Horsley CofE (Controlled) Primary School

Overview

This ungraded inspection found that aspects of the school’s work “may not be as strong as at the time of the previous inspection,” triggering a future graded inspection. Despite this, the school maintains a “warm and welcoming atmosphere” with a strong “family feel,” where pupils receive a “high level of care” and behave well. The curriculum is described as “broad and ambitious,” though its implementation remains inconsistent across subjects.

Strengths

• Reading is a “top priority” with an “effective” programme; staff “routinely and robustly check pupils’ reading skills,” ensuring children become “confident, fluent readers.”
• Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are “well supported to learn alongside their peers,” with staff who “know these pupils’ needs well.”
• Behaviour is generally excellent, with pupils described as “polite, kind and confident learners” who demonstrate “beautiful manners.”
• The school offers “ample opportunities to develop their talents and interests,” including popular activities like comic club, sporting competitions, and residential visits.
• Staff are “overwhelmingly positive about working at the school” and are “proud to be part of the school community.”

Areas to improve

• Checks on the impact of the curriculum in some subjects are at a “very early stage,” meaning the school lacks a “secure understanding” of what knowledge pupils have secured.
• In some subjects, activities do not support pupils in achieving intended curriculum goals, resulting in insufficient “depth of knowledge.”
• Pupils’ understanding of “fundamental British values, including a range of faiths and cultures, is not secure,” leaving them not “well prepared for life in modern Britain.”

Safeguarding

The report states that “the arrangements for safeguarding are effective.”