Bletchingley Village Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Bletchingley Village Primary School Coneybury, Bletchingley, Redhill, Surrey RH1 4PP

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Outcome

Bletchingley Village Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

This is an inclusive school where everyone accepts and celebrates difference. Pupils understand that everyone is unique. They respect each other and try hard to make sure everyone gets along. Pupils take pride in being able to sort out any differences they may have themselves. When they cannot, they know staff will.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders ensure that all pupils receive the best opportunities to thrive. Staff have very high expectations for what all pupils can achieve. Pupils try their very best to live up to these expectations. They are excited by their learning and eager to undertake challenges. They keep going when they find things hard and are rightly proud of how well they achieve.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils love coming to school. Their enthusiasm for the wide range of opportunities on offer shines through. They excitedly describe how they are able to suggest and run their own clubs. They understand this is as long as they are sensible, of course.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils regularly benefit from taking part in varied performances on the school stage. They describe their stage as ‘like a real theatre’ and appreciate how the performances help them to develop their confidence.

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

Leaders are passionate about ensuring that all pupils, regardless of their background or special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), achieve their full potential. In their words, they aspire to ‘level the playing field’. Pupils successfully build detailed knowledge and skills as they get older. They thoroughly enjoy high-quality learning that is carefully planned and sequenced in all subjects. Teaching excites and engages pupils, promoting interesting discussions. For example, in art, pupils have recently developed their skills through a whole-school global art project. Their vibrant work, beautifully displayed around the school, reflects the global influences and relevant issues they discussed, as well as their technical abilities and their attention to detail. Teachers accurately understand how much pupils know and learn because they use assessment very well. As a result, pupils 11–12 March 2020

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receive work that challenges them to really think. Leaders are striving to ensure that teachers have excellent subject knowledge in every single subject. Close work with other schools in the trust allows expertise to be effectively shared.

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Pupils absolutely love reading. They discuss their favourite authors and books with clarity and enthusiasm. Many pupils regularly spend their free time reading in the well-resourced library. They understand how to use the school’s system to choose books that match their reading level precisely. If they need help with this, the knowledgeable librarian is there to help them. Children in the early years foundation stage continually experience stories, rhymes, songs and activities that develop their vocabulary and communication skills well. Skilled staff plan and adapt their phonics teaching carefully so that all pupils can access their learning at an appropriate level. The newly opened provision for two-year-olds was a result of leaders’ determination to ensure that children start their learning as early as possible.

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Pupils with SEND achieve very well during their time at school. Staff are expert at ensuring pupils receive appropriate support and a thoughtfully adapted curriculum. Staff in the specialist support centre are highly skilled in delivering personalised strategies and approaches to pupils. These ensure that all pupils, including those with the most complex needs, are ready for the next stage of their education. Pupils in the specialist support centre benefit from learning alongside their mainstream peers whenever possible. Consequently, they develop confidence and independence. This also illustrates the high expectations leaders and staff have of all pupils.

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Pupils behave well. For those pupils who sometimes find it difficult to manage their own behaviour, staff help them to develop useful and effective strategies. As a result, pupils quickly learn alternative, more appropriate, ways to cope when they are struggling with emotions.

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Pupils enjoy a wealth of opportunities to develop their individual characters through learning in the outdoors. For example, pupils appreciate their ‘Right to roam’ around the school site during lunchtimes. Although they remain well supervised, they are able to move freely around the woodland and other areas, as long as they follow the group risk assessments they help to devise. This helps to develop their independence, maturity and understanding of trust.

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Staff appreciate how much leaders care about their workload and well-being. Teachers are very positive about recent changes to the way they gather and mark work.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff know pupils extremely well and have a deep understanding of any issues that may affect them. Leaders have ensured that systems are clear and helpful. As a result, referrals are dealt with quickly and information is collated effectively by leaders. Leaders vigilantly ensure that pupils and their families receive invaluable support when needed. Many pupils benefit from a range of therapies overseen by leaders. 11–12 March 2020

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Pupils successfully learn how to keep themselves safe online in ways which interest and engage them. Weekly assemblies teach pupils relevant and useful strategies in an age- appropriate way. For example, pupils in reception learn, through play with string, how personal information can quickly travel from one person to another around the world.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The curriculum successfully helps pupils to learn and remember more. In most subjects, including English and mathematics, pupils receive a very high-quality education. Leaders are ensuring that the whole curriculum is just as high quality. For example, they have correctly identified certain subjects, such as computing and music, where teachers require more guidance and support to further build their subject knowledge and skills. Leaders should ensure that, in all subjects, teachers have the skills and subject knowledge required to deliver subjects as effectively as possible.

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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 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, St Catherine’s Primary School, to be good on 6–7 December 2012.

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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 . 11–12 March 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. 11–12 March 2020

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school became an academy in May 2017. It is part of the Tandridge Learning Trust, which contains four other primary schools and one secondary school.  The current headteacher has joined the school since the previous inspection of the predecessor school.  The school includes a specialist resourced provision for pupils with speech, language and communication needs. There are currently 21 pupils on roll in the centre.  The school has a nursery. Provision for two-year-olds was opened in September 2019.

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Information about this inspection

 I met with the headteacher, senior leaders and teachers. I also met with governors, the chief executive officer of the multi-academy trust and chair of the board of trustees.  I did deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics and art. In each subject, this included discussions with leaders and teachers, lesson visits with leaders, talking to pupils and looking at their work.  I spoke to pupils in class and around school during their free time to hear their views. I observed lunchtime in the hall and in the playground. 11–12 March 2020

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 To look closely at safeguarding in the school, I spoke to pupils, staff, governors and representatives from the trust. I looked at safeguarding documentation, including the school’s single central record, which contains details of recruitment checks.  I considered 66 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, including free- text responses. I also considered the views of 12 pupils and 23 staff who completed the Ofsted surveys.

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Inspection team

Maxine McDonald-Taylor, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector 11–12 March 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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