Ofsted Good and SIAMs OUTSTANDING

When selecting a school for their child, parents naturally, turn to the data available for the school. At Fordcombe we are proud of our Ofsted rating of Good - it reflects the effort and care that our teaching staff take in planning, preparing and delivering the array of subjects and projects throughout the year.

The school was inspected in October 2022 and was confirmed as a Good school. Fordcombe strives to be a caring and nurturing community for the children we serve, and Ofsted inspectors were clear that this is what they saw during the inspection: “Pupils enjoy attending this small and happy school. The school’s values of forgiveness, honesty, hope, love, perseverance and respect are central to pupils’ daily experiences.” The report recognised how well the school teaches children to read: “Pupils learn to read well, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). … Struggling readers are provided with effective extra support to help them to keep up. … This helps pupils to develop confidence and fluency, which motivates them to read more at home.” The inspection report is a very pleasing evaluation of the school's work. 

SIAMs (Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools) is the national assessment body, monitoring, grading and ensuring consistency in the educational experience and processes for all Church of England and Methodist schools in England. This is what they had to say about Fordcombe in 2017 when we were graded as Outstanding:

"Academic progress is recognised by Ofsted as good and attainment is above national average. Extensive and creative spaces, such as the library prayer tree and the outdoor spiritual garden, allow pupils to be expressive and reflective. When combined with opportunities for musicianship and sport, there is a clear sense of how the school values the spirit of the whole child and how social, moral, spiritual, and cultural education is embedded within the school’s ethos."

Music Mark GOLD!!

"Mrs Hughes helps us sing very well in our class, she also makes me sing on the inside a little bit because it makes me feel good to sing"
Pupil in Year 4

School Performance Measures

The Department for Education's School and College Performance Measures website give parents information about the academic performance of a school, as well as details about absence rates, school finance and the level and type of staffing. 

• School and College Performance Measures
• Fordcombe School

SATs
The documents below show our most recent set of Statutory Attainment Test results. These results give a snapshot of pupil attainment at the end of Reception, Year 1, Year 2 and Year 6.

We are extremely proud of this set of numbers, as it shows both the progress that pupils have made and the progress that the school has made in ensuring that pupils are ready in Year 6 for the next stage of their education.

You are able to compare Fordcombe's results with those of other local schools by using the Performance Tables website. Please bear in mind that all small schools are affected by pupils being worth large percentages. If all our pupils attain the Expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics, Fordcombe will be at the top of comparison charts. If just one of our pupils doesn't quite meet the Expected standard, this can be as much as 10% of our pupil population. This is something that you should consider when looking at the data and making a comparison of small schools including Fordcombe.

The government will not publish KS2 school level data for the 2021 to 2022 academic year. They have archived data from the 2018 to 2019 academic year because they recognise that the data from that year may no longer reflect current performance.