The Horsell Village School

Overview

The Horsell Village School is described as a place where “pupils love to come and learn” and are “fully engaged in their learning.” Leaders maintain high expectations, fostering strong relationships and a culture of kindness that ensures pupils feel safe and supported. The school provides a well-designed curriculum that promotes personal development and effective teaching, particularly in early years and reading.

Strengths

• Pupils demonstrate strong attitudes to learning, behaving well and concentrating without interruption, guided by the school motto of “Kindness to yourself, kindness to others, kindness to the world”.
• Teachers possess secure subject knowledge and present learning clearly, ensuring pupils develop a “growing vocabulary in each subject” and build on previous understanding.
• Phonics teaching is “strong”, with all staff trained as experts in early reading, and vulnerable pupils receive targeted support to keep up.
• Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well supported, learning in manageable steps and covering the “same curriculum as their peers”.
• The school prioritises well-being through a “very strong commitment to outdoor learning” and a forest school programme.

Areas to improve

• Leaders must ensure pupils read books that “closely match the letters and sounds they have learned” to prevent decoding difficulties.
• Teachers need to systematically review and link current work to past learning in all subjects, as currently pupils are “not building their knowledge as well as they could over time” in some areas.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with a “strong culture of safeguarding” where all adults are vigilant and trained to report concerns.