Beaupre Community Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Gain much greater consistency in the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by:
  • all having high enough expectations of what pupils are capable of attaining
  • routinely posing questions that encourage all pupils to think hard
  • setting pupils clear timescales to complete their work neatly
  • making regular checks during lessons to ensure that pupils understand what they need to do
  • giving pupils regular advice on how well they are doing and what else they need to do to improve their work.
• Raise achievement throughout key stage 2 by:
  • providing pupils with more opportunities to apply their literacy skills in tasks that develop their comprehension skills, and more opportunities to apply their numeracy skills to solving real-life mathematical problems
  • improving the accuracy of teachers’ assessments of pupils’ progress so that all pupils, especially disadvantaged pupils and the most able, achieve what they are capable of attaining
  • setting aspirational targets to increase the proportion of most-able pupils who exceed national expectations in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Improve pupils’ personal development, behaviour and welfare by:
  • ensuring that all pupils in key stage 2 remain on task during lessons and show positive attitudes to their learning
  • maintaining discrete records of all forms of bullying to enable leaders to spot patterns and trends, and inform their actions to prevent it from happening.
• Improve the leadership and management of the school by:
  • targeting pupil premium funding far more effectively to enable disadvantaged pupils to achieve as well as others do nationally
  • adding much greater rigour to the school’s procedures for managing the performance of teachers and holding them to account for the progress made by the pupils they teach
  • including clear timescales and measurable targets in the school’s improvement plans to enable leaders and governors to monitor the rate of improvement made. An external review of the use of the pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

• Leaders collate a wide range of information about pupils’ progress, but have not rigorously checked the accuracy of the initial assessments made by teachers of pupils’ progress. Results in national tests in 2017 showed that too many pupils in Year 6 who were expected to meet national standards did not do so. Pupils’ progress in reading, writing and mathematics was particularly low.
• Leaders’ use of the pupil premium had little impact on raising the achievement of disadvantaged pupils. Spending on additional support staff, a breakfast club and free access to a range of enrichment activities has not led to marked improvements in the outcomes achieved by disadvantaged pupils.
• Leaders have not ensured that the most able pupils in all key stages are sufficiently challenged and supported to achieve their very best. The proportions of pupils in key stage 2 attaining at a greater depth in writing and in mathematics remain low.
• Leaders’ monitoring and evaluation of teaching and learning have not ironed out several inconsistencies in key stage 2. Procedures to manage the performance of teachers are not sufficiently robust. Most teachers have been awarded salary increases in the past, even though pupils have not made enough progress. Plans are in place to strengthen these procedures this term by setting teachers much more rigorous targets linked to pupils’ achievement.
• Leaders’ evaluation of the school’s current effectiveness is honest and accurate. Revised plans to raise achievement are suitably prioritised. However, they do not have enough clear timescales and measureable targets to enable senior leaders and governors to gauge the rate of improvement made.
• The previous leader of the early years foundation stage became the headteacher in September 2017. She knows the school well, and its strengths and what needs improving. In a short space of time, she has galvanised her staff who are working effectively as a team. Staff morale is high and all teachers and support staff understand the raised expectations of them.
• The curriculum is broad and balanced, but leaders feel that it is time to review it this year to ensure that it is suitably matched to pupils’ different needs and interests. It is complemented by a wide range of enrichment activities, including a termly school newspaper, library club, music and choir, and a biannual residential experience to develop teamwork in outdoor and adventurous activities.
• The physical education (PE) and sport premium is used effectively to pay for a sports coach to teach PE lessons alongside staff, and provide additional sporting activities at lunchtimes. Some pupils and their parents feel that further scope exists to develop more sporting activities after school.
• Responses to Ofsted during the inspection and the school’s own recent survey confirm that parents and carers are overwhelmingly supportive of the school and its new leaders.

Governance of the school

• Governors ask challenging questions of senior leaders, such as, ‘What went wrong in 2017?’ However, minutes of their most recent meeting shows that discussions about the progress made against the school’s plans for improvement were limited.
• Governors have an accurate understanding of the school’s performance. They know that the outcomes achieved last year were not good enough and are committed to supporting new leaders to make improvements.
• Governors are well organised and meet all of their statutory duties. They make regular visits to the school. A nominated governor carries out termly checks of the school’s safeguarding procedures.
• Governors acknowledge the need for an external review of the pupil premium. They recognise that this will help them to determine better ways of making the much-needed improvements to the outcomes achieved by disadvantaged pupils.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• All staff receive annual training in safeguarding including training on the ‘Prevent’ duty.
• All the necessary checks are made when recruiting new staff to work with children.
• The site is safe and access to school buildings is controlled effectively.
• The single central record is suitably maintained and checked periodically.
• Policy and procedures to protect pupils from harm are well established. Two designated leads for safeguarding work together to maintain pupils’ safety and welfare. All concerns are followed up and recorded systematically.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The headteacher is working with the local authority to monitor teaching and moderate the quality of pupils’ work. Staff have visited local schools to observe and share good practice, and this is beginning to lead to improvement.
• Inspectors found that teaching varies widely. It is generally more effective in Reception and key stage 1, than in key stage 2. Not all teachers have high expectations of pupils, including the way they present their work. Questions are targeted effectively at individual pupils, but do not engage all pupils in learning.
• Too often, pupils are left to work steadily at their own pace, without clear timescales to complete their work. Not all teachers make regular checks as pupils work on tasks, to see whether they understand what they are doing and are working hard enough.
• In mathematics, pupils learn well when teachers model different methods of calculation and provide work matched to their different abilities. Inspectors noted only a few opportunities for pupils to apply their numeracy skills in problem-solving activities or in mathematical tasks related to everyday life.
• Topic books show that pupils have regular opportunities to write at length. However, pupils do not have enough opportunities to apply their reading and writing skills. Leaders’ analysis of recent test papers shows that pupils’ comprehension skills are under-developed. Curriculum plans have been altered to improve this.
• Most teachers manage pupils’ behaviour well. Good relationships and lots of praise are evident in all classes. Teaching assistants show great patience and understanding when working with pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities and have a good understanding of how to support their learning.
• Where teaching is most effective, teachers make learning fun and enjoyable. They plan learning suited to the different abilities of all learners, including the most able. Teachers know how to manage group-work well. Pupils are confident to work by themselves and in small groups for extended periods of time. The most able are given challenging work to do and, when they are ready, can choose more challenging extension activities to do. This good practice has not been shared across all classes.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• This is an inclusive school that welcomes pupils from a range of backgrounds and who have different needs. This includes pupils who have high levels of SEN and pupils who have been excluded from other local schools. All staff go out of their way to provide pupils with a safe, stimulating and vibrant environment in which to learn.
• Overall attendance is above average. Very few pupils are regularly absent from school.
• Weekly assemblies are used well to reinforce the expectations of pupils and to promote the school’s values of being caring and supportive towards each another. Opportunities to pray and sing together with staff are enjoyed fully by pupils.
• Pupils feel valued and listened to. They use their school council to share their views with school leaders about what can be done to improve parts of the school.
• Displays within and outside each classroom highlight what staff do to engage pupils fully in school life and celebrate their work. Pupils are rightly proud of the work on display. They talked enthusiastically about their roles as house leaders, library assistants and class ambassadors, and their recent fundraising activities. Mini-projects to promote their health and well-being are celebrated well using photographs and displays made by pupils. These and other curricular and enrichment activities add significantly to pupils’ good spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.
• School records show very few incidents of poor behaviour. Three pupils were excluded temporarily from school last year. Despite their careful handling, a very small minority of pupils who have particular social, emotional and behavioural needs account for almost half of the incidents recorded so far this term.
• Not all pupils display positive attitudes in lessons. Most pupils remain on task, but when teaching fails to retain their interest a few, particularly older boys, easily lose interest. They remain well behaved, but their progress slows as they disengage from learning.
• Pupils who met with inspectors said that they know how to keep safe online. They said that some bullying does occur, mostly name-calling and pushing. However, these incidents are uncommon. When they do occur, pupils feel that if they approach an adult they will help them to stop it. Staff do not record incidents reported to them discretely in a bullying log, to help them to prevent them from happening again.
• Throughout the inspection, pupils were well behaved, pleasant and well mannered. Pupils know each other well and look after each other. At playtimes, older pupils ensure that younger pupils are cared for and have friends to play with.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Leaders have not ensured that all pupils achieve well enough. Overall outcomes at the end of key stage 2 have declined since the last inspection.
• In key stage 2, pupils do not make enough progress from their starting points. Last year, the proportion of pupils in Year 6 attaining the expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics was low.
• Results in national tests at the end of the key stage show that pupils’ progress in reading declined further, and the good progress in writing made by pupils in the past was not sustained. Progress in mathematics declined significantly and was particularly low.
• The proportion of most-able pupils attaining at a greater depth in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6 improved slightly in 2017, but remained below average. Expectations of these pupils are not high enough. Not all staff provide sufficiently challenging work for them to do. Aspirational targets are not set for increasing the attainment of most-able pupils.
• Over the past two years, disadvantaged pupils have not made enough progress in reading, writing and mathematics. Very few most-able disadvantaged pupils have exceeded the expected standards. Last year, the number of disadvantaged pupils in the Year 6 class was low, preventing any meaningful comparisons with the results achieved by all pupils nationally. However, leaders acknowledge that much more needs to be done with the additional funding that the school receives to improve the outcomes achieved by these pupils.
• The good start made by children in the Reception class is built on in Years 1 and 2, where pupils make good progress. Overall attainment at the end of key stage 1 was above average in reading, writing and mathematics in 2017.
• This year, leaders have deployed the school’s pupil premium practitioner more effectively to coordinate suitable interventions based on individual pupils’ needs, and to monitor the progress made by disadvantaged pupils at regular intervals. The impact of these revised interventions needs to be fully evaluated to ensure that they lead to improvement.
• Funding for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is used effectively to enable pupils to integrate fully into school life and to ensure that their academic and personal needs are met. Most of the funding is spent appropriately on additional staffing to support pupils in lessons and provide them with one-to-one support. Staff are particularly effective in re-engaging pupils who join the school at times other than the start of the year, often displaying challenging behaviour, or having poor attendance or significant gaps in their learning.
• Pupils’ reading logs show that they read regularly. Despite the lack of progress in reading evident in recent results, reading is popular with pupils and is generally taught well. Phonics teaching is firmly established in key stage 1. Results in phonics and in reading in key stages 1 and 2 were above average last year.
• Observations of teaching and scrutiny of pupils’ work confirm that currently the majority of pupils are making progress, but this is largely dependent on the quality of teaching they receive. This year, leaders plan to assess pupils’ progress each half term and meet with each teacher to review the progress being made by individual pupils. They feel that this will give them a much better overview of who is progressing well, and which pupils need prompt, additional support.

Early years provision Good

• Well-established links with an independent nursery operating on the school site make the transition into Reception for the majority of children a smooth one. Children are welcomed by an established team of support staff and by a teacher newly appointed to lead the key stage.
• Children are kept safe. Staff know them well. Their behaviour is good. The classroom and the outdoor area are bright, stimulating and safe environments for children to learn and play together.
• Teaching is good. A blend of teacher-led learning and child-initiated play ensures that children settle quickly and make good progress. Individual children are guided in their learning and have opportunities to rehearse skills by themselves and with staff. Good links are made between learning activities introduced in the classroom and active learning and play activities outdoors, to reinforce children’s early use of numbers and letters.
• Phonics teaching is effective. Learning is made fun so that children actively engage in practising letters and sounds. Staff question children’s understanding effectively. For example, children were asked to find pictures on the independent writing table which identified the right letters and sounds they had been learning. At times, however, questioning does not fully challenge the most able children.
• Children are well prepared for the next stage of their education. Over the past two years, an above-average proportion of children have achieved a good level of development.
• Currently, all children, including disadvantaged children, continue to make good progress. Their writing books show evidence of good progress since the start of this year, including early development of sentences and cursive letter formation. The most able pupils know how to use capital letters.
• Good links with parents and carers ensure that they are well informed about their child’s development and well-being.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 110643 Cambridgeshire 10036155 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 207 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Jo Pallett Michelle Munday 01945 772439 www.beaupreprimary.co.uk/ office@Beaupre.cambs.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 1─ 2 July 2014

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The large majority of pupils are White British. Very few are from minority ethnic backgrounds.
• The proportion of pupils eligible for the pupil premium is below average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities, including those who have an education, health and care plan, is below average.
• A new headteacher has led the school since September 2017.
• An experienced governor took over as chair of the governing body this year.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed all teachers at work in lessons. They visited assembly and carried out a learning walk to gauge the quality of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural education.
• They held meetings with leaders and teachers, a newly qualified teacher, four members of the governing body, a representative of the local authority, and the school council.
• Inspectors observed the school’s work. They looked at safeguarding and child protection policies and procedures, self-evaluation and improvement planning, minutes of meetings of the governing body, records of pupils’ attendance and other information provided by school leaders.
• Inspectors scrutinised pupils’ books in lessons. They considered 10 free texts sent by parents during the inspection, 13 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and 56 responses to a survey of parents’ views, led by the school. They also considered four responses from staff. The pupil questionnaire was not used by school leaders.

Inspection team

John Mitcheson, lead inspector Robert Greatrex Jane Dooley Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector