Greatworth Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve teaching, learning and assessment in mathematics, by:
  • strengthening teachers’ subject knowledge
  • ensuring that teachers increase the challenge for the most able pupils.
• Improve the behaviour of a minority of pupils by:
  • teachers working with younger children so they take responsibility for their own behaviour so that they behave at all times as well as they do when the school has visitors
  • leaders working with parents to ensure that they fully understand the school’s approaches to behaviour and the actions taken when issues arise.
• Ensure that the school’s website is regularly kept up to date, incorporating any changes necessary as new data and information are required.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher leads with determination, enthusiasm and clarity. Since her appointment, leaders have brought rapid improvement to teaching and learning. Staff understand leaders’ expectations and do their best to fulfil them.
• Leaders know the strengths and weaknesses of the school well. The governing body robustly challenges and refines these evaluations. This means that leaders and the school’s development plan are well focused on the most important priorities.
• The headteacher is also effective in her role as special educational needs (SEN) coordinator. She has a very good understanding of how well pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities learn. She has worked effectively with parents to ensure that education, health and care plans are in place. She works with parents and staff to ensure that pupils who need additional support in school receive it.
• The curriculum is broad and balanced. It has a strong emphasis on skills and understanding in English and mathematics. Science, the arts and humanities subjects are also included. For example, pupils had recently studied an animal’s heart. One pupil described how she had at first been nervous but had become fascinated by how it was constructed. The arts are a strength of the curriculum and pupils from this class had worked on sketching the internal structures of the heart in great detail.
• Half of the pupils can play, or are learning to play, a musical instrument. By the end of key stage 2, all pupils are able to swim a reasonable distance. They also participate in a range of school clubs.
• Leaders’ support for newly qualified teachers is a strength of the school. Newly qualified teachers feel very positive about the impact that their induction and ongoing help from leaders has had on their practice.
• The school places pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development at the heart of the curriculum. For example, teachers link work in science, literacy and art together and explore topical issues with all these dimensions. They expect pupils to develop an understanding of the choices they make and their consequences. The school’s reward system encourages pupils to make sensible choices and become independent learners.
• Relationship between staff and pupils are very positive. Pupils say that they enjoy coming to school and a large majority of parents agree that their children are happy at school.
• Staff prepare pupils well for the future. They focus on developing tolerance and respect for others. The school has taken pupils to visit the places of worship of several faiths as part of their understanding of the variety of religions in modern Britain. Leaders worked well with parents to prepare for the visit. Incidents of prejudiced behaviour are very rare and are addressed robustly. Staff work hard with all the pupils to ensure that they understand that this behaviour is not acceptable.
• Leaders communicate well with parents. A weekly newsletter provides parents with plenty of information about teaching themes and activities that children will participate in during the week. Newsletters also cover pupils’ academic and other achievements, attendance percentages for each class and upcoming events.
• The school’s website did not include all the information it should at the beginning of the inspection. Leaders ensured that changes were made by the end of the inspection so that it now includes all that the school is required to publish. The school, however, does not have systematic approach to keeping its website up to date.

Governance of the school

• The governing body checks all aspects of the school’s work well. It is very effective in holding leaders to account. Its ambition and high expectations have been instrumental in raising standards throughout the school.
• Governors evaluate the impact of their support rigorously. They work in close partnership with the headteacher to raise standards.
• The governing body has ensured that the pupil premium and primary physical education and sport premium are now used well. Plans contain clear targets against which progress can be measured. The governing body checks that the spending brings about the desired improvement.
• The support that governors have given has been well directed and enabled the headteacher to improve the effectiveness of the school.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Pupils are safe at school and said they feel safe. Pupils know who to talk to if they have worries. When problems occur, pupils are confident that they are resolved quickly. One pupil reflected that, ‘teachers do have to be strict but will listen and understand’.
• The school meets its statutory duties to keep children safe and protect them from radicalisation and extremism. For example, staff explicitly teach the British values of democracy, the rule of law and individual liberty.
• The school staff are vigilant and well trained in checking and reporting any concerns they may have about pupils.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers’ subject knowledge is very strong in English. As a result, they use probing questioning very effectively to deepen pupils’ knowledge and understanding in reading and writing.
• The teaching of phonics is rigorous and pupils’ reading is a strength. The teaching of writing, which has been less effective in the past, has substantially improved. Teachers consistently support pupils to improve their writing.
• All teachers demonstrate very effective skills in behaviour management. The large majority of pupils are well focused on their learning and respond well to teachers’ expectations.
• Teachers set tasks of differing levels of difficulty and have high expectations that pupils will attempt the ones that challenge them. Teachers stretch the thinking of the most able pupils in key stage 1 and in the upper part of key stage 2. The level of challenge provided in the lower part of key stage 2 is not as strong, but is developing.
• The school’s policy on giving feedback on pupils’ learning is well implemented by teachers and well understood by pupils. Pupils are given time to review and improve their work and to stretch their thinking.
• Throughout the school, the presentation of the large majority of pupils’ work is of a consistently high standard. Many pupils enjoy learning and, especially the oldest, noted the improvement in teaching and learning since the appointment of the current headteacher.
• Effective approaches to teaching have been shared across the school. Teachers consistently ensure that pupils know what they need to do to complete successfully the tasks they are set.
• Teaching is good in mathematics. Teachers’ subject knowledge in mathematics, however, is not as strong as it is in English. This means that teaching does not provide enough challenge, especially for the most able pupils. Teachers do not enquire sufficiently about the reasoning behind pupils’ answers. This means their mathematical thinking is not extended and they do not develop alternative strategies to solve problems.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Almost all pupils show pride in their work and in their school. For example, several pupils in Years 5 and 6 said that learning was more exciting now, and that everyone was more enthusiastic. The presentation of pupils’ work is of a consistently high standard across the school.
• Parents value the school’s support for pupils’ personal development and welfare and feel it is a strength of the school. Many were very happy with their children’s development. For example, one said, ‘Since moving to the school … my children have found a love for learning which they did not have before. They are now keen to go to school and to do their homework.’
• Pupils value their education. Their attendance is very high and persistent absence is low. Pupils said that they enjoy learning. They are punctual and bring the correct equipment to school.
• Pupils work well with each other in all classes. They show respect for the ideas of others and are tolerant of those whose SEN and/or disabilities make it difficult to fit in.
• Pupils have opportunities to learn how to keep themselves safe and how to develop their wellbeing. For example, the school provides opportunities for pupils to focus on mind, body and soul and to take part in Pilates. It offers a variety of curricular and extra-curricular activities that support the personal development and welfare, for example activities across the curriculum at Greatworth Farm.
• The school has strong links with a local special school. This promotes greater inclusion and acceptance of diversity by pupils.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils behave well in class and around the school at lunchtimes and breaktimes. A pupil in Year 6 reported that, ‘In the past I only played with a small number of pupils. Now everyone is involved with each other.’ Another said, referring to the last year and a half, ‘Everyone is friendly and know each other; it’s easier to know each other here.’
• The school’s routines are well established, in and out of class. Pupils respond well, moving from one activity to another with little or no disruption.
• The large majority of pupils and parents feel the school’s approach to bullying is effective. Pupils, particularly those in Years 5 and 6, have a good understanding of the school’s approach to dealing with these issues. They recognised that it sometimes took time to change a pupil’s behaviour, but that the school would persist until it had done this.
• Some younger pupils felt that, particularly when there is no visitor, the behaviour of some pupils could be a little more boisterous at breaktime and lunchtime. A small number of parents expressed concerns that there was some low-level disruption and that some instances of poor behaviour were not dealt with rapidly enough.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Pupils’ attainment at the end of key stage 1 in 2017 was in line with national averages for reading and science. In writing, results were below the national percentage reaching the expected standard. In mathematics results were below the national percentages reaching the expected standard and achieving greater depth. There were too few pupils in Year 6 in 2017 to report their results in the tests at the end of key stage 2.
• The number of pupils in Year 1 who took the phonics check in 2017 is too small to report on. All the pupils who had taken the phonics check by the end of Year 2 in 2017 met the standard and achieved well compared with the national results. The school’s information on current pupils in Year 1 shows that their attainment in phonics is on track to be in line with national standards, or slightly higher than them.
• The school’s information shows that current pupils throughout the school make good progress. Pupils are on track to make good progress and achieve standards in line with national averages. This is consistent across each year group. The school’s assessments have been subject to external checks during the year. Last year their assessments were found to be accurate. Pupils’ work in each of the core subjects confirms that pupils are making good progress.
• High-attaining pupils, low-attaining pupils and pupils with SEN and/or disabilities are making secure progress. The number of disadvantaged pupils in the school is too small to report on their attainment and progress.
• Pupils are prepared well for the next stage of their education. They develop the skills, knowledge and attitudes they need to make a successful start at secondary school.

Early years provision

• Standards in the early years have remained in line with the national average over the

Good

past three years.

• Teaching is good because of the effective questioning and targeted support given to the children. Adults teach literacy and numeracy skills effectively. These support children’s transition to the next stage of education well.
• Children make good progress in their communication and reading skills. Good teaching enables them to develop their phonic awareness by repeating and consolidating sounds and blends. They work well with pupils from Year 1 when this is appropriate.
• Outdoor learning is used well to reinforce learning in the classroom. It encourages children’s personal, social, emotional and physical development.
• Behaviour and safety are good. Effective strategies are in place to enable children to learn calmly. Adults support children well, encourage the correct behaviour and motivate them. Children are eager and want to learn.
• Safeguarding arrangements in the early years are effective. Staff are knowledgeable and the right checks are carried out when staff and volunteers are recruited.
• Leadership of the early years is good. The early years leader ensures that planning and checks on children’s progress are effective.
• Transition from the pre-school providers to the Reception Year is good because communication between the two settings is good. Transition from Reception Year to Year 1 is good because the children in the Reception Year and pupils in Year 1 and their teachers share the same working space. They learn together when it is appropriate.

School details

Unique reference number 121822 Local authority Northamptonshire Inspection number 10041562 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 Community 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 64 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Lisa Roberts Lesley Lutas-Brown Telephone number 01295 711 456 Website Email address www.greatworth.schooljotter2.com bursar@greatworth.northants-ecl.gov.uk Date of previous inspection 1–2 December 2015

Information about this school

• This school is much smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is above average.
• All of pupils are from White British backgrounds.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is much lower than average. Currently no pupil receives free school meals.
• The headteacher took up her post in September 2016.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector observed learning in six lessons. Most of these were visited jointly with the headteacher. During visits to lessons, the inspector sampled pupils’ books and talked with pupils to evaluate the quality of their learning. The inspector also made short, informal visits to lessons throughout the school.
• The inspector observed the behaviour of pupils at breaktime and lunchtime, and as pupils moved around the school.
• The inspector held a number of meetings with the headteacher, other senior leaders, middle leaders and newly qualified teachers. The inspector met members of the governing body, including the chair and vice-chair.
• The inspector spoke with pupils from all year groups in meetings, in lessons, around the school at and lunchtime.
• The inspector looked at a wide range of the school’s documentation. This included the school’s evaluation of its own performance, its development plan, safeguarding procedures and records, and minutes of meetings of the governing body. The inspector also considered data on pupils’ attainment and progress, attendance, bullying and behaviour.
• The inspector took account of 34 responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online survey, and responses from parents to Ofsted’s free-text service. There were no responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaires for staff or pupils.

Inspection team

Clive Worrall, lead inspector

Ofsted Inspector