Katherines Primary Academy and Nursery

Inspection of Katherines Primary Academy and Nursery Brookside, Harlow, Essex CM19 5NJ

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Inspection dates: 23 and 24 November 2021

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Previous inspection grade Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005 23 and 24 November 2021

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What is it like to attend this school?

Katherines Primary Academy and Nursery is a fully inclusive school where everybody is made to feel special. Pupils love coming to school. They are proud of their school and welcome visitors with a smile.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils receive a consistently good quality of education. They enjoy their learning. Pupils link new learning to their own life experiences. They confidently share new knowledge they have learned. They say that they want to be ‘historians’ and ‘mathematicians’. Pupils value the wider curriculum. They take part in ‘Katherines’ got talent’ and ‘Katherines’ 100 things’. This helps prepare pupils for life outside school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils understand and rise to the high expectations of learning and behaviour. They follow the school’s behaviour systems and enjoy the rewards, such as receiving a ‘pen licence’ or a yellow pin badge.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils say that they feel safe in school and trust the adults who care for them. Bullying or unkindness rarely happens. If it does occur, pupils know that staff will deal with it straight away.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents were overwhelmingly positive in their responses about the school. They particularly value the school’s support of the ‘whole’ child. Many commented that they feel nothing is too much trouble for the staff.

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better?

Leaders have designed an ambitious curriculum. Teachers ensure that pupils revisit important knowledge over time. This deepens and embeds learning so that pupils do well. For example, a history theme is leadership. Each class is named after an inspirational young leader. This helps pupils place well-known historical figures each year in context.

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better?

Leaders ensure that staff have secure subject knowledge across the curriculum. Teachers make sure that previous learning is built on in each lesson. They check pupils have a clear understanding of new vocabulary and concepts. This checking informs teachers effectively, so they know what pupils need to learn next. Pupils can talk about what they have learned in detail. This shows that they have remembered key facts. For example, they recall why Henry VIII changed from being a catholic to a protestant.

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better?

Staff teach reading well to the majority of pupils. Pupils throughout the school read a wide range of high-quality books. This improves their vocabulary. Pupils show a love of books and enjoy listening to teachers reading to them. 23 and 24 November 2021

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Children settle well when they first join school in the Nursery. This helps to ensure they are ready to learn. While leaders have created an environment that supports the ambitious curriculum in the Reception classes, this is less developed in Nursery and has been identified as the next priority for the school. Curriculum plans in the Nursery are not fully in place. Therefore, staff are not always clear about the intentions of the learning in Nursery. Consequently, some children are not as well prepared for future learning as they could be.

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In the Reception Year, children get off to a good start learning sounds to help them read, and they accurately spell using the sounds they know. Staff are well trained to use the chosen phonics scheme. Leaders identify pupils who need to catch up. These pupils receive extra phonics and reading sessions. These extra sessions address these gaps well. On occasions, pupils who speak English as an additional language and are new to the school do not have enough opportunities to improve their fluency in reading. This means they are not learning to read quickly enough.

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The behaviour and attitudes of pupils are a strength of the school. Pupils feel part of the Katherines School community. They value the relationships they have with each other and staff. Pupils are able to self-regulate and quickly focus on their learning. They are polite and respectful to each other and adults.

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Leaders have ensured there is a strong focus on the wider development opportunities for pupils. Staff intentionally provide opportunities to enhance pupils’ cultural experiences. For example, pupils visit museums and theatres linked to their learning.

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Leaders ensure that all pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities have the right support to access the same aspirational curriculum as other pupils. Sometimes staff need to make adaptions for pupils to succeed in their learning. Staff do this with sensitivity and skill. Disadvantaged pupils produce work of an equally high standard to their peers.

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The members of the local governing body are thorough in carrying out their statutory and monitoring duties. They regularly challenge leaders.

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Staff are very appreciative of the collaborative support that the trust provides and the opportunities for extra training. These supports staff well to implement the chosen curriculum.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff have regular and up-to-date training on all aspects of risk, such as the ‘Prevent’ duty and county lines. Staff are vigilant about reporting concerns, and leaders follow up these concerns promptly. Leaders ensure that pupils are receiving the right support to keep them safe. 23 and 24 November 2021

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Teachers use the relationships and sex education (RSE) and the personal, social and health education curriculum effectively to teach pupils about online risks and about emotional and physical safety. This positively supports the pupils to keep safe and know how to stay safe. Pupils are able to recall knowledge learned about managing risks.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have ensured that the phonics programme is delivered with fidelity to all pupils. However, this is not working for a few pupils who are new to English and new to the school. Leaders must ensure that staff know when to use additional strategies to give these pupils even more opportunities to increase their reading fluency. Leaders must do more regular checking to make sure that these strategies are working for pupils who speak English as an additional language and those pupils who are new to the school.  Staff and leaders are not clear about the intentions of the curriculum in Nursery. This is because plans are still being developed. Leaders must ensure that the ambitious curriculum plans that have started to be used in the Reception classes are developed to include the Nursery. Leaders must ensure that staff understand the plans and are trained to deliver these plans effectively so that the children are

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

better prepared for their Reception Year.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View 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. 23 and 24 November 2021

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School details

Inspection number 10200551 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

 Katherines Primary and Nursery Academy converted to become an academy school in July 2017.  In June 2017 there was a section 8 inspection that confirmed that safeguarding at the school was effective.  Since joining the National Education Trust (NET) in July 2017 there have been significant changes to the leadership team and staff team. The head of school and the deputy headteacher have been in post since September 2017.  There have been four different early years leaders since September 2017. The current early years leader has been in post since September 2021.  Over the last two years there have been a significant number of new arrivals to the school, particularly in early years and key stage one.  The school uses one alternative provider.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 23 and 24 November 2021

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This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with school leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation.

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 Inspectors met with the chief executive officer of the NET multi-academy trust, the head of school, the deputy headteacher, the early years leader, three members of the local governing body and curriculum leaders from the trust.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, history and Spanish as a modern foreign language. For each deep dive, inspectors met with subject leaders, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors also looked at curriculum plans and visited lessons in geography, art and RSE.  To inspect safeguarding, inspectors scrutinised the single central record, looked at case files and behaviour logs, and spoke to staff, pupils and governors.  Inspectors visited the breakfast club and spent time in the lunch hall and on the playground. Inspectors also spoke to a sample of parents as they dropped their

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children off at school.  Inspectors considered 38 responses to the Ofsted Parent View online survey, including 25 free-text responses submitted during the inspection. There were no responses to the staff or pupil surveys to consider.

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Inspection team

Isabel Davis, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Marc White Her Majesty’s Inspector 23 and 24 November 2021

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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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