All Saints CofE Primary School, Horsham

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud to attend All Saints CofE Primary School. They learn about the school's values of respect, compassion, creativity and hope from when they start in early years.

These values are woven through all areas of school life and consistently demonstrated by pupils in how well they behave.

The school promotes a culture of high expectations. Pupils have positive attitudes and achieve well in their learning.

Successes are celebrated regularly. This helps pupils to take pride in their achievements and to discover more about one another's talents and interests.

Staff ensure that every pupil feels valued and safe.

Parents and carers apprec...iate the strong sense of community in which every pupil is known. Many say their children thrive here.

Pupils welcome opportunities to be role models and to demonstrate their leadership skills.

Through these responsibilities they contribute to the caring ethos of their school. For example, play leaders encourage pupils to be active and to make new friends.

Pupils have a clear understanding of equality, diversity and inclusivity.

They recognise that everyone is unique and that differences are to be celebrated. Staff help to bring a range of cultural perspectives to life through workshops, special days and visiting speakers.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The curriculum has been reviewed recently to ensure that it is ambitious for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

The school has carefully planned the order of learning so that pupils, from early years upwards, can build on their knowledge over time. The curriculum design ensures that teachers revisit important content regularly. This helps pupils to make important connections and to apply their knowledge in different ways.

As a result, pupils achieve well in this school.

Teachers know pupils well. This allows them to make appropriate teaching choices that help pupils to enjoy their learning.

In particular, pupils like to explore and investigate, which helps to develop their curiosity. Pupils are encouraged to reflect on their work and to discuss what they have learned. Starting from Reception, pupils learn to use an increasingly wide range of vocabulary.

This helps pupils to talk confidently about their knowledge and to make important links in their learning.

The school uses a range of strategies to check pupils' understanding. Often this helps staff to pick up on misconceptions and to change how they teach where needed.

However, this practice is not consistent. At times, tasks are not well matched to pupils' levels of understanding. Pupils with SEND are swiftly identified by the school so that support can be planned and put in place.

Teachers provide helpful resources to enable pupils with SEND to access the same learning as their peers. Occasionally, this does not provide sufficient support or is not precisely adapted to meet their needs.

Reading is an important priority in the school.

Children start learning to read as soon as they start in Reception. As they move through the school, most pupils learn to read with confidence and fluency. However, staff expertise in phonics teaching is inconsistent.

As a result, a small number of pupils do not learn to read as accurately or as quickly as they could. Pupils enjoy regular opportunities for sharing stories both in school and at home, which helps them to develop a love of reading.

Staff have very high expectations for pupils' conduct.

Behaviour is calm and orderly throughout the school. Children are taught about the importance of respect and compassion from early years upwards. As a result, pupils build positive relationships and are routinely kind to one another.

On the very rare occasions where pupils make poor behaviour choices, staff manage these situations expertly so that learning is not disrupted. During social times, the school provides purposeful activities that encourage pupils to be creative and collaborative in their play. Pupils show positive attitudes to their education.

They attend school regularly and punctually and are enthusiastic about their learning.

Pupils understand how to keep themselves safe and healthy. They learn about risks to be aware of as they get older and feel well prepared for the next stages in their development.

Pupils welcome the many opportunities they have to participate in clubs, competitions and performances.

Leaders have made a number of important improvements to the school's work in a short space of time. They have ensured that the well-being of staff and the views of parents have been considered when managing these changes.

As a result, staff feel very well supported and parents are extremely positive about their children's learning experience.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The support given to pupils with SEND is not consistently well matched to their needs.

This means that some pupils do not access the intended learning as effectively as they could. The school should ensure that staff make effective use of SEND provision plans to inform curriculum adaptations. ? Systems to check pupils' understanding are not used consistently.

As a result, misconceptions can be missed. Similarly, some pupils are insufficiently challenged by the choice of task they are working on because their starting points have not been considered carefully enough. The school should ensure that all staff use assessment effectively and consistently to check pupil's understanding and inform teaching choices.

• There is inconsistency in the teaching of phonics. Some pupils, particularly weaker readers, do not develop fluency and accuracy in their reading as quickly as they could. The school should ensure that all staff have the appropriate expertise to teach the phonics programme well.

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