Bishop Chavasse Primary School

Inspection of Bishop Chavasse Primary School 2a Baker Lane, Tonbridge, Kent TN11 0FB

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Inspection dates: 11 and 12 January 2022

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

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

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Previous inspection grade Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005 11 and 12 January 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel part of a positive community. They confidently develop relationships with their peers and staff. Staff are fully committed to the well-rounded development of every pupil at the school. Pupils know that they have trusted adults to speak to if they have any worries or concerns. Pupils say they are happy and safe at school. However, inspectors found that leaders do not have secure enough systems in place for safeguarding. There are serious lapses in recording that could mean that some children are at risk of harm.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff have high expectations for behaviour. Behaviour is positive and respectful in classrooms and around school. Where bullying does take place, pupils are confident that leaders address it appropriately. There are clear routines in place and pupils are polite and kind to each other. There is a variety of extra-curricular clubs available to take part in that are well attended, including art, drama and sports clubs.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Within the curriculum there are purposeful opportunities to connect with the community, including the local church and care home. Where appropriate, important knowledge from the curriculum is woven into wider opportunities. However, there is more work to be done to support all pupils to learn to read and make progress in the wider curriculum.

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better?

Leaders’ plans for the subject knowledge they want pupils to know and remember are ambitious. They have carefully selected the content pupils are taught and the most appropriate order in which to teach it. For example, in history and science, important vocabulary for each year group has been selected to support pupils to discuss their ideas. However, in these subjects teaching does not always build on pupils’ prior knowledge. As a result, many pupils struggle to remember what they have been taught.

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better?

Children in Reception make a positive start to their school life. They are happy and enthusiastic to learn with the support from knowledgeable adults. Leaders have carefully designed activities that develop positive relationships and communication skills. This includes during ‘Rainbow time’, where pupils have access to a broad range of activities that purposefully explore different environments. As a result, pupils develop a useful knowledge of the world around them that prepares them well for their next stages of learning.

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better?

Staff begin teaching pupils to read on entry to the school. However, the teaching of reading is variable and leaders have not prioritised checking that what is taking place is meeting their ambitious expectations. Therefore, not all pupils make strong progress in reading and those who are struggling are not yet receiving the support necessary to catch up quickly. Leaders are working to develop the expertise of all adults who teach reading. 11 and 12 January 2022

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are fully included in lessons and adults helpfully adapt activities to ensure they can be successful. This is particularly effective where there has been careful consideration of the curriculum content to be taught, for example in mathematics. There are plans in place to continue to effectively meet the needs of all pupils within all curriculum subjects.

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Classes are calm and pupils feel they are able to focus on their learning without distractions. Teachers have high expectations of pupils and share a range of effective strategies to manage behaviour in classrooms. Pupils respond well to all adults and demonstrate positive attitudes to their learning. Break and lunchtimes provide pupils with opportunities to be physically active and play games.

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Beyond the academic curriculum, leaders are determined that pupils access a wide range of experiences to develop their interests and talents. Pupils speak positively about the clubs they attend and the activities they have enjoyed. For example, trips to the local town to learn about the history of the community. These opportunities are linked appropriately to the curriculum and provide pupils with relevant contexts to apply their learning to.

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Senior leaders are committed to taking the steps needed to improve the school. They have provided additional capacity to begin improvements to curriculum leadership. However, they have not been rigorous with their own checks of safeguarding and ensuring that the ambitions for the curriculum are being met. Additionally, those responsible for governance of the school have not held leaders to account for the quality of safeguarding or the provision of early reading. This means that leaders are not effectively providing appropriate arrangements to ensure that all pupils receive the help and support to which they are entitled.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders do not have sufficient knowledge and understanding of their roles and responsibilities of how to best protect and support pupils. This means that their actions are not always providing the help that pupils require when they need it.

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Safeguarding

There is not yet a whole school approach to safeguarding. Staff have a high awareness of potential risks that pupils might face and importantly know that no concern is too small. However, the records of these concerns show serious omissions. Leaders do not consistently take appropriate action in a timely way. They have not ensured that statutory training has been kept up to date.

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Safeguarding

Leaders have not set up robust systems for recording and monitoring pupils who might be at risk. The information they record is not always clearly presented and is not always shared appropriately with other agencies and professionals where necessary. 11 and 12 January 2022

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Leaders, including those responsible for governance, are not sufficiently aware of the quality of safeguarding practices at each level within the school. The information leaders have used to support their oversight of safeguarding has not provided an accurate and complete picture of record-keeping and associated follow-up actions. Leaders’ oversight of safeguarding is therefore not effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders responsible for promoting a culture of safeguarding do not have the knowledge required to be effective in their roles. This means that they do not take timely and appropriate safeguarding action for pupils who might be at risk of harm. Leaders must ensure that those with responsibility for safeguarding have the knowledge to make informed decisions, seeking advice from external agencies if required to take action that is in the best interests of the pupils they are supporting.  Written safeguarding records do not always reflect the actions that have taken place and are not always detailed enough to effectively be shared with external agencies if required. This means that records are not always up to date with all relevant information to keep pupils safe from the risk of harm. Leaders must ensure that the collation of information is accurate and clearly demonstrates the actions they have taken to keep pupils safe.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Trust leaders and governors with delegated responsibility for safeguarding have not carefully and regularly monitored and reviewed the safeguarding systems and processes in place at the school. This means that the multi-academy trust do not accurately know how effective and appropriate leaders’ responses are to safeguarding concerns and the areas of urgent development. Trust leaders and governors must ensure that they have the knowledge and expertise to systematically review the implementation of safeguarding at the school. Leaders must seek assurances that external support to check the quality of safeguarding in the school provides an accurate overview of record-keeping and associated follow-up actions.  Not all pupils are well supported to catch up quickly if they need additional support to learn to read. This means that there are high numbers of pupils who are struggling to read and access the rich texts that are available within the

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

curriculum. Leaders are in the process of implementing a new approach to teaching early reading. They must ensure that this provides the consistency and precision of teaching to support weaker readers to make more rapid progress.  What pupils know and can do as a result of the taught curriculum is not always checked. This means that within the wider curriculum teaching is not always informed by what pupils demonstrate that they know and can do. Leaders must ensure that they regularly and appropriately check what pupils have remembered. 11 and 12 January 2022

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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. 11 and 12 January 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10212126 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

 Bishop Chavasse Primary School opened in September 2017. Currently the oldest pupils on roll are in Year 4.  As a Church of England school, Bishop Chavasse is part of the Diocese of Rochester. They received a section 48 inspection in December 2019.  The school uses one alternative provider.  Ofsted carried out an interim visit to the school, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005 on 8 October 2020.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

In accordance with section 44(2) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires significant improvement, because it is performing significantly less well than it might in all the circumstances reasonably be expected to perform. 11 and 12 January 2022

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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 leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors reviewed a range of documentation including the school’s development plan and relevant school policies.  Inspectors met with senior leaders and a range of phase leaders and subject leaders. Inspectors also met with two governors and held meetings with representatives from the multi-academy trust, including the chief executive officer.  Inspectors did deep dives in early reading, mathematics, history and science. This involved inspectors talking to subject leaders, class teachers and pupils, visiting lessons, looking at pupils’ work and listening to pupils read. Inspectors also looked at subject planning in relationships and health education.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors spoke with staff, pupils

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and parents. Inspectors met with the designated safeguarding lead and deputy safeguarding lead to explore their knowledge, record-keeping and actions in relation to keeping children safe. During these meetings, the inspectors scrutinised records, including those relating to the safer recruitment of staff and training. Case files were sampled to explore how the school identifies, supports and helps pupils at risk of harm.  The inspector took account of the views expressed by 17 staff and 46 parents including 43 free text comments through our online surveys.

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Inspection team

Hanna Miller, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Yasmin Maskatiya Her Majesty’s Inspector 11 and 12 January 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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