Crockham Hill Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Crockham Hill Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Crockham Hill, Edenbridge, Kent TN8 6RP

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Outcome

Crockham Hill 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?

The school is a happy place. Pupils enjoy their learning. They live out the school’s core values of respect, empathy, resilience and aspiration. Pupils look after one another. As one parent said, reflecting the views of others, ‘There is fantastic engagement between pupils in different year groups.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders and the wider staff team have high aspirations for all pupils’ achievement. Teachers make sure that pupils have to think deeply as they complete tasks, and staff expect work to be of high quality. Pupils attain well in a wide range of subjects.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff have high expectations for pupils’ behaviour. From the early years upwards, pupils are helped to understand what staff consider to be appropriate behaviour. Pupils respond positively, conducting themselves well. Leaders, together with staff, deal with bullying effectively. This helps pupils to feel safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils benefit from an extensive programme to enhance their learning and personal development. One parent summed up the thoughts of many parents, saying, ‘This is a great school for nurturing self-confidence and academic and social development.’ Pupils take part in a wide range of activities outside of lessons. They learn about diversity through the school’s links with communities in London and Tanzania.

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

The headteacher has made important changes which have strengthened the school’s curriculum. Leaders know pupils well and what motivates them, so they are interested in the broad, balanced and ambitious curriculum which leaders have carefully planned to meet all pupils’ needs. The curriculum thinking across different subjects is thorough and makes sure that pupils learn things in a logical order. Teachers use and manage 26 April 2023

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discussions well to explain and illustrate a wide range of concepts. Teaching assistants support pupils well across the school. Subject leaders ensure that pupils develop their language and vocabulary in different subjects. This starts from the early years, where children are taught to use specific words related to the areas of learning. However, staff are not as skilled at making sure that pupils draw on what they have learned before. This means that pupils can find it hard to make links with their current learning.

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Leaders identify pupils’ needs accurately. This helps teachers to know how to support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff take time and care to present information clearly in order to help pupils with SEND understand what is being taught. Staff work with leaders to make adaptations to lessons. This ensures that teachers support the school’s ambition for every pupil to learn well, and means that pupils with SEND can take part in the same learning as others. However, there are times when staff do not check pupils’ learning well enough. This means that some work does not demand enough of pupils. Consequently, pupils do not make as much progress as they could.

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Leaders ensure that there is a strong focus on reading from the beginning of Reception. There is a consistent approach to the teaching of early reading skills. Pupils build their phonics knowledge well, enabling them to sound out unfamiliar words accurately. All staff receive regular training and support. Pupils who fall behind are quickly identified through teachers checking their progress against the programme’s expectations. Staff help pupils who need to catch up by providing additional time to focus on their specific needs in reading. The words in the books that pupils read in the early years and key stage 1 are well matched to the sounds and blends that they are learning. The school’s library has been developed to supplement the reading materials in the classrooms and encourage pupils to want to read often.

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Staff know and apply the school’s behaviour policy consistently, ensuring that classrooms are calm. As a result, pupils can concentrate on their work. Pupils work together sensibly. This helps them to learn from one another.

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The personal development of pupils is a priority for teachers and leaders. Leaders ensure that the curriculum is enriched by the different clubs on offer. Trips are used to enhance what pupils study. For example, to support pupils’ understanding of how to be a responsible young person, they gain much from attending a ‘citizenship’ day. Parents value the work of the school in this area. Many spoke, as one parent did, of how, ‘The school provides my child with a really well-rounded education, with opportunities to flourish in many areas not just academic.’

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Staff comment on how well leaders engage with them and think about their work. They appreciate how the leadership team considers how to help them with their workload ahead of planned tasks and duties. 26 April 2023

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders have created a strong culture of safeguarding at the school. They ensure that all those working in the school have undergone checks on their suitability to work with children. Leaders provide regular training and updates for staff. Staff know how to identify pupils who may be at risk. They pass on and record concerns promptly and appropriately. Leaders quickly follow up on any concerns. They engage with external agencies when needed. This ensures that pupils and their families receive specialist help to address any safeguarding issues. Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe, including learning about online safety.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Teachers’ checks on pupils’ learning are not always effective enough. This means that there are times when work set for pupils is not pitched well enough. Leaders need to support staff to assess accurately how well pupils are learning and to act on this information.  Staff do not consistently help pupils to recall what they have learned before. This means that sometimes, pupils are not able to use prior knowledge to make sense of new learning. Leaders should ensure that teachers systematically revisit and build on previous learning.

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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 February 2018. 26 April 2023

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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. 26 April 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10268994 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 6 February 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The headteacher took up post in September 2021.  The school does not currently use any alternative provision.  The school’s next section 48 Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools will usually be within three to five years. The last inspection of this type took place in March 2023.

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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 school leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, a senior leader, subject leaders and the special educational needs coordinator. An inspector had a meeting with governors, including the chair of the governing body.  The lead inspector had telephone calls with a representative from the local authority and the diocese. 26 April 2023

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 Inspectors spoke with staff to discuss workload and safeguarding.  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 some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspectors also looked at curriculum information and pupils’ work in other subjects.  Inspectors spoke with pupils about their views on their learning, safety and behaviour.  Documentation relating to safeguarding was scrutinised by inspectors. This included the school’s single central record.  Inspectors took account of the 31 responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the 17 free-text comments. Inspectors also reviewed the 15 staff survey responses.

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Inspection team

Richard Blackmore, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Stephen Jackson Ofsted Inspector 26 April 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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