Five Ashes CofE Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 4 February 2025

This school cherishes every child and challenges them to thrive. It is a nurturing place where staff greet pupils daily with a warm welcome. Pupils learn and play joyfully together. They are highly respectful of each other and are welcoming to visitors. It is, therefore, a very welcoming place to be. The school has high ambitions for all pupils. Recent developments, including a new leadership structure and an overhauled curriculum, have raised standards in key stages 1 and 2. The updated curriculum ensures pupils in mixed-age classes benefit from an aspirational learning experience and achieve well. However, the quality of education is not of the same high standards in the early years, where improvement work is in its infancy. Pupils behave well and attend school regularly. Learning is rarely interrupted and playtimes are enjoyable. Pupils appreciate the fact that staff understand them and their families very well. This helps pupils feel safe. Pupils participate in a variety of clubs and trips. In addition to regular woodland days and sports competitions, staff continually seek ways to broaden pupils' horizons. This includes experiences that enable pupils to learn about culture, such as performing opera at Glyndebourne and attending an international tennis event in Eastbourne.

What the school should improve

• Since the introduction of a new curriculum, leaders have not routinely monitored and evaluated its implementation. This means they are not always aware of pockets of the curriculum that are not being implemented as they intended. This has, occasionally meant that some pupils have not fully experienced the newly designed, more ambitious curriculum as planned. The school must ensure it systematically reviews the implementation of the curriculum to identify and address any inconsistencies.
• Standards are not as high in the early years. Curriculum implementation does not always engage children or align fully with the intended curriculum. Additionally, some staff do not always have the subject knowledge needed to confidently deliver the intended curriculum and expectations are not as consistently high as they are in other key stages. This means children are not learning as well as they could. The school has identified early years as a priority. All must ensure that planned curriculum improvements are implemented effectively and staff receive the necessary training to strengthen subject knowledge so that expectations for children's learning are raised to match the ambition of the curriculum.

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