Offham Primary School

Inspection of Offham Primary School Church Road, Offham, West Malling, Kent ME19 5NX

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Inspection dates: 14 and 15 January 2025

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

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Until November 2020, the school was exempt from routine inspection because it was judged as outstanding for overall effectiveness at its previous inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. The school has not been inspected under section 5 of the Act since May 2015. 14 and 15 January 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

Positive relationships and an ambition to succeed are at the heart of this happy, village school. Pupils feel safe and well cared for. The school’s values of collaboration, resilience, responsibility, respect and compassion permeate the curriculum and behaviour expectations. As a result, pupils behave well. They show respect for each other and staff, warmly welcoming visitors.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are keen to share what makes their school special. They relish their extensive leadership opportunities. For example, the ‘reading ambassadors’ understand the importance of their role in promoting reading across the school. Most recently, they have developed a ‘reading grotto’ on the playground. During playtime, pupils across the school have an opportunity to borrow and read books. The ‘reading ambassadors’ also make decisions around which books are purchased for the school library.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations for pupils to achieve. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have carefully considered adaptations in place, which are enabling them to succeed. However, there are a small number of pupils who require more opportunities to deepen their learning and move on to more complex work. This is reflected in the work that they produce.

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

The school has designed a broad and ambitious curriculum that starts in the early years and meets the needs of the pupils on roll. Learning is sequenced in a clear way, so that teachers understand what to teach and when. Carefully planned professional development is developing strong subject knowledge for staff. Teachers design activities that prepare pupils for their next stage of learning. Pupils with SEND are well supported through expertly designed adaptations to their curriculum. The strong pastoral offer ensures all pupils are able to access learning successfully.

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

Teachers provide work that clearly builds on pupils’ previous knowledge. However, the way that staff check whether pupils understand their learning is not yet embedded. This means that some pupils have misconceptions that are not identified during lessons. The school recognises that there needs to be a consistent approach to checking what pupils know and understand to identify any gaps in pupils’ learning.

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

Reading is a priority at this school. Children in the early years begin learning phonics as soon as they start. The school ensures that phonics is taught consistently. The practice of rereading the text for meaning is supporting the weakest readers to develop fluency. The school provides pupils with additional opportunities to enjoy books and reading beyond phonics lessons. This starts in the early years, where staff develop children’s language effectively. Pupils build on this as they get older. They develop their vocabulary by reading a wide range of texts in their reading lessons.

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

The school has high expectations for all pupils. Staff explicitly model these as part of the curriculum. As a result, pupils across the school actively engage in their lessons. Pupils 14 and 15 January 2025

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have positive attitudes to their learning and concentrate well. Learning is rarely disrupted by the behaviour of other pupils. There are warm relationships between adults and pupils. Children in the early years respond well to the routines that are in place. Adults support children to develop their independence. Pupils are polite and celebrate their achievements enthusiastically. The 10 ‘wow experiences’ offered each year form an important part of this. The majority of pupils attend school regularly. However, some of the most disadvantaged pupils are not attending school as often as they should. The school has a robust approach to supporting these families.

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The school considers the personal development offer for pupils carefully. The school’s values are explicitly taught and understood by all pupils. Pupils are passionate about their school. They take pride when showing visitors the extensive forest school provision and understand how it helps them with their learning behaviours. The school has a well- established leadership programme for pupils to develop resilience and take on additional responsibilities. For example, the sports council recently redesigned and improved the school playground. As a result, pupils play a wider variety of sports and compete with local teams in competitions. Pupils have a clear understanding of fundamental British values. For example, democracy is reinforced through the process of electing pupil leaders.

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The school has taken effective action to embed a recently refined curriculum and instil consistent expectations around behaviour. Staff speak highly of the support they receive. Workload and well-being are regularly reviewed. Governors are robust in their approach to fulfilling their statutory duties, for example, when checking safeguarding procedures. They have effective processes in place to hold leaders to account.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Teachers do not consistently check pupils’ understanding and address misconceptions. This means that pupils do not routinely secure their learning into their long-term memory. The school should continue to develop staff expertise, so that they can successfully identify and address any gaps or misconceptions.  Some pupils are not provided with opportunities to extend their learning and move on to more complex work. This means that these pupils are not gaining the depth and breadth of knowledge across a range of subjects that they could. The school should support teachers to design activities that are expertly adapted to raise these pupils’ achievement further. 14 and 15 January 2025

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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 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). 14 and 15 January 2025

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 19 and 20 May 2015 under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The substantive headteacher was not in school at the time of the inspection.  The school does not currently use any alternative provision. The school runs its own before- 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. During a graded inspection, we grade the school for each of our key judgements (quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management) and for any relevant provision judgement (early years and/or sixth form provision). Schools receiving a graded inspection from September 2024 will not be given an overall effectiveness grade.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision. 14 and 15 January 2025

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 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID19 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, physical education and science. 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 inspector met with representatives from the local authority.  The inspectors observed break and lunchtimes and the start of the school day.  The inspector scrutinised minutes of the governing body meetings and other relevant

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documents.  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 Ofsted’s staff and pupil surveys. They took account of the responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text comments and an email sent directly to Ofsted.  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

Andrea Harris Ofsted Inspector 14 and 15 January 2025

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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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