Manorfield Church of England Primary School Stoney Stanton Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment, and thus raise achievement further, by:
  • ensuring that pupils’ spelling is consistently strong across the curriculum
  • developing pupils’ ability to explain the reasoning behind their problem-solving approaches
  • making sure that pupils’ writing and mathematical skills are developed to a similar good quality in all subjects
  • ensuring that provision is consistently finely tuned to meet the specific needs of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, especially to improve their writing
  • providing the youngest children with more challenging opportunities so that more reach the higher levels.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher, ably supported by senior leaders, has taken effective action to improve the quality of teaching since the previous inspection. As a result, pupils are now making good progress in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Leaders, including governors, have high expectations of staff and pupils. They undertake regular checks on the quality of teaching by visiting classrooms and looking at pupils’ workbooks. Consequently, they have a good understanding of the school’s strengths and where it needs to improve further.
• The mathematics leader has identified that, while pupils have strong calculation skills, they are not as competent when undertaking reasoning and problem-solving activities. As a result, she has organised training for staff, provided resources and guidance and acted as a model for teaching. Staff have risen to the challenge to improve.
• Despite strong historical outcomes in reading and writing in key stage 1, leaders recognised the need to ensure that all pupils were developing good early reading and writing skills. The deputy headteacher researched different approaches, chose the way forward and, since its introduction in September 2016, has supported and trained staff in the new way of working. Staff and parents say that they can see the positive impact already.
• The curriculum is wide and varied. Pupils benefit from a broad range of interesting experiences; from learning to play the fife, to practical science activities during ‘Worm Week’, and they are keen to talk about them. The curriculum is further extended by a range of extra-curricular clubs, including tennis and cross-country, and visits and visitors, such as authors.
• Following feedback from parents, leaders have increased the amount and frequency of information about pupils’ progress that is sent home. The large majority of parents now say that they receive valuable information about their child’s progress.
• Fundamental British values are promoted well with interesting displays, whole-school focus days and explicit links made to the school’s own core values, such as respect and tolerance. Pupils are able to make connections to their school council activities and to their learning about other faiths and cultures.
• Leaders use the additional pupil premium funding well to ensure that disadvantaged pupils make increasingly good progress. Where there are differences, leaders take rapid action to address them.
• The provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is generally ensuring that they make good progress from their starting points, especially in reading. Additional support in class is making a difference for most pupils but provision is not sufficiently finely tuned for some and so they do not make as much progress as they could, particularly in writing.
• Sports and PE funding is used very well to ensure pupils benefit from high-quality physical education lessons and a range of sporting activities, including curling and boccia. The leader is ensuring that all pupils access some type of extra-curricular sport, whether after school or at lunchtimes, to support their fitness and enjoyment. The school has won numerous external competitions and the pupil-led Sports Crew is now organising matches between classes.
• Leaders and governors are committed to promoting a strong ethos of care and inclusion and this ensures that equality of opportunity and the acceptance of diversity are at the heart of the school’s work.
• The management of leaders’ and teachers’ performance is effective. It is closely linked to school priorities and to the national standards for teachers and is underpinned by high-quality training. As a result, teaching is improving strongly.
• The local authority has commissioned a local teaching school alliance to work with the school and it has benefited greatly from the range of high-quality informal and formal support provided.

Governance of the school

• Governors are well informed and provide appropriate challenge to leaders. They visit the school frequently to check on learning and to see the impact of the school’s actions, such as in the use of the pupil premium and the sport premium funding. In meetings, governors ask searching questions about the quality of teaching and the progress of different groups. As a result, they are very clear about the school’s strengths and priorities for improvement.
• Governors carry out their statutory duties effectively. They ensure that the school’s website meets government requirements and that the school communicates effectively with parents. They also ensure that the school’s performance management systems are robust and that pay awards are appropriately reviewed.
• Governors with responsibility for safeguarding have benefited from training. They are fully aware of their responsibilities when monitoring the effectiveness of the school’s arrangements.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders and staff place a high priority on ensuring that pupils are kept safe, and they have created a culture of safeguarding. Processes for checking visitors to the site meet requirements, and recruitment and risk assessment procedures, are rigorous.
• All safeguarding documentation and training is up to date. Staff, including external sports coaches, know what to do and who to speak to if they have a concern. They fully understand the need for vigilance. The school’s well-trained family support worker’s proactive approach to working with pupils and their families means that issues can be addressed in a timely manner, and there are striking examples of positive impact.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• The quality of teaching has improved due to the determined focus of senior leaders. They have used a range of evidence to identify clear priorities and tackled them with the support and collaboration of staff. Almost all parents who responded to the online survey, Parent View, said their child was taught well.
• As a result of well-targeted training and support planned by the mathematics leader, teachers are growing in confidence in teaching pupils how to develop their problem-solving and reasoning skills and pupils are now making good progress. Some pupils need further support to explain their thinking systematically. As one child said, ‘we have to think about how to say it so it makes sense’.
• Teachers’ focus on reading has ensured that the most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, read fluently with expression, understanding and enjoyment. The teaching of early reading and writing skills is increasingly effective for all ability groups as staff in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 follow a structured daily programme.
• Pupils are encouraged effectively to develop their use of more sophisticated grammar and punctuation in their writing, thus improving its quality and depth. The teaching of spelling is improving for younger pupils but there is work to be done to ensure that older pupils develop the necessary knowledge and skills. Leaders have recognised this priority and have begun to take action.
• The impact of staff training can be seen in the high quality of questioning by teachers and teaching assistants in class. This was an area for improvement at the previous inspection and is now a strength. Targeted questions are used to check on pupils’ understanding and clarify learning points, and more open questions are posed to challenge children to think deeply, such as when analysing the motives of characters in the book ‘Holes’.
• There are opportunities for pupils to apply their English and mathematical skills in other areas of the curriculum, and examples were seen for several subjects. However, leaders recognise that there needs to be greater consistency in approach and planning across subjects and year groups so that this work is of higher quality and builds more effectively on pupils’ existing skills.
• Teaching assistants make a valuable contribution to lessons. At times, they work effectively with all pupils in the class to encourage deeper thinking and independence. At other times, they focus on providing more intensive support to pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities to help them make faster progress. As a result, most catch up with and meet standards which are appropriate for their age. For some of these pupils, however, planned tasks are not sufficiently bespoke to enable them to catch up, especially in writing.
• Teachers know their pupils well and lessons are characterised by strong and supportive relationships. One pupil said, ‘My teacher is amazing!’

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils are confident and self-assured. They have roles of responsibility in school, such as being school councillors or members of the Sports Crew. They take these roles seriously.
• Leaders have created a welcoming and inclusive culture, underpinned by the very positive relationships between staff and pupils in the school. As a result of this, pupils are aware of the need to respect others’ religions, beliefs and cultures.
• Pupils say they feel safe in school and their parents agree with this. Pupils have a good understanding of the risks of the internet. They know how to keep safe online and how to protect their personal information. The older pupils have presented this knowledge in an interactive display to help and remind the younger pupils.
• Pupils understand the different types of bullying and say there is very little at the school. They are confident that if anything did happen it would be dealt with effectively and sensitively by school staff.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils are proud of their school and their work. They understand the importance of their learning time and make the most of their opportunities, generating a buzz of excitement as they tackle the challenges before them. They are keen and eager to learn. Very occasionally, where the teaching does not fully engage the pupils’ attention, some of them can lose focus and make slower progress.
• The school now encourages pupils to take responsibility for their own learning as they correct their own work and choose the level of challenge of the tasks they attempt. One pupil said, ‘If we still had circle, triangle and square groups, I would be a diamond!’ They are responding well to this new arrangement although at times some younger pupils who have finished a task can sit and wait until told what to do next, thereby losing learning time.
• Pupils conduct themselves well around the school, they listen to instructions when out at play and in the lunch hall and line up calmly. In assembly, they sit attentively, respond reflectively to questions and sing joyously when it is their turn.
• Pupils enjoy coming to school and their overall attendance is above the national average. The attendance of disadvantaged pupils has improved over the past year as a result of the school’s concerted actions.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• In the 2016 national assessments, the proportion of Year 6 pupils reaching expectations in reading, writing and mathematics combined was above average. Outcomes at the end of key stage 1 were broadly average in reading and mathematics and above average for writing.
• Pupils are currently making good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. Progress is particularly strong in reading. Work in books confirms that pupils’ calculation skills are strong and they are improving their problem-solving and reasoning skills. The quality of pupils’ writing is improving because of a focus on developing organisation, sentence structure and word choice, but spelling remains a weaker area.
• Pupils acquire phonics skills quickly and attain well in the Year 1 screening check. The school aims to ensure that pupils achieve even better than this and so has made changes to the way that it teaches phonics.
• Improvements to teaching are resulting in most pupils working at the age-related standard across the school. The accuracy of assessment information held by teachers and leaders is confirmed by evidence in pupils’ books, observations of their learning and listening to them read.
• The most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, are making progress which is better than that of all pupils nationally in reading and writing but below in mathematics. The school recognises that not enough pupils reached the higher levels in mathematics at both key stages and has made changes to address this. As a result, an increasing proportion of pupils are working above the expected standard for their age. Pupils recognise the increased difficulty, with one saying, ‘It was a challenge and took a bit more thinking than I expected.’
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make stronger progress in reading than in writing. The school focuses on working with individual pupils and their teachers to support learning in class, and this is successful for most pupils.
• At the end of key stage 1, disadvantaged pupils reached standards that were just below the national average in reading, writing and mathematics. At the end of key stage 2, most of these pupils made strong progress from their starting points in reading and mathematics. Progress in writing was not as rapid although current assessment information indicates that this is being addressed by the additional support that pupils receive. The majority of disadvantaged pupils in the school are now working at age-related expectations.

Early years provision Good

• Children enter the Reception classes with skills which are broadly typical for their age. They make good progress and are well prepared for the demands of Year 1.
• The environment is well organised, both indoors and outdoors. Children have access to a range of resources to stimulate their curiosity and problem solving, such as mixing sand and water to provide the best mortar for the brick wall on the construction site. One child said, ‘the sand will melt when we mix it with water’ as she made a link to the ice cubes she had been observing earlier.
• Adults provide effective challenge and support for children. They discuss learning and question effectively. Regular use of praise means that children are keen to learn and work on their ‘chilli’ challenges.
• The new approach to the teaching of phonics means that children can read age-appropriate words and understand the purpose of writing, using their knowledge to produce simple words and sentences, such as when writing signs for the building site. The very small number of pupils eligible for the pupil premium funding are benefiting from additional support with their reading and writing and are making good progress.
• Teaching is encouraging children to collaborate well, take turns and share. They are able to work independently, in small groups and in larger groups such as when making a sledge. They use a range of vocabulary appropriate for their age, with the teaching assistant encouraging them to extend this with words such as ‘telescope’.
• Children are keen to talk about their learning, for example when using cubes to add and subtract. One child shared his learning of how to add 18 and 8 and others were challenged to have a go themselves. School leaders have identified that the most able children have not, in the past, reached the standards of which they are capable and are working with the setting leader to ensure this improves this year.
• The leader has developed a positive ethos amongst the staff team. They are keen to learn and improve the provision further. Parental engagement is an important element of the team’s work. Before children start at the school, there is a range of opportunities to share information. Since starting, there have been workshops, a survey, a grandparents’ afternoon and a weekly newsletter.
• Assessment of children’s achievements is regular and used to plan next steps in their learning. Parents have access to the school’s online assessment recording system and some use this to add their own information and images. This informs the teachers’ subsequent assessments.
• Leaders have ensured that all welfare requirements are met. Staff are vigilant in ensuring children are safeguarded. There is a very strong focus on ensuring safety in the Reception environment. Adults regularly involve children in understanding and assessing risks, such as why workers would need to wear eye protectors on a building site.
• Support for children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is sensitive and well planned. It is ensuring that they develop the speech, language and communication skills needed to integrate with their peers and access the exciting opportunities available.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 120161 Leicestershire 10023090 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Maintained 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 368 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Kathryn Bullock Felicity Clarke 01455 272 787 http://www.manorfield.leics.sch.uk/ office@manorfield.leics.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 4–5 February 2015

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• It is larger than the average primary school.
• The school provides full-time early years provision in the two Reception classes.
• Four teachers have joined the school since the previous inspection.
• The proportions of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds and those pupils who speak English as an additional language are well below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is below the national average.
• There is a before-school and after-school provision and a community playgroup on the school site. Both are privately run and registered separately with Ofsted, and so were not included in this inspection.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed pupils’ learning across the school. A number of observations were carried out jointly with the headteacher.
• The inspection team heard pupils read in Reception and Years 1, 2 and 6. With the headteacher and deputy headteacher, they looked at pupils’ work in their English and mathematics books as well as in their topic books and folders that cover all other aspects of the curriculum.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, other senior and middle leaders, five members of the governing body, and representatives of the local authority and the Teaching School Alliance of which the school is a member.
• Inspectors scrutinised a range of documents, including minutes of meetings, assessment information, the school’s self-evaluation of its effectiveness, its improvement plans, and behaviour, attendance and safeguarding records.
• Inspectors spoke to groups of children informally and formally and observed them at break and lunchtimes.
• The 108 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, were considered. The inspectors took into account parent comments provided as part of the survey.

Inspection team

Joanne Sanchez-Thompson, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Moira Dales Johanne Clifton

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector