Christ Church CofE Primary School

Inspection Report Christ Church CofE Primary School

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102586 Unique Reference Number Kingston Upon Thames Local Authority 286434 Inspection number 17 January 2007 Inspection date Margaret Coussins Reporting inspector

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Pine Gardens School address Primary Type of school Surbiton Voluntary aided School category KT5 8LJ 4 °11 Age range of pupils 020 8399 8166 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 020 8390 5272 Fax number 415 Number on roll (school) Mr Chris Newport Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Miss Tracey Coton Headteacher 11 June 2001 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection date Age group 286434 17 January 2007 4 °11 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied.

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by an Additional Inspector.

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Description of the school

This is a larger than average primary school which serves an area where the majority of pupils come from favourable backgrounds. The school roll has increased significantly over recent years and the intake is now from a wider catchment area which includes local authority housing. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is below average as is the proportion with learning difficulties or disabilities. The proportion from ethnic minority groups and those whose first language is not English is above that found nationally. The school provides a breakfast and after school club and has a Healthy School Award, a silver artsmark and a Basic Skills Agency Quality Mark.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Christ Church CofE Primary School, 17 January 2007

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Grade: 1

This is an outstanding school of which the pupils are, justifiably, very proud. Their enjoyment of school is infectious and is evident in all that they do. One parent said, 'My son loves school and would like to go on Saturday and Sunday! What more can I say!' Central to the school's success are the outstanding leadership and management of the headteacher. She has built a very effective and strong team of senior leaders, staff and governors who share a common vision for the school. As a result, the school is a very happy, inclusive and exciting place to work and learn. Searching and accurate self-evaluation highlights areas for improvement. These include the issues from the last inspection, which have been pursued very effectively, and with determination and imagination. The school's has an outstanding capacity to improve. Pupils' achievements are outstanding and they reach well above average standards in

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Grade: 1

English, mathematics and science by the time they leave. Children get a good start to their education. They begin school with above average skills and make good progress in the Foundation Stage because of good teaching and a well-managed curriculum. The outdoor area has been enhanced and the school is pursuing ways to develop its use as a learning environment. Most children exceed the goals expected of them by the time they enter Year 1. Very effective intervention and support is given to pupils to ensure that they all have the same opportunities, whatever their backgrounds or particular learning needs. Across the school, good and often outstanding teaching and an extremely rich curriculum are reasons why pupils do so well academically and personally. The school has recognised the need to ensure that there is consistency in the expectations held by all staff to maintain the high standards. Pupils' personal development and well-being are outstanding. The strong Christian

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Grade: 1

and inclusive ethos helps children to be independent, responsible and confident. They enjoy taking responsibilities as they get older and have an excellent sense of community and the part they should play in it. Pupils' attitudes towards those with learning difficulties or disabilities are exemplary as they develop a strong sense of fairness and equal rights for all. As one parent commented, 'I feel confident that my children will leave Christ Church well educated and able to cope with the world as good citizens'. The school is a secure, attractive and welcoming place where behaviour is outstanding and children understand the need to be healthy and safe. Children said, 'School is really friendly, there are no horrid things in school, we feel safe and never afraid to talk to someone'.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Ensure the quality of all teaching and learning is in line with the best with all staff promoting consistently challenging expectations to maintain the existing high standards. 2 Inspection Report: Christ Church CofE Primary School, 17 January 2007

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Grade: 1

Achievement is outstanding and as a result standards are exceptionally high with the proportion of pupils reaching the higher Level 5 in the national tests, far exceeding the national average. Children enter the Foundation Stage with above average attainment and make good progress. Pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities make huge gains from their starting points. This is because these pupils receive outstanding individual attention, with work that closely matches their needs, and have good additional support from teaching assistants. The rate of progress has improved significantly over the past five years because the school has worked successfully on its key areas for development. Good initiatives have successfully dealt with identified areas for improvement, for example raising attainment in mathematics for average and more able girls.

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Grade: 1

Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding. Pupils demonstrate the school's values and Christian ethos by respecting and caring for others and developing personal responsibility and independence. They enthusiastically and skilfully take on responsibilities within the school community. Some of the Healthy Team, for example, are given training to sort out any potential problems between pupils in the playground; others make up games to teach others to encourage physical activity or successfully promote healthy eating throughout the school. The group's work very effectively ensures that pupils develop an excellent understanding of how to stay safe and healthy as demonstrated by the safe practices and healthy attitudes they adopt. The school council represents the children very well and strongly feel that its voice is heard. Its work to transform the playgrounds is an excellent example of

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Grade: 1

their care and concern for the school environment. Pupils' views on fair play help to maintain the outstanding behaviour. Pupils' excellent basic skills and their increasing self-confidence and ability to collaborate and negotiate, prepare them well for later life.

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Grade: 2

Teaching and learning are good with many outstanding aspects. Pupils gave the use of interactive whiteboards a huge vote of confidence for helping to make learning fun and enjoyable. Pupils' excellent behaviour and attitudes help them learn well as do the excellent relationships between children and their ability to work well together which supports their outstanding achievement. One child expressed this as, 'If you've got friends, you work better in lessons'. The organisation of Year 6 classes into ability 3 Inspection Report: Christ Church CofE Primary School, 17 January 2007 groups for English, mathematics and science is a successful strategy, which ensures teachers pitch work at appropriate levels to challenge all pupils. The school has recognised the need to ensure that there is consistency in the expectations held by all staff to maintain the high standards. This is being dealt with by creating strong

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Grade: 2

teams, a focus on continuing professional development and the excellent use of expert and specialist teachers to provide support to less experienced or less confident colleagues. This has already led to improvements in teaching skills and demonstrates that initiatives are on track to ensure that all teaching matches that of the highest quality.

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Grade: 1

The curriculum is outstanding. It is broad, balanced and tailored very successfully to meet the needs of all pupils. The school has an excellent personal, social, health and citizenship programme, which includes social and emotional aspects of learning and this contributes very effectively to pupils' outstanding personal development and well-being. The strong links with the Church support many aspects of the curriculum, enrich pupils' experiences and promote the school's identified Christian values. The Foundation Stage curriculum is well planned. There is a balance between opportunities for children to choose their own activities and activities guided by the staff. Information and communication technology (ICT) is used well by teachers and pupils to support many areas of the curriculum. Multimedia presentations created by pupils for their mountain project in geography and to share their experiences from a residential trip,

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Grade: 1

were of a high quality. Events such as the themed weeks, opportunities to learn French, visits, visitors and a residential trip very successfully add to the richness of the curriculum. There is a very good range of popular, well-attended clubs which broaden pupils' personal experiences. These aspects strongly promote pupils' enjoyment of learning and develop social skills important to their future life.

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Grade: 1

Care, guidance and support are outstanding. The school is a caring community where pupils feel safe and have confidence in the staff. Arrangements for safeguarding children are very effective. Risk assessments are robust and child protection procedures are well established and rigorous. Staff know the pupils well and relationships are excellent, including links with outside agencies and parents. The opportunities given to pupils to make decisions and take ownership and responsibility for their own learning have a very strong impact on their excellent personal skills. In the playground for example, they actively promote harmonious relationships by making sure everyone has a friend to play with and not accepting inappropriate behaviour. Pupils feel secure and safe in school and confident that there is someone to talk to should the need arise. Systems for identifying and supporting pupils who are at risk of underachieving,

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Grade: 1

those who have learning difficulties or disabilities are comprehensive and well thought out. Support is carefully targeted to meet individual needs. Tracking pupils' progress 4 Inspection Report: Christ Church CofE Primary School, 17 January 2007 enables teachers to know exactly how well both individuals and groups of pupils are doing and this information is used to provide excellent guidance. Pupils know their own targets for learning and develop skills to evaluate their progress towards achieving them.

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Grade: 1

Leadership and management are outstanding. The headteacher's firm belief that everyone in the school community matters is a strong motivation for her enthusiastic, hardworking staff. The headteacher, deputy and assistant headteacher make a forceful team to initiate and drive improvement. The school has an accurate view of its strengths and priorities based on outstandingly comprehensive systems of monitoring, evaluation and review involving staff, governors, parents and pupils. All staff are developed as leaders. Those with specific responsibilities have a significant impact on the work of the school and the standards pupils achieve and their expertise is recognised beyond the school. Staff, resources and the school building itself are managed and organised extremely well and all strategic decision-making has a very positive impact on pupils' academic and personal development. The decision to build a library, for example, was

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Grade: 1

welcomed by pupils and as one child said, 'We now have a lovely, quiet place to go and study and research'. The induction procedures for teachers who are new to the school are extremely effective. Governors are supportive and challenging as they hold the school to account well for its performance. 5 Inspection Report: Christ Church CofE Primary School, 17 January 2007 .

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Grade: 1

set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: Christ Church CofE Primary School, 17 January 2007

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Inspection judgements

School Overall Key to judgements: grade 1 is outstanding, grade 2 good, grade 3 satisfactory, and grade 4 inadequate

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Overall effectiveness

How effective, efficient and inclusive is the provision of education, integrated care and any extended services in meeting the needs of learners? How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? 2 The quality and standards in the Foundation Stage 1 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 1 The capacity to make any necessary improvements Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

1 How well do learners achieve? 1 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 1 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

1 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 1 The behaviour of learners 1 The attendance of learners 1 How well learners enjoy their education 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 1 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

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and interests of learners?

1 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average to below average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low. 7 Inspection Report: Christ Church CofE Primary School, 17 January 2007

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and supporting all learners?

How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can How effectively and efficiently resources, including staff, are deployed to achieve value for money The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities Yes Do procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements? No Does this school require special measures? No Does this school require a notice to improve? 8 Inspection Report: Christ Church CofE Primary School, 17 January 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

I am writing to let you know how much I enjoyed my visit to your school and what I found out. Thank you all for making me so welcome, for talking to me about your work and telling me what you think about your school. I found out that yours is an outstanding school and these are the reasons why: • You really enjoy being at the school; you are very well behaved and get on very well with each other and all of the staff. • You showed me that you are proud of your school. You care about everyone in it and feel strongly that everyone should have equal opportunities to learn and be happy. • You are very good at making decisions and taking responsibility to encourage everyone to be fit and healthy and for making the school look good inside and outside. • Your achievement in your English, mathematics and science work is outstanding. • Your teachers make sure your lessons and all the other activities and clubs that go on in

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

the school are interesting and exciting. • Everyone in the school looks after you extremely well and they help you develop your confidence and the belief that you can succeed in whatever you do. • Your headteacher does an excellent job and the entire staff work very hard to make sure that everyone has a chance to succeed. As you are able do so well, all of your teachers should expect the very best from you in all your lessons and you can help by always working as hard as you can. Thank you again for all your help and for being so friendly and polite and interesting to talk to. Yours sincerely Margaret CoussinsLead inspector 9 Inspection Report: Christ Church CofE Primary School, 17 January 2007

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