Cranbrook Church of England Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Cranbrook Church of England Primary School Carriers Road, Cranbrook, Kent TN17 3JZ

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Outcome

Cranbrook Church of England Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thrive in this school. Leaders have developed a culture where pupils feel listened to and take an active role in the school. Pupils take on roles of responsibility such as school councillors and school librarians. This builds a genuine feeling of belonging to the school community.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Teachers have high expectations for pupils. They encourage pupils to challenge themselves in lessons. Teachers help pupils to develop their confidence and build positive relationships with one another. Pupils develop their understanding of themes such as citizenship through the school’s ‘Shine’ curriculum. This helps them to build an awareness of local and global issues. Pupils delight in rewards offered for good work. This includes incentives to read to Boris, the school dog.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well in class and around the school. This is because leaders have high expectations and have established helpful routines. When children misbehave, adults help them improve their behaviours and learn how to manage their emotions. When bullying happens, adults work quickly to put things right.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe. They enjoy playtime and know that if something goes wrong when at play, they can speak to a trusted adult.

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

Leaders have created a well-sequenced curriculum that helps pupils to build their knowledge and skills. They weave the school’s values throughout the curriculum. Subject leaders are knowledgeable about their subjects. They help teachers develop new ways to teach that build pupils’ interest in what they learn. However, pupils have limited opportunities to practise what they have learned across different subjects. This is because leaders have not always thought carefully enough about the opportunities to revisit prior learning in different subjects. As a result, pupils sometimes struggle to remember what they have learned over time. 21 and 22 June 2022

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Teachers carefully select resources and activities that help pupils learn. In mathematics, pupils use shapes and counters to help them make sense of numbers. This helps them to secure their knowledge of number and apply this to increasingly challenging activities. Teachers encourage pupils to challenge themselves in the work they produce. Pupils structure their work well in their workbooks. This helps to reinforce what they have learned in the lesson.

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Leaders have helped staff to understand and deliver the newly introduced phonics programme. There is an increasingly consistent approach to how pupils learn to read. In the early years, children quickly develop their reading skills through well-structured lessons and play. Teachers use assessments in reading to swiftly help pupils who have fallen behind to catch up. They think carefully about creating areas that encourage pupils to read. The books pupils read both in school and at home are carefully matched to the sounds they recognise, helping to build their reading skills. As pupils move through the school, they develop their reading fluency. This helps them to build a love of reading, spending increasing time reading in and out of school.

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Leaders give careful consideration to the support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff make sure these pupils succeed in class. For example, pupils learn about important vocabulary before lessons begin, helping them to make sense of the language used in the lesson. Teachers use quizzes at the start of lessons to help pupils recall what they have learned recently. This helps pupils with SEND to learn well.

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Leaders are clear about what pupils need to learn in all subjects. They have built a helpful structure for assessment. Teachers use this to carefully check that pupils are not falling behind in their learning. Leaders review the progress pupils make in each subject and give helpful feedback to teachers. This strengthens the consistency of learning across the school.

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Pupils are given rich opportunities to learn beyond the classroom. In outdoor learning activities, pupils learn how to solve problems and build their knowledge of the natural world. Pupils attend a range of clubs on offer at the school that help to extend their sporting, musical and artistic interests.

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Leaders support disadvantaged pupils through the school’s ‘aspire mentoring’ programme. This helps pupils to build confidence and aspirations for their future life in education and beyond. Leaders have forged links with two local secondary schools. Students from the schools work alongside pupils in Years 5 and 6 to help them to prepare for education beyond the primary years.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders have built a culture where the safeguarding of pupils is a high priority and effective. They have clear systems in place to keep pupils safe. They make sure that all staff are trained in safeguarding and that this helps staff to recognise when a pupil is at 21 and 22 June 2022

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risk. Staff record concerns about pupils on the school’s digital record, and leaders act on these concerns swiftly. Leaders put helpful support in place, such as training for families and counselling for pupils, to keep pupils safe.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have not thought carefully enough about how pupils best learn. As a result, pupils do not always recall essential learning because opportunities to space their learning or make links between different subjects have not been refined in the subject ‘learning pathways’. Subject leaders need to build further opportunities for pupils to rehearse prior learning in different subjects in order to help pupils recall and use what they have learned.

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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 first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in April 2017.

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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. 21 and 22 June 2022

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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. 21 and 22 June 2022

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair of governing body Marcus David Bell

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School details

Website www.cranbrook-cep.kent.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 25 and 26 April 2017, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is a Church of England primary school.  The school’s religious character was inspected under section 48 of the Education Act 2005 on 20 November 2015.

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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 his evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with the headteacher, the assistant headteachers, the inclusion lead, subject leaders, a representative from the local authority and a representative from the diocese. The inspector also met with five members of the governing body, including the chair of governors.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, science and history. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and 21 and 22 June 2022

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looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspector also considered the curriculum in other subjects, including mathematics.  The inspector reviewed a wide range of documents, including those related to the governance of the school.  To inspect safeguarding, the inspector met with the designated safeguarding lead and considered safeguarding documents and records. This included the school’s records and plans for supporting pupils who have been referred to outside agencies.

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Inspection team

Graham Chisnell, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 21 and 22 June 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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T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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