Scarcliffe Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching in writing – and thereby increase the proportion of pupils on track to attain the higher standard in this subject – by ensuring that:
  • leaders check that the training they are providing for teachers in the teaching of spelling, grammar and punctuation leads to consistently good-quality teaching of these aspects over the long term
  • pupils are given good opportunities to write at length, including in different subjects.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher has high expectations of staff and all pupils. He is determined that Scarcliffe Primary will offer the best education for every pupil, and he leads by example.
• Since his arrival in the beginning of the previous academic year, he has wasted no time in improving the quality of teaching. Quickly realising that pupils were not being taught to calculate with speed and accuracy, he adjusted the mathematics curriculum and provided good training and support for staff. As a result, pupils’ calculation skills are now secure, and mathematics is being taught consistently well across all year groups.
• He is fully supported by the members of the senior leadership team who – like him – show no complacency in their desire to attend to any aspects they feel the school does not do well enough. Leaders monitor the quality of teaching and learning rigorously, scrutinising pupils’ work, discussing learning with pupils and visiting classrooms to see lessons. They have drawn up effective plans to improve further.
• The curriculum for every year group is balanced and broad. It is enhanced by trips and visits that make learning relevant and exciting, such as to the National Mining Museum. Pupils also have the opportunity to take part in a daily after-school club, as well as opportunities in – for instance – chess and gymnastics.
• The curriculum is well designed so that – across subjects – it builds on the things pupils have already learned. For example, children in the early years visit a farm to see how crops are planted. Pupils in key stage 1 then find out about plants and other living things. In Years 5 and 6, pupils study nutrients and microorganisms. The building of knowledge over time helps pupils know and remember more. It also assists them in seeing connections between different things, such as deforestation and how they might reduce their own carbon footprint.
• Leaders spend the pupil premium well to accelerate the progress of disadvantaged pupils. They identify the barriers to learning different pupils face, wisely choose the support they provide for them and check rigorously that it is proving to be effective.
• The coordinator for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) ensures that any funding is spent well to help these pupils make good gains from their starting points.
• Leaders ensure that the primary physical education and sport funding is spent effectively. Pupils take part in a wide range of events and competitions with other local schools in sports such as athletics, cricket, tag rugby and boccia.
• Leaders ensure that pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. Pupils learn about different religions and visit places of worship for the world’s major faiths. They understand right and wrong and also reflect on moral issues. They play an active part in planning whole-school events such as Science Day and Sports Morning.
• Pupils are taught fundamental British values well. They understand the need to follow the school’s rules because ‘it’s the right thing to do’, enjoy taking part in democratic opportunities and are respectful to others.
• Staff hold very positive views about the school. They feel leaders appreciate and respect them, are mindful of their workload and give them good ongoing support to improve. Staff work closely together, sharing information and ideas.
• Parents express consistently strong support for the school and its leadership. Every one of those who responded to Parent View would recommend the school to others. Some travel considerable distances so that their children can attend Scarcliffe Primary.
• The school is an important part of the village community. Pupils from the school attend many events, such as the lantern parade. Parents are warmly welcomed into school life, for example at the Christmas craft afternoon.
• Although leaders have provided staff with valuable training in the teaching of spelling – and have planned further opportunities to show them how to teach grammar and punctuation more effectively – they have not checked that this training will lead to teachers delivering high-quality teaching in these aspects over time.

Governance of the school

• Governors understand their strategic role well and hold leaders to account effectively. They check that the information they are provided with is accurate by visiting the school regularly. They discuss pupils’ work with staff, check that pupils are provided with effective support when needed and ask leaders challenging questions about pupils’ achievement. Governors also receive reports from leaders of different subjects.
• This good level of information means that governors can speak confidently and accurately about what the school does well and why actions are taking place to improve any aspects that are weaker, as well as improvements that have already taken place.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Staff understand fully their responsibility to remain vigilant and report any concern – however slight – that a pupil could be being harmed. They are well trained and alert for the warning signs of abuse.
• Leaders keep clear records that show they act promptly and appropriately to help protect pupils. They work well with both parents and – where needed – external agencies such as social care.
• Leaders are taught how to recruit staff safely. They ask appropriate questions in interviews and check aspects such as any gaps in a candidate’s employment history.
• Leaders place good amounts of information on the school’s website, as well as holding meetings for parents, showing them how to help keep their child safe online. Parents strongly agree that staff keep their children safe in school.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers plan and deliver good teaching. Work is appropriately challenging and, overall, it meets the needs of different pupils.
• Teachers help pupils to understand by teaching them correct vocabulary. For example, pupils in Year 1 and 2 are taught words such as ‘inverse’ in mathematics and ‘tectonic plates’ when learning geography.
• Teachers provide good support to help those pupils whose ability is below average or who need to catch up. If pupils do not understand something, teachers explain it to them in different ways so they can learn.
• Teaching assistants support and extend learning well. They clarify pupils’ misunderstandings and communicate new knowledge in ways that pupils understand.
• Teachers give pupils good opportunities to use their extensive creative skills, including when writing. As a result, pupils in Year 5 compose sentences such as ‘Apart from the banging and clanging noises coming from the depths of the pit, morning turned to afternoon before anything happened.’
• Staff plan for pupils to enjoy and learn in the school’s outdoor environment. The inspector saw pupils working enthusiastically together in the school’s wooded space, learning to use timber hitch knots to secure ropes to trees in order to create shelters.
• All staff consistently model respect and a visible positivity towards learning and to life. As a result, relationships are a strength of the school. Pupils the inspector met repeatedly told him how staff were friendly and always want to help them. Because of the approach of staff, pupils cooperate, work hard and want to find out new things. Classrooms are very positive learning environments.
• Staff provide increasingly well for the most able pupils. They receive more frequent challenges that make them think hard.
• Pupils’ workbooks show that teachers do not show pupils consistently well how to use spelling, grammar and punctuation precisely in their writing. Some pupils make errors in these aspects when they write, and are not shown effectively enough how to correct their mistakes.
• Not all teachers give pupils sufficient opportunities to write at greater length, including across different subjects. This restricts pupils’ opportunities to demonstrate their writing skills, and does not build their stamina to write extended compositions. ,

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils have a good understanding of how to stay physically healthy, including the importance of a balanced diet. They enjoy taking part in the many opportunities for exercise the school provides. Many enthusiastically complete the ‘morning mile’ before lessons begin. At breaktimes, they devise running and jumping games and test each other using a stopwatch.
• Staff support pupils’ emotional well-being effectively, for example through ‘Bubble Time’, which pupils say helps them discuss things with staff rather than ‘bottling it up’. Staff’s very positive, trusting relationships with pupils mean that pupils can – and do – approach adults in school if they are worried about something.
• Pupils are insistent that there is almost no bullying in school because everyone gets on so well. On the very rare occasions pupils fall out, they say that staff deal with it quickly.
• Pupils are given good responsibilities and opportunities to become independent, for example through the school council. They campaign and give speeches to become elected and go on to play active roles in the life of the school. They also raise money for charity.
• Staff help pupils to develop a ‘growth mindset’, which pupils say helps them to persevere when making a mistake and not to be put off if a question is very hard to answer. Pupils choose for themselves work that is challenging rather than too easy.
• Pupils have a good understanding of how to stay safe, including when using the internet or a mobile telephone.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils are very keen to learn. They do not disrupt the learning of others. Instead, they pay attention in lessons and are keen to answer questions.
• The large majority of pupils complete their work neatly. Leaders are aware of the small number of instances where this is not the case. They are ensuring that staff insist that all pupils write carefully, in line with the school’s policy and expectations.
• Pupils move about the school sensibly, even where spaces and corridors are narrower or have restricted space.
• Pupils say that they feel extremely proud to attend Scarcliffe Primary. One pupil summed up the view of so many others by saying, ‘It’s like being part of one big family here.’
• Published information and data held by the school show that pupils’ attendance is consistently above the national average.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Over the past three years, pupils’ attainment in key stage 1 has been at least broadly in line with the national average.
• Over time, the progress that pupils have made in key stage 2 has been average overall.
• Pupils’ attainment by the time they leave the school is broadly in line with that found nationally although – for the past two years – smaller proportions of pupils in the Year 6 cohorts have attained the expected standard in mathematics.
• Lower proportions than those found nationally have attained the higher standard at the end of key stage 2, particularly in writing and mathematics.
• School data – confirmed in pupils’ exercise books – shows convincingly that a very large majority of pupils currently in the school are making good progress across different subjects. Around seven to eight in 10 are currently on track to reach at least the standards expected for their age. Increasing proportions are on track to attain a greater depth of understanding or the higher standard.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils in any specific cohort is too small to report on without these pupils being identified. Nevertheless, workbooks from these pupils show that they make strong progress. They – like other pupils – leave well prepared for secondary school.
• Pupils with SEND make consistently good gains from their starting points.
• Pupils’ number and calculation skills are secure. They can reason and solve mathematical problems well and most older pupils have particularly quick recall of their multiplication tables. This helps them to solve more complex mathematical problems with fluency.
• Pupils’ phonics skills are strong. Consistently higher proportions than the national average attain the skills they should by the end of Year 1.
• Pupils make good progress in science, and they acquire good levels of scientific knowledge. They plan investigations well, record accurate results and reach logical conclusions.

Early years provision Good

• The early years leader has a clear understanding of the quality of education provided in the Reception Year. She gives good advice and support to her team – including those who are new to the profession – to improve further.
• Staff visit the many pre-school settings from which children enter the early years. They use the information from these settings – and from parents – to find out what each child can do – and how they learn best – before he or she begins school.
• Staff plan the curriculum carefully so that there is a clear focus in the first term on any area of learning where children need to catch up, such as their language. They begin to teach children phonics without delay. At the same time, the curriculum is broad and balanced.
• Staff ask good questions that make children think. The inspector saw them asking what would happen to ice if it was left on the ground outside. Children paused, looked up to the sky and replied that ‘It will melt because the sun is out.’
• As a result of very caring and friendly staff, children settle in quickly and feel safe. Exciting lessons make them pay close attention. Children cooperate well and take turns appropriately.
• Children think about keeping each other safe. For example, without being asked or prompted, they were brushing the frost off the climbing frame so that no-one slipped and hurt themselves. The thoughtful nature of children in the early years is reflected in pupils throughout the school.
• Staff ensure that parents are given good and regular information about their child’s progress, as well as their child’s skills in relation to others typically of the same age.
• Children overall enter the early years with levels of skills across most areas of learning that are broadly in line with those typically found in other children of the same age. Their skills in reading, writing, number and communication are slightly below this.
• Children – including any that are disadvantaged or with SEND – make good progress from these starting points.
• While the proportion of children who exceed the levels across the different early learning goals is not substantial – particularly in mathematics – children nevertheless leave the early years well prepared for Year 1. The proportions who attain a good level of development are consistently above the national average.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 112615 Derbyshire 10086751 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Community 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 93 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Liz Smyth Ian Marsh Telephone number 01246 823 324 Website Email address www.scarcliffe.derbyshire.sch.uk headteacher@scarcliffe.derbyshire.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 13–14 July 2011

Information about this school

• This school is much smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of pupils supported through the pupil premium is lower than average.
• The vast majority of pupils are from a White British background. The proportion from minority ethnic backgrounds is well below average.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is well below average.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is slightly below average.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector observed learning in all classrooms. Most of these observations took place with the headteacher. In total, learning was observed in nine lessons. The inspector also scrutinised examples of children’s workbooks from the early years, along with a wide variety of pupils’ exercise books for different subjects in all year groups, including from a range of different groups of pupils.
• The inspector held meetings with the headteacher, the head of the early years, the subject leader for English, the coordinator for pupils with SEND and members of the governing body. He analysed the 42 responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire – Parent View – and spoke with parents at the start of the school day. The inspector also met with different groups of pupils. He also met with staff to gauge their views on the school and its leadership.
• The inspector looked at a wide range of documentation, including the school’s development plan and self-evaluation, policies and records related to safeguarding and pupils with SEND, the school’s information about pupils’ achievement and attendance, and records of the work of the governing body.

Inspection team

Roary Pownall, lead inspector

Her Majesty’s Inspector