Christchurch Primary School

Inspection of Christchurch Primary School Wellesley Road, Ilford, Essex IG1 4LQ

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Outstanding Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Outstanding

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Overall effectiveness Good

This school was last inspected 14 years ago and judged ‘Outstanding’ under a previous inspection framework. This reflected the school’s overall effectiveness under the inspection framework in use at the time.

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Overall effectiveness Good

From then until November 2020, the school was exempted by law from routine inspection, so there has been a longer gap than usual between inspections. Judgements in this report are based on the current inspection framework and also reflect changes that may have happened at any point since the last inspection. 1 and 2 November 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders, staff and governors care passionately for the school’s pupils and their families. As a result, pupils receive excellent care and support for their well-being. For example, leaders ensure that there are expert therapists and counsellors available to help pupils to deal with any worries they may have. The extremely high level of pastoral care adds hugely to pupils’ readiness to learn.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff are ambitious for pupils and expect them to behave well. Pupils meet these expectations and achieve successfully. They behave well in lessons and around the school. Pupils said that they enjoy school and agreed that behaviour is good. They reported that bullying is rare and that they are confident that their teachers will deal with any incidents properly. Leaders and staff ensure that any concerns are recorded and responded to effectively.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Another major strength is the wide range of experiences provided for pupils. These include visits by authors to promote reading as well as volunteers who come into school to support pupils’ well-being and learning. Visits to places of interest aim to develop pupils’ learning further, for example pupils went to the Museum of London to learn about the history of the city. The broad range of after-school activities are well attended.

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better?

The school does many things well. Senior and subject leaders have given careful thought to their review and design of the curriculum. They have used up-to-date research to guide their work. The curriculum for many subjects is expertly planned to give pupils a strong grounding in a subject. For example, the plans for computing are devised to ensure that pupils build their knowledge and skills logically, one step at a time. The programmes for mathematics, science and history are also well planned. These are ambitious, setting out clearly what teachers want pupils to learn by the time they leave the school.

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better?

In many subjects, the well-devised curriculum is implemented effectively in classrooms. Pupils learn successfully as a result, for example in mathematics and science. However, in some cases the curriculum is not embedded securely in everyday practice. This is because the school is part way through its work to review some aspects of the curriculum, and update teachers’ skills. This means that there are a few inconsistencies in the way the curriculum is implemented. Occasionally, these inconsistencies result in pupils not developing their subject knowledge as effectively as they should.

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better?

Developing pupils’ reading and love of books is a strength. Pupils start to use phonics and learn how to form letters early on in their school career. Staff use a recognised phonics scheme to teach pupils the sounds that letters make. Pupils quickly become fluent in putting these sounds together to read and make words. 1 and 2 November 2022

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Leaders have ensured that teachers and teaching assistants understand how to teach phonics effectively. As a result, the great majority of pupils can read confidently by the end of Year 1. For those pupils who fall behind in their reading or arrive at school at the early stages of speaking English as an additional language, teachers provide well-targeted additional support. This support is well managed and expertly delivered. Consequently, pupils catch up with their reading quickly. The books that pupils read are matched effectively to the sounds they are learning in their phonics sessions.

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As pupils move up the school, the emphasis on reading remains strong. For example, pupils practise their reading regularly and teachers read to them several times each week. Leaders and staff use a range of strategies to develop pupils’ love of reading, including book fairs and visits from well-known authors.

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Leaders ensure that the curriculum is designed to develop pupils’ understanding of the wider world. For example, the curriculum aims to promote pupils’ understanding of British values, including democracy, the rule of law, and different cultures and religions. Year 3 pupils, for example, were able to describe stories from the Bible and Qur’an. Pupils are taught about how to keep themselves safe and how to treat others with respect. This work contributes effectively to leaders’ goal of ensuring that pupils’ emotional health and well-being are well supported.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported well. Leaders make sure that pupils’ specific needs are identified early on in their school career. Staff provide a range of extra help to ensure that pupils overcome any difficulties with learning. Staff, including teaching assistants, are trained well to provide support that is carefully targeted to pupils’ needs.

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Leaders and governors give a lot of emphasis to staff workload and well-being. Staff greatly appreciate the support they get from senior leaders and the opportunity to develop their professional expertise through training.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Record-keeping is detailed. There are robust checks on staff suitability. For example, leaders ensure that proper references are obtained before new staff are appointed. Leaders and governors ensure that policies refer clearly to up-to-date guidance.

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Safeguarding

All staff are trained regularly on safeguarding, including the most recent guidance about keeping pupils safe. They have a well-developed understanding of how to identify pupils who may be at risk, using their expertise wisely. The school’s reporting system helps leaders to deal with any concerns quickly and efficiently. Good links with the local authority help to ensure that pupils get extra support quickly. 1 and 2 November 2022

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Although the curriculum is expertly planned, in a few cases it is not implemented as effectively as it needs to be. In a few subjects, the work to review the curriculum, and put it into practice across the school, remains work in progress. This leads to one or two inconsistencies in how well pupils develop their subject knowledge. Leaders need to ensure that the implementation of the curriculum is embedded securely into everyday practice. This includes using the strong professional development programme to strengthen staff expertise further.

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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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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. 1 and 2 November 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10228531 Type of school Primary

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School details

Number of pupils on the school roll 1,153

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 30 and 31 January 2008, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Christchurch Primary School is much larger than the average-sized school in the London Borough of Redbridge.  Leaders do not make use of alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded 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 carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, science, history and computing. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. 1 and 2 November 2022

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 Inspectors also looked at the curriculum for some other subjects, including English, art and geography. This included discussing the curriculum for these subjects with leaders.  Meetings were held with the headteacher, senior leaders, staff and pupils. Inspectors also met with the chair of the governing body and spoke to parents and carers at the school gate.  Inspectors considered the responses to the Ofsted Parent View survey, including the written comments made by parents.  Meetings were held with groups of pupils to discuss their views about many different aspects of their school. There were no responses to Ofsted’s pupil or staff surveys.

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Inspection team

Brian Oppenheim, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Alison Martin Ofsted Inspector 1 and 2 November 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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