Ofsted Reports

St Columba C of E Primary School recently, January 2020, joined the Diocese of Chichester Academy Trust (DCAT).

'The Diocese of Chichester Academy Trust (DCAT) has a clear vision which is helping every child achieve their God-given potential. Fundamental to this is that children within our care are safe and happy. Our Trust is committed to ensuring that we promote the highest standards of welfare, both physical and emotional for children at all of the DCAT academies.'  Mark Talbot DCAT CEO

St Columba C of E Primary School is a rapidly improved and improving school and we are pleased to share the positive outcomes of our most recent Ofsted Monitoring Inspection (September 2019) 

Following the monitoring inspection, the following judgements were made:

• Leaders and managers are taking effective action towards the removal of the serious weaknesses designation.
• The school’s improvement plan is fit for purpose.

Strengths in the school’s approaches to securing improvement:

• Pupils have increased their knowledge of phonics and mathematics. This is because staff’s subject knowledge has improved and they sequence lessons in a way that builds on pupils’ previous learning.
• Improvements in behaviour have ensured that pupils feel safe.

The progress made by the school in tackling the key areas for improvement identified at the section 5 inspection

• Since the previous inspection, leaders have worked hard with staff to rectify the areas of weakness in the school.
• Teachers and support staff have higher expectations of what pupils can achieve.
• Leaders and governors track pupils’ behaviour with greater precision. This helps them to identify and address issues before they grow.
• Staff have reviewed the mathematics curriculum and agreed a common approach to teaching calculation. They carefully order series of lessons so that pupils gradually develop, and remember, what they have learned. As a result, pupils, including the most able, are developing a stronger grasp of the key skills in mathematics and use these to solve challenging problems.
• The phonics (letters and the sounds they represent) curriculum has improved. As a result, they are developing the skills they need to become successful readers.

The effectiveness of leadership and management at the school

• Leaders are ambitious for the school and its pupils. Working closely with multi-academy trust officers and staff, they have identified the key priorities for the school to focus upon. Improvements in behaviour, phonics and mathematics have, rightly, been the highest priority.

• Professional development has been used well.

• Leaders have worked hard to improve their relationship with parents.  Leaders share news and events on social media, which is widely accessed and appreciated by parents. The vast majority of respondents to the Ofsted Parent View survey felt communication has improved.

Please find below the link to the Ofsted website. 

OFSTED

Also provided below is a link to Parent View. On the Parent View site, parents can provide Ofsted with their views about our Academy, at any time. We welcome parental use of Parent View.