Chartham Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Chartham Primary School Shalmsford Street, Chartham, Canterbury, Kent CT4 7QN

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Outcome

Chartham Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils love their school. They are happy and enthusiastic about their experiences. They feel safe and are well cared for. Staff skilfully support pupils who have a worry or if they fall out with a friend. Staff put the well-being and learning of pupils at the centre of all they do. Parents greatly value this. One parent’s comment, typical of many, was: ‘All my children have teachers whose dedication to their craft is humbling.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are very well behaved. In lessons they are attentive and respectful towards each other and their teachers. They work well together in pairs and small groups. They listen well to each other. Teachers have high expectations and know their pupils well. Pupils enjoy learning and are keen to do their best.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Adults supervise pupils effectively as they move around the school and play outside. The atmosphere throughout the day is orderly. Pupils understand the school values very well. For example, they show respect and perseverance and enjoy receiving golden tickets for doing so.

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What is it like to attend this school?

There are no incidents of bullying. Pupils say that bullying does not happen, but they do sometimes fall out with their friends. Adults help to resolve such difficulties.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders carefully plan and evaluate the curriculum they offer pupils. They have recently updated the way subjects are taught. This enables pupils to learn skills and knowledge in a logical order. For example, in Year 4 pupils are studying the Roman invasion of Britain. They remember what they learned last year about the Bronze and Iron Ages. As a result, they understand what Britain was like when the Romans invaded.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders have significantly improved the teaching of phonics and reading. This follows below average results in the 2019 phonics screening check. Leaders have carefully mapped out the knowledge and skills pupils will learn each term so that they can meet 6–7 November 2019

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the required standard by the end of Year 1. Children quickly learn new sounds and match them to letters in Reception. They are successfully learning to blend these sounds into simple words. In Year 1, teachers skilfully develop the next stage of this learning. Some teachers sometimes do not pronounce sounds precisely enough and their demonstration of correct letter formation can be inconsistent. Pupils are working well through the school’s improved programme for early reading. Teachers provide additional support for pupils who may be falling behind, enabling them to keep up. Younger pupils read books that are well matched to their skills. Older pupils have developed a real love of reading. Comprehension skills are taught well. Key stage 2 pupils say this has deepened their enjoyment of books.

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Pupils’ progress in mathematics, in key stage 2, has fallen below national averages in recent years. In response, leaders have redesigned mathematics teaching. As a result, pupils are knowing more and remembering more. Staff effectively support disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). High proportions of pupils are achieving the standards expected in each year group.

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The school is well led and managed. Leaders now need to ensure that their new initiatives are implemented consistently. Leaders provide teachers with effective support and training. Teachers have secure subject knowledge and assess pupils’ understanding well. They skilfully question pupils to find out what they understand and make necessary adjustments to teaching. In mathematics, they ensure that pupils regularly use reasoning skills and are able to justify answers. Leaders are justifiably proud that pupils behave well at Chartham.

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The school provides additional experiences to enrich the curriculum. For example, Year 4 pupils are about to have a visit by a ‘Roman soldier’ as part of their history topic. Leaders particularly encourage disadvantaged pupils to take part in sporting events, library trips and extra reading sessions. Pupils with emotional needs are well supported to gain confidence and they learn well. The school provides well for pupils with SEND so that they succeed.

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The early years environment is stimulating and well organised. This enables children to be independent and to become engrossed in activities. Children are enthusiastic and confident in the early years. Teachers pay close attention to children’s different needs and starting points. They quickly develop children’s communication, physical and social skills. They support play effectively, so children develop skills and knowledge in all areas of learning. Children learn to talk about what they are doing with increasing accuracy. They quickly learn to count and match numbers to quantities. Opportunities to use mathematical skills are everywhere in the environment.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders thoroughly vet new members of staff to ensure they are suitable to work with children. Records of recruitment checks are very well maintained. 6–7 November 2019

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The designated safeguarding leads (DSL) and all staff are well trained to recognise the signs that a pupil may be at risk of harm. Leaders have introduced an efficient system for making referrals, which enables DSLs to take appropriate action promptly.

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Staff take the safety and wellbeing of pupils very seriously. The school is quick to provide support for vulnerable pupils and their families. It works well with external agencies when this is necessary.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have recently set out clear plans for the order of teaching knowledge and skills for all subjects. This has enabled teachers to be clear about the standards to be achieved each year. A new approach to the teaching of mathematics has also been introduced, which has significantly raised expectations. These new approaches, which build well on pupils’ prior learning, now need to become secure so that pupils know more and remember more over time. Leaders at all levels need to monitor the impact of the new initiatives on pupils’ learning carefully to ensure that they contribute to pupils’ success. They need to ensure that greater proportions of pupils achieve the standards expected at the end of each key stage, particularly in mathematics.  Leaders have taken action to ensure a more consistent and systematic approach to the teaching of phonics and early reading. These now need to become secure so that

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

pupils achieve well in the Year 1 phonics screening check. Leaders also need to ensure that phonemes are precisely pronounced by all teachers in order to support pupils’ blending and segmenting skills. Leaders should also ensure a consistent approach to modelling correct letter formation across the early years and key stage 1.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called a section 8 inspection of a good school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged Chartham Primary School to be good on 27–28 January 2016. 6–7 November 2019

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How can I feed back my views?

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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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. 6–7 November 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10111272 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 27–28 January 2016

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Information about this school

 The school is a larger-than-average primary school.  Chartham belongs to the EduCant collaboration of schools in the Canterbury area, which work together to promote collaborative learning both for pupils and staff.  The school provides a breakfast and after-school club.  Some pupils from St Nicholas School attend Chartham in a satellite class. These pupils are on the roll of St Nicholas School and are taught by their own teachers, but join the Chartham pupils for some of their time, for example at assemblies and lunchtimes. Staff from St Nicholas have provided professional development opportunities for Chartham staff about support for pupils with complex needs.

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Information about this inspection

 I held meetings with the executive headteacher, head of school, senior and middle leaders, including the special educational needs coordinator, the chair and vice-chair of governors. I held a telephone conversation with the local authority’s school improvement adviser.  I did deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics and history. When I focused on these subjects, I held discussions with senior and subject leaders with responsibility 6–7 November 2019

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for the subjects, visited lessons in several year groups, including the support given to pupils with SEND, looked a pupils’ work, and held discussions with teachers and pupils.  I inspected safeguarding by reviewing the arrangements for pre-appointment checks carried out by the school, including the single central record. I spoke to staff about their training and understanding of their safeguarding responsibilities. I held discussions with the school’s designated safeguarding leaders, and reviewed case files and records held by the school, including records of staff training.  I held discussions with parents at the beginning of the school day. I considered 100 responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire, and 100 free-text comments.  I considered 127 responses to Ofsted’s pupils’ survey.  I considered 34 responses to Ofsted’s survey for staff and held discussions with groups of staff about their work.

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Inspection team

Peter Wibroe, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 6–7 November 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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