London Meed Community Primary School

Inspection of London Meed Community Primary School Chanctonbury Road, Burgess Hill, West Sussex RH15 9YQ

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Requires improvement Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement 8–9 October 2019

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to school. Behaviour is good in lessons, at playtimes and at lunchtimes. Pupils say that bullying is rare. They are very clear that they would say ‘stop it, I don’t like it’ if they needed to. Pupils are confident that staff would deal with any bullying straightaway.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe in school. They enthusiastically explain the ‘five safety network’. This gives them five trusted adults to talk to if they have any worries or concerns.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy the variety of clubs and activities on offer, particularly the sporting ones, and taking part in tournaments. Pupils know that playing sport helps to keep them fit. Pupils learn how to eat healthily and look after their mental health. Year 6 pupils have a range of opportunities to develop their self-confidence and to take on responsibilities. They feel well prepared for secondary school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils benefit from the improvements made to the school since the last inspection, for example in the teaching of mathematics. However, some subjects are not planned or taught well enough. Teachers’ expectations of what pupils can do are sometimes too low, especially in the early years. As a result, not all pupils learn as well as they could.

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better?

Pupils learn a wide range of subjects. The plans for some subjects are well structured. This means that pupils build on their knowledge to understand more and more. For example, in science, pupils in Year 2 understand about simple food chains. This is because they remember what they learned in Year 1 about how plants grow. In art, Year 6 pupils make careful choices about which materials to use for their collage because they remember what worked well in the past. Other subjects, such as computing and history, are not as well planned.

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better?

Pupils’ learning in mathematics follows a logical sequence. Leaders are ambitious in what they want pupils from Year 1 to Year 6 to achieve in mathematics. Teachers are confident in planning and delivering lessons. This is because the mathematics leader has provided teachers with good training and effective support. Many pupils told us that mathematics was their favourite subject.

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better?

Plans for writing are based on what pupils should know and be able to do in each year group. However, teachers do not routinely adapt their teaching to take account of pupils’ skills. This means that although there are pupils who achieve well in writing, this is not the case for all pupils.

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better?

Improvements to the teaching of reading have been slow. The teaching of early reading is not strong enough. Leaders do not have a clear understanding of how 8–9 October 2019

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pupils should start to learn to read. There is a programme through which pupils should learn phonics. Teachers move some pupils too slowly through the programme. This means that they do not catch up with their classmates as quickly as they should. Some staff do not have the knowledge and skills they need to teach phonics well.

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Teachers do not check that pupils read frequently at home and at school. Leaders do not make sure that pupils read books that help them to consolidate and build on their skills. Teachers read a range of books to pupils, but their choices are not underpinned by explicit plans to broaden pupils’ experience or promote a love of reading.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, including those in the special support centre, mostly learn well. This is because the special educational needs leader makes sure that teachers take account of pupils’ individual targets, and monitors their progress well.

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Staff have high expectations about how well pupils should behave. Pupils respond well to these. They work hard in lessons and try their best. Pupils have plenty of opportunities to develop their talents and interests, for example through music and art. Staff give frequent reminders about the school’s values of honesty, creativity, respect and care. These help pupils to develop into responsible young citizens.

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Children are happy and safe in the early years. They quickly learn the routines and make friends. Adults provide a variety of interesting activities, both inside and outside. These make sure that children have the opportunities they need to learn through exploring and making up their own games. However, children do not make a quick start to learning reading and mathematics in early years. Adults do not make good use of the information they have about what children know and understand. Teachers’ expectations of what many children can learn are too low.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Parents, staff and pupils agree that pupils are safe in school. Pupils get frequent reminders about how to keep safe. They spoke confidently about how to use the internet safely. Staff and governors receive up-to-date training. Staff know what to do if they have a safeguarding concern. Secure arrangements are in place to identify and support pupils who may be at risk of harm. Staff and governors take their safeguarding responsibilities seriously. As a result, there is a strong culture of safeguarding within the school.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school is improving, but it does not yet provide a good quality of education. 8–9 October 2019

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The teaching of reading is not given a sufficient priority. Leaders should ensure that they have a clear and ambitious vision, that is understood by all, for fostering a love of reading across the school.  Early reading is not taught well. Leaders should ensure that all children have a quick start to learning phonics. They should check that pupils read and enjoy books both at home and at school. Leaders need to train staff so that they have the right knowledge and skills to teach reading well.  The curriculum is not fully coherently planned or sequenced. Leaders should ensure that all subject plans identify what pupils need to know and understand so that their learning is secure.  The writing curriculum is planned to follow a logical sequence. However, teachers do not routinely adapt their plans to take account of pupils’ skills. Teachers need to use assessment more effectively to help pupils to embed their knowledge and

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become fluent writers.  Children in early years do not get off to a good start in reading and mathematics. Leaders should make sure that all staff, especially those in early years, have high expectations of what pupils can do and achieve.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use Ofsted Parent View information when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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How can I feed back my views?

If you’re not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted .

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

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. 8–9 October 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10111126 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing board

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School details

Date of previous inspection 17–18 May 2017

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Information about this school

 The school has a special support centre for 11 pupils with speech and language needs. These pupils spend some of the time in the centre and the rest of the time in mainstream classes, according to their needs.

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Information about this inspection

We carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 During the inspection, we met with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher and other leaders. We had discussions with members of the governing board, teachers, teaching assistants and a representative from the local authority.  We particularly considered the following subjects: reading, mathematics, writing, science and art. Inspection activities included discussions with subject leaders, scrutinising subject planning, lesson visits and discussions with teachers and pupils.  We met the designated safeguarding leader to check that safeguarding procedures and processes were effective. We also checked safeguarding documentation. 8–9 October 2019

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 We took account of the 119 responses to Ofsted Parent View, as well as the 77 free-text responses. We considered the 29 responses to the Ofsted survey for staff and the 12 responses to Ofsted’s pupils’ survey. We attended an assembly and spoke to pupils during lessons and around the school.

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Inspection team

Joanna Toulson, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Doug Brawley Ofsted Inspector 8–9 October 2019

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regulates and inspects to 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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