St Mark's Church of England Primary School

Inspection of St Mark’s Church of England Primary School School Lane, Hadlow Down, Uckfield, East Sussex TN22 4HY

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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 Good 15 and 16 July 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thrive in this nurturing small school. They are well known and well cared for. This contributes towards them feeling safe and happy. Despite its small size, the school has big ambitions to give each pupil ‘wings to fly’. The curriculum has been successfully strengthened to help fulfil this ambition. Typically, pupils achieve well and are suitably prepared for the next stage of their education.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well in classrooms and around the school building. They develop a strong sense of responsibility and community. Caring relationships exist between pupils. This starts right from the start in the Reception class where older pupils take delight in caring for the youngest members in the school. As pupils move through the school, they take on further roles as members of the sports crew or school councillors. They perform these roles diligently. Community links are strengthened through visitors into school, such as the horticultural society. Alongside this, pupils relish the community open days where they get to showcase their learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents and carers are extremely supportive of the school. They rightly recognise how well the school builds pupils’ confidence and knowledge. One parent summed up the views of many in saying, ‘St Marks is a small school with a big heart … our children come home happy, peaceful and positive.’

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

The school has worked with energy and speed to put the necessary improvements in place since the last inspection. These improvements are being embedded and beginning to make a positive impact on pupils’ achievement and experiences.

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

The revised curriculum is suitably broad, ambitious and logically ordered from the Reception class to Year 6. This helps build pupils’ knowledge over time. The school makes regular checks on pupils’ knowledge in the core subjects. This shows that pupils remember the key knowledge they are required to know. However, this does not extend to the wider curriculum where recent changes to the curriculum have been made. As a result, gaps in pupils’ knowledge and misconceptions can go unchecked and are, therefore, not always addressed swiftly.

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

Teachers have strong subject knowledge, which helps them to deliver the curriculum clearly. Pupils enjoy their learning. They make connections between different subjects. For example, they understand how the muscles in the human body work and use this knowledge to focus on the impact of exercise in physical education (PE).

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

Staff quickly identify the potential needs of any pupil who has special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff understand their needs extremely well and adapt the delivery of the curriculum effectively. On the whole, pupils with SEND learn alongside their peers and achieve well. 15 and 16 July 2025

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Children begin to learn phonics from the start of the Reception Year. They enjoy this learning and join in enthusiastically with blending the sounds that they know to make words. Typically, pupils become fluent and confident readers by the end of Year 2. The school takes swift action to ensure that any pupil who needs additional reading support are quickly identified and given the help that they need to catch up. The books that pupils read are carefully chosen and match the sounds that they know and have learned previously.

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The school has ensured that there are well-developed links between the teaching of reading and writing. As a result, pupils have a solid understanding about different literature and authors. Older pupils talk with insight about how books develop empathy, draw in the reader or build suspense. They are avid readers.

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Clear routines help even the youngest children to understand what is expected. Children in the Reception class learn about positive behaviour from both adults and their Year 1 classmates. Good behaviour is the norm. This helps the school to be a settled and calm place in which to learn. Pupils enjoy coming to school and attend well. The school works in strong partnership with parents to identify and address any potential barriers to regular school attendance.

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The school has established a wide and well-considered personal development offer. Pupils are positive about the recent expansions of the enrichment programme. This offers opportunities to extend pupils interests and talents in a variety of ways. Two such highlights that pupils spoke of are the tennis and film club. This offer is available and open to everyone.

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Pupils learn about people, places and cultures outside of their small village environment. They are interested in finding out about themselves, each other and other people. They respect and value difference. They spoke of how ‘differences make you special’ and that they are encouraged to ‘be who you are’.

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Leaders, including governors, have an accurate and well-informed view of the school. They fulfil their strategic responsibilities effectively. Staff are positive about the training and support that they are given. They are consulted and considered about any change that may impact on their workload. Morale is high. Everyone is united in striving for the very best for the pupils of the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 15 and 16 July 2025

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school does not always check what pupils have learned and remembered across the wider curriculum. This means that teachers cannot identify and address gaps in pupils’ knowledge as successfully as they do in English and mathematics. The school should ensure that subject leaders evaluate the impact of the revised curriculum in helping pupils to know more and remember more over time.

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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). 15 and 16 July 2025

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Executive Headteacher Catherine Cottingham

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School details

Date of previous inspection 27 February 2024, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 St Mark’s Church of England Primary School is a Church of England voluntary-aided school. The school’s most recent section 48 statutory inspection of Anglican and Methodist schools took place in October 2019.  Since the previous inspection, the school has appointed an executive headteacher and a head of school.  The school works in partnership with the Sussex Spires Federation. This is a local federation of two other small schools.  The school does not currently use any alternative provision.  The school runs a before- and after-school club for pupils.

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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 15 and 16 July 2025

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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.  Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  During the inspection, the inspectors met with a range of school staff. The lead inspector also met with representatives of the governing body, including the chair of governors. The inspector had separate telephone conversations with representatives from the local authority and the Diocese of Chichester.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, PE and computing. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors also discussed the curriculum in some other subjects. The lead inspector

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listened to pupils read to a familiar adult as part of the early reading deep dive.  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.  The inspectors reviewed responses to Ofsted’s parent, pupil and staff surveys.  The inspectors talked to staff to gather their views about the school, including their workload and well-being. The inspectors met with several groups of pupils, as well as speaking to pupils during lessons and at lunchtime.

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Inspection team

Deborah Perkins, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Maria Roberts Ofsted Inspector 15 and 16 July 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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