Monkton Church of England Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Accelerate the progress of pupils in key stages 1 and 2, especially in reading, by:
  • ensuring that any gaps in knowledge and skills are quickly identified and filled
  • helping pupils to experience and develop a rich vocabulary.
• Review and develop how well the curriculum helps pupils to build their knowledge and skills progressively in a wide range of subjects.
• Support subject leaders effectively to plan, implement and evaluate the impact of the curriculum.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• After a significant dip in standards and performance, the school is now improving rapidly. The local authority was aware of the decline in standards since the previous inspection and took suitable action in 2017 to support the school during an absence of leadership.
• The new executive headteacher, initially on an advisory basis, has formed a strong partnership with the head of school and has led a halt in the decline in standards. Leaders’ current self-evaluation of the school is accurate.
• In a short period of time, leaders have led improvements in outcomes in phonics, in key stage 2 mathematics and for the oldest most able pupils. However, leaders have not yet had time to ensure that outcomes for all groups of pupils are good.
• Subject leaders have, until recently, not taken responsibility for improving outcomes and developing the curriculum in the subjects they manage. Subject leaders are relishing these new responsibilities and are eager to have a positive impact on outcomes for pupils beyond their own classes. Senior leaders have enabled them to work together as a team and with other schools in the local collaboration to improve their own skills and knowledge as teachers.
• The curriculum is broad and balanced and has a range of enjoyable and worthwhile learning experiences. However, in some subjects there is more work to do to plan carefully how pupils’ knowledge and skills build sequentially. Subject leaders are now well placed and supported to lead this work.
• Leaders have successfully increased the focus on improving vocabulary and knowledge across the curriculum. This is just starting to deepen pupils’ learning. Teachers have a clearer understanding of the building blocks needed to be a competent writer and reader, and these are now being taught explicitly. In mathematics, high-quality training has led to improvements in the curriculum.
• Visits, trips and outside visitors are used to enhance learning beyond the usual curriculum. Pupils appreciate the wide range of clubs available to them, including a coding club for Year 6 and a rock music performance club.
• There is extremely effective use of professional development, both in the local collaboration of schools and more widely, to improve the skills and expertise of teachers. Induction of new staff is first class. New teachers are immediately ready to meet leaders’ high expectations and provide highly engaging teaching for their pupils.
• Pupils are tolerant and respectful of their friends and of visitors to the school. While they may not be able to formally name and define modern British values, such as democracy, pupils can explain clearly how these qualities are applied in this school and how they can also be applied in the wider world. They are adamant that everyone in their school is treated equally well.
• Parents are highly positive about the school and see it as a ‘home from home’. One parent said that it ‘exceeds all expectations’.

Governance of the school

• Governors recognised and acknowledged the decline in standards that worsened in the summer of 2016. Since then they have attended further relevant training, appointed additional governors with relevant skills, and have strengthened their processes to check what is happening in school.
• Governors now hold leaders to account and work in partnership with them to drive the renewed focus on improvement across the school. They have high ambitions for the future of the school and want pupils to leave Monkton ready for the next challenges in their education and life.
• Governors ensure that additional funding for disadvantaged pupils and those who have SEN and/or disabilities is used well. They have ensured that sports premium funding has not only provided a wider range of activities for pupils but also begun to build the expertise of staff.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• All staff have had up-to-date training and are aware of the latest changes in legislation. They are aware of their responsibilities, including how to ‘whistle-blow’ if they feel their concerns are not being dealt with.
• Leaders understand the community and families that the school serves. They work well with parents to ensure pupils are safe in school and at home. There is detailed record keeping about low-level concerns and a clear understanding of when the threshold to refer concerns to other professionals is met.
• Governors check the school’s safeguarding procedures regularly.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• A legacy of weaker teaching and leadership oversight is still having a residual effect on outcomes because pupils have gaps in their knowledge and vocabulary. However, leaders have tackled the remaining weaker teaching and have made positive appointments to strengthen the quality of teaching across the school so that it is now good.
• Teachers have strong subject knowledge and a real determination to do their best for their pupils. As a result, pupils enjoy their lessons and learn well. Teachers plan well to build pupils’ knowledge progressively in English and mathematics. For example, in a key stage 2 mathematics session the teacher introduced tasks about rounding numbers that became increasingly difficult. However, this aspect of teachers’ practice is not as well developed in other subjects.
• Teachers monitor and check pupils’ learning well, adapting tasks to make them suitably easier or harder as they go. Any misconceptions are normally quickly addressed; for example, one teacher spent time showing the whole class how to tackle a problem they had struggled with. Another teacher modelled their expectations well when pupils were writing stories based on Roald Dahl’s ‘The BFG’.
• Highly professional support for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities allows them to access their learning and make progress.
• The most able pupils are challenged well in lessons. Teachers often ask great questions that make pupils think carefully about their work. However, occasionally tasks are too difficult because pupils do not have the knowledge necessary to complete a more challenging problem.
• Early reading skills are now taught well. As a result, pupils are now able to apply their phonics skills confidently when reading new texts.
• Assessment is now accurate and used well to plan learning. Leaders plan to enhance this further so that leaders, staff and parents have a complete understanding of what pupils can do already and what they need to learn next.
• Parents are happy with the homework that their children receive. Homework usefully reinforces learning that took place in school.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils take part in a wide range of activities that help them to stay safe at school and at home. These include workshops about e-safety and fire safety and hearing about the vital role lifeboats play.
• Bullying is well understood by pupils; however, it is not seen to be a problem. Older pupils were observed sensibly role-playing different scenarios in a personal, social and health education session to show how they would respond to bullying behaviour. Pupils are adamant that any minor disagreements are quickly sorted out by the pupils themselves or with the help of an adult.
• Pupils have a wide range of opportunities to take on wider responsibilities such as school councillors or Christian ambassadors. These roles help pupils to live up to the school’s values.
• Effective coaching in physical education ensures that all pupils are active, developing their skills and their sense of healthy competition.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils understand what is expected of them and how they will be rewarded for behaving well. Pupils play happily together at breaktimes and lunchtimes. They are kind and considerate to each other in the dining hall and when moving around the school.
• Pupils are highly involved in their learning and remain focused throughout lessons because the work and tasks are interesting. Teachers’ high expectations about presentation mean pupils take pride in their work and their school.
• Outreach workers from the Enterprise Learning Alliance have had a positive impact supporting pupils who find it more difficult to manage their behaviour.
• Attendance decreased slightly in 2017/18 but is still above average. Successful processes to monitor poor attendance and help families where attendance is an issue have helped reduce persistent absence.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Some weaker teaching in the past has left some pupils with gaps in their knowledge, understanding and skills. Consequently, they have not always performed as well as might be expected in national tests.
• Disappointing outcomes at the end of key stage 1 demonstrate that in recent years pupils have not built on the great start that they make to school in the early years.
• Progress in reading in key stage 2 has been low for several years. Although attainment has been consistently in line with the national average, pupils have not built successfully on their prior achievements. Analysis by school leaders shows that pupils have considerable weaknesses in their vocabulary, which still need to be addressed.
• Although current pupils have fallen behind in recent times, they have made faster progress in the last year, which is helping them to catch up. For example, pupils who had fallen behind in phonics in Year 1 have been supported to catch up so that they are ready to access the key stage 2 curriculum.
• In 2018, targeted teaching in Year 6 led to improved progress in mathematics and more of the most able pupils achieving higher standards.
• Attainment by the end of key stage 2 is broadly average. As a result, most pupils are suitably prepared for the next stage of their education.

Early years provision Good

• Children make good progress from their starting points in all areas of learning. Slightly fewer children reached a good level of development in 2018 than in previous years because starting points were lower. However, children made the same or better progress than in previous years.
• There are strong processes for transition from nurseries, led by a collaboration of local schools. This helps staff to get to know children very quickly, as well as find out about, and build upon, children’s interests.
• The early years leader has a well-developed understanding of what is required to help children make a positive start to school life. Current children have started very well and are already making progress socially and academically. They have settled into routines quickly and confidently.
• Teaching in the early years is good because it effectively enables pupils to make links between different aspects of their learning. For example, the inspector observed children attempting a range of mathematical tasks based on a theme. Adults are very skilled at asking questions to move the learning on and make children think for themselves.
• Phonics is taught well in the early years. However, those children who are already starting to read could be challenged more to exceed the early learning goal relating to reading.
• Children behave well and work and play sensibly with their new friends. All of the welfare requirements are met. There are no safeguarding concerns in early years.
• Parents are happy with how their children settle into school life and the progress they make. Children are well prepared for Year 1; however, there are well-developed plans to make the transition even smoother.

School details

Unique reference number 118697 Local authority Kent Inspection number 10053058 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act. Type of school Primary School category Voluntary controlled Age range of pupils 4 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 102 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Vicky Solly Executive headteacher Wendy Stone Head of school Karon Wilson Telephone number 01843 821394 Website www.monkton.kent.sch.uk Email address office@monkton.kent.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 19–20 October 2011

Information about this school

• This is a small Church of England primary school in the village of Monkton, near Ramsgate, in Kent. There are up to 15 pupils in each year group. Key stage 1 and 2 pupils are taught in mixed-age classes.
• The school has had a sustained period of interim leadership during the absence of the previous headteacher, who left in April 2018. During the headteacher’s absence, the school was led for a period by the current head of school in the role of acting headteacher. She was supported by two successive advisory headteachers brokered by the local authority. The second of these has now become the executive headteacher and is also responsible for nearby Minster Church of England Primary School.
• Two of the four class teachers joined the school in September 2018, one week before this inspection. The chair of governors was formally voted in to her role the day after this inspection.
• The vast majority of pupils are from White British backgrounds. The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is slightly above average. The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged is below average. There are very few disadvantaged pupils in each year group.
• The last section 48 inspection of this Church of England school took place in October 2016.
• The school is part of the M7V collaboration, a group of schools in villages around Margate that work together.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector observed learning in each class on three occasions and talked to pupils about their work. Each visit to classrooms was carried out with the executive headteacher and/or the head of school.
• The inspector spoke to pupils informally at breaktimes and lunchtimes and met formally with two groups of pupils to discuss their learning and other aspects of school life. He heard some pupils from Year 2 and Year 6 read.
• The inspector met regularly with the executive headteacher and head of school throughout the inspection, discussing many aspects of school leadership. He also met with teachers to explore their leadership roles.
• The inspector met with three members of the governing body including the chair designate. He also had a conversation with a senior advisor from the local authority.
• The inspector spoke to parents before school and considered 26 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View.
• A wide range of school documentation relating to safeguarding, the curriculum, pupil premium, assessment, self-evaluation and governance was scrutinised.

Inspection team

Lee Selby, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector