Turners Hill CofE Primary School

Inspection of an outstanding school: Turners Hill CofE Primary School Church Road, Turners Hill, Crawley, West Sussex RH10 4PA

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Outcome

There has been no change to this school’s overall judgement of outstanding as a result of this initial (section 8) inspection. However, the evidence gathered suggests that the inspection grade might not be as high if a full inspection were carried out now. The next inspection will therefore be a full (section 5) inspection.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Turners Hill have a very positive experience of school. They learn well together in mixed-age classes. As a Church of England school, it has a distinctive Christian character underpinned by the school motto ‘Stewards of the Earth, Eager to Learn, Faithful to God’. Staff get to know each pupil very well and consider their individual needs carefully. Pupils feel safe and well cared for by staff.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have high expectations for every pupil. Most pupils achieve well. However, a small number, who struggle to learn to read, do not receive sufficiently expert support.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy learning and try their best in all lessons. They are polite and respectful. They are proud of the ways in which they contribute to their school. For example, as stewards of the earth, pupils in Cherry Class are responsible for caring for the school beehive, while pupils in Birch Class look after the garden and vegetable patch. Instances of bullying are rare at this school but are dealt with quickly and effectively if they do occur.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents appreciate the nurturing environment that staff create for their children. They feel that staff are approachable and go out of their way to understand and address any concerns.

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

The needs of children continue to sit at the heart of what this school does. Children in the pre-school receive careful support so that they quickly settle into school. They are supported to develop the confidence and independence they need to thrive as they move into Reception and beyond.

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

Prior to the pandemic, leaders identified that pupils were not achieving as well as needed 15 March 2022

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to in some specific areas, including in their early reading development. Leaders also identified that they needed to further develop the school’s curriculum in the foundation subjects.

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To address weaknesses in the early reading curriculum, leaders introduced a new approach to the teaching of phonics in February 2018. They have continued to utilise existing expertise within the school to develop the knowledge of all staff in the teaching of phonics. This work has led to an improvement in the number of pupils who learn to read at an age-expected standard. However, leaders are aware that further training is needed to ensure that all staff have sufficient expertise in the teaching of early reading to ensure that all pupils, including the weakest readers, make sufficient progress to meet or exceed age-related expectations. Leaders have carefully considered how they will promote a love of reading within the school, carefully setting out the books that children will hear and read from the pre-school to Year 6.

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Leaders began to redevelop the curriculum in the foundation subjects prior to the pandemic. The speed at which leaders have been able to do this has been impacted by the pandemic. Nevertheless, leaders have made significant progress in setting out, for each subject, what pupils will learn over time. In some subjects, leaders have focused too heavily on skills and need to ensure that they carefully consider the knowledge pupils will learn and how this will be sequenced over time.

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Leaders have continued to strengthen the curriculum in mathematics, making appropriate adaptations to the curriculum following the pandemic and in response to their careful assessments of gaps in knowledge and understanding. Teachers have excellent subject knowledge in mathematics, and this enables them to explain mathematical concepts very clearly to pupils. Pupils enjoy mathematics and make good progress as they move through the school.

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Pupils at the school enjoy a range of enriching activities that support them in their wider development. The school’s club offer and trip programme have been impacted by the pandemic, but leaders have worked hard to mitigate this impact. Where visits have not been possible, leaders have planned a programme of visitors to the school, including, for example, a stone-age day and a dinosaur dig day.

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Leaders engage very well with staff to understand any pressures on them and address them quickly. For example, at the start of this academic year, leaders identified that they needed to clarify expectations for behaviour and ensure that all staff and pupils understood what happens when pupils do not meet these expectations. This work has been very effective, and inspectors observed calm and settled classrooms with no low- level disruption.

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Governors know the school well. They have carefully supported leaders and staff through the pandemic. They are also clear about how they provide challenge, particularly to ensure that disadvantaged pupils get the support they need to succeed. The local authority and diocese continue to provide support to the school, particularly around the quality of education that pupils receive. 15 March 2022

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders responsible for safeguarding provide staff with ongoing training to ensure that staff know how to identify when a child might be a risk of harm or is being harmed. Staff know how to raise a concern and feel confident that leaders responsible for safeguarding take effective action to protect children. Leaders ensure that safeguarding records are detailed and thorough and that concerns are shared with external safeguarding partners in a timely way. Leaders are trained in and follow safer recruitment procedures. Leaders have ensured that, through the curriculum, pupils learn how to stay safe online. They teach the youngest children the correct names for body parts, and that their body belongs to them. Older pupils then learn about consent in an age-appropriate way.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders introduced a new approach to the teaching of phonics in February 2018. Staff have had training to support their teaching of phonics following this new approach. However, not all staff have the expertise they need to be able to teach and support the weakest readers effectively. Leaders need to ensure that all staff receive additional training so that there is sufficient expertise in the teaching of early reading to ensure that all pupils, including the weakest readers, make sufficient progress to meet or exceed age-related expectations.  Leaders have been constructing a foundation subject curriculum that is ambitious and designed to equip pupils with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in life. This work is nearing completion, although leaders recognise that there is more to do to refine the sequencing of knowledge that pupils will learn over time in each subject. Leaders know that alongside this work to refine curriculum sequencing, they also need

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

to focus on the implementation of their intended curriculum, ensuring that the professional development programme ensures that teachers continue to deepen their subject-specific expertise in each foundation subject so that over time, teaching in all subjects becomes increasingly expert.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be outstanding, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains outstanding. This is called a section 8 inspection of a good or outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, 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 deem the section 8 inspection as a section 5 inspection immediately. 15 March 2022

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This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be outstanding in March 2016.

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How can I feed back my views?

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. 15 March 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10211927 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair of governing body Michelle Sullivan

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School details

Date of previous inspection 9 and 10 March 2016, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school operates a pre-school for two-, three-, and four-year-old children.  The school is not currently using any alternative provision.  A new chair of governors was appointed in October 2020.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the headteacher and other senior leaders. Inspectors met with representatives of the governing body, including the chair of governors. The inspectors spoke with a local authority and a diocese representative.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and art and design. 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. For the early reading deep dive, inspectors listened to pupils reading to a familiar adult. Inspectors also spoke to 15 March 2022

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leaders about the curriculums for personal, social and health education, science, history and geography.  To inspect safeguarding, inspectors checked the single central record, reviewed safeguarding records and spoke to leaders, staff and pupils about safeguarding. The inspectors also discussed safeguarding with governors and the local authority.  Inspectors reviewed a range of documentation, including leaders’ evaluation of the school, school improvement plans, behaviour records, minutes of recent meetings of the governing body and external reports on the school.  Inspector talked to pupils about their learning, what behaviour is like at the school and whether they felt safe at school.  Inspectors reviewed 18 responses to the staff survey and 59 responses to the parent survey, including the free-text responses provided by parents.

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Inspection team

Alice Roberts, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

David Cousins Ofsted Inspector 15 March 2022

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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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