Peasmarsh Church of England Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Ensure that the most able pupils in key stages 1 and 2 are challenged sufficiently to work at higher standards across the curriculum.
• Ensure that rates of attendance continue to improve, and that persistent absence decreases.
• Ensure that pupils are taught spelling more consistently, so they learn to spell effectively throughout the school.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The head of school, together with governors, and with the good support of the executive headteacher, has built a strong and effective school team. Under her strong leadership, everyone is working hard to ensure that the school goes from strength to strength. They work passionately and successfully to support families and improve pupils’ outcomes.
• School leaders have a clear understanding of the school’s effectiveness. Ambitious action plans are in place to ensure that outcomes for pupils improve further. As a result, the pace of ongoing improvement is maintained.
• School leaders ensure that the pupil premium grant is used effectively. Leaders have a good understanding of the barriers to learning that disadvantaged pupils face. A range of effective actions, including ‘nurture group’ and ‘forest school’, is in place to support the social and emotional needs of pupils. Disadvantaged pupils are making accelerated progress because of this support.
• School leaders make sure the sport premium provides rich and engaging opportunities. These include dance workshops, ‘boxercise’, skipping, tag rugby and skateboarding. As a result, provision for pupils’ physical development in sport is strong.
• The leadership of SEN and/or disabilities is strong. Pupils are supported well in class and receive good support for their social and emotional needs. Some pupils with social and emotional needs receive strong support in the school’s own ‘nurture group’. As a result, these pupils achieve well from their starting points.
• The head of school and middle leaders carefully check the progress of pupils throughout the year. They use this information well to identify where individuals or groups of pupils are making less-than-expected progress and act swiftly to make sure they catch up quickly.
• School staff are confident in the leadership of the head of school and welcome the support she gives. Middle leaders are mentored by the head of school, enabling them to produce effective action plans which lead to good improvements in their areas of responsibility.
• Parents and carers are confident in the leadership of the school. One parent said, ‘The head of school has changed the culture of the school, building staff morale and a real team that support my child.’ This was typical of the very positive comments from parents about school leaders.
• Leaders effectively ensure that pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is strong. For example, pupils are given regular opportunities to reflect on themes from the school’s collective worship in their learning across the curriculum. As a result, pupils learn about fundamental British values effectively, and are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

Governance of the school

• Governors are ambitious for all pupils to succeed. They review leaders’ progress against the school plan for improvement and use assessment information well to ask challenging and informed questions. As a result, they communicate effectively the vision, ethos and strategic direction of the school.
• Governors understand the impact of teaching, learning and assessment on the progress of pupils. They monitor effectively and use a range of information such as school assessment records, work in books and meetings with middle leaders. This has supported the good progress for pupils across the school.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Pupils say they feel safe. They speak confidently about lessons that teach them how to be vigilant about possible dangers. Pupils understand the risks of sharing personal information online. As a result, pupils are well prepared to remain safe both in and beyond school.
• Pupils trust adults to keep them from harm. They state, ‘Our teachers are always there to look after us.’ Similarly, parents are confident their children are safe in school.
• Staff receive appropriate safeguarding training and diligently follow procedures in school if they have any concerns about the safety of a pupil. The head of school, who is the designated safeguarding lead, maintains accurate records of concerns and has good links with other child-protection professionals.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers use their strong subject knowledge to provide precise explanations and ask searching questions. As a result, most pupils are required to think deeply in lessons.
• Teachers use questioning effectively to strengthen pupils’ learning. Teachers regularly bring pupils together to talk about what they know and understand. An example of this was seen in key stage 2, where a discussion led to pupils supporting one another to solve a mathematical problem effectively. As a result, pupils develop a good understanding of the knowledge and skills they are experiencing.
• Phonics teaching in key stage 1 is effective. Pupils throughout the school use the phonic skills they are taught to help them read unfamiliar words. This helps them read with enthusiasm and confidence.
• Teaching assistants have a positive impact on pupils’ learning. For instance, when running the ‘forest school’ provision, they helped pupils to work cooperatively with each other to solve problems. This enhanced pupils’ learning.
• Teachers assess the progress of pupils accurately. Verbal feedback is used effectively to ensure that pupils are clear about their next steps in learning. As a result, pupils make good progress.
• Teachers plan a wide range of lessons across the curriculum that help pupils learn well. For example, pupils in Year 5 and Year 6 worked with a musician to produce a song for a local music festival, leading to the pupils demonstrating strong sense of pitch and dynamics in the performance. Dance workshops have inspired pupils to perform and include a Diwali dance and Chinese dragon dance, enhancing pupils’ cultural understanding. Pupils also speak very positively about wider opportunities offered by the school, including trips to Bodiam Castle and Bedgebury Pinetum.
• Some teaching does not yet routinely stretch the most able pupils. This is because, too often, learning is not planned to provide the extra rigour to help this group of pupils work at high standards. As a result, some of the most able pupils do not make sufficiently rapid progress from their higher starting points.
• Throughout the school, some pupils do not spell accurately. This is because teaching does not consistently build on pupils’ prior learning. As a result, some pupils’ progress in writing is limited.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Throughout the school, pupils show compassion and respect for one another. For instance, they play together very positively. Older pupils take on the role of ‘primary sports leaders’, where they teach games to younger pupils. One pupil said, ‘I love this school because my friends are so friendly.’ This echoes the school’s vision statement, ‘love learning and love your neighbour as yourself’.
• The ‘nurture group’ has been effective in supporting pupils with social and emotional needs, whose attendance has been poor. One pupil who attended the group stated, ‘The nurture group really helped me when I didn’t want to come to school.’ Attendance for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities has risen.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding is strong. For example, pupils in the early years use themes in the school collective worship to inform their play, while pupils in key stage 2 speak articulately about the importance of accepting difference in others. As a result, pupils think deeply about their place in the world and respect the views of others.
• Pupils enjoy their time at ‘breakfast club’, where they play positively together. This provides a super start to the school day, where pupils are ready to learn.
• A few pupils’ attendance is not yet strong enough. Although attendance rates are now improving, not enough is done to ensure that the vast majority of pupils attend school regularly.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils’ manners as they move around the school are impeccable. Pupils are courteous and respectful of one another and adults. Consequently, the school is calm and harmonious.
• Pupils’ behaviour in lessons is good. For instance, pupils typically enjoy learning and they listen attentively. Incidents of poor behaviour are rare, and teachers are adept at dealing with them swiftly should they arise.
• Pupils enjoy breaktime and have good relationships with one another. ‘Buddies’ in Year 6 support younger pupils to behave well. ‘Buddies’ take their role very seriously and model positive behaviour. This helps ensure that pupils’ behaviour during breaktime is good.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Writing and mathematics results, in key stage 1 national assessments in 2017, were disappointing in writing and mathematics. However, school assessment information and work in books indicate that most current pupils are making good progress during the key stage, and working at the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Results in 2017 at key stage 2 improved for reading, writing and mathematics. School assessment information and work in books show that pupils are continuing to make good progress.
• Pupils in both key stage 1 and key stage 2 are enthusiastic about reading. They use phonic skills confidently to read unfamiliar words.
• Current pupils in Year 1 are achieving well in phonics. The school has introduced regular phonics lessons from the early years, and school assessments show pupils make good progress. They are on track to do much better in phonics than last year’s Year 1. Pupils in key stage 2 use adventurous language in their writing across the curriculum and are proud of their work.
• Disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make good progress. School assessment information shows the progress of disadvantaged pupils is now in line with other pupils in most year groups across the school.
• Some of the most able pupils are not yet achieving strongly enough in reading and mathematics. Rightly, leaders are prioritising this group of pupils to ensure that they achieve higher standards. This work is currently in its early stages.

Early years provision Good

• Children arrive in the early years with skills and abilities broadly typical for their age. Through effective teaching and learning, children make good progress across all areas of learning. Children leave the early years ready for Year 1.
• Leadership of the early years is good. The early years leader, supported by the head of school, produces a well-structured action plan to improve provision. This has led to the effective plans for improvement that have been successful.
• Most-able children make good progress. They are encouraged to challenge themselves to write words and to recognise sounds within words. Strong phonic strategies are embedded in the early years and support pupils’ phonic skills as they move through the school.
• Children’s results show improving outcomes over time and the proportion reaching a good level of development is now above the national average. Attainment in mathematics and writing is good, including for disadvantaged pupils. Improvements made in reading in 2016 have been sustained.
• Children’s behaviour is good. They listen attentively and have very positive relationships with one another. Boys play alongside girls well in every activity, showing a strong sense of equality. Because of good behaviour, children access their learning with confidence and enjoy their time in school.
• Safeguarding of children in the early years is effective. Children feel secure and have positive relationships with one another and adults. Additionally, children are taught how to keep themselves safe through a range of suitable activities. Staff have received training in safeguarding and maintain an environment where the safety of the children is highly valued.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding is developed well. One group of children produced a delightful short play linked to the parable of the Good Samaritan. The play was performed to the class and showed the children had understood the values of kindness and responsibility.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 114518 East Sussex 10046238 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Voluntary controlled 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 92 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Head of School Telephone number Website Email address Jane Burnett Lison Smart 01797 230325 www.peasmarsh.e-sussex.sch.uk office@peasmarsh.e-sussex.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 24–25 March 2015

Information about this school

• Peasmarsh is a smaller than average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is above the national average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is above the national average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectation for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.
• The school is part of the Beckley and Peasmarsh Federation, with one governing body overseeing two schools.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector observed learning in all classes, including ‘forest school’ and ‘nurture group’, and was joined by the head of school for all observations. The inspector met with pupils and spoke with them during breaktimes. Breakfast club was observed.
• Meetings were held with the head of school, the SEN leader, the executive headteacher, the bursar, middle leaders with key leadership responsibilities, and governors. There was a telephone conversation with representatives from the local authority and the diocesan board of education.
• The inspector looked at a wide range of documents, including the school’s own assessment information, the school’s self-evaluation and plan for improvement, minutes of the governing body, and records relating to attendance, behaviour and safeguarding.
• The inspector listened to pupils read.
• The views of 23 parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, were considered. Staff views were gathered through meetings and a review of the school’s own staff questionnaire.

Inspection team

Graham Chisnell, lead inspector

Ofsted Inspector