Kelvedon Hatch Community Primary School

Inspection of Kelvedon Hatch Community Primary School School Road, Kelvedon Hatch, Brentwood, Essex CM15 0DH

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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 Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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The headteacher is Victoria Townsend. The school is part of Discovery Educational Trust, which means other people in the trust have the responsibility for the running of the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO), Ryan Duff, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Helen Witty. 14 and 15 May 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

This is a warm, friendly and welcoming school, where pupils know each other well. Pupils carefully follow the school values of kindness, honesty, confidence, perseverance and safety.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff have high expectations of pupils’ learning. Pupils work hard to meet these expectations. During lessons, pupils focus, engage and are interested in their learning. Pupils value the positive guidance that they receive from staff, which encourages them to try even harder. As a result, pupils make positive strides in their learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

From the early years onwards, pupils behave well. They know the school rules and follow them appropriately. During social times of the day, pupils enjoy being active and playing with their friends. Pupils appreciate the recent changes to playtime arrangements. They like the games and new equipment on offer.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils speak positively about the recent trips that they have attended. These include a visit to the science museum, a Year 6 residential and the opportunity to sing as part of a large-scale performance. These activities enhance the curriculum and foster pupils’ interests.

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

The school has been through considerable change over the past few years. These changes have been carefully and thoughtfully navigated by the trust. The trust has ensured that pupils are prepared well for the next stage in their education.

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

The school’s new curriculum is broad, balanced and well sequenced. It sets out the knowledge pupils need to learn from the early years through to Year 6. Staff have strong subject knowledge. In most subjects, they regularly check how well pupils have learned and remembered important knowledge. However, this practice is not so effective in some of the newly developed subject curriculums. As a result, in a minority of subjects, pupils are not building their knowledge well enough.

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

Phonics is well taught throughout the school. This is due to ongoing high-quality training. The school has adapted a phonics programme that meets pupils’ needs. Any pupils who need additional support to catch up, receive this. Pupils read books that are well matched to their learning and that they enjoy. Pupils of all ages strive to receive their ‘OWL’ badges, which they earn when they have read a certain number of times. They wear the gold, silver, bronze and ‘wise OWL’ badges with pride. Pupils access a wide variety of texts in the school library and pupils of different ages enjoy reading together. This helps pupils to become confident and fluent readers.

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

Staff quickly identify pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff know how they can adapt the curriculum to meet the varied needs of pupils with SEND. While most pupils with SEND achieve well, there are a few pupils who do not achieve as 14 and 15 May 2025

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well they could. This is because some staff do not have the skills to accurately measure the progress these pupils are making.

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The school’s recently revised behaviour policy is implemented consistently well. This has resulted in improvements to behaviour. Attendance has also improved significantly. Throughout the school, there are many incentives to ensure that pupils arrive on time and regularly. This includes ‘funky Fridays’ that encourage everyone to dance their way into school.

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There is an effective personal development programme alongside the personal, social and health education curriculum. Pupils learn how to take care of their physical and mental well-being. This helps them to identify their emotions and learn different ways to manage these. All pupils swim in the school pool and the majority leave as competent swimmers. They attend outdoor activities in the forest area, where they learn a variety of skills, including negotiation and team building. The school offers a range of leadership opportunities for all pupils. These develop their confidence and resilience.

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There is a thoughtfully constructed professional development programme for all staff. Leaders are approachable and staff are well supported. The school manages the workloads of staff so that their well-being is a priority. Many people are new to their roles, including governors. Everyone diligently and effectively fulfils their respective roles and responsibilities due to the effective training and guidance they receive. Parents are positive about the education that the school provides for their children and the opportunities they have.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In a few subjects, teachers’ checks on what pupils have learned and remembered are not fully effective. As a result, pupils sometimes do not have the pre-requisite knowledge that they need to learn new content. The school needs to ensure teachers use checks on pupils’ learning effectively so that pupils make as much progress as they should.  Some staff do not have the skills required to measure accurately the progress of a small number of pupils with SEND. Therefore, these pupils do not always move on in their learning when they are ready to do so. The school should ensure that the staff have the expertise that they need to accurately measure progress of all pupils with SEND and move their learning on. 14 and 15 May 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 May 2025

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school is part of Discovery Educational Trust, which it joined in January 2024.  The headteacher has been in post since January 2024.  The board of trustees has delegated some responsibilities to a local school committee. This is set out in the trust’s scheme of delegation.  The school uses one registered alternative provider.  Kelvedon Hatch Community Primary School converted to become an academy in January 2024. When its predecessor school, Kelvedon Hatch Community Primary School, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be good for overall effectiveness.

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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 14 and 15 May 2025

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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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 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. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The lead inspector spoke with the chair of the local school committee and the chair of trustees. The lead inspector also spoke with the CEO and director of education.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, music and history. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke with teachers, spoke with some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors also considered the curriculum in some other subjects.  Inspectors also spoke to those school leaders, including those responsible for SEND,

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behaviour, attendance and personal development.  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.  Inspectors gathered and considered the views of pupils, parents and staff. This included considering the responses to the online survey, Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text comments.

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Inspection team

Katie Devenport, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Ania Vaughan Ofsted Inspector 14 and 15 May 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 looked-after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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