Chudleigh Knighton Church of England Primary School

Inspection of school: Chudleigh Knighton Church of England Primary School Chudleigh Knighton, Newton Abbot, Devon TQ13 0EU

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Outcome

Chudleigh Knighton continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils love their school. They know that friendship is an important school value. They work and play well together. Older pupils enjoy welcoming new pupils to their school. They work hard to make everyone feel included.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff have high expectations. Pupils work hard to meet these expectations. They achieve well and want to succeed. Pupils show positive attitudes to learning. They behave well in class and around the school. Incidents of bullying are rare. Staff resolve any problems that arise quickly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils contribute actively to the life of the school as members of the school council and ethos team. They are proud of their work in the community and in the wider world. Recently, they have raised money to support the education of a child in Uganda, who they are excited to be meeting up with virtually.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils develop their talents and interests through a wide range of extra-curricular opportunities. For example, they take part in many enrichment activities, including visits and residential trips. They also participate well in music and sport.

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

Leaders have ensured that the curriculum is well planned and broken down into carefully considered small steps. This starts in the early years, where the building blocks of knowledge and skills that children need are well understood.

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

Leaders prioritise reading. They have updated the phonics curriculum so that more pupils make a confident start to their early reading. The books children read are well matched to the sounds they know. Many of the children can spell new words with confidence. Staff are skilled in identifying pupils who may need extra help to catch up. These pupils receive effective support. However, across the school, staff are not yet fully familiar with the agreed approach to teaching the phonics curriculum. As a result, some pupils do not learn to read as quickly and fluently as they could. 9 February 2023

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Older pupils enjoy listening to their teachers read to them every day. They like choosing books from the new library area and talk about a wide range of authors. All of this helps them to take pleasure in reading.

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In mathematics, leaders have strengthened the curriculum. In the Reception Year, pupils practice counting to 10 and enjoy the ‘dinosaur challenge’. Older pupils work together, and also independently, to solve mathematical problems. They have secure mathematical vocabulary. Pupils deepen their knowledge well across the curriculum too. For example, pupils can discuss the work of different artists, such as Seurat. They experiment with his techniques to create different effects.

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Leaders and teachers understand the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) well. Staff break the learning down into manageable steps so that, wherever possible, pupils with SEND can learn the curriculum successfully. Experienced and qualified staff work closely with leaders and parents to support these pupils well.

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Pupils’ good behaviour contributes well to their learning. Pupils are enthusiastic and engage well in lessons. This is because the school’s clear routines are understood by pupils of all ages, including in the early years. Leaders encourage pupils to attend well. They have robust systems in place to monitor and follow up any absences.

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Leaders make pupils’ personal, social and emotional development a priority. Pupils value the rich variety of activities that promote this and their well-being. Older pupils can develop leadership skills through roles such as house captain, prefect and member of the eco committee. Year 6 pupils act as ‘buddies’ to pupils in Reception. This leads to a supportive atmosphere. Chudleigh Knighton prepares respectful, kind and tolerant pupils who are ready for their next steps and life in modern Britain.

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Staff are proud to work at the school. They feel well supported by leaders and by each other. Leaders support teachers to manage their workload. Staff appreciate the many opportunities for their own professional development provided by the multi-academy trust.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders place significant importance on keeping pupils safe. Procedures for the safe recruitment of staff are thorough. All staff are well trained. They receive regular safeguarding updates. Staff know what to do if they are worried about a pupil. Records are meticulously kept. Leaders are quick to help vulnerable pupils access the support they need.

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Safeguarding

Pupils feel safe and secure in school. They are taught many ways to keep themselves safe. Pupils know how to stay safe online. They learn how they can keep themselves mentally and physically healthy. 9 February 2023

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have introduced a new curriculum for phonics, but this has not yet been implemented consistently well across the school. Some staff are not yet fully familiar with the curriculum sequence and the intended teaching approaches. Consequently, pupils do not learn to read as quickly as they could. Leaders should help staff to develop their knowledge of, and confidence in, the teaching of early reading.

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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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in February 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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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. 9 February 2023

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School details

Website www.chudleigh-knighton.devon.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 28 February 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is an academy and part of the First Federation Trust.  The school uses one registered alternative education provider.

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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.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and art. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  An inspector listened to pupils in Years 1, 2 and 3 read to a familiar adult.  Inspectors had meetings with the headteacher, the special educational needs coordinator, the administrator, representatives from the First Federation Trust, including trustees, and members of the governing body. 9 February 2023

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 An inspector met the designated safeguarding leads, checked the single central record of adults working in the school and looked at safeguarding records.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in class, around school and at breaktimes, and held discussions with leaders about pupils’ wider development.  Inspectors gathered parents’ views by considering responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Ofsted Parent View.  Inspectors considered the views of a range of pupils through the pupil survey. They also considered responses from the staff survey.

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Inspection team

Lizzy Meadows, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Adam Matthews Ofsted Inspector 9 February 2023

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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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