Kelsale Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Kelsale Church of England Voluntary-Controlled Primary School Carlton Road, Kelsale, Saxmundham, Suffolk IP17 2NP

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Inspection dates: 28 and 29 September 2022

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Outcome

Kelsale Church of England Voluntary-Controlled Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Kelsale Church of England Primary School is a warm and welcoming place. Pupils and staff stay true to the school vision that ‘together, we believe, we learn, laugh and shine’. Pupils meet the high expectations staff have of their learning and behaviour.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy their lessons and try hard. They describe how they become good learners by following the school’s 5 Cs: to be curious learners, creators, collaborators, communicators and critical thinkers. As a result, pupils flourish. Pupils’ parents recognise that leaders and staff ensure that all pupils receive a strong start to their schooling.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are kind, well behaved and respectful. They are proud to be members of this highly inclusive school. They look after each other. Pupils enjoy the opportunity to become school councillors and relish the responsibilities this brings. This includes interviewing prospective members of staff. Older pupils speak with pride about acting as role models for younger pupils.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe at school because staff listen to them. This helps forge positive, trusting relationships between pupils and the staff. Pupils are confident in staff members’ ability to resolve issues. Pupils know if bullying occurs, teachers will deal with it firmly and thoughtfully. Therefore, bullying is rare.

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

Using input from staff, leaders developed an ambitious and logically sequenced curriculum. The specific knowledge they want pupils to know is set out clearly. The curriculum considers the needs and interests of the pupils as well as the school’s core values of respect, compassion and perseverance. As a result, the curriculum plans help teachers understand and build on the key knowledge that pupils should know from 28 and 29 September 2022

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Reception to Year 6. For example, in physical education (PE), pupils in Year 1 learn to send and receive a ball accurately in football. Then pupils in Year 2 build on this to perform a series of passes over a short distance.

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In the early years, the curriculum sets out what children need to learn and when. Children are keen to learn and focus on the appropriate and engaging activities staff plan. For example, following a phonics lesson, children sorted labelled pictures to help a monster identify foods beginning with the ‘m’ sound. Some subject leaders lack the training or experience to know how children learn in the early years. Consequently, when they check provision, they do not identify potential issues, such as ensuring children develop the depth of knowledge they should across all areas of learning.

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Teachers make effective use of assessment in most subjects. This allows teachers to precisely identify gaps in pupils’ knowledge and quickly pick up and resolve any misconceptions. As a result, pupils make good progress. In a few subjects, assessment is not as precise. This means staff do not always spot when a pupil needs extra help to secure their understanding.

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Pupils learn to read using a consistent approach across the school. Staff are well trained to teach phonics, so children get off to a good start. The books they take home are well matched to the sounds that they know. Leaders quickly identify any pupils who need help to keep up with learning their sounds. These pupils are provided with the support they need. As a result, pupils become confident, fluent readers.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive effective support. Leaders identify pupils’ needs on entry to the school. Leaders ensure that pupils with SEND access a curriculum suited to their needs. This is usually the same curriculum as their peers, but with suitable adaptations that aid pupils’ understanding. This works because staff receive training to support these pupils to be successful.

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Pupils’ wider development is at the heart of the school’s work. Pupils celebrate diversity and learn about different types of family. They told the inspector the important thing in any family is ‘to care and to love’. Pupils value people of all backgrounds. They learn about what it means to be a refugee. They also support the food bank in their local community.

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Governors check the work of school leaders to ensure that pupils receive a good quality of education. Plans for further improvement are clear. Leaders support staff to manage their workload.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff know pupils and their families well. Leaders have built strong relationships with families to help keep pupils safe. Staff report all concerns about pupil welfare. Leaders act on concerns immediately. They work well with other agencies, such as children’s services. Staff have an ‘open door’ policy. They take the time to listen to pupils, so pupils feel safe. 28 and 29 September 2022

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Leaders make all the required checks on adults to ensure they are safe to work with pupils in the school.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have developed a curriculum which builds sequentially on knowledge from the early years. However, where some subject leaders lack knowledge, they do not know how to check if the curriculum in the early years is working well. Therefore, they do not know if the curriculum in the early years is strengthening children’s start to their education as well as it could. Leaders should arrange appropriate training and support to address this, helping leaders at all levels to understand how best to monitor staff’s implementation of the curriculum in the early years.  In a few subjects, teachers do not use assessment as effectively as they could. They are not consistently able to identify and address gaps in pupils’ knowledge. Leaders should improve teachers’ use of assessment so that it is consistently strong across the curriculum.

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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 an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in June 2013.

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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. 28 and 29 September 2022

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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. 28 and 29 September 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10241655 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 9 May 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school has a Christian character and was last inspected under Section 48 of the Education Act 2005 on 15 October 2021.  Leaders do not currently use any alternative provision for pupils.  There is a breakfast club run by school staff and managed by school leaders.

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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 her evaluation of the school.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and PE.  For each deep dive, the inspector met with subject leaders, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspector also listened to a sample of pupils read to a familiar adult. 28 and 29 September 2022

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 To evaluate the quality of education, the inspector also considered other areas of the curriculum, including history and geography.  The inspector held meetings with senior leaders, other leaders, staff, pupils and those responsible for governance.  The inspector reviewed a range of school documents, including the school improvement plan, curriculum plans and school policies.  As part of the evaluation of the school’s safeguarding processes, the inspector reviewed the school’s single central record of recruitment and vetting checks, met with the designated safeguarding leads and reviewed safeguarding records.  The inspector reviewed the 55 responses that were submitted by parents to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Ofsted Parent View, and also considered the 42 free-text responses from parents.  The inspector observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and at lunchtime. The inspector also held discussions with some pupils to gather their views about the school. There

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were no responses to the pupil questionnaire.  The inspector gathered staff members’ views by speaking to several of them. There were no responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.

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Inspection team

Jo Nutbeam, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 28 and 29 September 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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