Senacre Wood Primary School

Inspection of a school judged good for overall effectiveness before September 2024: Senacre Wood Primary School Graveney Road, Senacre, Maidstone, Kent ME15 8QQ

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Outcome

Senacre Wood Primary School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils love school. They are well nurtured and cared for, personally and academically. This purposeful, busy school balances a happy but controlled atmosphere. It is calm but not regimented. Pupils are warm, friendly, engaging and curious. They behave respectfully and embrace the wide range of opportunities on offer.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school works determinedly to ensure pupils come to school as often as possible. Most rarely miss it. From the popular wraparound care and throughout the school day, pupils work and play hard together. They routinely tackle their work with enthusiasm, even when finding something difficult.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Rich opportunities in music, art and physical education enhance pupils’ enjoyment of school. They sing well and play instruments with control and precision. Their creative and well-developed artwork adorns the walls. The school inspires growing numbers, including girls and disadvantaged pupils, to take part in sports tournaments and competitions.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school wants the very best for every pupil. Pupils achieve well in a wide range of subjects. Staff pay careful attention to helping any pupil who is behind to catch up. Year 6 pupils movingly expressed how sad they will be to leave the school next summer. It is obvious why.

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

This school focuses relentlessly on the best interests of pupils. Aspirational for all, the school champions disadvantaged pupils to ensure that every pupil is given the best chance to succeed. The school has united staff in this common cause, supporting its successful ongoing improvement journey. 3 and 4 December 2024

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Pupils learn well through the school’s carefully crafted curriculum. They develop useful knowledge and skills across wide-ranging subjects, from mathematics to music. Deliberate strategies prompt pupils to regularly recall their previous learning. This helps pupils to remember and build on what they know. For example, pupils can link their knowledge from different periods in history with a secure sense of chronology.

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The school keeps a watchful eye on disadvantaged pupils. It continues tirelessly to target any remaining gaps between the achievement of these pupils and others. For struggling readers, the school’s close checks of any gaps inform decisions about the best support. Pupils benefit from books that are closely matched to the sounds they know. This helps sustain their positive attitudes to reading. Similarly, pupils who find mathematics challenging are confident to have a go because they feel they are getting better. They are right. Teachers’ clear explanations and demonstrations support this success.

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The school has an attentive and systematic approach to identifying pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Ongoing investment in training to develop staff expertise constantly enhances already strong practice. Teachers routinely adopt and adapt strategies that enable pupils with SEND to succeed. Targeted use of special equipment, resources and approaches are commonplace. Teachers’ close work with well- trained teaching assistants makes the most of this valuable resource.

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The school also tailors its approach to help all pupils rise to meet the school’s high behaviour expectations. Starting in early years, routines and visual prompts help children to follow routines, make choices and start to be responsible for their conduct.

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That the school cherishes reading is plain to see. It is a priority from the start in early years. This includes promoting the enjoyment of stories and exploration of books alongside a rigorous approach to teaching phonics. Children quickly start to use the sounds they learn to tackle unfamiliar words. Across the school, well-trained staff enthuse and engage pupils to sustain this positive momentum. The careful thought invested in the books pupils encounter gives them a rich and varied reading diet. Provisional results from the 2024 national tests showed that Year 6 leavers performed significantly better than other pupils nationally in reading.

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By the time they leave, many pupils write very well. Starting in early years and through key stage 1, correct letter formation is taught systematically. However, some pupils are not given sufficient timely practice to get better at translating this into more fluent handwriting. This means that some pupils struggle to write down their ideas, restricting their improvement in writing overall.

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The breadth of pupils’ learning prepares them well for their next schools. For example, they develop a well-rounded and detailed view of how to keep themselves healthy, physically and mentally. Older pupils demonstrate an informed understanding of questioning and interpreting online information. Staff expertise in the arts successfully promotes a range of qualities and attributes. For example, pupils demonstrate impressive levels of control, developing greater attention, concentration, focus and precision. 3 and 4 December 2024

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some pupils do not have enough regular and repeated practice at writing transcription. This restricts the development of their motor skills and writing fluency, hindering their ability to focus on the content of their writing. The school should ensure that pupils have sufficient opportunities to practise and master basic transcription skills.

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Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted’s website. From September 2024 graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade. This school was, before September 2024, judged to be good for its overall effectiveness.

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Background

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection. 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’s work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection. A graded inspection 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 for overall effectiveness in January 2016.

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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. 3 and 4 December 2024

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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). 3 and 4 December 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 3 and 4 December 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school provides wraparound childcare through a before- and after-school club.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation 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 his evaluation of the school.  The inspector held discussions throughout the inspection with the headteacher and deputy headteacher. The inspector also met with the two assistant headteachers, one of whom is the special educational needs coordinator. He also spoke with teachers who, in most cases, also hold subject leadership roles.  The inspector visited a sample of lessons, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. He also visited the breakfast club and after- 3 and 4 December 2024

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school club.  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 the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The inspector met with the chair of governors and seven other governors. He also spoke with a representative of the local authority on the telephone.  The inspector considered the views expressed in the online inspection surveys returned by staff. He also took account of the responses submitted by parents and carers to the online survey, Ofsted Parent View, including a follow-up letter which added further information to endorse the school’s work.

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Inspection team

Clive Dunn, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 3 and 4 December 2024

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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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