Forest Row Church of England Primary School and Nursery

Inspection of Forest Row Church of England Primary School Forest Row CE Primary School, School Lane, Hartfield Road, Forest Row, East Sussex RH18 5EB

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Outstanding Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Good 19 and 20 March 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

A strong sense of belonging is at the heart of Forest Row school. Pupils are happy and engaged in the broad and exciting curriculum. This is enhanced by the variety of clubs and visits that are carefully linked to what pupils are learning. There is a highly inclusive ethos where every pupil is treated as an individual.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe and are confident that the adults who work with them will help and support them. Disruption to learning is rare. Pupils are supported effectively through the new behaviour policy. This includes any pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) who may need additional support to manage their behaviour. Bullying is taken seriously and swift and effective action is taken in the rare instances it occurs.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations for every pupil, academically and personally. Pupils are keen to live up to these expectations. The ‘Forest Row 10 things’ provides a clear framework of aspirations for pupils to achieve and experience during their time at Forest Row school. These include a focus on developing resilience and a love of reading. As a result, pupils in Year 6 get the support they need to be well-rounded learners, ready to move on to secondary school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are particularly passionate about the recent development of sports across the school. Every pupil has access to high-quality coaching. This has resulted in celebrated sporting achievements in local competitions.

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better?

The school is highly ambitious for every pupil at this school. Pupils with the most complex SEND have very strong provision and carefully considered support to help them learn well across the curriculum. The school has prioritised high-quality training for all staff. As a result, teachers have expert knowledge in the different subjects that they teach. Teachers have a clear understanding of what pupils need to be taught and when. However, there is still a small number of pupils who require more precise support to ensure they achieve consistently well in every subject.

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better?

Reading is a high priority at this school. There has been swift action by the new leadership team to embed the phonics programme. There is now a sharp focus on ensuring all pupils are successfully learning to read. High-quality coaching for staff is ensuring more pupils are confident and fluent readers. The school has fostered a love of reading across the school, which starts right from the early years. High- quality texts are mapped out across each year group to enhance pupils’ understanding of the different subjects that they are learning about. Enticing book corners and a well-stocked library build on every pupil’s interest in books.

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better?

The quality and success of the current daily learning does not reflect the previously published outcomes. The new leadership team has set high expectations for all 19 and 20 March 2024

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pupils to achieve. Pupils’ current learning reflects the school’s increased expectations and focus on pupils’ achievement. This starts right from the early years, where children’s interests are expertly woven into what they learn and explore. Rich vocabulary is modelled by staff and the environment has been thoughtfully developed to help children learn successfully across all areas of learning.

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Pupils across the school show excellent behaviour. Strong relationships between pupils and staff are the foundation of this. The extensive pastoral support on offer ensures that pupils get the right help to resolve any worries or concerns. This supports all pupils to access the curriculum. Attendance is a high priority. The school knows each family well. It consistently looks for ways to reduce any barriers that stop pupils from attending. The school has carefully analysed why pupils are absent from school and identified actions it can take to improve attendance. Despite these efforts, there are still too many pupils who are not attending school regularly enough. This means that they are missing out on crucial learning. The school is continuing to focus on these pupils through providing targeted support.

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Wider curriculum opportunities such as clubs, trips and visitors are successfully woven throughout the whole-school curriculum. These opportunities enhance what pupils are learning within different subjects. The school ensures that disadvantaged pupils benefit the most from these opportunities. Pupils talk excitedly about the leadership responsibilities they are given, such as the ‘worship welcomers’ and as part of the school council. The school has established an inclusive environment where pupils are respectful and sensitive towards each other’s differences. Pupils’ character has been thoughtfully developed through a focus on oracy and developing confidence. This is embedded from the start of the early years.

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The new leadership team has driven rapid and sustained change at this school. As a result, the education provided is having more of a positive impact on pupils’ learning. The school has successfully balanced these improvements alongside promoting staff well-being and supporting workload. The school ensures parents feel listened to and an integral part of their children’s learning. The newly formed federation and governance arrangements further enhance the support for the school to embed the most recent improvements.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some pupils are not yet attending school as regularly as they should. As a result, they are missing out on crucial learning. The school needs to continue to implement its actions to support the improvement in attendance for these pupils. 19 and 20 March 2024

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 Currently, for a small number of pupils, there is variability in how precisely they are given the support and activities they need to learn the intended curriculum. This means that these pupils are not yet achieving as well as they could in every subject. The school needs to ensure that staff have the required expertise to put support in place to enable all pupils to learn well across the full curriculum.

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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’ 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). 19 and 20 March 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair of governing body Jenny Barnard Langston

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School details

Headteacher Gemma White (Executive Headteacher) and Laura Drury (Head of School) Website www.forestrow.e-sussex.sch.uk

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 9 and 10 October 2018, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school and leadership team have undergone significant change since the last inspection.  The school is part of the Bluebell Federation, overseen by an executive headteacher and a deputy executive headteacher. One governing body oversees the federation.  The school does not currently use any alternative provision.  This is a Church of England primary school. The last Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools took place in 2023.  This school runs its own breakfast club and after-school club.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 19 and 20 March 2024

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 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. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, history and physical education. For each deep dive, the inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspectors also heard pupils read to a member of staff.  The inspectors met with leaders, staff, pupils and those with responsibility for governance, including the chair of the governing body. The inspectors also spoke with a representative of the diocese and a representative from the local authority.

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 The inspectors observed break and lunchtimes and the start and end of the school day, including breakfast club.  The inspectors scrutinised minutes of the governing body meetings.  The inspectors met leaders to discuss the provision for pupils with SEND. They visited lessons to look at the support these pupils were receiving.  The inspectors considered the responses to the confidential staff and pupil surveys. They took account of the responses to the online survey, Ofsted Parent View, and parents’ free-text comments.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: 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.

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Inspection team

Emma Law, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Oliver Allen Ofsted Inspector 19 and 20 March 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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