Slinfold CofE Primary School and Pre School

Inspection of Slinfold C of E Primary School The Street, Slinfold, Horsham, West Sussex RH13 0RR

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Good 8–9 January 2020

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to school. They feel safe and know the adults are there to help them. Pupils say that bullying is rare and quickly dealt with. Relationships between pupils and adults are positive and a strength of the school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils talk about the school’s golden code of ‘ready, respectful, safe’ with confidence. They understand the importance of democracy and learn about a wide range of other cultures and religions.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Most of the time, pupils behave well and play well together at breaktime and lunchtime. A few parents and carers were worried about behaviour, but inspectors found that behaviour incidents are dealt with well. However, pupils’ attitudes to learning are not consistently positive. Sometimes pupils do not listen well in lessons and they do not focus on their work. This interrupts learning in some classes.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils speak enthusiastically of the range of clubs available, especially choir and bootcamp. They know it is important to keep themselves mentally and physically healthy.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils do not achieve as well as they could. Leaders know this and want them to do better. They are working to improve the curriculum and how well it is taught.

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better?

The school has developed a broad curriculum, but subjects are not yet planned well enough to ensure that pupils develop secure knowledge and skills over time. Leaders know that there is more to be done to make sure that teaching enables pupils to know more and remember more. Teachers have not considered carefully enough the order they teach the content of subjects to enable pupils to build on previous learning. In particular, most-able pupils are not sufficiently challenged. Leaders have started to make changes. They have plans in place to make further improvements, including more training for staff. However, these actions have not yet had enough impact.

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better?

Leaders know that standards of reading need to improve across the school and have received support from the local authority. Leaders have introduced a new approach to teaching phonics. They have made sure that teachers have been trained to improve their teaching. There is an improvement in the number of pupils developing early reading skills but there are still too many pupils who are not reading fluently enough. Leaders have purchased reading books so that key stage 1 pupils have access to books that precisely match their reading abilities. They have also invested in interesting texts that support pupils’ learning across a range of subjects. However, it is too early to see the effect of these actions. 8–9 January 2020

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Leaders have also acted to address poor performance in mathematics. Pupils have not succeeded in mathematics, because the curriculum was not well planned or sequenced. Leaders have recognised this and introduced new resources to support staff planning. Teachers have also received some useful training which has improved their understanding and skills. Again, it is too soon to see a positive impact on pupils’ outcomes.

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Children in the pre-school get off to a strong start. They are well prepared for the next stage in their learning. However, this does not continue in Reception. Leaders have not ensured that the teaching here meets the needs of all children. Teachers are not taking into account what children already know when planning. As a result, not all children do as well as they could. This means that not enough children reach a good level of development by the time they move on to Year 1.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have their needs met. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) is very experienced and knows the needs of individual pupils well. She ensures that these pupils are supported well in class. As a result, SEND pupils are able to access all areas of the curriculum and achieve well.

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Pupils’ personal development is a strength of the school. Their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is interwoven into school life. Pupils enjoy and value activities such as visits to the Houses of Parliament, residential trips and cycling proficiency sessions. They enjoy the opportunities the outdoor classroom gives them to work in teams. School council members are proud of their anti-bullying work. Christian ambassadors welcome the occasions when they can plan and lead whole school worship.

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Governors are ambitious for the school. They understand the improvements required and hold leaders to account. Staff are proud to work at the school. They feel well supported. Staff appreciate that leaders strive to ensure the well-being and work-life balance for all.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders ensure that all staff are trained and knowledgeable in keeping children safe. They have created a culture where safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility, and staff know how to protect pupils. Consequently, staff know what to do if they are concerned about a pupil’s welfare. Records show that the school supports vulnerable pupils appropriately. Parents, staff and pupils told us that pupils were safe in school. Teachers help pupils to learn how to keep themselves safe in a range of situations, in and out of school. This includes online safety. 8–9 January 2020

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The instability in staffing has meant that it has taken longer to improve the curriculum than leaders intended. Leaders must ensure that the curriculum they have devised is planned and implemented effectively so that pupils gain and retain the knowledge that they should. Leaders should ensure that staff receive the necessary training to deliver the curriculum successfully.  Too often, the work set by teachers is not matched to the needs of pupils. The work is not sequenced to enable pupils to build on what they already know, so pupils do not achieve as well as they could. Teachers must make sure that pupils are given work that is matched precisely to their needs. This is especially true for the most able pupils.  Pupils’ attitudes to learning are not always as strong as they should be. Their lack of attention or noisy behaviour sometimes interrupts teaching and slows learning down. The school needs to further develop pupils’ consistent, positive attitudes towards

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

learning. Staff need to establish clear expectations and routines to ensure pupils acquire good habits as quickly as possible.

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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 school 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. 8–9 January 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10122220 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 17–18 May 2016, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school has experienced significant staff turbulence in the last 18 months.  The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  Early years provision is provided on a part-time basis in the Slinfold Pre-school and full-time in Reception class.  The Slinfold Pre-school is located on the school site and is managed by the governing body. It was inspected as part of the school’s early years provision during this inspection.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for pupil premium funding (additional government funding) is much smaller than that found nationally.  The proportion of pupils with SEND is slightly higher than the national average.

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Information about this inspection

We carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 8–9 January 2020

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 As part of this inspection, we held meetings with the headteacher, assistant headteacher and SENCo.  We did deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, writing and science. We spoke to the English, mathematics and science leaders. We visited lessons, looked at a range of pupils’ work, talked with pupils and met with teachers. I also heard some pupils read and talked to them about their reading.  I talked to members of the school council and two Christian ambassadors.  I met with members of the governing body and spoke to a local authority representative.  I scrutinised a range of school documents, including the school’s own self- evaluation, improvement plans, and records about behaviour and attendance.  We considered the 68 responses made by parents and carers to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire, and the 63 responses to Ofsted’s free-text system. We also spoke to some parents at the start of the school day. Additionally, we

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took account of the 17 responses to Ofsted’s online survey for staff and the 22 responses to Ofsted’s online pupils’ survey.  We evaluated the effectiveness of safeguarding by reviewing records, training and actions. We looked at the single central record and case studies. We spoke to the designated safeguarding lead, the safeguarding governor, pupils and staff.

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Inspection team

Becky Greenhalgh, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Stephanie Scutter Ofsted Inspector 8–9 January 2020

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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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