Burham Church of England Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Burham Church of England Primary School Bell Lane, Burham, Rochester, Kent ME1 3SY

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Outcome

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

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy at this school. They talk confidently about what respect means and why it is important. The new school values of ‘SHINE’ (success, happiness, independence, new experiences and engagement) and the school’s Christian values of ‘CRAFT’ (compassion, responsibility, acceptance, forgiveness and trust) have been embedded well by the new leadership team. These values underpin all aspects of the school’s work around education and behaviour.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy learning the curriculum. There are high expectations for all pupils to achieve well, including pupils with special education needs and/or disabilities (SEND). This has been strengthened in recent times. The school is in the process of refining parts of the curriculum. This is because, in a few subjects, there needs to be clearer links between what pupils learn, the way that they learn it and how teachers can check that they have learned it.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe. They are confident to talk to the adults in school about any worries that they have. They know that adults will deal with any incidents of unkind behaviour quickly and fairly. Wider curriculum opportunities have been planned to enhance pupils’ learning. Trips and visits are carefully linked to different areas of the curriculum.

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

The school has developed a curriculum which is accessible for all pupils and it has high aspirations, including for those pupils with SEND. Staff understand pupils’ barriers to learning and help them to overcome these through effective adaptations and support. This enables all pupils to successfully access the curriculum. In some subjects, such as mathematics, pupils confidently remember their learning and teachers know how to check this. In other subjects, such as history, there is some further work to do. In these subjects, pupils often remember activities instead of the specific knowledge that they 26 June 2024

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have learned. Tasks are not designed to help pupils connect their learning together as effectively as they could.

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Teachers have good subject knowledge and have benefited from high-quality training. The curriculum in early years is well developed and focuses on children becoming exploratory, independent learners. Some teachers routinely check pupils’ understanding during lessons. They use this information to support pupils, particularly those with SEND, to access future learning. However, this is not yet consistent or precise enough. This means that some pupils have gaps in their learning. This is preventing these pupils from achieving as highly as they could. The school recognises this and is already identifying ways to share the best practice more widely.

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Reading is prioritised and is taught effectively. All staff are well trained and pupils practise reading regularly to develop their skills. Many children in early years get off to a great start to reading. Targeted additional support ensures that every pupil keeps up. Children who are new to the school make rapid progress to catch up to their peers. The current quality of reading provision in school is not reflected in some of the published outcomes in 2023. The school has diligently analysed why the results were as they were and has taken effective action to address previous weaknesses. Pupils are proud of the two newly developed libraries. They are excited by the range of books available for them to read. This starts right from the early years, where every opportunity is taken to incorporate high-quality texts into the curriculum.

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Pupils attend school regularly. The school is rightly focused on improving the most disadvantaged pupils’ attendance. There is a robust strategy in place to identify and address lower attendance successfully. There is a calm, consistent approach to behaviour management across most classes. Staff quickly address behaviour that does not meet expectations. When teaching is most effective, pupils’ behaviour is significantly better. Pupils enjoy school. They say they are treated fairly and consistently by adults.

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Pupils have a wide range of opportunities to experience learning beyond the curriculum. This includes trips and visits which are linked to the curriculum. Much of this offer has been redeveloped recently. This includes residential trips for Years 5 and 6. The school has developed a wide range of clubs that include football, singing and glee club. Pupils have opportunities to learn skills to compete in events with other local schools. The school’s newly embedded values have provided opportunities for pupils’ broader development, including raising money for different charities linked to the local community.

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Staff feel extremely well supported. Staff workload and well-being are regularly reviewed and take into account the additional challenges of working in a smaller-than-average school. Governors know the school well. They maintain an effective balance of support and challenge.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 26 June 2024

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The task design in some curriculum subjects has resulted in pupils remembering activities rather than the knowledge that leaders have mapped out. This means that pupils do not move swiftly on in their learning or develop a really deep understanding. The school needs to ensure that activities are designed to underpin and link knowledge together to enable pupils to build a rich schema of learning.  The formative assessment processes across the school are not precise enough. This means that pupils have misconceptions or gaps in their learning which are preventing them from achieving as highly as they could. The school needs to ensure that teachers use regular assessments to identify what pupils know and what they need to do next to develop and embed their knowledge. They should also use this to address any gaps in pupils’ 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 school to be good in December 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 26 June 2024

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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). 26 June 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 5 December 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is a smaller-than-average primary school.  The school does not currently use any alternative provision.  This school runs its own breakfast and after-school club, which were part of this inspection.  This is a Church of England primary school. The last Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools took place in 2024.  A new leadership team has been in place at the school since September 2023.

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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. 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 26 June 2024

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and history. 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 from the local authority and representative from the diocese.  The inspectors observed breaktimes and lunchtimes and the start and end of the school day.  The inspectors scrutinised minutes of the governing body meetings.  The inspectors met leaders to discuss the provision for pupils with SEND and looked at relevant paperwork.  The inspectors considered the responses to the confidential staff survey. They took account of the responses to the online survey, Ofsted Parent View, and parents’ free-

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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

Caroline Clarke Ofsted Inspector 26 June 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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