Parklands Community Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Parklands Community Primary School Durnford Close, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 3AG

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Inspection dates: 21 and 22 November 2023

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Outcome

Parklands Community Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils value this school’s kind and caring ethos. They state that everyone is very welcome. The school is determined that all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), learn the knowledge and skills they need to be successful. Right from the start of Reception, clear routines and high expectations support pupils to work hard and achieve well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ behaviour is good. They treat each other and adults with respect. The school is calm and purposeful. Pupils are happy, confident and well-mannered. At breaktimes, they enjoy playing with the wide range of outdoor equipment. Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe, including when online. They trust adults to help them if they have any worries or concerns.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is keen to help pupils become effective citizens who can make a positive contribution to society. Older pupils relish the opportunity to support younger pupils’ reading through being ‘reading buddies’. Furthermore, many pupils enjoy enriching the lives of local elderly people by spending time with them playing board games and socialising. All pupils learn how to engage in purposeful discussion and debate. Through this, pupils appreciate the importance of listening to each other and how to compromise.

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

The school aspires for all pupils to learn an ambitious curriculum. In most subjects, the school has identified the important knowledge and skills that pupils must learn. In some subjects, precisely identified curriculum content builds in a sensible sequence from the start of Reception to the end of Year 6. This enables pupils to make connections that develop and strengthen their understanding. This is particularly strong in mathematics and reading, where revisiting and reviewing previously taught content deepens pupils’ understanding further. In these subjects, pupils achieve well. 21 and 22 November 2023

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However, in a few subjects, the important knowledge that pupils need to learn is not always identified precisely enough. This means that teachers are not clear what to teach and when. Furthermore, some parts of the curriculum are not sequenced in the most sensible order so that pupils can build understanding systematically. In subjects where this is the case, pupils develop gaps in their understanding and do not achieve as well as they could.

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Teachers’ subject knowledge is generally secure. Where this is strongest, teachers present information clearly. They design tasks that enable pupils to learn well, making carefully considered adaptations to enable pupils with SEND to access the curriculum effectively. For example, in science, teachers build pupils’ understanding of solids, liquids and gases before asking them to explain how water changes its state. Pupils then develop their understanding further by using their knowledge to explain the water cycle. However, where teacher subject knowledge is not so secure, activities and resources do not always enable pupils to know and remember more with confidence.

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Leaders clearly prioritise reading. They want the whole school community to love reading. Right from the start of Reception, children learn phonics using a well-sequenced programme. Staff are trained well to teach this programme. Pupils read books that are carefully matched to the sounds they know. Support for those pupils who struggle to learn to read is effective. As a result, pupils learn to read with fluency and comprehension quickly and enjoy reading.

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Support for pupils with SEND is a strength of the school. There is a real culture of inclusivity and a determination that all pupils will succeed. A carefully structured process ensures that the needs of pupils with SEND are identified swiftly and accurately. In the specially resourced provision, a carefully adapted curriculum supports pupils to learn well. This ensures that they have every opportunity to be successful.

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Pupils take their learning seriously. The school has set clear, consistent expectations for behaviour. Staff reinforce these in a calm and positive manner, which pupils respond to well.

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A range of opportunities supports pupils’ broader development. The school wants pupils to know their local area well. Trips, such as to the river, cathedral and local museums, enhance the curriculum and support this aspiration. A variety of clubs, including creative writing, gardening and football, nurtures pupils’ talents and interests. ‘Autism Ambassadors’ promote inclusion and raise awareness of autism through assemblies and by working with staff to adapt classroom environments as necessary.

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After a period of turbulence, the school is working well to improve the quality of education further. This has had a strong impact in a short period of time. Staff appreciate the support they get to do their job well. The school’s culture is clearly centred on supporting all pupils to achieve their very best.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 21 and 22 November 2023

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In a few subjects, the school has not identified the knowledge that pupils need to learn and the sequence of learning precisely enough. This means that teachers do not always know what they need to teach and when they need to teach it. The school needs to continue to strengthen and refine the curriculum so that the content pupils must learn is clear and well sequenced in all subjects.  Teachers’ subject knowledge is stronger in some subjects than it is in others. They do not always make the most effective pedagogical choices to allow pupils to achieve as well as they could across the curriculum. The school needs to strengthen teachers’ subject knowledge in all subjects so that they can support all pupils effectively to know and remember more across the whole curriculum.

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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 September 2014.

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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’ is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and 21 and 22 November 2023

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pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 21 and 22 November 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 17 November 2020, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 This is a larger-than-average primary school.  The headteacher joined the school in September 2023.  The school has a specially resourced provision for pupils with autism spectrum disorder. All pupils who attend have education, health and care plans.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This is the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  During the inspection, the inspector met with the headteacher and senior leaders. The inspector also met with members of the governing body, including the chair of governors, and a representative from the local authority. 21 and 22 November 2023

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 The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, and geography. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspector also considered planning, documentation and pupils’ work from some other subjects.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The views of parents and carers were considered through their responses to Ofsted Parent View. Further views of pupils and staff were gathered through surveys, interviews and discussions conducted throughout the inspection.

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

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Inspection team

Sue Keeling, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 21 and 22 November 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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