The school is much smaller than the average-sized primary school. The executive headteacher was appointed in September 2017. At the same time, the school entered into an informal partnership with another local school where the executive headteacher fulfils a similar role. Both schools retain separate governing bodies. There is one full-time newly qualified teacher. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is below the national average. The proportion of pupils with SEND is below the national average. The proportion of pupils who have an education, health and care plan is above the national average. Most pupils are of White British heritage. Inspection report: Thorndon Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, 19 to 20 June 2019 Page 9 of 11 Information about this inspection The inspector observed learning in 11 lessons or parts of lessons, some jointly with the executive headteacher. The inspector listened to pupils read and talked with them about their reading. He met with a group of pupils from key stage 2 and spoke with pupils informally in lessons and around the school. He met with the executive headteacher, the head of school, who is also the leader of English, the leader of mathematics and the early years leader. The inspector met with the SENCO who shares the responsibility with the executive headteacher. He also spoke with other teachers, including the newly qualified teacher, and other support staff. The inspector met with a group of governors, including the chair of governors. He met with a representative of the local authority. He met with parents at the start of the day and considered 29 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View. He also considered 28 free-text responses. There were no responses to the online staff and pupils’ surveys. The inspector considered a wide range of documentation, including the school’s improvement plan and self-evaluation summary, the school’s current information on pupils’ attainment and progress, attendance records, behaviour and bullying logs, external reports on the work of the school, monitoring records of teaching and learning and a range of documents relating to safeguarding. He also scrutinised minutes of meetings of the governing body and their record of visits to the school. Inspection team Steve Mellors, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Inspection report: Thorndon Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, 19 to 20 June 2019 Page 10 of 11 Any complaints about the inspection or the report should be made following the procedures set out in the guidance ‘Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email [email protected].