Sandown Primary School and Nursery

Inspection of a good school: Sandown Primary School and Nursery The Ridge, Hastings, East Sussex TN34 2AA

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Outcome

Sandown Primary School and Nursery continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy attending Sandown Primary School and Nursery. From their first day in school, children start to build strong relationships with adults. Children move with confidence from Nursery to join Reception class and settle well to life in school. Pupils feel safe because there are high expectations for behaviour across the school. Pupils enjoy playing together and are kind to one another on the playground. On the rare occasion when bullying occurs, pupils are confident that their teachers tackle this sensitively.

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What is it like to attend this school?

There is a culture of praise in the school. This helps to build pupils’ confidence and self- esteem. Staff, pupils and parents treasure the special Friday award assembly. Pupils take a pride in their work and their school. They delight in achievements in sport competitions and in sharing artwork they have produced. The ‘golden paintbrush’ award encourages pupils to practise the art skills they have learned in school at home.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s leaders and staff are aspirational for pupils. Pupils work hard in lessons and achieve well. Pupils take their learning beyond the classroom and attend a variety of clubs and events. These opportunities support pupils, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to achieve well and build confidence.

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

The headteacher leads a strong team of subject leaders. They work together to share their experience and support each other in the development of their subjects. Together, they have developed an ambitious curriculum. In most subjects, leaders have set out clearly what should be taught and when, so that pupils learn and remember important information. Some subjects, however, are under review because the planned steps in learning do not yet help all pupils to remember important knowledge and skills.

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

Pupils read often and acquire a love of reading. Children in the Nursery develop a love of story and an awareness of rhyme. This sets them up well for Reception, where children learn the sounds that letters make in their phonics lessons. Teachers select quality texts 10–11 March 2020

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for daily reading lessons in key stage 1 and key stage 2 that help pupils to practise and develop their reading skills. Pupils who fall behind are supported to gain the knowledge and skills they need to become confident, fluent readers. While pupils read a variety of books in reading lessons, opportunities to read books across a wide range of subjects is limited.

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Teachers have a good knowledge of what they teach. They receive helpful training and support from subject leaders. Teachers plan well-structured lessons because they are clear about what their pupils understand. This helps pupils to use what they already know to build their understanding in lessons. For example, this is strengthening pupils’ achievement in mathematics. In art, pupils learn the skills that they need to produce beautiful artwork. In physical education (PE), pupils develop their core strength and agility through a range of sports. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported by adults who break tasks down into manageable steps. This helps pupils with SEND to access the full curriculum and make good progress.

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The curriculum, in lessons and beyond the classroom, helps pupils to develop the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in life. Experiences include extra music lessons, where pupils learn to play guitar and piano. The PE leader has introduced a daily mile to encourage the improved fitness of pupils and staff. Families get involved in weekly fitness challenges set by the school. Leaders make sure that the wide range of clubs on offer encourage both disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND to attend.

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Pupils embody the school’s value of ‘pride in all we do’. They behave well in lessons and have positive relationships with one another. Pupils learn about responsibly using digital technology and have produced an award-winning video to share this message. They learn about diversity and equality. Female role models are celebrated through display. In PE, pupils learn about sports from different cultures. They perform in local music events and build an understanding of local culture as they learn about historical events in their locality.

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Leaders have worked hard to improve pupils’ attendance. Through a range of strategies, including awards for regular attendance, pupils’ attendance is now above that found nationally.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

School leaders make sure that there are careful checks on every adult working in the school. Staff receive training that helps them to keep a caring eye on the needs of the pupils in the school. They are clear about what to do if they have a concern about the safety or well-being of a pupil. School leaders follow up on these concerns swiftly. Teachers think carefully about the risks for activities both in school and on school trips. This helps to keep pupils safe and creates a culture of safeguarding in the school. 10–11 March 2020

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have created an ambitious curriculum. In most subjects there are clearly defined sequences of learning. Sometimes pupils struggle to accurately recall what they have previously learned because a series of lessons does not build well on what pupils know and remember. Subject leaders should ensure that their review of the implementation of subjects makes sure pupils have more regular opportunities to revisit their learning.  School leaders prioritise reading. Teachers use quality texts for pupils to read during reading lessons. However, pupils do not read widely beyond these texts. This limits both their reading fluency and opportunities to broaden their interests. Subject leaders need to support teachers to build further opportunities for pupils to engage in reading quality texts beyond reading lessons.

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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 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 school to be good on 11–12 May 2016.

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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 .

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school. 10–11 March 2020

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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. 10–11 March 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10111386 Type of school Nursery and Primary

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School details

Date of previous inspection 11–12 May 2016 under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The nursery has become part of the school since the last inspection.

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Information about this inspection

 I met with the headteacher and with a range of senior and curriculum leaders. I met with governors and spoke to a representative from the local authority. I met with the special educational needs coordinator and attendance lead. I considered the views of 56 staff who responded to the staff survey.  I examined a range of documentation provided by the school, including the school’s own plan for improvement, governance documents, attendance and behaviour records and documents relating to the safeguarding of pupils.  I reviewed safeguarding training records and met with the school’s safeguarding lead.  I met with parents at the start of the school day and considered the views of 145 responses to Ofsted’s Parent View.  I considered the views of pupils, including 351 responses to the pupil survey.  I did deep dives in these subjects: reading, history and physical education. These deep dives consisted of linked activities to gather evidence about how well pupils are helped

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to gain knowledge and skills. As part of these deep dives, I talked to subject leaders, reviewed pupils’ work, visited lessons with senior leaders and spoke to pupils and teachers. I heard pupils read, observed adults reading to pupils, visited reading lessons and talked to pupils about reading. I also reviewed the curriculum planning and workbooks in a selection of other subjects.

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Inspection team

Graham Chisnell, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 10–11 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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