Chiltern Primary School

Chiltern Primary School Chiltern Way, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG22 5BB

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Senior leaders’ determined efforts have improved the school notably since the last inspection. As a result, standards of teaching, learning and behaviour are now good.  Pupils are engaged and enthused by their curriculum. Rich opportunities for experiences beyond the classroom complement pupils’ formal learning successfully.  Staff are vigilant in their work to keep pupils safe. Safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and used well. Pupils flourish because of adults’ nurture and support.  The quality of teaching is good across the school. Pupils learn well because lesson activities develop their knowledge, skills and understanding securely over time.  Teachers and other adults provide pupils with useful support that enables them to access their learning. At times, this limits pupils’ opportunities to think more deeply and transfer what they know to unfamiliar contexts.  Pupils are willing to learn. They use time in

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

lessons productively and are committed to improving the quality of their work. They currently make good progress across a range of subjects, catching up from historical underperformance.  Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make good progress as a result of the effective support they receive.  Overall, attainment is rising, in many instances matching the national average. Standards in reading and mathematics are currently higher than in writing, particularly for boys.  Attendance has improved and is now in line with the national average. Groups of pupils who had high rates of absence in the past now attend at least as well as their peers.  Pupils conduct themselves well around the school. They are warm, welcoming and supportive of each other. They respond well to adults’ high expectations for their behaviour.  Early years provision prepares children well for key stage 1. Leaders plan thoughtfully to meet

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

children’s learning and emotional needs. Consequently, children make good progress in all aspects of their development by the end of the Reception Year.  Governors are keen supporters of the school. They hold leaders appropriately to account for the impact of their work on the quality of teaching and learning across the curriculum. Governors use training and feedback effectively to develop the rigour of their work.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Sustain current improvements in pupils’ progress, so that: – attainment in writing rises to match standards in reading and mathematics, especially for boys – the proportion of pupils attaining the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics in each year group is consistently at least in line with national averages for the end of each key stage.  Increase planned opportunities for pupils to work creatively across the curriculum, so that they: – work persistently and resiliently as a matter of routine, without over-reliance on adults’ support – are challenged to think deeply and apply their learning successfully to unfamiliar situations, regardless of their ability.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

 Since their arrival just after the last inspection, the headteacher and deputy headteacher have stabilised the school. Their unfailingly high expectations inspire and encourage staff, who work persistently for the benefit of all pupils. As a result, standards in the school have improved and are now consistently good.  Senior leaders have an accurate view of the school’s strengths and weaknesses, including those linked to the quality of teaching. They tackle appropriate priorities for improvement with suitable vigour, having a clear and positive impact. The transparency of their work ensures that governors are kept informed about how well pupils are attending, behaving and achieving.  Other aspects of school leadership are evolving suitably. Staff understand their roles and responsibilities as integral parts of whole-school development. Effective guidance and help, including from the local authority, support staff well in developing the rigour

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

of their work.  Staff respond well to useful and relevant training that supports school improvement priorities around the development of teaching and the curriculum. They learn successfully from each other and from helpful dialogue with leaders about the quality of their work. Teaching and support staff thrive as a result of this collaborative approach, describing the school as ‘a positive place to work in’.  Leaders are revising the curriculum as the school adapts to being one-form entry. Stimulating activities are woven carefully into pupils’ subject-specific work, helping them to make useful links between the different aspects of their learning. Consequently, pupils learn increasingly well over time and across a range of subjects and topics.  Pupils’ learning is driven by the school’s core values and is sensitive to the changing needs of pupils and the local community. Staff give careful thought to the skills and

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

attributes that will enable pupils to be positive contributors to the country they live in. Planned opportunities and experiences ensure that pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is effective.  The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) joined the school in September 2018. She brings useful experience and expertise to her role. She ensures that systems are used effectively to identify pupils’ specific needs promptly and precisely. Teachers and support staff are held appropriately to account for how well they meet pupils’ needs, empowered by helpful advice and guidance. Consequently, pupils with SEND make good progress, taking ownership of their learning.  Pupil premium funding is used well to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. Leaders addressed the findings of an external review robustly, resulting in clear and positive impact for pupils completing a key stage in 2018. Disadvantaged pupils

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

currently in the school are making good or better progress across a range of subjects. There is further work to do to ensure that they consistently reach similar standards to other pupils nationally.  The physical education (PE) and sport premium is used well to raise the profile of physical activity within the school. Pupils engage enthusiastically with a variety of sports and physical activities, both during and outside of lessons. This has helped to improve pupils’ behaviour at lunchtime and breaktime and their understanding of values such as fairness and cooperation, which have improved their readiness to learn in lessons. Currently, the impact of this funding is monitored less rigorously than other aspects of the school.

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Governance of the school

 Governors are committed to the school and to their role. Since the last inspection, they have taken determined action to improve their shared effectiveness, acting on helpful advice and feedback from an externally commissioned review. As a result, their carefully structured approach now enables this small group of governors to have a secure strategic understanding of the school’s work and effectiveness.  Governors fulfil their legal safeguarding duties successfully, driven by their moral responsibility around this area of work. They use their knowledge and understanding well to check that arrangements are fit for purpose, identifying where practice could be improved and checking subsequently that changes are actioned. This helps to support the school’s effective work to keep pupils safe.  Leaders and governors work transparently together, which helps the school’s ongoing journey of improvement. Governors are kept well informed about how leaders use

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Governance of the school

additional funding, such as for pupils with SEND and the disadvantaged, asking useful questions to aid their own understanding of what they are being told. Governors’ oversight of the impact of sport premium funding is currently less comprehensive.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Staff are highly vigilant and uncompromising in their determination to do all they can to promote pupils’ welfare, through the curriculum and the school’s open culture. Consequently, pupils report feeling very safe and are confident that staff act in their best interests.  Systems to promote safeguarding are robust. Staff receive regular, high-quality training, which gives due regard to particular vulnerabilities that are present in the school and local community. Adults are proactive in reporting worries about pupils, recording them carefully. Leaders take prompt and persistent action to act on these concerns, working with experts from beyond the school to ensure that needs are met sensitively and effectively.  The family support worker provides a vital link between home and school. When more vulnerable pupils are absent from school, she takes prompt action to check that they

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Safeguarding

are safe. Her tenacious work fosters positive working relationships with families that enable pupils to flourish.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

 Across the school, an atmosphere of learning is apparent. Pupils understand and rise to teachers’ suitably high expectations for their behaviour and engagement in lessons. As a result, routines are well established and learning time is used effectively.  Teachers have secure knowledge across a range of subjects. They use it well to plan sequences of learning that build pupils’ understanding and skills securely over time. They structure tasks carefully which supports pupils in accessing them successfully. Opportunities for pupils of all abilities to learn more deeply and creatively are less routinely evident.  Adults contribute positively to pupils’ learning over time. Learning support assistants are deployed appropriately, complementing teachers’ work. Where questioning is most effective, such as in Year 6, it skilfully draws out pupils’ understanding, encouraging them to think more deeply about what they are learning. This is not consistently the

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

case across the school as a whole.  Leaders have taken a thoughtful approach to improving the quality and accuracy of assessment information, as an integral part of developing the quality of teaching and learning. Teachers monitor the quality of pupils’ learning accurately, adapting future work accordingly. Leaders keep a careful oversight of areas of relative strength and weakness, holding teachers to account for the difference their work makes, and identifying useful themes for future training.  Phonics is taught well. Starting in the early years, pupils develop their phonics skills through helpful and varied activities that build their confidence and understanding. Pupils persist when tackling unfamiliar words, encouraged by adults’ positive approach and the strategies they have learned. Consequently, pupils make good progress with their early reading.  Pupils learn useful techniques that support them in developing the quality and structure

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

of their writing. Sometimes, their keenness to apply what they have learned to their work stifles the fluency and creativity with which they write. Planned opportunities help pupils to improve and widen their wider vocabulary, which helps to bring their writing to life.  Teaching of mathematics is effective. Pupils use concrete and pictorial resources well to develop their fluent use of number. Tasks in lessons challenge them suitably to move on from their prior learning. At times, pupils do not have a clearly developed sense of how their learning in mathematics relates to their wider understanding about the world they live in.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  Pupils are confident and articulate, warm and welcoming. They benefit from a useful range of opportunities that contribute well to their personal development. Pupils take an active role in school life, such as through their involvement as prefects, house captains and members of the school council. This helps them learn how to take responsibility for their own actions and to lead others by example.  Adults’ focus on pupils’ welfare is unquestionable. Leaders understand the importance of pupils starting each day in a positive way, leaving ‘their baggage at the door’. This process is managed very well, enabling pupils to make the most of their learning time when they arrive in their classrooms.  Where pupils need extra help in managing their emotions and behaviour, leaders put useful support in place. Helpful training enables staff to understand these pupils’ needs

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Personal development and welfare

well, enhancing their interactions and developing their sense of self-worth. When occasionally necessary, leaders seek specific support from beyond the school, working sensitively with pupils and their families. These additional arrangements benefit pupils’ emotional well-being as well as their attendance and access to academic learning.  Pupils and parents say that bullying is a rare occurrence. Leaders’ records support this view. In the vast majority of instances, any issues that arise are dealt with promptly and effectively. Pupils describe being tolerant of each other’s differences and demonstrate this in their daily interactions.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. This aspect of the school has transformed since the last inspection, as a result of adults’ persistent and determined work.  Leaders promote high standards of behaviour effectively. Pupils are polite and respectful, engaging willingly with each other and the adults around them. Most cooperate well together, demonstrating mutual respect.  In recent years, numbers of fixed-term exclusions from school have been high. Leaders have worked hard to address the issues leading to these instances of poor behaviour, via additional support for pupils and specific training for adults. As a result, exclusions have declined for the past two years.  Similarly, attendance has improved over time and is currently in line with the national average. Pupils come to school regularly and arrive on time. Where attendance has been lower in the past, for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, improvements

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Behaviour

have been particularly strong. Overall, the proportion of pupils who are persistently absent from school has almost halved over the last year and is now below the national figure.

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Outcomes for pupils Good

 After a period of recent and rapid improvement, pupils now achieve well. Current good progress in a range of subjects across the school reflects the consistently good teaching that pupils experience.  Last year, outcomes by the end of early years rose dramatically to be well above the national average. Although the proportion of children set to reach a good level of development is lower this year, it is still broadly average. As such, this represents good progress for this group of children, many of whom joined the school with below- average starting points.  Outcomes in phonics are similarly secure. In Year 1, the percentage of pupils meeting the standard of the phonics check is on track to be in line with national figures for the second consecutive year. This demonstrates a marked improvement sustained over time. Almost all of those not reaching this standard by the end of Year 1 do so by the end of Year 2, because of the effective extra help that they receive. Consequently,

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Outcomes for pupils Good

pupils are suitably prepared to access the key stage 2 curriculum.  Last year, attainment by the end of key stage 1 was below the national average, including for pupils working at a greater depth of learning. Consistently high standards of teaching are now reaping rewards in this area of the school. Outcomes are improving year-on-year. Pupils now make good progress in reading, writing, mathematics and science across Years 1 and 2, attaining standards that are broadly in line with the national average.  Across key stage 2, attainment and progress are a little more variable. Over the past year, pupils’ work shows strong progress, particularly in reading and writing in Year 4. This is helping pupils to catch up from weaker progress in the past. Currently, attainment in mathematics is consistently higher than it is for writing. While Year 6 pupils’ attainment is not as good as it was in 2018, it represents very good progress

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Outcomes for pupils Good

from their lower starting points overall.  In the past, boys have underperformed in reading and writing compared with girls. Leaders have modified the curriculum to increase boys’ levels of engagement, such as through the use of stimulating texts. This is developing boys’ appetite for reading and is reflected in their increasingly strong progress over time. As yet, boys’ attainment in writing, while improving, remains below that of girls in key stage 2.  Pupils with SEND are supported very well and make good progress as a result. Accurate identification and addressing of their specific needs are evident in the evolving quality of their work across a range of subjects. Pupils also grow in confidence and develop their communication skills, as was seen when a group recently presented their science research about the heart to the rest of their class. For some, progress in mathematics is not as strong as for reading and writing.

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Outcomes for pupils Good

 Leaders’ work to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils has been similarly successful. Some disadvantaged pupils, who are also identified with SEND, continue to attain below other pupils nationally. However, their progress is consistently good and has improved over the past year, which is helping them to catch up. Disadvantaged pupils who are not identified with SEND make particularly good progress over time.

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Early years provision Good

 Improvements and strengths seen in other year groups are also evident in the early years. Consequently, children get off to a good start in the early years. Their experience prepares them successfully for their future learning in Year 1 and beyond.  Early years staff have a shared sense of purpose. The early years leader has an accurate view of the quality of provision, which informs her work appropriately. She and her staff aspire to improve the early years even more and set about this task with energy and determination.  Work to develop the quality of teaching and the learning environment has been successful. Leaders have sought and acted on useful advice and feedback, including from the local authority and via helpful links with other schools. As a result, the curriculum, resources and interactions with adults meet children’s emerging needs better than in the past.  Children are happy and confident. They interact positively and warmly with each other

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Early years provision Good

and the adults around them. They are generally patient when speaking to each other, although occasionally they become overtaken by their own exuberance, finding it hard to listen to each other.  Pupils learn well across an appropriately diverse and rich curriculum that kindles their interest and builds on the aspects that adults identify as most needing to improve. Learning activities are imaginative and varied, helping children to develop their early language and mathematical skills while stimulating their curiosity and creativity.  Adults work closely with parents and other adults to support children’s welfare, learning and development. This journey begins before children start in the Reception Year, helping to ensure that the early years curriculum is adapted to meet emerging initial needs promptly and successfully. Throughout the year, parents are encouraged to share in their children’s learning journey, celebrating achievements together with

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Early years provision Good

adults at school.  Leaders monitor the quality of provision and children’s achievements effectively. They ensure that statutory duties relating to the curriculum and safeguarding are met. As a result, children are safe, well cared for and supported to make good progress that prepares them well for their learning in key stage 1.  Children join the early years with starting points which are often below those typical for their age. By the end of the year, they make good progress across all of the early learning goals. Consequently, the proportion of children, including the disadvantaged and those with SEND, that attain a good level of development is routinely in line with the national average.

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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

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Email address adminoffice@chiltern-pri.hants.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 21–22 March 2017

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Information about this school

 This is a maintained primary school. Since the last inspection it has reduced the pupil admission number, so that there is now one class in each year group.  The school is in an area of relatively high social deprivation. Above-average proportions of pupils are eligible for free school meals.  Three quarters of pupils are of White British origin. More than a tenth of pupils are believed to speak English as an additional language. The number of ethnic minority groups represented in the school is higher than that seen in similar schools.  The proportion of pupils with SEND is above average. This proportion decreased during the last academic year.  The current headteacher took up his post shortly after the last inspection. The chair of governors has been in his current role since May 2018.  There is a nursery on the school site, which is registered and inspected separately.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited all classrooms to observe learning, talk to pupils and look at their work. A number of these observations were carried out jointly with senior leaders.  Meetings were held with senior and middle leaders, and with groups of staff, pupils and governors. The lead inspector spoke with a representative of the local authority on the telephone.  Inspectors scrutinised a wide range of relevant documentation from the school’s website and provided by school leaders. This included policies and documents pertaining to safeguarding and pupils’ attendance, behaviour and academic achievement. Alongside two class teachers, they reviewed a sample of work from pupils in Years 1 and 4.  Inspectors took account of 25 responses to the Parent View online questionnaire and survey responses from 38 pupils and nine members of staff. They also spoke informally with parents, pupils and staff over the course of the inspection. The lead inspector

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Inspection team

Kathryn Moles, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Yasmin Maskatiya Her Majesty’s 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

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. www.gov.uk/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and- alternative-provision-settings .

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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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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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.gov.uk/ofsted

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