Christ Church School

Inspection of a good school: Christ Church School Redhill Street, Camden, London NW1 4BD

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Outcome

Christ Church School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and kept safe in school. They describe Christ Church as one big family because everyone knows each other. Pupils like the way that staff always make time to stop and hold conversations with them, including at breaktimes and lunchtimes. This helps to make pupils feel valued and treated as individuals.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy working hard because they know that learning is important. They learn a wide range of subjects and achieve well. Pupils know that their teachers want the very best for them. Pupils rise to teachers’ high expectations. They know that earning merits and certificates is not something that happens without hard work and determination. Pupils particularly like the chance to exchange their well-earned raffle tickets for a special prize from the headteacher’s table.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are well-mannered and kind to each other. Pupils behave very well. If problems occur, staff sort things out properly, including any bullying. Pupils wear their uniforms with pride. They try very hard to demonstrate the school’s values in everything they do. This makes the school a happy and friendly place to be.

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

Leaders are ambitious for all pupils to achieve highly. They have considered carefully what pupils need to learn in each subject. Leaders have worked out the order in which pupils need to learn new things. In a few subjects, what leaders want pupils to learn in each unit of work is not broken down into small, clear steps. This makes it difficult for teachers to know exactly what needs to be taught and what pupils need to know and remember for future learning.

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

Leaders have given much thought to what children learn in the early years. This prepares them for what is to come in Year 1 and beyond. For example, in mathematics, children develop a secure understanding of the value of numbers to ten. They learn to count accurately and match numbers to groups of objects. This helps them for when they learn 24 and 25 March 2022

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about addition and subtraction. In Years 1 to 6, teaching provides pupils with plentiful opportunities to practise and apply what they know. In mathematics, for example, pupils in Year 5 used their prior knowledge of simplifying fractions to order different fractions and decimals on a number line. Pupils in Year 6 used their knowledge of multiplication facts to work out a variety of algebraic equations.

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Teachers check pupils’ knowledge and understanding in lessons. They make sure that any gaps are quickly identified and addressed. Teachers work effectively with teaching assistants. Together, they regularly discuss and review how well pupils are learning. This works particularly well for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). These pupils’ needs are identified accurately, and they are supported to access the same learning as everyone else. Staff provide some pupils with extra help between lessons. This gives pupils time to process new information and talk through anything they do not understand.

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Leaders make sure that reading has a high profile. This starts in the Nursery, where children learn rhymes and songs. As they move through Reception and Year 1, pupils develop their knowledge of phonics. Staff make sure that the phonics programme is taught consistently. This helps pupils to become increasingly confident with reading and spelling new words. Teachers identify any pupils who are not keeping up. They provide extra phonics sessions to stop pupils from falling behind.

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Story time is a much-valued part of the day. Children in the Nursery loved watching their teacher use the bean shoots they had planted to illustrate the story they were reading. Pupils in Year 5 relished the time set aside at the end of the day to sit, relax and listen to their teacher read the latest chapter from ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’.

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Pupils behave well and make the most of their learning time. Pupils who are new to the school, including those who have recently arrived in the country, settle well. They said how grateful they are for the help and kindness shown by staff and pupils. Leaders provide a variety of opportunities to support pupils’ emotional and mental health, including using the expertise of trained counsellors in school.

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Staff provide as many chances as they can for pupils to learn about and get involved in life beyond their immediate community. Pupils take part in a range of educational visits to different parts of London and beyond. Pupils in the choir were excited to sing at a local secondary school as part of their ‘Spring Festival’.

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Leaders, including governors, have worked effectively with staff to maintain the good standard of education. Staff said that leaders are considerate of their workload. Staff are highly supportive of leaders’ work to continually improve the school. 24 and 25 March 2022

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Pupils feel safe in school. They feel listened to. Pupils are taught about the risks they might face outside school, including those related to gangs and carrying knives. Staff help pupils to understand how to keep safe online.

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Safeguarding

Leaders hold regular meetings with all staff, in which any concerns about pupils’ welfare can be raised. They take seriously all referrals from staff. Leaders keep robust records of all incidents involving pupils. They are aware of each pupil’s circumstances and monitor pupils’ well-being closely. Leaders work with other professionals, such as social workers, to keep the most vulnerable pupils safe.

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Safeguarding

Leaders have developed trusting partnerships with families. Leaders are proactive in getting pupils and their families the help they need. Parents and carers commented on how leaders had gone above and beyond to help them in times of need.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have developed a well-planned curriculum. They have considered what pupils need to learn over time. In a few subjects, leaders have not planned precisely what needs to be taught in each unit of work. Where this is the case, leaders should refine further their curriculum thinking so that teachers know what needs to be taught and what pupils need to know and remember in the long term.

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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 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.

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Background

This is the second section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in January 2012. 24 and 25 March 2022

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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. 24 and 25 March 2022

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 24 January 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Christ Church is a voluntary-aided primary school with a Christian religious ethos. The school’s most recent section 48 inspection took place in February 2017.  The school does not make use of alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspector held meetings with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher and other senior leaders. He met with representatives of the governing body. The inspector met with the leaders responsible for SEND and early years.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics and art. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum with leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers and teaching assistants, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. 24 and 25 March 2022

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 The inspector also considered other subjects, including looking at curriculum documentation for geography, science, computing and music.  To inspect safeguarding, the inspector looked at the single central record of staff suitability checks. He met with the leaders responsible for safeguarding and sampled pupils’ files and other documentation.  The inspector met with a group of pupils and spoke to pupils informally during breaktimes and lunchtimes.  The inspector spoke with some parents as they dropped their children off at school. He also reviewed the responses to Ofsted Parent View.  The inspector held meetings with members of staff and looked at the responses to the staff and pupil surveys.

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Inspection team

Gary Rawlings, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector 24 and 25 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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