Northchapel Community Primary School

Inspection of Northchapel Community Primary School Pipers Lane, Northchapel, Petworth, West Sussex GU28 9JA

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Good 11 and 12 July 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Each pupil feels they are known as an individual and are cared for by staff. This helps pupils to feel safe and confident. Pupils benefit from respectful and honest communication between each other and with staff. Pupils typically behave well. They know that if issues arise, staff will listen and respond swiftly. As one parent commented, ‘This is a small school with a big heart.’ This typifies what pupils feel. The staff and pupils share a close, positive bond.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils relish the effort from staff to support their personal development. Leaders provide ambitious activities and experiences for pupils. They understand the school’s commitment to widen their experience with residentials in Oxford or trips to central London. Pupils recognise how these opportunities enhance their learning. They appreciate how the experiences broaden their horizons and raise their aspirations.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have high expectations of pupils’ learning and pupils consistently meet these. Pupils benefit from being involved in and contributing to rich discussions. Staff promote mature and thought-provoking debate between pupils, such as about the nature of the universe. Pupils interact with mature and thoughtful contributions.

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better?

Leaders have established a suitably ambitious curriculum. In most subjects, they have identified and sequenced the essential knowledge they intend pupils to learn in almost every year group. Staff skilfully check pupils’ understanding and adapt their future teaching to address gaps in learning. Consequently, in these subjects, pupils learn well. Leaders have identified a few subjects that require further refinement to ensure that pupils learn consistently well across the school. Leaders have established thorough and effective systems to support pupils who struggle. They work to swiftly identify the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff provide effective support for SEND, which means that pupils with SEND make good progress.

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better?

Overall, children learn well in the early years but there is some variability. In Nursery, leaders have created a well-planned and ordered curriculum. This identifies the precise content they intend children to learn and in what order. Staff are highly experienced and effective and closely follow this coherent curriculum thinking. As a result, pupils get off to a great start and are well prepared for the Reception Year. However, the curriculum design and implementation in Reception is at an earlier stage of development in some aspects. Leaders have worked to reduce the variability across early years but this needs further refinement.

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better?

The teaching of reading is effective. Leaders have ensured that staff are consistent in their approach to teaching phonics and this starts as soon as pupils join the school. Struggling readers are very well supported to keep up. Pupils read books that are accurately matched to the sounds they have learned. Leaders ensure that pupils develop a love of reading through being exposed to texts they might not 11 and 12 July 2023

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otherwise read, such as ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. As a result, pupils develop into fluent and confident readers.

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Pupils behave consistently well. Staff and pupils enjoy positive relationships and teachers model to pupils how to behave from the start of Nursery. In lessons, pupils listen and concentrate well. In the rest of the school, pupils of different ages benefit from playing kindly together. This means that pupils develop their confidence and respect for others.

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Leaders prioritise pupils’ personal development. They are committed to ensuring that pupils are well-rounded individuals and ready for life in modern Britain. Pupils are supported to develop a strong sense of community in and out of the school. Leaders create rewarding opportunities for pupils to be active citizens, such as running the local museum and collecting on behalf of the local food bank and working with older residents of the village. Leaders have established a well- considered offer of trips, experiences and events. This complements and develops pupils’ learning across the curriculum. Pupils benefit from a varied selection of extra- curricular activities which help to develop and build their talents and interests. Consequently, pupils are confident and respectful.

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Governors are effective at holding leaders to account and confidently meet their statutory duties. They recognise they need to support school leaders to continue to build leadership capacity. Governors acknowledge this is essential for continued improvements in the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders ensure that staff receive high-quality training which helps all staff understand their roles and responsibilities. All staff are alert to the signs that could indicate that a child may be at risk of harm. They are swift to report concerns. Leaders make referrals quickly to ensure that pupils get the help they may need.

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Safeguarding

Pupils have a thorough understanding of how to keep themselves safe. This includes how to keep themselves safe online, water safety and in the local farming community.

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Safeguarding

Governors diligently ensure that appropriate checks are made on staff who work or volunteer in the school.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The quality of the provision in Reception is variable. This means that children do not consistently learn as well as they could. Leaders should ensure that staff are supported to design a coherent Reception curriculum that links well to the rest of 11 and 12 July 2023

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the school. They should robustly implement it to ensure that children are supported to make good progress throughout the school.

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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. 11 and 12 July 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair of governing body Anthea Martin-Jenkins

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School details

Date of previous inspection 15 February 2022, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Northchapel Community Primary School is a small rural school. It has four mixed- age classes.  The school does not currently use any alternative provision.  The school has a Nursery class that caters for children from the age of two.  The school has undergone significant staffing changes since the previous inspection.

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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. 11 and 12 July 2023

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 During the inspection, the inspectors met with the headteacher, a selection of governors, including the chair of governors, and the local authority representative.  Inspectors carried out deep dives into these subjects: early reading, mathematics, religious education and physical education. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspectors reviewed the arrangements for safeguarding by scrutinising safeguarding records, interviewing staff and conducting thorough discussions with pupils.  The views of parents and carers were considered through their responses to Ofsted Parent View, the Ofsted online survey, and on-site activity. Further views of pupils and staff were gathered through Ofsted’s online surveys, interviews and discussions conducted throughout the inspection.

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 The inspectors reviewed a range of the school’s documents, including self- evaluation reports, governing body meeting minutes, attendance records and behaviour incident logs.

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Inspection team

Toby Martlew, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Judith O’Hare Ofsted Inspector 11 and 12 July 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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