, the impact of the individual strategies on improving standards is not sufficiently evaluated. We agreed that this was an area for improvement.  At the previous inspection, you were asked to improve standards in writing by improving the consistency of teaching. End-of-key-stage data indicates that progress in writing is improving. You are aware that this remains a priority for the school in order to bring progress in line with that in reading.  Work in pupils’ books and learning observations show that there is greater

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Inspection findings

consistency in the teaching of writing. Staff monitor pupils’ work carefully and provide pupils with precise advice that enables them to improve their work.  Pupils are provided with a range of opportunities to write across subjects. As a result, pupils are able to write factual reports, letters and instructions as well as creative stories and poems. Looking at pupils’ work, we saw some excellent examples of improvement in the quality of pupils’ handwriting as they progress through the school. By the end of Year 6, pupils are more confident writers and many are using a good range of vocabulary and are able to use punctuation and grammar correctly.  I wanted to look at whether teachers were setting work that was well matched to the learning of pupils across subjects. I chose this because historical data suggests that middle-ability pupils’ progress has been stronger than that of the most able pupils at the end of key stage 2.

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Inspection findings

 We looked at a range of exercise books from each year group covering different levels of ability. We found that in mathematics, pupils are clearly being set work that is well matched to their needs. The most able pupils are also quickly moved on to more demanding work rather than repeating work they find easy.  English work shows that lower ability pupils are provided with appropriate resources that enable them to complete the learning activities to make good progress over time. Teachers have high expectations of pupils and many pupils are sufficiently challenged. In most of the books we looked at, the difference in the level of challenge set for the most able pupils was evident.

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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

 the school reduces the level of persistent absence by working with parents so that they understand the importance of regular attendance for their child’s learning  staff responsible for monitoring pupil premium spending are more precise in their evaluation of impact  effective practices that already exist are embedded to increase the percentage of pupils making rapid progress in reading, writing and mathematics.

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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 Chelmsford, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Essex. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

I met with you, your senior leadership team, two members of the governing body and the pupil premium manager. I spoke formally to a group of pupils in key stage 2 about their experience of school. You accompanied me when I visited classrooms. I also observed pupils in the dining hall and playground and as they moved around the school. Together with you and the deputy headteacher, I conducted a scrutiny of pupils’ learning journals, and mathematics, writing and French books.

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Information about the inspection

In addition, I took account of the 45 responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire, including 13 free-text responses. I also considered the 46 responses to the pupil questionnaire and the 26 responses to the staff questionnaire.

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Information about the inspection

I evaluated safeguarding procedures, including policies to keep children safe and records of training and safeguarding checks.

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