Clandon CofE Aided Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Develop consistently strong teaching, learning and assessment so that all pupils make good progress.
• Ensure that pupils receive the right amount of challenge and support for them to reach at least age-related expectations in reading, writing, mathematics and science.
• Strengthen subject leadership to support the leadership and assessment of pupils’ learning.
• Ensure that teachers’ expectations of pupils’ behaviour for learning in the classroom are consistently high across all classes.
• Reduce persistent absence and help parents to understand the detrimental impact that their children’s absence has on their successful learning.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• Leaders have managed significant staffing turbulence, including within leadership, while managing the growth of the school as it changes from an infant to a primary setting. Governors and leaders acknowledge that while undertaking this essential work it has reduced leaders’ capacity to ensure that standards in the school have been maintained.
• The impact of this unsettled time has been to slow down the pace of school improvement. To some extent, progress has also been inhibited by the capacity of the headteacher to implement necessary change without the support of other senior leadership. The deputy headteacher stood down from her responsibilities at the start of this academic year, but this support has not been replaced.
• The current headteacher has provided much-needed stability. He is passionate and determined to improve opportunities for pupils at the school, and works tirelessly to raise standards. Since taking up post at the start of 2018, the headteacher has provided an accurate picture of the quality of the school’s work. These reflections are honest and clearly recognise the extent of the work still required. Priorities have been identified sensibly so that there is clarity of the improvement-planning objectives.
• All parents who responded to the online questionnaire, Parent View, agree that their children are happy and well looked after at the school. A few were unhappy about behaviour at the school and concerned about the expansion of the school to become a primary provision, due to the physical limitations of the school buildings. Other parents noted recent positive changes in the school. A comment representative of their views states, ‘There have been many changes for the better in the last year or so and it has remained a nurturing and safe environment for children to learn in.’
• Leaders have high expectations, but these are not reinforced stringently enough across the school, resulting in inconsistencies in the quality of teaching.
• The curriculum has been redesigned to be broad and balanced. Topics chosen are planned to ensure national curriculum coverage across mixed-age classes. However, monitoring of the quality of delivery of all curriculum subjects is not yet consistently carried out.
• The local authority and the Diocese of Guildford have provided timely support over a difficult period for the school. In particular, the local authority has brokered good-quality support to raise standards in teaching and learning, with a focus on behaviour management, and the diocese has provided leadership to improve standards in writing.
• Staff are mostly supportive of new initiatives and are positive about the support and training they receive to review and refine their approaches. However, much of this work is recent and the impact is yet to be realised in improving classroom practice and outcomes sufficiently.
• Additional funding for disadvantaged pupils is being well targeted to provide a wide range of experiences and support. The use of pupil premium funding has been carefully considered to meet the precise needs of each disadvantaged pupil. Leaders are tracking the impact of the new initiatives that have been developed. As a result, pupils supported by pupil premium funding are making more rapid progress to be in line with their peers.
• Leaders ensure that funding to support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is used appropriately. These pupils are supported well in class and their progress is improving as a result.
• Leaders have used the sport premium effectively to improve participation rates and pupils’ understanding of their health and fitness. They encourage pupils to make healthy choices.
• Pupils benefit from the strong values that the school promotes. These help them to grow up respecting different cultures, religions, beliefs and life choices, understanding democracy, and why there are rules in society, for example. Pupils’ understanding of British values is effective. Extra-curricular events such as clubs, sporting competitions and residential trips are used well to develop pupils’ personal development.

Governance of the school

• Governors are committed, enthusiastic and ambitious for the school and understand their role. Those who spoke with the inspector are acutely aware of the challenges facing a small school.
• Governors receive useful and detailed information from the headteacher on how well teaching supports learning. Governors are also well informed about the impact leaders are having and the rate at which the school is improving. They follow this up effectively by regularly carrying out focused visits.
• Governors ask challenging questions of the headteacher to help them understand how well the school is performing.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Advisers from the diocese have reviewed all aspects of safeguarding. This has helped ensure that those who are responsible for safeguarding have focused their energy well on areas that need to be more robust. For example, a staff code of conduct and effective ways to share safeguarding information with all staff have been introduced.
• All statutory risk assessments, policies and procedures are in place. Staff and governors have attended up-to-date safeguarding training and are aware of the signs that pupils may be at risk of harm. School leaders are aware of what they must do to be alert for radicalisation and extremism.
• Safer recruitment is taken very seriously. Checks on new staff are completed in a timely manner and recorded appropriately on the single central register.
• School leaders work effectively with other agencies to protect children. They are proactive in following up concerns when necessary. Staff keep accurate records, following school policies and procedures.
• The effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements is checked carefully by members of the governing body and by the headteacher.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Some teachers do not expect enough of what pupils can achieve. They do not use assessment successfully to plan learning activities that are closely matched to pupils’ abilities.
• Learning time in some lessons is not maximised. Sometimes teachers allow pupils to talk when they should be listening. As a result, pupils do not achieve as much as they should, or they miss some of the learning being explained by teachers.
• Historically, some pupils have not made sufficient progress from their previous starting points in some subjects, particularly in writing. Current pupils’ writing books reveal that, too often, pupils’ work lacks the challenge that the wide range of abilities and ages in classes need. This limits the proportion of pupils attaining the higher standards. Conversely, some lower-ability pupils find work too challenging and are not supported adequately to enable them to access the learning.
• The science curriculum has been carefully designed for all classes to cover the requirements of the national curriculum, but not all teachers are adhering closely enough to these plans. In some classes, pupils are not deepening their knowledge and understanding through carefully planned tasks matched to their abilities. For example, pupils carry out few investigations, and sometimes do not consider what they have learned about scientific concepts.
• The teaching and assessment of phonics across Reception and key stage 1 are effective. Teachers ensure that pupils have the necessary skills to read words accurately. This is building pupils’ confidence to become more fluent readers. Pupils read frequently and enjoy visiting the new school library.
• Leaders have introduced a new approach to teaching mathematics. This has had a significant impact on outcomes for pupils. Workbooks show that current pupils are given increasing opportunities to reason and to use mathematical language to explain their understanding. Although expectations of different abilities and ages are more evident in mathematics, and pupils are making good progress, there are examples where pupils are not challenged or supported effectively.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare requires improvement because leaders and teachers have not ensured that pupils understand how to be successful learners.
• When teaching is not closely matched to their needs, too many pupils work through tasks that are too easy before tackling work that is challenging enough. Consequently, the most able pupils do not make the progress of which they are capable.
• All parents who responded to Parent View believe that their children feel safe and are well looked after by the school. Pupils told the inspector that they feel safe and know how to keep themselves safe in a range of situations, including when online. They are confident that adults will deal with any concerns they may have.
• Pupils said that their work in supporting a wide range of national charities helped them see what it is like to be somebody else. Through their involvement with ‘share a pencil day’, pupils were particularly keen to share their understanding of how difficult it is for some children in other countries to access learning.
• Pupils, especially as they get older, are encouraged to take on roles of responsibility, for example as members of the school council and the faith council, and as house captains. Pupils from the faith council lead prayer at the end of worship each day. Older pupils lead play activities for younger children during lunchtime.
• Christian values have a high profile around the school. Pupils demonstrate tolerance and respect for themselves and others.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.
• A small number of lessons are affected by low-level disruption, such as by pupils talking over the teacher, getting out of their seats, not listening to their classmates’ answers, and distracting others. Pupils say that they sometimes find it difficult to concentrate in class because of the disruptions, and that learning time is often spent dealing with the misbehaviour of individuals.
• The variations in behaviour result from the inconsistent expectations of staff and inconsistent implementation of school policies and systems. For example, the inspector observed pupils behaving perfectly around the school both with and without adult supervision. They walked sensibly, and were courteous, polite and well mannered. However, on several occasions, pupils were seen behaving inappropriately within sight of school staff who did not address this poor behaviour.
• Attendance is below the national average for primary schools and so far during this academic year has further declined. Leaders are working hard with parents and external agencies to improve rates of attendance,
• The percentage of pupils who are persistently absent is above the national average. In part, this results from parents taking their children on unauthorised holidays during term. Pupils therefore miss out on their learning.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Over the past three years, outcomes at the end of key stage 1 have declined, particularly in reading and writing, due to variability in the quality of teaching. Leaders have started to address this but teaching and learning remain inconsistent across the school. Teaching overall is still not sufficiently effective to overturn the legacy of underachievement in key stage 1.
• In 2017, a significant dip in outcomes in writing at the end of key stage 1 meant that no pupils reached the expected standard for their age. Outcomes improved in 2018, but attainment remained below the national average.
• In 2018, pupils’ attainment in mathematics at the end of Year 2 showed a rapid rise from the previous year and exceeded the national average.
• Inspection evidence shows that teaching in some classes and subjects is improving and leading to better outcomes. Initiatives to raise standards in writing are showing that more pupils are now working at the age-related expectations. However, progress is not consistently strong, especially where pupils fail to respond to and learn from teachers’ feedback.
• A scrutiny of a large sample of current pupils’ work shows that overall progress from September across all subjects, although improving, is still not routinely good.
• Current disadvantaged pupils do catch up with, and sometimes exceed, their peers. Leaders have identified pupils who have fallen behind, and have introduced timely additional support to remedy the gaps in their understanding.
• Good leadership of provision for pupils with SEND means that these pupils make strong progress against their targets.
• In early years, from broadly average starting points, children make good progress and achieve well. However, children’s strong start in the early years is not successfully built upon in key stage 1.
• The proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in the phonics screening check at the end of Year 1 has been consistently above average for the past four years.

Early years provision Good

• The early years leader has a clear vision and is aware of the strengths and weaknesses within this phase. She is eager to act on the areas identified as needing attention, particularly outdoors, to aid the children’s learning. Staff work effectively together for the benefit of the children and their families.
• There are good systems in place for recording and tracking children’s progress. As a result, teachers plan activities that meet the differing needs of individual children, enabling them to make as much progress as possible.
• Adults provide a good range of activities to support children’s learning, with a strong emphasis on first-hand experiences. For example, during the inspection, newly hatched chicks were the focus for learning, with children becoming ‘scientists’ to examine, draw and describe the features of the chicks. Children were creating artistic representations using mature language such as ‘feathers’ and ‘beaks’ to describe the chicks.
• The recent replacement of a canopy has improved the outside provision. Leaders acknowledge that further investment in resources is necessary to match the quality of provision indoors. Children actively engage in collaborative activities, with several children seen building a seaplane from large construction blocks. They confidently talked about a seaplane, informing the inspector that they ‘land on water so they don’t just need wheels’.
• The teaching of phonics is regular, systematic and well matched to the individual needs of the children. As a result, their understanding of sounds and letters is strong and they are well prepared to develop their reading further in Year 1.
• Parents are positive about the start their children receive to their school career in early years. They are regularly invited into the school to share their children’s learning through open afternoons.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 125199 Surrey 10088075 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 aided 4 to 10 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 85 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Mr James Culmer Mr Jonathan Light Telephone number 01483 222 442 Website Email address www.clandon.surrey.sch.uk head@clandon.surrey.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 27–28 November 2013

Information about this school

• This is a smaller-than-average-sized school, having expanded from an infant to a full primary provision. The school currently has pupils from Reception Year through to Year 5. Some classes are mixed age.
• The school is a Church of England school, part of the Diocese of Guildford.
• Significant changes in leadership and staffing have taken place over recent years. The headteacher has been in post since January 2018.
• The deprivation indicator for the school is in the lowest 20% of all primary schools. The proportion of pupils who attract pupil premium funding is below the national average. The proportion of pupils with SEND is below the national average.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector observed learning in all classes. All of these observations were carried out jointly with the headteacher.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, middle leaders and governors. Telephone conversations were held with representatives of the diocese and the local authority.
• The inspector observed the school’s work and looked at documentation, including: the school’s analysis of its strengths and weaknesses; information on pupils’ attainment and progress; records of behaviour and safety; minutes of governing body meetings; and safeguarding documents.
• A discussion was held with a group of pupils, and informal conversations with pupils took place during lessons and at breaktimes. The inspector listened to pupils read and scrutinised work in pupils’ books.
• The inspector considered 26 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, as well as 25 free-text comments. Views of parents were informally sought at the beginning of the school day.
• The inspector considered four responses to the staff survey and 14 responses to the pupil survey.

Inspection team

Marcia Goodwin, lead inspector

Ofsted Inspector