Crawley Down Village CofE School

Inspection of a good school: Crawley Down Village C of E School Hophurst Drive, Crawley Down, Crawley, West Sussex RH10 4XA

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Inspection dates: 23 and 24 January 2024

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Outcome

Crawley Down Village C of E School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thrive at this thoughtful, caring school. Older pupils are wonderful role models for younger ones and help to create a calm and respectful school environment. Initiatives such as the school’s ‘Opal’ approach to outside play and learning give pupils the opportunity to share their ideas and contribute to each other’s well-being effectively. Behaviour inside and outside of classrooms is consistently positive and managed well. If any bullying or challenging behaviour occurs, the school responds sensitively and appropriately. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive skilled and considered support for their learning and emotional needs. Pupils learn about protected characteristics and understand these well. One pupil summed up what was shared by many others, saying, ‘Everyone is included here.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe and happy. They value their roles and responsibilities, such as ‘Sports Crew’, reading champions, and school councillors. These roles help to build pupils’ confidence and care for each other. Pupils know and live the school’s ‘High Five’ values of respect, challenge, creativity, independence and teamwork. These help pupils to challenge themselves in positive ways, both in their learning and their personal development. Staff have high expectations for all pupils’ achievement. This starts from the beginning of Reception and helps to ensure that pupils achieve well.

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

Supporting pupils’ good attendance is a strength of the school, with staff doing all that they reasonably could. They have thoughtful, manageable approaches to supporting attendance, which, in turn, has a positive impact, particularly for disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils. This means pupils benefit from the school’s effective curriculum.

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

The school is ambitious for all pupils. In core subjects such as mathematics, the curriculum follows a clear sequence so that lessons build pupils’ knowledge effectively. Pupils revisit what they have learned at the beginning of lessons. This helps them to grow their vocabulary and learn successfully. Pupils with SEND get the help that they need 23 and 24 January 2024

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quickly. Where necessary, staff work closely with outside agencies such as speech and language therapists and autism specialists. This supports pupils’ learning consistently well. Some subjects in the wider curriculum, such as physical education (PE), are embedded successfully. However, for some subjects, such as history and art, the school is still identifying the precise knowledge and vocabulary that it wants pupils to learn. Although pupils are generally achieving well, some pupils have gaps in their subject knowledge and are not yet achieving as highly as they could.

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Pupils learn to read well, and reading is taught successfully from the beginning of early years. Pupils read books that are closely matched to the sounds they have learned. Staff make precise checks on how well pupils read and adapt lessons to make sure that pupils’ reading improves. If pupils fall behind, they get the support that they need to catch up quickly. Staff have worked together to develop secure phonics subject knowledge. The school’s chosen scheme is followed closely and has a clear and positive impact on pupils’ learning. Pupils achieve well in phonics.

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Pupils enjoy a wide range of ambitious texts, including fiction related to historical topics like the Tudors and Ancient Greece. Staff use trips and visits to help pupils build on these texts and connect the curriculum in memorable ways, such as a visit to Hampton Court when learning about Henry VIII. The school is implementing a revised curriculum approach to help pupils improve outcomes in spelling, punctuation and grammar. This is already having a positive impact on pupils’ learning.

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The school provides a wide variety of clubs and opportunities for pupils’ wider development. Sporting opportunities that build on the successful PE curriculum contribute to pupils’ learning and development well. Pupils enjoy taking part in the many activities available, such as netball, football and dance. Pupils value trips such as the residential visit to the Isle of Wight and a train journey to London. These trips help pupils to feel equipped for their next stages of education and life. Pupils have very positive attitudes to their learning. They are very proud of their educational achievements and successes.

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The school is led and managed well. Leaders have precise knowledge of the strengths and areas to develop for the school. Governors carry out their roles effectively. They support and challenge the school to make strong improvements, such as through the development of some exemplary safeguarding practice. A strong commitment to teamwork supports staff with their workload and well-being. The school engages well with parents and the wider community positively. One parent’s comment captured what was seen during the inspection: ‘All of the staff are fully invested in the school and know the children as individuals.’

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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 In some foundation subjects, the school is still identifying the precise knowledge and vocabulary that it wants pupils to learn. This means that some pupils have gaps in their knowledge and understanding and therefore do not all achieve as highly as they could. Leaders should ensure that they identify the precise, cumulative knowledge for all curriculum subjects and that this is securely embedded across the whole school.

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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 June 2018.

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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 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). 23 and 24 January 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 20 June 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school currently 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 was 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.  The inspector met with the headteacher, staff and members of the governing body, including the chair of governors. The inspector also met with a representative from the local authority, a representative from the diocese, and other leaders within the school.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, and physical education. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and, where possible, looked at samples of pupils’ work.

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 The inspector reviewed the arrangements for safeguarding by scrutinising safeguarding records, by interviewing staff and through discussions with pupils.  The inspector considered the views of parents shared through Ofsted Parent View. He gathered the views of pupils and staff through surveys, interviews and discussions conducted throughout the inspection.  The inspector reviewed a range of the school’s documentation, including self-evaluation reports, minutes of governing body meetings and behaviour incident logs.

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Inspection team

Carl McCarthy, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 23 and 24 January 2024

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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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