The Clinton Church of England Primary School

At the most recent graded inspection, the following areas were identified as needing to improve:

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The school does not make sure that teaching of the curriculum is adapted effectively to the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). As a result, pupils with SEND do not progress well through the curriculum. The trust should ensure that it enables pupils with SEND to learn subject curriculums and to achieve well.

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The school does not use assessment effectively enough to check what pupils know and remember. As a result, staff do not design tasks which are ambitious or take into account what pupils already know and can do. This means pupils do not build knowledge securely. The trust needs to ensure that teachers use assessment effectively to check pupils’ understanding and support them to design tasks that help pupils to know more over time.

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In the early years, the quality of the activities to help children learn are variable. This means that opportunities for children to deepen or consolidate their knowledge are less effective than they could be. The trust should ensure that children’s learning is maximised in all activities, so that they achieve as well as they should and are ready for the next stage of their education.

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Staff do not have the expertise required to deliver some curriculum subjects as intended or to improve pupils’ reading. This means pupils do not make progress through the curriculum or develop their reading as well as they should. The trust should ensure that all staff have the subject and pedagogical expertise they need to deliver the curriculum effectively and ensure that pupils’ reading develops sufficiently well.

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HMCI strongly recommends that the school does not seek to appoint early

career teachers. The Clinton Church of England Primary School Merton, Okehampton, Devon, EX20 3EQ Unique reference number (URN):145844

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report:

21 April 2026 Monitoring inspection report: The Clinton Church of England Primary School, 21 April 2026

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The position regarding the appointment of early career teachers will be

considered again during any further monitoring inspection we carry out.

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The position regarding the appointment of early career teachers will be

During the monitoring inspection, inspectors focused on the following evaluation areas:  Leadership and governance  Inclusion  Curriculum and teaching  Early years

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Leadership and governance

The school is in receipt of external support from a multi-academy trust. The school has engaged with this external support with the intention of its transition into the trust.

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Leadership and governance

Leaders and staff have a clear determination and ambition to improve the school. With external support, leaders have prioritised the right actions, in the right order, to address the weaknesses that were identified at the previous inspection. This work has been carefully considered to ensure that it keeps pupils’ best interests at the heart of any decision-making.

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Leadership and governance

Leaders have placed a clear focus on improving early reading provision. There is now a clear and effective approach to teaching phonics. This has been underpinned by whole staff development and supported by external partners. Leaders, with external support, have overhauled the early years environment and prioritised children’s early writing and mathematics in the Nursery and with the Reception-age children. Leaders have ensured that statutory requirements for pupils with SEND are met, and ongoing support that they may require is in the process of being secured, if not already in place.

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Leadership and governance

Leaders and staff know the school well and are clear about the next steps in its improvement. Parents and carers praise the school’s communication and the impact the school has on their children.

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Safeguarding

At the previous graded inspection, safeguarding was evaluated as being effective.

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Inclusion

Leaders’ focus has been rightly placed on the oversight and support in place for pupils with SEND. As a result, leaders have assured that statutory requirements within education, health and care plans, such as completion of annual reviews, are adhered to. Furthermore, provision for pupils previously identified as pupils with SEND, now have the support or adaptations they may need. This information is outlined clearly for staff who work with them. This work is reviewed regularly and it is beginning to make a difference for pupils. Pupils with SEND feel included in the school’s provision alongside their peers. However, leaders know that greater accuracy and precision is needed to identify pupils’ additional needs and secure the level and expertise of support that some pupils need. In Monitoring inspection report: The Clinton Church of England Primary School, 21 April 2026

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recognition of this, leaders, with the aid of external support, are beginning to develop the expertise and knowledge of staff to meet the range of SEND that the school caters for.

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Curriculum and teaching

Leaders are in the process of ensuring that, through well-considered training and external guidance, staff build the skills needed to teach phonics effectively across the school. Where this training has occurred, it has had a positive impact on staff confidence and pupils’ skills in reading. Pupils secure increasingly age-appropriate reading skills. As a result, pupils are gaining the foundational reading knowledge needed to support them to access the wider curriculum successfully.

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Curriculum and teaching

Leaders have started to consider other important knowledge that pupils should learn to support their future success. For example, the school is using external expertise to develop a more successful and appropriate writing curriculum.

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Early years

Children in the early years now benefit from a learning environment, inside and outdoors, that effectively promotes their learning and development. Leaders, with external support, have provided staff with the professional learning and training needed to teach foundational skills effectively in early mathematics, as well as reading and writing. Staff have established more successful approaches to developing communication and language, as well as promoting children’s curiosity and problem-solving. The impact of this work is evident in children’s attitudes to learning and how well they respond to staff’s expectations.

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Early years

There is further work to do to ensure that the curriculum design is aligned with the early years foundation stage curriculum expectations. Leaders and staff are also alert to the importance of closer, more formalised links between the Nursery and the Reception-age children in Kingfisher Class.

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Additional next steps

Leaders and those responsible for governance should continue to work to address the priorities for improvement identified in the last graded inspection report.

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About this inspection

The inspector carried out this monitoring inspection under section 8(2) of the Education Act 2005 and it was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require special measures following the graded inspection that took place in July 2025. Monitoring inspection report: The Clinton Church of England Primary School, 21 April 2026

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The school’s previous inspection was carried out under the Education Inspection Framework (EIF) at that time. The renewed EIF took effect from 10 November 2025. The areas for improvement identified at the school’s graded inspection have been cross-referenced to the relevant evaluation areas in the inspection toolkit for consideration on this monitoring inspection.

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The purpose of this monitoring inspection was not to determine grades for any of the evaluation areas set out in the school inspection toolkit. The purpose was to identify and report on the school's progress in addressing priorities for improvement since the school's previous inspection.

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The substantive headteacher was absent from the school at the time of this visit. The school is under the leadership of an acting headteacher who has been in post since September 2025. He is also the headteacher for another local school. The school is being closely supported by leaders from an external multi-academy trust.

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Pupils in key stage 2 are now taught on the school site. The school has 2 substantive teachers, including the acting headteacher, across its staffing structure. Since September 2025, the school has commissioned a special educational needs and disabilities coordinator from another school in the trust to provide leadership of SEND.

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During this inspection, meetings were held with the headteacher, the school’s improvement partners, the chair of the board of trustees, a representative from the diocese and staff to discuss the actions that have been taken to improve the school since the most recent graded inspection.

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About this school

Number of pupils on roll 30 Monitoring inspection report: The Clinton Church of England Primary School, 21 April 2026

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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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