Christchurch Church of England Primary School

Inspection of Latchingdon Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School The Street, Latchingdon, Chelmsford, Essex CM3 6JS

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Good 4 and 5 May 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Latchingdon Primary School is a welcoming, warm and happy place. Inclusion is a core thread that runs through everything that is done in the school. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are fully included in the life of the school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s vision is ‘learning to love, loving to learn’. However, not everyone understands clearly what this vision means. The result of this is that some teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve are too low. This hinders pupils’ progress through the curriculum.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have access to a wide range of extracurricular activities. They can choose from a number of different sports, creative, academic and wider interest clubs. The offer means that pupils can nurture existing talents while developing new ones. Pupils value and enthusiastically take advantage of these opportunities.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Many pupils are polite, respectful and engage fully in their learning. However, too many lessons are disrupted by the poor behaviour of a few pupils. This frustrates others in the class as it slows their learning. Pupils say that bullying is rare. They trust adults to resolve issues if they arise. Pupils feel safe in school.

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better?

Leaders understand the importance of an ambitious and well considered curriculum. Some elements of the curriculum, such as mathematics and science are well designed. Leaders have identified the specific knowledge pupils need to learn. The sequence of learning supports pupils to secure new learning on top of existing knowledge. This granular planning enables teachers to teach and assess component parts of topics. They can identify specific areas of misconception and remedy them quickly. Leaders do not provide this level of detail in all subjects. This hinders teachers in designing individual lessons and checking pupils’ understanding. In these subjects, pupils’ experiences are inconsistent and they do not learn as well.

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better?

There are some inconsistencies in the teaching of phonics. Although pupils start to learn to read when they start school in the early years, not all staff have been trained in how to deliver the recently adopted phonics programme. While many pupils become confident and fluent readers, leaders are not clear enough about how they can support those who struggle.

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better?

The curriculum for children in the Early Years is well planned and thought through. Leaders have identified key knowledge and language that children need to succeed in Key Stage 1. Children learn through a combination of formal teaching and play. They develop their confidence and resilience from an early stage. Children are polite and engaging. They are active, purposeful and happy learners. 4 and 5 May 2023

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Leaders, themselves, understand the vision for the school. However, leaders have not clearly articulated this to everyone who needs to know their vision for the school. Not everyone shares leaders’ clarity of expectation. Teachers do not routinely expect pupils to produce enough work that is of high quality. Adaptations for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are not always effective in supporting their learning. Consequently, pupils do not secure the knowledge they need. They find it difficult to recall facts and to use this knowledge in different contexts.

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Not all adults apply the policy to manage behaviour consistently. The result of this is that, too often, lessons get disrupted by a small number of pupils who misbehave. Other pupils get frustrated by how difficult it makes it for them to learn. Leaders are aware of these inconsistencies. They understand it makes it difficult for pupils to meet the expectations they have been set. Leaders have begun to address this.

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Leaders have developed a programme of learning that expands pupils’ awareness of their wider community. Pupils learn about, in age-appropriate terms, cultures, religions and beliefs other than their own. They understand differences in family structures and lifestyles. Pupils celebrate individuality and challenge unkindness in any form.

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Governors, leaders, trustees and trust leaders work together to improve the school. The trust has recently started to provide extra support, which is targeted and well planned. For example, trust staff are helping leaders to address the problems in behaviour. The trust has carefully balanced the need to secure rapid improvement with ensuring that school leaders have the capacity to maintain the impact on pupils behaviour and performance. The work of the trust has begun to show positive signs.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

All staff receive regular training on how to identify and respond to concerns about pupils’ safety. This training and staff vigilance mean that suspicions are reported and acted on quickly. Leaders work closely with external agencies to secure the help that pupils and their families need.

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Safeguarding

Governors work with leaders to ensure that the policies and systems to keep pupils safe are effective. Checks carried out on adults in advance of taking up roles within the school are thorough.

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Safeguarding

Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe. Pupils feel confident that staff will help them if they raise a concern.

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 Leaders have not clearly articulated to all staff what their vision for the school is, or what their expectations are. Staff do not ensure these expectations are adhered to, meaning some pupils do not get the help they need and some teachers do not require pupils to produce high-quality work. Leaders should ensure that all staff understand the long-term strategic vision for the school and its accompanying expectations.  Some curriculum leaders do not set out specifically what pupils need to learn and when. This means that teachers do not know what to teach and when, to ensure pupils build their knowledge securely over time. They are also unable to identify and resolve pupils’ misconceptions and gaps in pupils’ knowledge quickly and efficiently. Leaders should ensure that the detail of what teachers need to teach is determined and shared with teachers.  Staff do not consistently apply the school’s behaviour policy and system. This

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means that pupils do not fully understand what is expected of them and some misbehave. Some staff do not resolve this well, meaning pupils’ learning is disrupted. Leaders should ensure that all staff understand and use the processes and systems for managing behaviour.

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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. 4 and 5 May 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10282470 Type of school Primary

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School details

Date of previous inspection 27 June 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The headteacher took up post in January 2021, having previously been the deputy headteacher.  The school is part of the Diocese of Chelmsford Vine Schools Trust.  The school has a religious character, and is a Church of England voluntary- controlled school, and was last inspected under section 48 of the Education Act 2005 on 6 December 2016. The school’s next section 48 inspection will be within eight school years.  There is childcare provision available on the school site. This is run by a separately registered and inspected childcare provider.  The school uses one registered alternative provider, which is subject to inspection by Ofsted.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 4 and 5 May 2023

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 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 held meetings with leaders, including the headteacher, deputy headteacher, early years leader and special educational needs coordinator. They met with governors and representatives from the trust.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, English and history. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to staff, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The lead inspector also listened to a sample of pupils read to a familiar adult.  To further inspect the curriculum, inspectors reviewed curriculum documentation for geography, computing and science, and reviewed documentation setting out

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support for pupils with SEND.  To inspect safeguarding, the lead inspector met with the designated safeguarding lead to review safeguarding records as well as the administrative coordinator and trust human resources leader to scrutinise the single central record of recruitment and vetting checks. To further evaluate safeguarding, inspectors also spoke to governors, staff, pupils and parents, and reviewed surveys.  To gather pupils’ views, inspectors spent time observing and speaking to pupils.  To gather parents’ views, inspectors reviewed the 33 responses and 32 free-text responses submitted to the online survey, Ofsted Parent View.  Inspectors spoke with several staff and reviewed the 11 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.

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Inspection team

Dave Gibson, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Nicola Shadbolt Ofsted Inspector 4 and 5 May 2023

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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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