Chiltern Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 1 October 2024

Chiltern Primary is an inclusive school where pupils feel valued and accepted. Positive relationships, evident throughout the school, are built on the adults' deep understanding of each pupil's needs. Staff go to great lengths to support pupils and their families. As a result, pupils feel safe and know who to speak to if they have any concerns. Leaders have high expectations for pupils' behaviour. The school's rules of 'be respectful, be ready to learn and be safe' are a lived experience for pupils. Classrooms are busy with industrious learning. Typically, pupils behave well in lessons. However, not all pupils attend school regularly and this has a negative impact on their learning. Curriculum enrichments activities, such as visits to the Mary Rose or to a local bee farm, bring learning to life. Pupils also have access to a range of clubs to build on their interests including computing and construction. Recent work to improve the curriculum is having a positive impact. However, the quality of education in essential areas such as reading and mathematics needs to improve, as reflected in previously published outcomes. Pupils, including children in the early years, do not always learn or remember some key information as well as they should.

What the school should improve

• Improvements in the implementation of the curriculum, including in the early years, are at an early stage of development. This means that across the curriculum, too many pupils are not reaching the standards they should, including in reading and mathematics. The school should ensure that inconsistencies in teaching are swiftly addressed in the early years and key stage 1 so that pupils are suitably prepared for the requirements of key stage 2.
• Staff checks of pupils' learning do not accurately identify the gaps in knowledge. This means that some pupils develop misconceptions, and this slows their learning. The school should support staff to precisely check pupils' understanding and use this information to inform their teaching so that pupils better secure their knowledge over time.
• Attendance is too low for groups of pupils, including those with SEND and other disadvantaged pupils. This impacts pupils' access to the full curriculum, leading to gaps in learning. The school recognises this issue and has developed strategies to address it, though these plans are still in their early stages. The school must redouble its efforts to ensure that the strategies are having a positive impact on attendance and learning outcomes for these vulnerable groups of pupils.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)