Burnt Oak Primary School

Inspection of Burnt Oak Primary School Richmond Road, Gillingham, Kent ME7 1LS

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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 Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 17 and 18 May 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy at school and enjoy their learning. Leaders ensure everyone is included. The school is a caring community. As one pupil said, ‘We welcome pupils from other backgrounds and cultures and with different needs and we can learn a lot from each other’. Staff expect pupils to concentrate and try their best. Pupils work hard to meet these expectations and they learn well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ well-being is a priority for everyone in the school. Pastoral care is strong. As a result, pupils feel safe in school and well supported by staff. Right from the start of early years, staff have high and consistent expectations for children’s behaviour. Pupils behave well throughout the school. Staff provide effective support for pupils who need help to manage their behaviour and emotions. Pupils trust adults to listen to them if they have any concerns or worries, including about bullying. They know staff will act quickly to sort out any problems.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy the range of clubs, trips and visitors to school. They appreciate the special events and themed weeks that motivate and inspire. Pupils say these are fun, interesting and provide memorable learning experiences.

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better?

Leaders are ambitious for all pupils. Since the previous inspection, they have been determined to raise expectations and standards. They ensure that the school’s ethos ‘enjoy, achieve, succeed’ underpins all aspects of their work. As a result, pupils’ achievement has improved.

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better?

Pupils are well supported so they can learn the same curriculum as others and experience success. Children often join Nursery or Reception with weak language skills. Also, some pupils join other year groups with limited knowledge of English. Leaders and staff focus intently on improving pupils’ communication. They develop and enrich pupils’ vocabulary from the early years through to Year 6. Leaders ensure that any additional learning needs pupils have, including special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are identified early.

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better?

Senior leaders have ensured that the curriculum is broad and balanced. In some subjects, including English and mathematics, knowledge and skills are clearly sequenced so that teachers know precisely what to teach and when. This means that pupils build on what they have been taught before to help them learn new information. However, in some subjects the essential knowledge and skills that leaders want pupils to learn are not as well defined. Subject leaders are refining the curriculum to make sure that it is sequenced and implemented effectively.

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better?

Reading is taught well and is a clear priority for the school. Staff motivate pupils to read for pleasure. From the start of early years, children enjoy rhymes, stories and songs. Pupils are encouraged to read widely and frequently. High quality, challenging 17 and 18 May 2022

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texts are selected for class reading which exposes pupils to texts they might not read themselves. These are often linked to the topic being studied. In Year 6, for example, pupils were engrossed in The London Eye Mystery, which was linked to their topic of crime and punishment. As one pupil said, ‘Teachers really get you into reading’. Pupils develop as confident and fluent readers.

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From the start of Reception, and if appropriate from the end of Nursery, staff follow the school’s current phonics programme. Plans have been made to introduce a new programme from September. Staff check progress carefully and any struggling readers are given support to help them keep up. Pupils learn phonics well to help them read unfamiliar words. The books they read are well matched to the sounds they have learned.

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Leaders are uncompromising in their work to provide opportunities for pupils to broaden their experiences and raise their aspirations. They work diligently to foster pupils’ confidence, resilience and independence, to stand them in good stead for later life. Pupils enjoy the responsibilities they are given and take them seriously. For example, peer mediators and school council members know that they can make a real difference in school.

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Staff work well together as a strong supportive team. They know that their workload and well-being is considered by leaders. Parents appreciate the nurturing and inclusive ethos in the school. Governors support the school well. They challenge leaders and hold them to account for the school’s performance. The governing body is very clear about its role and fulfils its statutory responsibilities.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff know pupils well and quickly identify any signs that a child may be at risk of harm. Staff are trained in all aspects of safeguarding so they know the signs they need to be aware of. Staff know the procedures to follow if they have any concerns. Any necessary action is taken swiftly, including work with external agencies, if appropriate. The required checks are carried out on adults who work in the school. Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe in a range of situations in and out of school, including when online.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Curriculum planning does not always provide teachers with a clear, explicit overview of the most useful content to be taught for pupils to acquire the intended knowledge and skills. In some foundation subjects, the essential knowledge that pupils need to learn has not been identified precisely enough. 17 and 18 May 2022

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Subject leaders should use their expertise and skills to enhance their oversight of the curriculum. They need to ensure that a clear progression in knowledge and skills in their subjects is embedded. This will ensure that teachers have even greater clarity about the sequence of teaching and enable pupils to know, remember and do more to further improve outcomes.

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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. 17 and 18 May 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10227341 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 26 and 27 June 2018

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Information about this 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. 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 the other members of the senior leadership team.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, music and computing. For each deep dive, inspectors met with subject leaders, looked at curriculum planning, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teacher spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. An 17 and 18 May 2022

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inspector listened to some pupils read and talked to pupils across the school about their love of reading.  Inspectors also looked at curriculum planning in other subjects and spoke to leaders about the curriculum in the early years.  To inspect safeguarding, inspectors spoke with leaders, staff and pupils. They looked at the single central record of recruitment checks and safeguarding records. Throughout the inspection, inspectors considered and checked the culture of safeguarding within the school.  Inspectors reviewed a range of documentation, including school development plans and the school’s own evaluation of its effectiveness.  Inspectors talked to pupils formally and informally about their learning, what behaviour is like and whether they felt safe at school.  Inspectors considered the responses from Ofsted’s online surveys for staff, pupils and parents and spoke to some parents at the beginning of the school day.

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Inspection team

Margaret Coussins, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Clare Wilkins Ofsted Inspector 17 and 18 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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