Snarestone Church of England Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Leaders and those responsible for governance to ensure that:
  • they more rigorously check the impact of their initiatives to hold staff to account and drive more rapid improvement
  • middle and subject leaders have the knowledge and skills they need to be effective in improving standards
  • the governing body acts on the findings of the recent local authority commissioned review of governance
  • assessment and transition arrangements are more effective in the early years to improve children’s progress.
• Improve the quality of teaching learning and assessment to improve pupils’ progress by ensuring that all teachers:
  • check pupils’ understanding effectively during lessons to address errors and misconceptions and develop their deeper understanding
  • have high expectations of the quality and presentation of pupils’ work in all subjects
  • teach pupils how to use accurate spelling, grammar and punctuation in their writing
  • teach pupils the skills they need in mathematics to develop their reasoning skills and to be effective problem-solvers.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• Leaders are not sufficiently rigorous in ensuring that their initiatives to improve standards are having the rapid effect that they should. They do not hold staff sufficiently to account. For example, the school’s ‘non-negotiables’, such as improving the quality of pupils’ presentation of their work and handwriting, have not been equally applied by all staff.
• Leaders have not ensured that all teachers have high enough expectations of what pupils can achieve. The headteacher has introduced and developed rigorous systems to manage the performance of teachers and regularly check the progress of pupils in each class. However, leaders have not held teachers sufficiently to account for the progress made by pupils. Pupils’ progress and attainment is inconsistent. Some pupils do not make the progress that they should.
• Middle and subject leaders are not equally effective in their roles. Some have not had the training they need so that they can have a greater effect on raising standards. Often their analysis of strengths and weaknesses is not rigorous or strategic enough to support rapid and secure improvement.
• Leaders have taken effective action to improve standards in writing at the end of key stage 2. There is evidence of teachers’ work to put writing ‘at the heart of the curriculum’. Staff have received training and have introduced initiatives such as the termly ‘imagination days’ to provide stimuli for pupils’ writing. Staff are working to develop a ‘mastery’ approach to teaching and learning in mathematics, as well as actions to raise standards in other subject areas. However, leaders have not ensured that their actions are embedded across the school.
• Leaders ensure that additional funding to support pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities is used well. Pupils make secure progress from their starting points.
• The recently appointed headteacher is quickly establishing a culture of raised expectations. He has won the respect of staff and parents. Self-evaluation of the school’s performance and improvement planning identify accurately the school’s strengths and priorities for improvement. He has introduced training and relevant actions that are beginning to have an effect on the quality of teaching and raising of standards.
• The school makes effective use of the pupil premium funding to support the learning of the small number of disadvantaged pupils. Carefully targeted support ensures that these pupils make progress that is at least in line with that of their peers and sometimes better.
• Leaders effectively use the additional funding for physical education and sports. This has improved teachers’ expertise in teaching physical education and raised pupils’ participation rates by increasing the range of sporting activities on offer. Leaders carefully monitor the use of this funding to ensure that it has a strong impact.
• Leaders make good use of external support. The school works with two teaching school alliances that are supporting improvements in the quality of leadership, teaching, learning and assessment. The local authority has provided effective support for the headteacher and is helping to develop leadership roles.
• The headteacher is leading the further development of school’s broad and balanced curriculum. Enrichment activities and extra-curricular clubs complement this. Staff ensure that pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is effective. The school prepares pupils positively for life in modern Britain.
• Parents are overwhelmingly positive in their views of the school.

Governance

• The committed governing body regularly visits and know the school well. They undertake a range of activities to check that the school is meeting its statutory responsibilities. However, their often clear and evaluative reports do not have the effect they should in supporting rapid school improvement.
• The governing body is committed to developing its effectiveness. Last year, the local authority commissioned a review of governance. The report has only recently been published. The governing body should now act on the findings of the review.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders ensure that the school’s single central record of checks on staff, governors and visitors is rigorous and meets requirements. Record-keeping is thorough.
• Staff and the governing body have a clear understanding of safeguarding. Leaders respond swiftly to concerns and record all actions taken. They secure the involvement of outside agencies where this is required. Leaders review the safety of the school site on an ongoing basis to ensure that pupils are safe.
• The school teaches pupils how to keep safe, including when they are online. Pupils say that bullying is very rare. A very small minority of parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, disagreed that the school dealt effectively with bullying, but the inspection found no evidence to support this. Pupils are very confident that staff will rapidly resolve any concerns should they arise.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching is inconsistent. While teachers are committed to supporting the headteacher to bring about necessary improvements, they do not consistently have high enough expectations of what pupils can achieve. Teachers do not use information about pupils’ learning to decide when to move learning on more quickly or tackle pupils’ errors or misconceptions. As a result, some pupils, particularly the most able, do not make the progress that they should.
• The tasks that teachers provide are sometimes too hard or easy for pupils. In mathematics, there is evidence of teachers’ work to develop pupils’ problem-solving and reasoning skills by providing ‘challenge’ questions. However, the effect of this work is inconsistent, with some pupils unsure how to tackle problems or show their reasoning skills.
• Teachers do not have equally high expectations of the presentation of pupils’ work or the accuracy of their spelling, grammar and punctuation. Pupils’ work shows that they make frequent and sometimes repeated errors. The quality of phonics teaching in the early years and key stage 1 is also inconsistent. Not all staff are rigorous in teaching pupils to articulate pure sounds or to segment and blend sounds effectively.
• There is evidence of leaders’ work to develop the curriculum. For example, teachers across the school often make effective use of visual imagery and apparatus to support pupils’ understanding of mathematical concepts. In English, pupils were writing a diary entry from the perspective of being a passenger on the Titanic. This context provided a motivating stimulus for pupils’ writing.
• Generally, teachers have secure subject knowledge. Teachers know their pupils well. Disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities often make good progress from their starting points because they receive effective support across the school. Leaders have ensured that personalised support is in place for these pupils.
• Relationships are positive. Pupils have positive attitudes to their learning. They apply themselves well in their lessons and concentrate well.
• Teaching assistants are often deployed well and provide effective support for pupils’ learning, particularly when working with individual pupils.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to support pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. All parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, said that their children were happy in school. Staff support pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development very well. For example, pupils responded thoughtfully to an assembly that focused on uniqueness of each individual and the importance of respecting others. Pupils have a clear understanding of what is right and wrong.
• Pupils are confident, caring and polite. Their personal development is enhanced by the many roles and responsibilities the school offers them, such as the ‘safety champions’, assembly worship team, house captains, school councillors and junior road safety officers.
• Teachers ensure that pupils understand the school’s values. Pupils, parents and staff value the caring culture in the school. One pupil in key stage 2 said that the school is ‘one big family’. Another pupil said that respecting others was important to be a ‘good person in life’. The school prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils have a good understanding of school systems to support their behaviour. Their behaviour at playtimes, lunchtimes and when they are moving between classes is good. They follow adults’ instructions quickly.
• Pupils overall have a positive attitude to their learning. In lessons, pupils apply themselves to all that is asked of them. They only lose focus when they are not sure, or work is not well matched to their needs.
• Most pupils take pride in their work. The quality of the presentation of pupils’ work, however, is not consistently high enough.
• Pupils’ current attendance is in line with the national average. The attendance of disadvantaged pupils is above the national average. Leaders work hard to develop parents’ understanding of the importance of attendance and work effectively with the small number of families whose children are persistently absent.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• As a result of leaders’ and staff’s actions, rates of progress in 2017 at the end of key stage 2 improved for reading, writing and mathematics compared to the previous year. While the proportions of pupils attaining the standards expected for their age were above the national averages, the progress of pupils was broadly average. The school’s own assessment information and work in pupils’ books shows that there are inconsistencies in pupils’ attainment and progress.
• At the end of key stage 1 in 2017, the proportions of pupils achieving the standards expected for their age in reading, writing and mathematics were below the national averages. The proportion of pupils achieving the required standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check was also below that seen nationally. Inconsistencies in teachers’ expectations are reflected in pupils’ work.
• The current progress of pupils in key stages 1 and 2 is inconsistent. Sometimes, the most able pupils do not make the progress that they should.
• Pupils’ work shows that teachers sometimes do not ensure that pupils have enough opportunities to deepen and practise their English and mathematics skills sufficiently well. Where teachers give pupils work appropriate to their needs, particularly in key stage 2, pupils make stronger progress.
• Teachers identify pupils who need to catch up and intervene to ensure that pupils are taught what they need. The progress of disadvantaged pupils is in line with, and sometimes better than, that of their peers. The coordinator for provision for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is able to identify accurately pupils who need early help.

Early years provision Requires improvement

• Leadership of the early years is not consistent or strategic enough in identifying strengths and areas for development in order to improve early years provision as a whole. Leaders have not ensured that systems for checking children’s progress and planning the curriculum are consistent.
• Leaders have introduced a ‘school ready’ initiative in the early years. However, transition arrangements from when children enter the early years to the end of the Reception Year and into Year 1 are not as effective as they could be in helping pupils consistently to make the progress they should from their starting points.
• Parents who spoke with the inspector were very positive about their children’s development and learning in the early years. However, the involvement of parents in their children’s ongoing assessment is inconsistent in the different stages of the early years.
• Leaders and other staff in the early years have a good understanding of children’s needs. Where teaching is most effective, teachers and adults interact with children and use questioning to support their learning and development.
• Children enjoy the range of activities indoors and outdoors. Leaders carefully consider how the indoor and outdoor learning spaces can best be used to support children’s learning. Children’s work and learning journey records show that they are engaged in a broad range of learning activities. However, teachers do not always ensure that work is matched well to pupils’ needs. As a result, some children do not make the progress that they should.
• The majority of pupils enter the Reception Year with skills that are broadly typical for their age. In 2017, the proportion of pupils achieving a good level of development was broadly average. From their starting points, many pupils, including the small proportion who are disadvantaged, make good progress from their starting points.
• Staff support children’s personal development, behaviour and welfare well. Children have positive relationships with each other and adults. Children follow instructions and show independence in their learning because adults have established effective routines. Children were happy to talk to the inspector about their learning. For example, children in the Reception class explained confidently how they were organising a range of two-dimensional shapes into patterns.
• Provision for the very youngest children joining the school meets children’s needs well and they make good progress. Staff know the children well. Provision is organised into clearly defined areas and adults have clear roles.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 120199 Leicestershire 10035986 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 Maintained 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 88 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Julie Clamp Tim Jewitt Telephone number 01530 270598 Website Email address www.snarestoneprimary.org headteacher@snarestone.leics.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 31 October – 1 November 2012

Information about this school

• There have been substantial staffing changes since the last inspection. The headteacher took up post in September 2016.
• Snarestone Church of England Primary school is a much smaller than average-sized primary school. The school accepts pupils from the age of three.
• The school has a breakfast and after-school club.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The majority of pupils are of White British heritage. The proportions of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds or who speak English as an additional language are well below the national averages.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is in line with the national average.
• In 2017, the school met the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ progress and attainment in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector observed teaching in all year groups. Eleven lessons were observed, some jointly with the headteacher. The inspector looked at pupils’ work, observed the teaching of early reading skills and spoke with pupils to evaluate the quality of their learning. A range of documents were scrutinised relating to safeguarding, behaviour, attendance, the quality of teaching, learning and assessment, pupils’ attainment and progress, and staff performance. A range of plans for improvement were evaluated as well as the school’s self-evaluation of its own and performance and documents relating to the work of the governing body.
• The inspector spoke with parents informally at the start of the school day and took account of the 30 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. Account was also taken of the 10 responses to the staff questionnaire and the two responses to the pupil questionnaire.
• The inspector held meetings with the headteacher, middle and subject leaders and the coordinator for the provision for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities, who is also the leader of the early years. He met with a member of the governing body and representatives from the local authority. Discussions explored a wide range of subjects, including safeguarding arrangements.

Inspection team

John Lawson, lead inspector

Her Majesty’s Inspector