Kingsfield Primary School

Inspection of Kingsfield Primary School Burnsfield Street, Chatteris, Cambridgeshire PE16 6ET

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

The quality of education Inadequate Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Good Leadership and management Inadequate Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 7–8 November 2019

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children who attend Nursery and Reception get off to a good start. They are well looked after and achieve well. Children are given lots of opportunities in an interesting environment which supports their learning. The staff are skilled and know how to help children to develop. Children in the early years clearly enjoy their time at school and learn well. But this is not always the case for pupils in other areas of the school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils in key stages 1 and 2 are not making enough progress in reading, writing or mathematics. The quality of education is not good enough for pupils to do well enough.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children learn to read quickly when they start school. This does not continue into key stage 1, where many pupils are unable to read as well as they should. Books are not well matched to pupils’ abilities and, therefore, some pupils struggle with text that is too hard for them. By key stage 2, too many pupils are unable to read fluently and this hinders their learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Since the headteacher joined the school in 2017, she has made many improvements to promote pupils’ personal development. Pupils enjoy their trips and visits. Pupils are cared for well and want to learn. Most pupils attend school regularly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are polite to adults and each other around school, holding doors open and saying, ‘Good morning.’ Pupils say, ‘We should value everyone, no matter who they are.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils say that bullying is not a problem. Younger pupils say that behaviour is good but some older pupils are concerned about the behaviour of their classmates at playtime and are not sure that adults deal with issues consistently well. Leaders are working on improving behaviour but improvements are not as effective as they could be.

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better?

The Active Learning Trust (the trust), governors and school leaders have failed to ensure that progress has been made since the last inspection. They have not had a systematic approach to addressing the areas for improvement that were previously identified. The trust and governors have not been rigorous enough when holding school leaders to account for improving the quality of education.

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better?

Leaders have not designed a well-planned curriculum to help pupils develop their knowledge in the range of subjects they study. There is not a clear, consistent approach for pupils to develop and practise their skills and knowledge. Therefore, learning is not always consolidated.

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better?

Many of the subject leaders are new to their roles. They have not been given 7–8 November 2019

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enough support and training to be able to lead their subjects well. They do not have a clear understanding of how well pupils are learning or what pupils need to do to make progress.

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Since the previous inspection, pupils have not achieved well in their tests at the end of key stages. The achievement of pupils has been in the bottom 20% of all schools nationally in reading and mathematics. Pupils’ workbooks show that they are still not provided with a carefully considered curriculum which helps them build knowledge and understanding in reading, writing and mathematics so that they can achieve as well as possible. The impact of leaders’ work to improve the quality of education is not clear. Pupils are not prepared well enough for the demands of secondary school.

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In writing and mathematics, too many pupils find the work either too hard or too easy. Leaders have implemented their chosen teaching systems in English and mathematics. Teachers in key stages 1 and 2 are not using the information they have about pupils’ previous learning. Teaching does not enable pupils to learn and remember information well enough.

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Leaders have undertaken a great deal of work to improve the support that individual pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive. Leaders provide advice and guidance for teachers and support staff but this is not helping pupils with very significant educational or behavioural needs well enough. There is not enough being done to ensure that pupils with SEND can learn effectively in all subjects.

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Some pupils do not engage in their learning and end up misbehaving or distracting others in lessons.

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Children in Reception and Nursery do well. They have a good start to their education. The early years leader knows exactly what the children need to learn. She considers the needs of the children and their own interests. Staff have the skills to ensure that children learn well, and they enjoy their time at school. Children quickly learn how to read using phonics. They read well for their stage of development and are ready for Year 1.

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The headteacher has made the personal development of pupils one of her main aims. She is adamant that pupils should be given every opportunity to understand life in the wider world. The headteacher is enabling pupils to have a range of enrichment experiences to develop an understanding of diversity, faith and culture.

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There has been a drive to ensure that pupils have opportunities to develop skills which interest them. Some pupils, including pupils in receipt of the pupil premium funding, are now having individual music tuition. There is also a range of clubs supporting pupils’ interests, such as craft, scrap-booking and the ‘Christmas Club’. All of these are well attended.

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Pupils learn about physical and mental health. They know what makes a healthy diet. There are a wide range of sports clubs, for example tag rugby, which are well 7–8 November 2019

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Pupils speak informatively about current affairs and what is shown in the news. Pupils learn about their rights and responsibilities. They enjoy their special roles, including Year 6 lunchtime playground leaders who support activities.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders ensure that safeguarding throughout the school is a priority. The designated safeguarding lead is relentless in seeking appropriate help and support for children and families.

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Safeguarding

Safeguarding procedures are thorough and are regularly checked by the local governing body. The safeguarding team has a good oversight of the school and the wider community. Staff have a clear understanding of the needs of pupils within their care. They are vigilant and can act swiftly if concerns are raised.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The trust has failed to ensure that the school’s work to improve is effective and timely. It has not been robust in holding leaders to account for the progress and attainment of pupils across the school. The support and challenge for school leaders must be more rigorous so that pupils can learn, achieve more and be better prepared for the next stage of their education.  The quality of the curriculum is weak. Leaders have not planned the curriculum well. They have not focused on ensuring that pupils develop the most important skills and knowledge across a range of subjects. Leaders now have plans. They need to implement these plans and check that the taught curriculum closely matches their intentions. They need to ensure that more pupils gain sufficient knowledge and skills in a wide range of subjects.  Subject leadership is weak. Leaders are unclear about how to improve pupils’ learning in their subjects. This is preventing the school from developing further.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

The trust must ensure that curriculum leaders are well trained and have clear steps to improve learning in their subjects.  School leaders do not have a well-considered approach to school improvement. The quality of pupils’ learning is not improving swiftly enough. Leaders need to identify the key areas to improve the quality of education and, consequently, pupils’ achievement.  Teachers in key stages 1 and 2 are not trained well enough to ensure that they plan learning effectively so that pupils learn coherently and well. Leaders need to make sure that their assessment system is effectively used throughout the whole school. 7–8 November 2019

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 Although governors are determined to improve the school, they do not systematically hold leaders to account for the quality of education. They need to review their own processes and procedures so that they better monitor the impact of school improvement. They must make sure that leaders are tackling weaknesses in the education of its pupils.  Leaders have not been effective in supporting the educational or behavioural needs of some pupils with SEND. Leaders need to be persistent in tackling some specific incidents of poor behaviour from a small number of key stage 2 pupils during more unstructured times.  Some pupils are easily distracted from their learning. Leaders must make sure that incidents of low-level disruption are reduced. They need to train teachers to develop consistency and coherence in behaviour management.  It is recommended that the school should not appoint newly qualified teachers.

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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 are the provider and you are 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. 7–8 November 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10110209 Type of school Primary

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School details

Date of previous inspection 4–5 July 2017

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Information about this school

 A new headteacher joined the school in September 2017. The school underwent a restructuring of the leadership team and now has an executive headteacher and two assistant headteachers.  In the academic year 2018/19, the school had five newly qualified teachers. It now has two newly qualified teachers.  Early years provision comprises a pre-nursery class for two-year-old children who attend part-time, a Nursery class for three-year-olds who attend part-time or full- time and one Reception class for four- and five-year-olds who all attend full-time.

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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

In accordance with section 44(1) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. 7–8 November 2019

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 We met with the headteacher, four members of the local governing board and two members of the academy trust. We also met with curriculum and phase leaders.  We did deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, writing and geography. We met with curriculum leaders and teachers, visited lessons (some jointly with the executive headteacher and subject leaders), looked at a range of work, spoke to pupils about their learning and heard pupils reading.  We considered a range of documentation provided by the school. We looked at the school’s website, school policies, curriculum documents, SEND records and published information about pupils’ performance.  To consider the effectiveness of safeguarding, we reviewed training records, child protection information and checks that leaders make on staff prior to appointment. We met with leaders who are responsible for safeguarding pupils. We spoke with staff and pupils regarding safety.

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 We talked to pupils about their learning and experiences at school and visited the breakfast club and nurture provision.  We considered the 34 responses to Parent View and the 35 free-text responses. One inspector spoke to parents and carers informally on the playground. We considered the 12 responses to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire. There were no responses to Ofsted’s pupil questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Samantha Stewart, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Joanna Pedlow Ofsted Inspector 7–8 November 2019

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