A private school head teacher says improvements are already being made after inspectors found the quality of education was impacted by “turbulence” in leadership, and downgraded its overall rating.

Ofsted found some staff at the Chartfield School in Westgate-on-Sea, which has 33 pupils on its roll, were not trained in early reading and a high proportion of teachers lack “subject-specific expertise” due to many of them being new.

Head teacher Sarah Neale says the school has started implementing curriculum changes following a review, while many areas of the report are “extremely positive”.

Chartfield School, which teaches three to 11-year-olds, and charges up to £3,900 a year, was given a ‘requires improvement’ rating by inspectors following a visit between September 19 and 21, dropping from a ‘good’ grade, granted in 2020.

The Ofsted report, published this month, said: “Over the last academic year, the school has experienced turbulence in senior leadership.

“This turbulence impacted staffing stability and the overall quality of education.

“The directors of the proprietor body have taken effective action to resolve this turbulence. This has included a director taking on the role of headteacher.

‘The school has not yet developed an overarching curriculum policy...’

“Leadership and staffing are now stable and secure.”

Inspector found the school recognises that quality of teaching requires improvement and leaders have a “clear vision” of the education they want to provide to pupils.

“The school has not yet developed an overarching curriculum policy that sets out this vision, as required by the independent school standards,” the report added.

“As a result, the curriculum in a small number of subjects, including PSHE, is not clearly sequenced.

Inspectors found that in many subjects, leaders have written or adopted a clear curriculum and some, such as language and physical education, are taught by specialist teachers who are experts in what they teach.

But where the curriculum is not taught by specialist staff, “there is more variability”.

“A high proportion of teachers are relatively new to the school, and lack subject-specific expertise, including in the teaching of early reading and mathematics,” the report said.

“Where teachers have less subject knowledge, they explain things less clearly and do not always plan learning activities that support pupils to achieve the intended learning. Some pupils have fallen behind in their reading.

“While all pupils read daily with an adult, some adults are not trained in the teaching of early reading.

Despite the shortfalls found in the Ofsted visit, inspectors say pupils, parents and staff value the “nurturing, family-feel” Chartfield School provides.

And it found children settle happily into the nursery, where they are “very well supported” to develop the social skills and learning behaviours they will need to thrive at school.

“Pupils are supported to develop strong and healthy friendships,” the report added.

In a statement given to KentOnline on Monday, Ms Neale says the school has been under new leadership since September, when it launched a review of all areas including curriculum and policy.

“We have reviewed the curriculum in its entirety, have identified ways in which the curriculum can be improved and have begun to rapidly implement these changes,” she said.

“To a certain extent the outcome of the inspection was not a surprise given the changes this year and the timing of the inspection.

“The feedback we received during the inspection reflected our assessment and highlighted that we are focusing on the right areas of improvement and recognised the fantastic progress that is being made by the school.

“Many areas of the report are extremely positive, and the inspectors found many strengths within the school.

“We are particularly proud of the ‘good’ judgement for personal development and behaviour and attitudes which recognises the school’s work to provide a nurturing, inclusive and calm environment where children feel safe, show respect for their teachers and each other and want to do well.

“The children are at the heart of everything we do and Chartfield. The whole staff team are looking forward to moving forward with an incredible and exciting vision for the school.”

Following the September visit, the school was marked as ‘requires improvement’ in quality of education, leadership and management and early years provision. Chartfield, on Minster Road, was found not to meet independent school standards.

It was rated ‘good’ in behaviour and attitudes and personal development.