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What have been our successes this year?

At Kents Hill School our mission statement is "Tomorrow's Success Begins Today". This year we have had the following successes:

• OFSTED inspection in October judged our school to be good with many outstanding features.
• Our Care Club was also inspected and judged to be good overall with outstanding features.
• Our school intake is at capacity and we have a waiting list of children. 
• SATs results in all subjects at level 2 and above exceed national levels. 
• Revised, enriched curriculum in place.
• Pupil performance tracking system embedded allowing close monitoring of pupil progress.
• "Basic Skills Quality Mark" acheived.
• "Active Playgrounds" scheme in place, encouraging increased physical activity.
• Kents Hill Care Club is running at capacity.
• THRASS scheme introduced across school for the teaching of handwriting, reading and spelling skills. Staff, parents and children are fully engaged in the scheme.

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What are we trying to improve?

The school continues to work hard to improve the progress made by children in school. We are implementing a more sophisticated pupil tracking system to track children's progress through school. This allows us to target support towards identified children.

We continue to look for ways in which we can enrich the curriculum. We are going to implement the talking partners programme across school to develop speaking and listening as a precursor to writing. We are trying to raise children's economic awareness by introducing a School Bank and holding a Money Week.

We are in the process of implementing the new Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. This will involve staff training and revised planning.

Governors are working hard to raise parents awareness of the issues associated with attendance. Several new initiatives have been agreed and implemented to bring school attendance figures in line with national average.

We are working towards acheiveing the new Healthy Schools Award. We are planning ways to make our school more environmentally friendly and are working towards EcoSchool status.

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How have our results changed over time?

At the end of Key Stage 1 all children are assessed in speaking and listening, reading, writing, maths and science. This assessment combines teacher assessment with statutory tasks and tests when appropriate. This assessment is known as SATs and is compulsory in all English state schools.
SATs results vary from year to year depending on the cohort of the children and it is the overall trend that is important.

On entry to the school our children are assessed at being below national average. They make very good progress during their time at Kents Hill. Our Key Stage One SATs results in 2008 compared very favourably with national results. Children exceeded 2007 national levels at level 2 and above in all subjects.

We are very proud that 46% of our children have achieved level 3 in reading this year and 35% achieved level 3 in maths far exceeding targets and national average.

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How are we making sure that every child gets teaching to meet their individual needs?

We aim to develop and improve children's learning skills so that they become successful lifelong learners. We have adopted the principles of "Building Learning Power" which raises children's awareness of how they learn and can become better learners.

We use a balance of teaching methods to stimulate and challenge every child's interest and imagination. There are opportunities for whole class, group and individual teaching, structured play, exploration and experimentation. These opportunities are carefully planned to meet the needs of all children.

Every child's progress is carefully monitored so that appropriate learning opportunities can be planned. We assess children on entry to our school and track their progress from term to term. This enables us to quickly identify children requiring additional support or further challenge and plan appropriate learning programmes to meet their needs. This support may take place in a small group or on an individual basis. We involve parents in this process and consult external support agencies as necessary.

We employ a language assistant to support the learning of children who speak English as an additional language.

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What have pupils told us about the school, and what have we done as a result?

The views of the children are very important to us and we regularly consult them.

Children are given a voice through the Student Council, with each class electing members. The Student Council meet regularly, as often as fortnightly, to discuss any issues that have been brought to their attention by their classmates. These meetings are facilitated by a member of the teaching staff and regularly attended by a governor. After meetings the members of the council report the outcomes back to their classmates.

The Student Council have established Golden Rules for the playground. They organise events to raise money. This money has been used to purchase playground equipment. They are also involved in the action planning for EcoSchools.

We regularly review our behaviour policy and continue to use the playground buddy system suggested by the School Council. We have a lunchtime buddy system where older children support younger children in the hall while eating their lunch.

At the beginning of each year the children decide Golden Rules for their homebase. Children who follow the Golden Rules are able to choose an activity to take part in during Golden Time at the end of each week.

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How do we make sure our pupils are healthy, safe and well-supported?

We strongly encourage healthy lifestyles throughout the curriculum. We offer all children the opportunity to have milk, and take part in the National Healthy Schools fruit and vegetable scheme. All children are encouraged to drink through the day by bringing a water bottle to school or using the water fountains.

Children have P.E. twice a week and MK Dons support curriculum football. We use an "Active Playgrounds" scheme to encourage children to have exercise during their breaks. The playground is divided into zones and lunchtime supervisors play and interact with the children in each zone.

Security and access to the school is regularly reviewed and this has resulted in improvements to our access and monitoring systems. Additional cycle storage has been installed to encourage more children to cycle to school.

All food provided in school, including hot meals at lunchtime, meet the government food standards.

Children are encouraged to express how they are feeling, through a variety of means. Staff are trained to support them in dealing with worries or concerns stemming from school or home life.

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What activities and options are available to pupils?

We conduct educational visits both locally and further afield. In the last year our children have visited the Botanical Gardens in Birmingham, taken a canal cruise and visited a pick your own farm. We also welcome visitors into school. For example, Foundation Stage children were visited by Farms2ewe who brought a wide range of farm animals for the children to experience.

All year groups benefit from environmental and physical activities in our school grounds, which include; a pond, outdoor classroom, a range of insect habitats, bird boxes and a newly installed playtrail.

Kents Hill Care Club continues to provide out of school care for children at the beginning and end of the school day. It also provides wrap around care for children attending the nursery. This club is non-profit making and is run by a management committe made up of parents governors and staff.

A wide range of extra curricular clubs including football, art, wildlife, gardening, French and Spanish are available to pupils. These are run by staff and outside providers.

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How are we working with parents and the community?

Parents and the local community are regularly invited into school to attend open days, theme days, class assemblies, performances and other special events. An outdoor event to "Discover the Wild Side of Kents Hill School" was attended by almost 100 parents and children. We have an open door policy for parents to speak to staff about their children as well as termly consultation meetings.

This year we held two open THRASS lessons for parents and governors to find out how our children learn in this subject. Each year we focus on a different aspect of the curriculum. We also trained over 60 parents in THRASS, and they now feel more able to support their children's learning.

At Christmas children from Kents Hill sang songs from our Christmas performances at the local nursing home, shopping centre and in the Centre:MK.

The school has an active Friends Association made up of parents which organises numerous events to raise money for school and charities. These include a Christmas Fair and Summer Fete.

This year we have worked in partnership with the Hilton Foundation in our fundraising. This year parents and children were invited to a Chinese New Year celebration at the Hilton Hotel.

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What do our pupils do after leaving this school?

On leaving the school after Year 2, the majority of children transfer directly to Heronsgate School, Walnut Tree.

Close links exist between the two schools and Heronsgate children are regularly invited to events and performances. Kents Hill pupils are given a number of opportunities to visit Heronsgate during the year so that they are familiar with the building and some of the staff. Staff from Heronsgate visit Kents Hill to meet with teachers and pupils prior to transition and we aim to make it as smooth as possible.

We also liase closely with other local schools catering for Key Stage Two pupils.

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Ofsted's view of our school

'We can't speak highly enough of this school,' commented one parent, reflecting the views of many. 'As well as the learning environment we especially like the caring, secure atmosphere here.' Indeed, the high quality of care provided for pupils is one of a number of outstanding features of this good school. Every effort is made to ensure that pupils are able to learn in a safe and stimulating environment. As a result, they make excellent progress in their personal development and achieve well academically. Pupils join the school with wide ranging skills that, taken overall, are below average. Good teaching means that pupils reach average standards by the end of Year 2.
The very strong senior team, under the expert guidance of the headteacher, ensures that everything the school does is focused on enabling pupils to fulfil their potential. They are well on the way to achieving this. Staff assess pupils' work regularly and this information is used well to ensure that lessons provide the right amount of support or challenge. As a result, pupils achieve well, regardless of their background or ability, because all are valued and included fully in school life. There are very good procedures for recording assessments and tracking pupils' progress. This information is used very well to target help where it is most needed. Pupils are set personal targets for their learning, which they understand and use to improve their work. Those who find learning difficult are catered for very well, as are the increasing numbers who are new to learning English. Similarly, a careful and sensitive check is kept on the all-round development of potentially vulnerable pupils. The school co-ordinates the involvement of a large number of outside agencies very effectively and this has a significant impact on pupils' learning and well-being. All of the required systems to ensure the protection of children and the suitability of adults in school are very secure.
To supplement the information about pupils' progress, there are strong systems to evaluate test results, monitor lessons and scrutinise the work in pupils' books. All the resulting information is used rigorously to identify what is working well and what can be improved. All staff share the senior leaders' drive to raise standards and they work determinedly to improve the quality of their teaching. This is one of the reasons why teaching is good, and staff are not complacent. They are working hard to ensure that even more lessons are good ones, for example, by improving consistency in the marking of pupils' work. The main focus of the school's recent work has been to raise standards in writing. The way that daily literacy lessons are taught has been modified, so that extra time can be spent on developing reading and writing. This is working well, but the school recognises that there is still more to do, particularly in ensuring that more of the pupils capable of reaching the higher levels in writing do so.
Pupils appreciate the wide range of interesting and exciting activities that teachers provide and this contributes immensely to their great love of school. A two-year cycle of planning for all subjects is ensuring that pupils build on their knowledge, skills and understanding as they move from class-to-class. The planning promotes pupils' personal and social development very well and ensures that they have an excellent understanding of how to stay safe and healthy. They particularly enjoy the many opportunities to play energetically on the excellent playground and grounds. The school council makes a strong contribution to school life and there are many opportunities for pupils to play a part in the wider community. Large numbers enjoy the very good range of clubs and other activities offered outside of lessons.
Pupils behave extremely well and report that they feel safe in school. Their enjoyment and very positive attitudes are not reflected, however, in their attendance rate. Despite the school's best efforts, this remains stubbornly below the national average. Close analysis reveals that much of the absence is due to the poor attendance of a few pupils, and from a large number of families taking holidays during term time. The school works hard to tackle this by providing an environment that pupils enjoy, promoting good attendance and by following up absences systematically. They recognise that there is still more to do, however, to ensure that all pupils receive the full benefit of their time in school. Despite this, pupils are well prepared for their future lives. Their good progress in the basic skills is supplemented by good opportunities to work in teams, for example, when raising funds for Cedric. In addition, the provision for information and communication technology has improved considerably since the last inspection. Year 2 pupils were seen using an impressive range of computer skills as they prepared a multi-media presentation about Hinduism. This cross-curricular approach reflects a strong and highly successful commitment to promoting pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
The school leaders, well supported by staff and governors, have created a school where the care, welfare and all-round development of pupils are paramount. They have a very accurate understanding of the school's effectiveness and they tackle areas for development determinedly. They are exceptionally well placed to improve the school further.

Date of last inspection: 11-Oct-2007

Ofsted graded our school as good

Inspectors made judgements on a scale: outstanding (grade 1); good (2); satisfactory (3); inadequate (4).

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What have we done in response to Ofsted?

Whilst the OFSTED report was good with outstanding points we are reviewing all of the comments raised in the OFSTED report and are looking at ways to improve in each area.

Governors have reviewed our attendance procedures and policies and implemented changes for the coming year.

Staff have reviewed the marking policy and particularly how we share written feedback with children.

Raising standards in writing is a high priority for school improvement. We believe that the THRASS scheme and Talking Partners will begin to pay dividends in this area.

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More Information

If you would like more information about school policies, including our policies on special educational needs and disability, admissions, finance, school food and our complaints procedure, please contact us:

By telephone: 01908 240038

Our website: http://www.kentshillschool.co.uk

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