Knights Templar Community Church School & Nursery

Inspection of Knights Templar Community Church School & Nursery Liddymore Road, Watchet, Somerset TA23 0EX

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Good 18 and 19 May 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and well cared for at Knights Templar school. Staff know the pupils well and make sure they have their needs met. Staff and pupils enjoy positive and respectful relationships, which means that pupils trust adults.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils show positive attitudes to their learning. However, the curriculum is not yet designed to ensure that they are able to make strong enough progress through all subjects. This hinders pupils’ success and motivation towards their learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well. They interact easily and enjoy a range of social opportunities. Behaviour in lessons is good and pupils say that any rare incidents of low-level disruption are dealt with quickly by staff. Leaders’ new approach to managing behaviour benefits all pupils, particularly those who need the most care. This is helping to support pupils to settle back into routine learning following the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have worked hard to help parents and carers support their child’s reading. This is particularly the case in the early years. Parents appreciate this help. Parents who have children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) say that the school is incredibly supportive. Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the school.

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better?

Leaders are ambitious for pupils. They have clear aims for the curriculum. Content is sequenced from the early years to Year 4. However, leaders have not yet set out the detailed knowledge they want pupils to learn. This is particularly the case in key stages 1 and 2. This means that pupils do not always learn what leaders intend and teachers are not able to use assessment to check that pupils have secured the important knowledge. Where this works well in the early years, knowledge is broken down into suitable small steps so that teachers ensure that children know more, remember more and can do more over time.

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better?

Staff receive effective training in reading and mathematics. This means they have good subject knowledge in these subjects. However, they have not received enough training to ensure that they are well equipped to teach other subjects.

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better?

In mathematics, pupils, including those in the early years, develop fluency in number and specific mathematical vocabulary. Teachers give them lots of opportunities to apply this knowledge to reasoning and problem-solving. As a result, pupils are achieving well in this subject.

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better?

Leaders prioritise and promote the teaching of reading. Pupils love to read. They choose from the appealing range of books available in the classrooms and school library. Teachers read regularly to pupils, much to pupils’ delight. Children start learning phonics early in the Reception year. This builds on the good communication 18 and 19 May 2022

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and language foundations that they experience in the nursery. The content of the phonics programme is appropriately structured and sequenced. This means that pupils make good progress with their phonics. When they have mastered the early stages of reading, pupils develop a range of reading skills which they apply well to more demanding texts.

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Leaders make sure that pupils have plenty of opportunities for personal development. There is strong focus on supporting pupils, including in the early years, to manage their feelings and friendships. Leaders see this as valuable to mitigate one of the impacts of the pandemic. Pupils also learn about current events, such as the jubilee. They are familiar with the values that prepare them for life in modern Britain. They show a respect for different beliefs and understand how people can all be different. Pupils say they are proud to take on a variety of responsibilities, such as digital ambassadors and eco warriors.

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Pupils with SEND make good progress. This is because teachers adapt the curriculum well for them. Leaders have a detailed understanding of the needs of individual pupils. They work well with external agencies to design bespoke support for those pupils who need it.

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Governors are committed to the school and carry out their roles with diligence. They understand the context that children come from locally and aspire for pupils to achieve their very best. They have ensured that leaders develop a strong curriculum for reading and mathematics. However, the development of the wider curriculum has not had the urgency it requires. Leaders engage well with staff. Staff say that they feel listened to and appreciate the training and support they receive.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders across the nursery and main school demonstrate a strong ethos of keeping children safe from harm. They work with other professionals purposefully and secure the right help for pupils and families at the right time. Leaders also ensure that all employment checks on staff are thorough.

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Safeguarding

Staff have regular training in knowing the signs of abuse. They are vigilant in reporting concerns and use agreed systems effectively to ensure that information is reported in a timely manner.

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Safeguarding

Pupils learn about how to keep themselves safe. For example, they can talk about risks when using the internet. They are clear about needing to tell someone if they are worried. 18 and 19 May 2022

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have not yet designed a curriculum that sets out clearly the knowledge they want pupils to learn. This means that the implementation and sequencing of the intended curriculum is not as effective as it could be. Leaders need to ensure that the specific knowledge they want pupils to learn in each year group is clearly identified so that pupils learn more and remember more over time.  Teachers do not always have the necessary subject knowledge and pedagogical approaches to deliver an ambitious curriculum. As a result, pupils’ learning across the curriculum is too variable. Leaders must ensure that staff have the necessary subject and pedagogical knowledge to deliver an ambitious curriculum.  As the small steps of knowledge pupils need to learn in each subject are not all yet identified, teachers are unable to use assessment effectively to ensure that pupils’ learning builds on prior knowledge. This reduces the progress that pupils

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

make. Leaders must ensure that teachers use effective assessment to secure good progress for pupils across the curriculum.

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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. 18 and 19 May 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10227986 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 21 February 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is a Church of England and Methodist school within the Diocese of Bath and Wells.  The school operates a nursery on site for children from 0 to 4 years. This inspection looked at the provision for children aged two and above.  There is a breakfast club and an after-school club run by the school.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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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

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, history and computing. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to 18 and 19 May 2022

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teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, special educational needs coordinator, curriculum leaders and teaching and support staff.  The lead inspector met with members of the governing body and a representative from the local authority.  The lead inspector met with the designated safeguarding lead to discuss how they keep pupils safe in school. They considered the school’s recruitment procedures, staff induction and training, records of concerns and their engagement with external agencies. The inspectors also spoke with staff and pupils throughout the inspection.  The lead inspector listened to pupils read to an adult.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school site. In addition, they met with pupils informally and formally to hear their views.  Inspectors considered responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View,

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including free-text responses. Inspectors also took into consideration responses to the staff and pupil surveys.  Inspectors examined a range of documentation provided by the school, including the school’s self-evaluation document, development plan and documentation relating to safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Angela Folland, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Neil Swait Ofsted Inspector 18 and 19 May 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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