Charleton Church of England Academy

Inspection of a good school: Charleton Church of England Academy West Charleton, Kingsbridge, Devon TQ7 2AL

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Outcome

Charleton Church of England Academy continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and safe at Charleton. Leaders are preparing pupils successfully for the future. Staff model the core value, ‘collectively empowering excellence’. They encourage pupils and expect them to work hard. Pupils’ care and respect for each other is clear. They are kind and tolerant of difference.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Starting in the Nursery, children conduct themselves well. Pupils’ motivation helps them to behave well and be attentive in lessons. There is very little bullying and teachers deal with it effectively on the rare occasions that it happens. Pupils who need help to understand their feelings and manage their emotions get the help they need.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Christian values underpin the curriculum. Pupils contribute positively to the life of the school, helping to shape their own community. For example, some pupils recently developed a rewards system to encourage pupils to read more books. Other pupils have responsibilities as members of the ‘ethos committee’ and as ‘playground buddies’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders provide rich opportunities that extend beyond the classroom. Pupils enjoy the opportunities they get to learn outside at ‘forest school’. Visitors to school and well- planned school trips help to extend pupils’ interests and their understanding of the wider world.

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

Since the school joined the multi-academy trust (MAT), the Learning Academy Partnership, there have been significant changes in staffing. Some staff are new to the school or have different roles, including the executive headteacher and the head of academy. Some parents and carers have found the changes unsettling. The school has engaged with parents by organising parent partnership groups and ‘parent ambassadors’. However, leaders know that they need to continue their work to improve communication and trust between the school and parents. 22 January 2020

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Children flourish in the Nursery. Staff help them to become inquisitive and confident learners. Staff help children to develop their vocabulary. They present information to children in exciting ways. Relationships between younger and older pupils in the Nursery are warm and friendly. Children particularly enjoy hearing their teachers read to them.

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The school’s approach to the teaching of early reading has been further improved lately. Leaders have put a clearly organised phonics programme in place. Children in the Reception class quickly learn how to read. Staff make regular checks to see how well pupils learn sounds. The books that pupils take home to read contain the sounds they know. This continues into key stage 1, where pupils apply their knowledge of sounds they have learned when reading. Any pupil who falls behind in their reading receives effective support to catch up. Children love to listen to their teacher reading ‘Famous Five’ books. They hear these books several times; this helps children to develop their own ‘story- teller’s voice’.

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The school’s mathematics, reading and writing curriculum is well established. Teachers plan learning well so that most pupils build on what they know already. However, teachers do not consider the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) well enough. Low-ability pupils with SEND are not provided with the precise support that they need to overcome their barriers to learning. Therefore, some pupils with SEND are not making as strong progress across the curriculum.

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School leaders and teaching staff have worked with other schools in the MAT to develop an ambitious curriculum. Pupils learn how to lead a healthy lifestyle and have a strong knowledge of Christianity and other faiths. Pupils gain the knowledge they need for life in modern Britain. For example, they enjoy learning about local, national and global issues in geography and history. Teaching encourages pupils to read high-quality texts and to write across a range of genres. For example, some pupils are reading ‘Friend or Foe’ to learn about the Second World War.

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Governors understand the priorities for the school. They know that it is important for pupils to attend school regularly. However, despite leaders’ best efforts, pupils’ absence is high. This results in gaps in pupils’ learning. Leaders are rigorous in their challenge. They know that they need to do more work to ensure that every parent shares the same high ambition.

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Trustees and members of the local governance committee provide well-planned opportunities for staff development. Teachers and other staff told us that they feel well supported by the school leaders. Teachers from Charleton, and other schools in the MAT, work together commendably as a strong team.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

The designated safeguarding leads work well with external agencies to make sure that pupils are safe. All staff are vigilant and know how to spot signs of harm. They know and 22 January 2020

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follow the school procedures. They understand the importance of reporting even minor concerns.

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A member of the local governance committee checks leaders’ safeguarding work when they visit the school. Occasionally, staff have not applied administrative procedures diligently. Improvements to these procedures happened during the inspection.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some parents have concerns about how the school ethos has changed since it became an academy. It is important that MAT and academy leaders continue to engage with the parental community to improve relationships. Leaders and governors should continue to work closely with parents to listen to any remaining concerns.  Teachers do not provide enough support for low-ability pupils with SEND. As a result, written activities are often too difficult. Leaders need to ensure that teachers receive the support they need to plan and deliver an effective curriculum for pupils with SEND.

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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 the predecessor school, Charleton Church of England Primary School, to be good on 3 June 2015.

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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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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 . 22 January 2020

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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. 22 January 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10122369 Type of school Primary

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school opened in April 2017 when it joined Learning Academy Partnership. The MAT has eight primary schools.  The school has a head of academy and an executive headteacher.  The predecessor school, Charleton Church of England Primary School, was graded satisfactory in the last Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS) in March 2017.  The school has a Nursery for children aged from two to four years old.

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Information about this inspection

 We visited lessons with the head of academy and other MAT leaders.  We scrutinised samples of pupils’ work.  We talked formally with pupils from the school council, as well as with other pupils informally across the school.  We held meetings with the executive headteacher, head of academy, curriculum leaders, teachers, members of the local governance committee, the lead for pupils with SEND and the deputy chief executive officer of the MAT. 22 January 2020

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 We evaluated documentary and other types of information, including evidence relating to safeguarding.  We analysed responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online survey, and met with some parents at the start of the day. We analysed responses to Ofsted’s staff surveys completed during the inspection.  We did deep dives in: early reading, mathematics and history. We looked at pupils’ work in writing, science and geography. We met with senior and curriculum leaders, teachers and pupils. We visited lessons and scrutinised pupils’ work and talked to pupils. The lead inspector listened to some pupils read.

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Inspection team

Sue Costello, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Sally Olford Ofsted Inspector 22 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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