Wanstead Church School

Inspection of Wanstead Church School Church Path, Wanstead, London E11 2SS

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Overall effectiveness Good

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

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Overall effectiveness Good

The school was last inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005 seven years ago and judged ‘Outstanding’ under a previous inspection framework. This reflected the school’s overall effectiveness under the inspection framework in use at the time.

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Overall effectiveness Good

From then until November 2020, the school was exempted by law from routine inspection, so there has been a longer gap than usual between graded inspections under section 5 of the Act. The school received an ungraded inspection under section 8 of the Act on 25 and 26 January 2023. Judgements in this report are based on the current inspection framework and also reflect changes that may have happened at any point since the last graded inspection. 22 and 23 May 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

The values of wisdom, compassion and strength are embedded in this small school and pupils thrive in its caring, happy community. They know that they are safe and that there is someone they can speak to if they have any concerns or worries.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave impeccably both in and outside of lessons, they show kindness and they care for each other. They are proud to talk about the ways they make the school a better place. For example, they can become lunch monitors and keep the lunch hall clean and tidy, or act as restoration rangers in the playground and help to solve minor conflicts.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders ensure that pupils achieve well, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Discrimination of any kind and bullying are rare and are not tolerated. Pupils know that staff will resolve any issues that arise.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school provides pupils with many enriching experiences, including the opportunity for all pupils to learn to play a musical instrument from Year 3 onwards. There are after-school clubs for activities such as chess, gymnastics and art. Pupils enjoy visits to places like the Globe theatre and residential trips in Year 5 and Year 6. Leaders are ambitious and innovative in looking for further opportunities to enrich learning.

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better?

The school’s curriculum is in line with the scope of the national curriculum and is structured to build knowledge and skills throughout pupils’ journey through the school. However, some parts of the curriculum are more fully realised and embedded than others.

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better?

As soon as pupils start in Nursery, they are introduced to games, songs and rhymes. This prepares them well for the introduction of phonics later in the early years. Pupils make good progress in learning to read with accuracy and fluency. Pupils who struggle to keep up receive suitable extra help. They read books at home and school which are matched to the sounds that they know. A love of reading is nurtured in many different ways, including daily story times and older pupils acting as reading buddies for younger ones.

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better?

Children in the early years get off to a positive start in school. Their curriculum is well thought through and delivered effectively. This ensures that children are well prepared for learning in Year 1. The environment, both indoors and out, is stimulating and adults provide activities which capture the children’s interests.

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better?

The curriculum is well-considered and ambitious, building pupils’ knowledge and skills over time. For example, the school ensures that pupils are well grounded in mathematical facts and methods before they advance to solving problems using their reasoning skills. In computing, programming is taught through different 22 and 23 May 2024

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programming languages, with an emphasis on pupils acquiring subject-specific vocabulary and applying this in their learning. Any misconceptions that arise are swiftly addressed.

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Across most subjects, pupils are taught the key knowledge and skills set out in the school’s curriculum effectively. They successfully grasp overarching ideas and concepts and their learning is reinforced, developed and built on. They can recall and retain important ideas and skills. However, occasionally this practice is not embedded and so pupils do not consistently make as much progress through the curriculum as they could.

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The school identifies pupils’ individual needs well. Pupils with SEND access the same curriculum as other pupils. The school provides the help these pupils need in a variety of ways, including support from additional staff, bespoke learning activities, and following advice from outside agencies.

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Carefully crafted and established routines are embedded in the school from Nursery onwards. This ensures that pupils behave well and learning is rarely disrupted by poor behaviour. The school has robust systems in place to ensure that, over time, attendance is improving.

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Pupils’ wider development is a strength of the school and activities are carefully monitored to ensure that all pupils have a chance to take part. Pupils enjoy a wide range of clubs and trips and contribute to the life of the school in different ways. For example, the eco team were proud to talk about their encouragement of efficient energy use and explained that they had helped to set up a whole-school debate about pollution. In the wider community, the school choir sings in a wide range of venues from the local care home to the Royal Albert Hall. Pupils collect money for charities and Year 6 led a Remembrance Day service at the local church.

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Staff know that their workload and well-being are taken into account by leaders. They appreciate all the training opportunities they are offered, including support and advice from colleagues.

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Governors understand their safeguarding duties and hold leaders to account for all aspects of school management. Leaders are determined to continually improve the school. Parents and carers appreciate the nurturing environment that the school provides.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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 The school has made changes to the curriculum, in a few foundation subjects, which are not consistently embedded in classroom practice. This means that in these subjects, learning is not revisited as often as it is intended. As a result, pupils sometimes struggle to remember important ideas, make links to prior learning or discuss more complex ideas. The school should further develop staff expertise to ensure that all foundation subjects are delivered as intended.

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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 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). 22 and 23 May 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair Hannah Turbet (co-chair) Gemma Seymour (co-chair) Headteacher Natalie Denchfield

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 25 and 26 January 2023, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is designated as having a religious character. The school is in the Church of England Diocese of Chelmsford. The school’s most recent section 48 inspection was in March 2017.  The school does not use any alternative provision for its pupils.

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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

Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and 22 and 23 May 2024

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considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  Inspectors spoke with the headteacher, senior leaders and subject leaders. They also held meetings with the members of the governing body and a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, art and computing. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke with teachers, spoke with pupils about their learning and looked at samples of their work.  Inspectors also spoke with groups of staff and pupils and looked at samples of pupils’ work in other subjects.  Inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted’s online surveys completed by parents, pupils and staff.

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Inspection team

Eleanor Ross, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Lando Du Plooy Ofsted Inspector 22 and 23 May 2024

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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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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