Cranham Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Cranham Church of England Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 25 May 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in March 2015.

This school continues to be good The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Parents, governors, pupils and staff are rightly proud of the school and value the inclusive and welcoming culture that you have created. Together with your staff you have successfully addressed the areas for improvement identified at th...e previous inspection.

In the past two years, you have appointed two new teachers and you have recently changed the leadership responsibilities of some staff. You have ensured that teachers are well trained for their new roles and they have welcomed this. As a result you have a happy, well-motivated staff body, who give their best for the school and get the best out of the pupils.

Parents and carers comment that good use is made of the local area to enhance learning and pupils appreciate the fact that 'we are an outside school'. You, and your governors, have spent the additional government funding for physical education wisely so that there is a wide range of sporting activities available to the pupils. This is valued by the pupils and their parents, as are the other additional activities that you ensure that the school provides.

Pupils are well behaved, polite, friendly and keen to do well. Governors have recently reorganised the way that they work so that they check how the well school is performing more effectively. They have assessed their skills and have recruited additional members who can add value to the governing body.

As a result, the governing body is working more effectively. Safeguarding is effective Leaders and governors take the welfare and safety of pupils very seriously. Together you have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose, and records are detailed and of high quality.

The arrangements for checking the suitability of staff to work with children meet requirements. Staff have built strong relationships with pupils and their families, and they take great care to ensure that pupils are kept safe in and out of school. Staff and governors have regular training on aspects of safeguarding and as a result have up-to-date knowledge of any issues or signs of abuse.

Pupils learn about online safety, how to be safe outside and on the roads, and are taught about first aid. They understand what bullying is, but do not think it is a concern at this school. As a result of the work of governors and staff, pupils feel safe in school, and responses on Parent View show that parents agree.

Inspection findings ? The first line of enquiry was to examine how effectively leaders were improving teaching and learning in mathematics. You rightly identified mathematics as a key priority for improvement. As part of a set of changes to staff leadership roles you decided to take personal responsibility for the leadership of mathematics.

You have worked with consultants to check the quality of teaching and have prioritised staff training, using a range of respected experts as well as leading sessions yourself. As a result of this, staff confidence and subject knowledge is strong. ? From the learning walk and the work in pupils' mathematics folders we could see that teachers were planning regular mental arithmetic sessions to build pupils' fluency in calculation.

There were also some examples of activities that promote pupils' problem-solving and reasoning skills. These are key requirements of the national curriculum in mathematics, but were not being used consistently in all classes, and in other cases were not used effectively to develop pupils' reasoning. You were aware of this and had already planned further work to help develop pupils' skills in this area during the next year.

• The second line of enquiry was how effectively teachers are ensuring that pupils make good progress in reading. In your evaluation of the school you identified that pupils were taught the mechanics of reading very well, but were not developing other reading skills such as inference and comprehension sufficiently. ? To address this you have worked with your English leader to restructure the way that reading is taught, and have provided recent training for staff to help them develop their skills in this area.

This is starting to be effective. Staff are using the new approach confidently and pupils are clear about how this helps them to understand written texts more deeply. Teachers are working hard to develop pupils' vocabulary so that this is not a barrier to their understanding.

• The final line of enquiry was how effectively leaders and governors use additional government funding to support pupils to achieve the best possible outcomes. The report on how the school has spent the physical education and sport premium convincingly shows how this money has been used to improve participation and engagement so that pupils are fitter and healthier. ? You, and the new leader responsible for pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities, have carefully managed the additional funding provided to support these pupils.

Programmes to help these children have been evaluated carefully, and adjusted if they are not effective. Governors have checked the impact of the work that has been done to support these pupils. As a result of these actions these pupils are making good progress in their learning and are fully included in school life.

Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? the mathematics curriculum is further developed so that all pupils consistently develop their reasoning and problem-solving skills. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of Gloucester, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Gloucestershire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

Yours sincerely Tom Morrison Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection I held meetings with you, the chair of the governing body and several other governors, middle leaders, teachers and other staff. I had a telephone conversation with a representative of the local authority and met with a group of pupils. I made observations of learning across the school jointly with you, and jointly scrutinised examples of pupils' work.

I examined a variety of documents including leaders' evaluation of the performance of the school, development plans, assessment information and the school's website. I also examined records of checks that leaders make on the suitability of staff to work with children. I took account of the views of parents from the 35 responses to the Ofsted online survey, Parent View, and met some parents after school.