Petts Hill Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 28 March 2023

Pupils flourish in this welcoming and friendly school, where all pupils are included and valued. The core values of creativity, compassion, courage and community are at the centre of everything this school does. Leaders and staff know the pupils very well. Pupils are safe and enjoy belonging to this small, family orientated school. They receive an education that engages their interest in a wide range of subjects. Leaders and staff have high aspirations for every child. Pupils show an enthusiasm for learning. They produce artistic and written work of a high quality. Pupils develop academically, personally and socially here. Pupils demonstrate both exceptional behaviour and exceptional attitudes to learning in lessons. Adults promote high expectations for positive behaviour across all year groups. Incidents of low-level disruption are rare. During their social times, pupils play happily together. Pupils learn and show respectful manners to others. Bullying seldom happens. If it does occur, then adults deal with it swiftly. Parents spoke highly of school leaders and teachers. They value the quality of education and the support that their children receive. One parent's comment, which was typical of many, was, 'My kids are happy at Petts Hill.'

What the school should improve

• In a few subjects, the sequencing of knowledge and subject-specific skills is not organised with sufficient detail and precision across the curriculum. This means that pupils do not build up their knowledge and skills in these subjects in a suitably coherent and progressive way. Leaders should refine the curriculum further, making sure that it enables pupils to build their knowledge and skills securely across all subjects.
• The governing body does not hold school leaders accountable enough for the quality of education provided by the school. As a result, school leaders' evaluation of the quality of education and proposed improvement strategies are not sufficiently tested and scrutinised. The governing body should ensure that it possesses the knowledge needed to challenge school leaders about the quality of education. The governing body should challenge school leaders with more rigour to ensure that leaders' strategies to improve the quality of education are effective.

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