All Saints Church of England Primary School

Inspection of a good school: All Saints Church of England Primary School Magpie Hall Road, Chatham, Kent ME4 5JY

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Inspection dates: 20 and 21 February 2024

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Outcome

All Saints Church of England Primary School continues to be a good school.

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Outcome

The executive headteacher of this school is Joanne Strachan. This school is part of Medway Anglican Schools Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Hilary Sanders, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Gill Mond. There are also two heads of school, Nicola Milton and Katie Forghani-Ashrafi, who are responsible for this school and one other.

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What is it like to attend this school?

All Saints is a welcoming school for all. The school values of achievement, respect, inclusion, support and enjoyment are threaded through the work of all staff. Pupils are well supported to understand and celebrate the diversity and inclusivity that exists within the school community. Pupils value the positive relationships they have with staff. They understand the expectations of behaviour and try hard to meet them. As a result, pupils feel safe and valued at school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy, respectful and proud of their learning. The school is determined for pupils to achieve highly. Pupils are taught an interesting curriculum and, overall, they learn well. As one parent said, ‘The school has always done their upmost to make sure that my child has the tools and knowledge to better himself and strive towards his goals.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

Well-being sits at the heart of many actions within the school. The ‘Zen Den’ provides a quiet space for pupils during break and lunchtimes. Pupils relish the wider opportunities that the school provides. Year 6 pupils speak positively about being a ‘carer’ and spend their lunchtimes helping younger pupils. Other pupils value the important roles they play in the student council to arrange charity events.

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

Children get off to a good start in the early years. They work well independently and enjoy a range of activities that have been carefully selected to build their interest and understanding. Children are guided by knowledgeable adults, who stimulate their curiosity 20 and 21 February 2024

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and support them through high-quality talk. Children are also well supported to read, with engaging phonics sessions led by well-trained adults. Those who are struggling are quickly identified and given the help they need to gain the knowledge and skills quickly to become confident, fluent readers. This means that many pupils throughout the school enjoy reading and this helps them to learn the wider curriculum. Families are provided with useful advice to support their children with early reading and mathematics outside of school.

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The curriculum is broad and ambitious. Pupils enjoy talking about what they are learning across a range of subjects. Staff have excellent subject knowledge to teach the key content. In particular, the teaching of new vocabulary is a strength across the school. Staff expose pupils to new subject-specific words and help them to use this language accurately when discussing learning. However, the strategies used to present new information to pupils, beyond vocabulary, are not as consistently effective. Sometimes, pupils are moved on to new learning without demonstrating that they know and understand what they have been taught. As a result, some pupils have gaps in their knowledge, including in mathematics. This is reflected in the lower key stage 2 2023 published results for mathematics. The school is taking effective action to provide precise support for staff to adapt their teaching so that more pupils achieve highly across the

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Staff are knowledgeable about the range of pupils’ needs. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are provided with the support that they need to access and achieve well across the curriculum. ‘The Hive’ also provides more bespoke learning and pastoral support for a small number of pupils.

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The school prioritises pupils’ wider development. There are a range of extra-curricular activities including sports and arts-based activities. The development of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding is a priority. Subject-specific clubs, including ‘Geography Club’, provide additional opportunities to celebrate the cultural diversity within the school. Pupils enjoy ‘Values Days’, where they are taught important life skills such as how to stay safe online and how to recognise healthy relationships. Pupils relish other events such as multicultural days. As a result, pupils demonstrate a deep understanding of respect and discrimination.

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Staff share high expectations for pupil behaviour and attendance, and they know their pupils well. Most pupils understand and respond well to expectations of their conduct and attitudes to learning and follow routines sensibly. The school takes appropriate actions to support pupils who sometimes demonstrate more challenging behaviour.

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Recent changes to the leadership structure and staffing have meant that progress to refine some areas of the curriculum has not been as swift as leaders intended. Governors and trustees demonstrate a strong commitment to the school. Pupils’ best interests are prioritised within decision-making. Everyone works closely as a team to continue to make improvements to the school for the benefit of pupils. 20 and 21 February 2024

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects, the activities that pupils complete are not always sharply matched to the intended learning. This means that pupils do not consistently learn as effectively as they could. The school should ensure that high-quality professional development supports all staff to provide pupils with precise instruction and practice.  Staff checks of pupils’ learning sometimes lack sufficient precision. This means that some pupils have gaps in their knowledge. The school needs to support staff to check pupils’ understanding carefully and use this information to inform their teaching to address gaps in 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 predecessor school, All Saints Church of England School, to be good in June 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 20 and 21 February 2024

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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). 20 and 21 February 2024

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Executive headteacher

Joanne Strachan Website www.allsaints.medway.sch.uk

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Executive headteacher

Date of previous inspection 6 June 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is part of Medway Anglican Schools Trust.  The most recent section 48 inspection took place in March 2019.  There have been changes to the senior leadership team since the last inspection. The executive headteacher and two heads of school have been in post since September 2023. There have been significant changes to staff since the previous inspection.  The school has off-site nursery provision for two- and three-year-old children at the Children and Family Hub, Magpie Hall Road ME4 4AZ.  The school does not currently 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. 20 and 21 February 2024

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 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 held meetings with leaders from across the school. The inspector also met with local governors, including the chair of the local governing body, the chief executive officer and the chair of trustees.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and geography. For each deep dive, the inspector held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  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

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the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The inspector also observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school, and discussed wider development opportunities with leaders and pupils.  The inspector considered the responses to the staff survey and Ofsted Parent View questionnaire and free-text responses. The inspector also spoke with parents, staff and pupils to gather their views.

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Inspection team

Hanna Miller, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 20 and 21 February 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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