Packington Church of England Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Develop pupils’ reasoning skills in mathematics to extend and deepen their understanding.
• Insist that teachers maintain high expectations for pupils’ handwriting and the presentation of their work, across different subjects.
• Ensure that teachers more promptly address pupils’ misconceptions so they improve their work and make strong progress in a range of subjects.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• School leaders show great passion for, and commitment to, their vision for all pupils to experience a good-quality education that enables them to be the best they can be. Improvement plans are accurately focused and sharply evaluated. Leaders at all levels work as an effective team to drive improvements across different aspects of the school’s work.
• The headteacher regularly visits classrooms. Talking with pupils and frequently reviewing their progress with teachers allows the headteacher to assess what is working well and why. She has a clear understanding of the strengths and the areas to develop. Regular meetings with teachers and governors to continually reflect on, and refine, school improvement strategies are ensuring that they are clear about what can be done to improve the school further.
• Subject leaders lead their areas of responsibility well. They evaluate the effectiveness of teaching closely and share their findings with other leaders and teachers. They have a good understanding of the actions needed to improve the quality of teaching and learning in their areas of responsibility. Leaders access good-quality training and support for staff from the Forest Way Teaching School Alliance (FWTSA) and the Unity Learning Partnership (ULP).
• Leaders have identified that an increasing proportion of pupils who attend the school have additional learning needs. Provision for these pupils and for pupils with SEND is good. Leaders ensure that extra funding and support are precisely tailored to meet these pupils’ individual needs. Staff receive relevant training so that provision for these pupils is appropriate. Leaders work effectively with outside agencies to seek specific advice when necessary.
• The school’s broad and balanced curriculum successfully develops pupils’ spiritual, moral, social, cultural and personal development. The curriculum ensures that pupils gain an insight and understanding of British values. Typifying the school’s strengths in this area, pupils’ comments included: ‘Teamwork is important at this school. We understand that everybody needs to learn to work and live together to make a better world.’ Nevertheless, leaders are determined to improve the curriculum further and are currently reviewing it to ensure that it more effectively builds pupils’ knowledge over time and across subjects.
• School leaders are insightful and ambitious for the future of the school. The headteacher works collaboratively with colleagues in other schools, and external specialists through the FWTSA and the ULP, to support school improvements. She has created an ethos where staff feel empowered to be creative and to seek to ensure that pupils enjoy their learning and achieve well.
• Leaders use effectively the pupil premium funding to support the small number of disadvantaged pupils. These pupils receive appropriate additional support and experiences to ensure their good attendance and raise their attainment.
• The additional physical education (PE) and sport funding is used well to develop pupils’ physical fitness, health and well-being. Pupils enjoy access to a variety of sports activities, such as dodgeball, basketball and cross-country running. Initiatives such as the table tennis club and boxercise lessons are successfully raising pupils’ self-esteem and increasing their participation in exercise.
• Pupils’ increasingly complex needs have required leaders to extend the staff’s teaching strategies to enable them to effectively meet the needs of all pupils. Leaders have accessed appropriate good-quality training for staff and purchased new resources, particularly in writing and mathematics. Although some strategies are still in the process of being embedded, where improvements have been successfully established pupils are making strong progress in their learning. For example, across different classes, pupils are developing strong mental arithmetic skills, as a result of their daily ‘strawberry jam and lemon curd’ sessions, which comprise activities designed to improve pupils’ recall and application of skills.

Governance of the school

• Members of the governing body demonstrate a strong commitment to the pupils. Governors effectively support the headteacher, but also rigorously challenge her to ensure that actions to improve the school are sharply focused and thoroughly evaluated. Their determination to provide pupils with an aspirational and inclusive education is realised in the school’s Christian ethos and in relationships between pupils and staff.
• Governors are aware of their responsibilities and meet regularly with pupils, parents and staff to discuss the performance of the school. They use the information provided by leaders to ensure that they have a good overview of the school’s strengths and weaknesses.
• Governors ensure that additional funding is used appropriately to improve the progress of pupils and broaden their understanding and experience of the wider world. They have a comprehensive grasp of the increasingly changing and complex needs of the pupils who now attend the school.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• School leaders have established a good culture of safeguarding throughout the school. Leaders provide all staff with relevant, up-to-date training to safeguard pupils. Staff know the school’s procedures for raising welfare or child protection concerns.
• Adults in the school understand their responsibility to keep pupils safe. The leaders for safeguarding ensure that records for safeguarding are well maintained. Events that may be related to safeguarding are carefully recorded. The headteacher rigorously tracks incidents and concerns about pupils. Staff meet regularly to discuss how to support vulnerable pupils and work in partnership with external agencies, where necessary, to ensure pupils’ well-being.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• The quality of teaching and learning is typically good across the school. Where it is less strong, leaders provide effective guidance and skilled support to help teachers to improve their practice. Teachers use their good subject knowledge to plan interesting activities for pupils that are generally well matched to pupils’ needs and abilities.
• Relationships between adults and pupils are positive. Teachers and teaching assistants know pupils very well. Pupils are confident to try difficult tasks or contribute answers in lessons because adults model and reinforce good learning characteristics. For example, when pupils lack understanding and seek further support, they are secure in the knowledge that they have their teachers’ as well as their friends’ support.
• Teachers use resources and questions well to help pupils consolidate their learning and develop their understanding. For example, pupils were observed by the inspector using sweets to solve problems based on their learning about fractions. The teacher used effective questioning to skilfully guide pupils to solve the problems by making connections with their prior learning, to simplify the fractions and convert them into decimals and percentages.
• The teaching of reading is good because leaders maintain a sustained focus on this area of the curriculum. Pupils across the school benefit from reading daily for pleasure. Regular reading lessons develop their comprehension and focus on improving specific reading skills. Pupils say that they enjoy reading a range of texts and are encouraged to read regularly in class, during collective worship and at home. During the inspection, a reading workshop, led by a visiting librarian, inspired pupils to read a wide range of texts. Pupils were encouraged to infer meaning from the texts read to them.
• The teaching of phonics is good. Pupils who read to the inspector and were heard reading during lessons used their phonic knowledge to read unfamiliar words. Pupils use their phonic knowledge well to support their spelling in their writing.
• Pupils write for a variety of different purposes. These are frequently linked to other areas of learning. For example, pupils in key stage 1 described the different habitats of animals living in the Antarctic. Pupils in key stage 2 wrote their own versions of Richard III by William Shakespeare. A typical example was, ‘as I stumbled through the battlefield where my reign had come to an end, I saw my body lying there all alone, just staring into the sky as if nothing had ever happened.’
• Teachers plan regular opportunities for pupils to extend their knowledge in different areas of the curriculum. Trips to places of interest and visitors to school enhance pupils’ learning and broaden their life experiences. For example, pupils take part in a Global Awareness Day in Leicester organised by the Leicestershire Education Business Company. They visit shops, businesses and places of worship to learn about being citizens of the world. Residential trips to places such as Bude in Cornwall enable pupils to experience activities such as surfing and mountain boarding. Visitors to school provide pupils with first-hand experiences to enhance their learning. For example, pupils told me how their workshop about the Stone Age had helped them to understand their learning in history lessons.
• Pupils with SEND have effective, well-planned support. Teachers work well with teaching assistants to ensure that additional support meets pupils’ needs well and is specifically targeted to move them on in their learning.
• Improvements to the way in which mathematics is taught are currently being embedded across the school. Teachers plan well-structured mathematics lessons. There is now a consistent approach across the school. Pupils have frequent opportunities to practise and apply their skills, including in other subjects. Some teachers encourage pupils to use reasoning to extend their understanding and to explain what they have done and why. However, this is not yet consistently the case across all classes and year groups.
• The focus on improving pupils’ handwriting and presentation has resulted in clear improvements in the quality of some pupils’ writing. However, not all teachers have consistently high expectations for pupils’ handwriting or the quality of the presentation of pupils’ work in different subjects.
• Occasionally, teachers do not deal with pupils’ misunderstandings and errors in their learning swiftly enough. For some pupils, this means that they repeat errors or make less progress because they are not supported to learn from their mistakes.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. There is a welcoming and friendly atmosphere that is conducive to learning. Pupils are encouraged to ‘be the best they can be’ through adults’ positive reinforcement of the school’s values and Christian ethos. Pupils are inspired to follow the ‘Packington Pathway’ to establish good characteristics for learning and for life. Pupils are confident and are proud of their school. They have good attitudes to learning.
• Staff have a good understanding of the local community and know pupils well. Pupils have lessons and experiences that encourage them to think about issues, such as the use of social media, as well as local and wider world issues. For example, pupils told the inspector about their roles as members of the school council. Some pupils explained how they have education to teach them about the dangers linked with alcohol and smoking. Other pupils explained how they take part in charity fund-raising events, such as the food bank challenge.
• Relationships between staff and pupils are positive. Pupils said that they feel safe in school and staff help them with any worries or concerns they may have. They described how the school teaches them to keep safe in a variety of different situations, including how to keep safe when using the internet. Parents who spoke with the inspector and the large majority who responded to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, confirmed that the school keeps their child safe.
• Pupils explain the choices they should make to live healthily. They develop their physical fitness through exercising regularly, including through the ‘daily mile’. They appreciate the many clubs and sporting activities offered by the school, including the good-quality provision offered by the North West Leicestershire School Sports Partnership. The recently installed multi-use games area has enabled pupils to take part in outdoor sports all year round.
• There is a strong ethos of friendship and tolerance. Pupils demonstrate their ability to empathise with others from different backgrounds or lifestyles. Pupils typically told me, ‘We don’t treat someone differently just because they have a different belief or way of doing things. We accept them for who they are.’
• The number of pupils on roll has increased over recent years, and space within the school is limited. In some classes, the quality of pupils’ learning is negatively affected by the lack of space available to them. Although leaders do their best to make the most out of the school building, pupils and staff show commendable resilience and maintain positive attitudes to teaching and learning, despite the very challenging circumstances created by the lack of space.
• The large majority of parents are supportive of the school and value highly the priority placed on pupils’ personal development and well-being. A typical comment from parents was, ‘the school’s focus on the whole child and encouraging growth emotionally and spiritually, is its greatest strength and what makes it stand out from other schools.’

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils are well mannered and courteous. Their conduct around the school and during lessons is good. At breaktime and lunchtime, they play sensibly and cooperate well. Leaders’ introduction of the ‘Happy Lunchtime’ programme has ensured that pupils always have something to do and socialise well. Pupils say that they enjoy their learning and like coming to school.
• Pupils have a very good understanding of the different forms that bullying can take. They say that incidents of bullying or poor behaviour are rare, but that when they do happen, staff deal with them fairly and effectively.
• Pupils explain the school’s systems to promote good behaviour. They relish the chance to gain ‘pom-poms’ for their school house for behaving well, as well as the certificates that recognise their achievements and good actions to help others. Parents who spoke with the inspector and the vast majority of parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, agreed that the school ensures pupils are well behaved.
• Pupils are confident in expressing their opinions. They work well together in lessons and show mutual respect. When some pupils struggle with their behaviour, staff respond promptly. Pupils are given support to manage their behaviour in a nurturing environment.
• Leaders monitor carefully pupils’ attendance. They consult with external agencies when needed to ensure that families are supported and pupils are safe and attend school regularly. Attendance is in line with the national average.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 1 and key stage 2, over recent years, has been strong. Leaders’ focused work on improving pupils’ attainment has contributed significantly to it now being consistently above national averages by the end of key stage 1 and key stage 2. Pupils are well prepared for their secondary schools.
• Pupils make progress in line with national averages in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of key stage 2. However, in 2018, although remaining within national averages, pupils’ progress was less strong in mathematics and reading compared with previous years.
• The proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in the Year 1 national phonics screening check has been consistently above the national average. This reflects the good-quality teaching of phonics. Pupils who read with the inspector said they enjoyed reading and showed that they are developing their reading skills well.
• The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged is too small to evaluate their progress without identifying them.
• Pupils with SEND receive good-quality support and make good progress as a result.
• The inspector’s scrutiny of pupils’ books and observations during lessons confirmed that the majority of current pupils are making good progress in their learning in a range of subjects.

Early years provision Good

• Leadership of early years is good. Staff ensure that children settle quickly into Reception Year and get off to a good start. Good teaching and nurturing relationships enable the majority of children to make good progress. Children are well prepared for Year 1.
• Positive relationships between adults and children mean that children enjoy school and are kept safe. They play and learn well together. They move confidently and safely around the learning areas. Procedures to keep pupils safe and well cared for are effective. Children behave well.
• Leaders have ensured that the Reception Year is inclusive. The teacher closely monitors the progress of children’s learning. She uses the evidence from her assessments to ensure that children are making good progress in different areas of the curriculum. The small number of disadvantaged children and children with SEND are well supported. Additional adult support and activities are precisely planned to meet children’s needs well.
• The proportion of children achieving a good level of development has been historically above the national average. In 2018, outcomes were in line with the national average. Assessment information and work in children’s ‘learning journeys’ show that the large majority of children are currently on track to reach a good level of development this year.
• Leaders have a good understanding of the strengths and areas to develop in the early years provision. They are keen to secure improvements and raise the proportions of children attaining a good level of development. They have identified, for example, that the further development of children’s gross and fine motor skills is central to improving outcomes in writing.
• Children’s reading, writing and mathematical skills are taught well. They develop their skills through learning activities designed to sustain interest and inspire their curiosity. For example, children enjoyed visiting the local church to interview a parishioner about why the church was a special place to her. Children were inspired by the visit to create their own special place in the outside play area. They decorated it with items that they regarded as special and wrote signs to remind others to respect their ‘special cottage’. In another activity, children tessellated triangles in different ways to develop their understanding of the properties of shapes.
• The indoor and outdoor learning and play areas provide children with a good range of opportunities to develop their knowledge, understanding and imagination. Children are enthusiastic learners as a result.
• Communication with parents is good. Parents praised the caring relationships that have helped their children to quickly settle into school life and make good progress. A typical comment from parents to the inspector was, ‘My child is valued and appreciated for who she is and bringing her to this school was the best decision I have ever made.’

School details

Unique reference number 120151 Local authority Leicestershire Inspection number 10057663 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Voluntary controlled Age range of pupils 4 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 114 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Lesley Birtwistle Headteacher Carol Price Telephone number 01530 412425 Website www.packington.leics.sch.uk Email address headteacher@packington.leics.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 18 January 2018

Information about this school

• Packington Church of England Primary School is smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is below the national average.
• The proportions of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds and of pupils who speak English as an additional language are below those seen nationally.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is below the national average.
• Pupils who attend the school have the opportunity to attend a privately run breakfast club on the school premises.
• The school is part of the Ashby Assessment Group.
• The school accesses support and training for staff through its membership of the Forest Way Teaching School Alliance and Unity Learning Partnership.
• The school receives minimal support from the local authority.
• The school’s most recent section 48 inspection took place on 27 November 2014.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector observed teaching in all year groups, including some joint observations with the headteacher. In addition to observing the teaching of reading, the inspector listened to pupils read. She talked with pupils about their school and looked at examples of pupils’ work.
• The inspector held meetings with the headteacher, senior teacher and some subject leaders. She met with members of the governing body and had a telephone conversation with a representative from the local authority. The inspector spoke with parents informally at the start of the school day and took account of the 46 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, and the nine responses to Ofsted’s survey for staff. There were no responses to the pupil survey.
• The inspector looked at a range of documents, including: the school’s self-evaluation of current performance and plans for improvement; the school’s most recent information on the achievement and progress of pupils; information relating to safeguarding; information about behaviour management; information relating to the school’s use of the pupil premium funding and funding for pupils with SEND; the school’s most recent information relating to the attendance of pupils; and minutes from meetings of the governing body.

Inspection team

Stephanie Innes-Taylor, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector