Skinners' Kent Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Raise the quality of teaching and learning further by ensuring that:
  • teachers plan work that closely matches the learning needs of groups of pupils consistently well
  • pupils know what they need to do to improve their work.
• Ensure that writing across the school continues to improve, particularly for boys.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• Leaders have been highly effective in ensuring that the ethos of the school permeates every layer of the school community. Since the school opened, they have been resolutely focused on securing the very highest standards. All staff know what is expected of them in driving the school forward. Morale is high and there is a sense of excitement about the future as the school expands.
• Senior leaders are adept at observing lessons and analysing information. They use these observations to devise, implement and evaluate effective action plans for school development. They are modelling this regularly to other leaders. As a result, subject leadership is developing appropriately as the school population expands. Governors have already considered the need that this expansion will bring to develop leadership at middle levels. There are some successful models already in place across the multi-academy trust.
• Staff have benefited from well-chosen professional development as a result of regular teaching observations and professional reviews. They are fully committed to the school and feel well supported by leaders. Staff act quickly on the advice and training they receive. They share ideas and plans. As a result, teaching is strengthening quickly and pupil outcomes improving.
• The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) and inclusion team ensure that the needs of pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities are met well. Meticulous support plans are in place and regularly reviewed. Parents of pupils who have specific additional needs reported how this approach has benefited their children. One parent encapsulated this in saying, ‘The school has done their utmost to make sure she is settled, confident and that the teaching meets her needs.’
• Leaders have built strong relationships with parents. Parents feel confident in approaching the school with any concerns, which are quickly resolved. Most parents who completed the Ofsted survey, Parent View, felt that the school is very well led and managed.
• Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is at the very core of the unifying school ethos. Development of these aspects runs like a thread throughout everyday experience and each activity. For example, during the inspection, an assembly explored key concepts such as commitment, communication and collaboration in a fun and relevant way. As a result, pupils are developing a strong sense of themselves and the world in which they live.
• The curriculum develops skills, knowledge and understanding highly effectively. This is because it both excites pupils and provides well-connected sequences of interrelated learning. Pupils are inspired by experiences such as living life in the Stone Age for a day. They relish the choices provided for them within their learning, such as choosing how to represent instructions for chocolate-making. Opportunities for art, music and physical education (PE) are plentiful, both within the curriculum and in a wide range of extra-curricular provision. Home-learning opportunities are well chosen to supplement and extend school work.
• Improvement initiatives are underpinned by careful analysis of school performance. For example, leaders have already identified issues in writing across the school, especially for boys. Actions have already been implemented that revised some elements of the curriculum. This has been effective in capturing pupils’ interest in writing for a purpose. Leaders have rightly identified that the next step is to ensure that writing is accurate and of a consistently high standard.

Governance of the school

• Governance is highly effective. Both the local governing body and the trust board have a wide range of relevant skills and experience. They are able to hold leaders to account and provide targeted strategic support. This ensures that leadership capacity is developing alongside the planned growth in pupil numbers. The recent governance review and subsequent restructuring have further developed clear lines of accountability for each body.
• Governors have ensured that resources from within the trust are used well to ensure that all statutory requirements in respect of aspects such as safeguarding are met. They draw information about school performance from a range of sources such as parent surveys and, where appropriate, school visits. As a result, they have a comprehensive understanding of the strengths and development needs of the school.
• Governors have ensured that additional funding, including the pupil premium and the sports premium, is spent effectively. They monitor plans regularly to ensure that the funding is making a positive difference to pupils.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders have ensured that all the necessary checks are in place at recruitment. Staff receive regular training across a range of areas to ensure that they are aware of what to watch out for to help keep pupils safe. They know the appropriate steps to take if they have concerns.
• Staff know pupils well. They build mutually respectful relationships with pupils that are rooted in the ethos of the school. As a result, pupils feel safe. They know that their voices are listened to if they have concerns. They trust in adults to keep them safe. All the staff, parents and pupils who spoke to me felt that pupils are safe at school, as did all the parents who completed the Ofsted survey, Parent View.
• The curriculum builds in regular opportunities for pupils to learn how to keep themselves safe, including online.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers have secure subject knowledge. This helps them to pose questions to challenge and extend pupils. As a result, pupils are adept at explaining their thinking. Aspects of the curriculum such as mathematical problem-solving and reasoning are developed particularly well. Pupils enjoy discussing their ideas with their peers.
• Teachers plan sequences of learning which excite pupils and engage their curiosity. As a result, pupils are keen learners who want to find out more. Teachers ensure that skills, knowledge and understanding are built upon effectively. For example, in a Year 1 science lesson, pupils were using their knowledge of the properties of a range of materials which they had developed at the beginning of the week. They used this knowledge to work together to sort, classify and discuss a range of objects and extend their skills effectively.
• Teaching assistants are used well to support pupils’ learning. They have good relationships with pupils and mirror the effective questioning techniques used by teachers. This helps pupils who need a little more time to think or who need support to organise their thinking.
• Phonics is taught regularly and systematically. As a result, pupils have a secure knowledge of the sounds linked to letters make and how they blend together. Pupils who read to me were able to use these skills effectively and confidently to decipher new vocabulary.
• Writing links are developed well across the curriculum. Pupils enjoy writing for a range of purposes linked to their units of inquiry. They respond keenly to the range of texts and questions used to stimulate writing.
• Teachers ensure that home learning is regular, relevant and enriching. Both pupils and parents enjoy the tasks. Pupils told me how much they enjoyed making fire engines and bringing in information or artefacts about the Stone Age. Almost all parents who completed the Ofsted survey felt that the homework was appropriate for pupils.
• Staff plan exciting sequences of learning, but these are not always sufficiently well matched to pupils’ needs. When this is the case, pupils sometimes find the work too easy or too hard and as a result do not make strong enough progress. Occasionally, pupils are confused and do not get the help that they need quickly enough or know how to improve. As a result, their progress stalls.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding. The strong thread of spiritual, moral, social and cultural education running throughout the school ensures that pupils know how to be successful learners. They see these skills modelled by adults around the school. As a result, pupils are kind, engaging and supportive of each other. They develop these skills further through regular opportunities to join in the wider life of the school through such roles as playground buddies. Pupils have a secure knowledge of how to keep themselves safe. While they assured me that they had no experience of bullying, they were confident in school systems to resolve any issues.
• Community engagement ensures that pupils have a strong sense of themselves as members of their school and their wider community. For example, a regular Year 2 art project with a local artist develops a multi-leafed tree print for the wall in another classroom. The unity and pride pupils feel in their school are exemplified by the way in which they have welcomed new pupils during this period of growth. New pupils are made to feel welcome by everyone. As a result, they settle in quickly and soon thrive.
• There is a wide range of support available for pupils and their families should they need it from time to time. Parents and pupils feel comfortable sharing these needs with school leaders. In Ofsted’s survey, Parent View, parents described how their children viewed school as a ‘second home’. One parent typified the views of many, saying, ‘We couldn’t be happier with the choice we made – we feel embraced by the whole school community.’

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils conduct themselves well around the school. As a result, the school is a well-ordered, industrious environment in which to learn. During the inspection, pupils were enjoying the well-resourced, attractive environments both inside and out. At playtime, pupils are happy and energetic. They are supported well by adults who extend their play and offer help to sort out occasional low-level disagreements when needed.
• Pupils attend school regularly. A pupil told me, ‘I love school – I think it is important.’ Leaders are aware of the importance of regular school attendance, which is in line with national averages and is monitored regularly.
• Pupils enjoy their learning and behave well during lessons. However, sometimes pupils’ attention wanders during lessons. This lack of focus detracts from their learning and sometimes distracts others. This is often when teaching is not well enough matched to their needs.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Work in the books of current pupils shows that they are making good progress from their starting points. School information shows that pupils, including the most able, disadvantaged and those who have SEN and/or disabilities, build the required skills, knowledge and understanding across the curriculum. As a result, pupils are prepared well for the next stages of their education.
• In mathematics, pupils use numerical learning to problem solve effectively. They are able to apply well-evidenced mathematical reasoning. Pupils ask and answer questions that drive and extend their mathematical learning across the curriculum.
• The proportion of pupils meeting the expected standard in the national phonics screening check in Year 1 fell slightly from 2017. Current pupils are developing their phonics skills well. During the inspection, they demonstrated these in both their lessons and their reading.
• Pupils read widely and often. Pupils who read to me demonstrated fluency and comprehension skills appropriate to their age, and often beyond. Pupils are excited and inspired by the school library, which is stocked well with attractively presented texts.
• In the provisional results of the key stage 1 national assessments in 2018, more pupils attained the expected standards than proportions seen nationally in 2017 in reading, writing and mathematics. This was also the case in reading and writing at the higher standards.
• Skills across the wider curriculum are well developed. For example, in art, pupils enjoy a range of opportunities to apply their skills in a range of media. During the inspection, high-quality art work, such as chameleon camouflage pictures as part of a unit of work on spies, was evident. Pupils told me that they enjoy a wide range of sporting opportunities in PE.
• Pupils enjoy meaningful design opportunities, such as designing helicopters linked to the text ‘Rosie Revere Engineer’. Scientific experiments are a regular feature of the curriculum. While pupils enjoy the practical aspects of science, their written conclusions sometimes lack detail and development.
• Progress for all abilities of pupils is less evident in some writing books, particularly in those of boys. Writing is sometimes inaccurate and lacks the sophistication that pupils demonstrate orally. When this is the case, spelling and grammar choices can be haphazard and limited. Sometimes, progress is hampered by pupils’ lack of clarity as to how to improve their writing.

Early years provision Outstanding

• Children get off to an outstanding start in the early years. They make rapid progress from their starting points across the curriculum. A higher percentage of children reach a good level of development than that seen nationally. The small numbers of disadvantaged children make rapid progress from their starting points because their learning needs are supported effectively. Children who have SEN and/or disabilities are supported well by detailed plans.
• The learning environment and focused teaching sessions develop children’s skills in early number and writing effectively. Opportunities to write are plentiful, both inside and out. Children form letters well and are keen to write and record their learning. During the inspection, children were excited to write on whiteboards and in notebooks. They are well supported by adults, who model writing and encourage them to use their phonic knowledge to link sounds and letters.
• Children are well supported in their play and investigations because the environment is well planned to engage their curiosity. During the inspection, children explored a range of plastic mini-beasts in a wood-chip tray, for example. The teacher had also provided pictures and prompts. This allowed children to match, sort and spot the differences and similarities.
• Learning and teaching are outstanding. Adults are highly skilled at developing play, using prompts and suggestions. Questions are well used to extend thinking and assess understanding.
• The development of children’s social skills is excellent. Staff build strong relationships with children and quickly get to know them well. These warm relationships are mirrored by the children, who work and play happily together. At the time of the inspection, after only a few weeks in school and despite the wide range of other provision that children attend before starting school, they were a well-integrated group.
• The early years leader ensures that planning across the early years is well sequenced and responds to children’s interests. All the necessary training and safeguarding requirements are in place. Leadership and management of the early years are excellent.
• Parents appreciate the many ways in which they can contribute to their children’s learning. They were delighted at how quickly their children had settled and the progress that they were making. A parent whose views were typical of others said, ‘He has already come on in leaps and bounds in his confidence over the last few weeks and loves school so much he doesn’t want to leave!’

School details

Unique reference number 141085 Local authority Kent Inspection number 10053402 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Academy sponsor-led Age range of pupils 4 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 145 Appropriate authority Board of trustees Chair Sarah Stallebrass Executive Principal Headteacher Sian Carr Gemma Wyatt Telephone number 01892 553060 Website www.skinnerskentprimaryschool.org.uk Email address info@skinnerskentprimaryschool.org.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• The academy was first registered in July 2015. It had 26 pupils on roll in 2016. This rose to 71 in 2017 and is currently 145. Currently there are five classes for pupils in Reception Year to Year 4. There is a phased growth plan for 210 pupils.
• The school is part of a multi-academy trust with The Skinners’ Kent Academy. Governance is delivered through both the multi-academy trust board and a local governing body which operates as a committee within the wider trust board.
• The school is currently organised into five classes and expands with a new cohort of children in Reception each year. Places are oversubscribed. Pupils have also joined other year groups since the opening, so all classes are now of similar sizes.
• The school site also has a satellite provision for up to 15 pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. It is managed by Oakley School, which is not part of the multi-academy trust.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector met with staff, parents and leaders. Meetings were also held with representatives from the local governing body and the multi-academy trust board.
• The inspector reviewed a range of documentation, including development plans, minutes of meetings and progress information.
• Together with leaders, the inspector observed pupils around the school and in their classes. They observed teaching, looked at pupils’ work in books and spoke to pupils about their work.
• The inspector met with pupils to get their views of the school and heard pupils read. She took account of parents’ views at the school gate and considered 79 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, including 50 free-text responses and an email from a parent.

Inspection team

Deborah Gordon, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector