Templefield Lower School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Leaders should further strengthen outcomes for all pupils by ensuring that:
  • teaching is consistently well matched to the needs of pupils so that all are challenged at the right level
  • pupils respond to their teachers’ guidance so that this has the maximum impact
  • they continue to provide teachers with opportunities to learn from effective approaches to teaching
  • transition arrangements between the Reception and Year 1 classes ensure that teaching in Year 1 builds swiftly and effectively on children’s good learning in the early years.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher’s drive, commitment and vision have led to positive improvements in all aspects of the school’s work. Since her arrival, there have been rapid and positive improvements in the quality of teaching, despite many staffing changes. Staffing is now stable and morale is high. Leaders and governors have the capacity to build on these improvements and develop the school still further.
• The headteacher and senior leaders set high expectations. All staff, including subject leaders, have benefited from a broad range of professional development opportunities. Much has been commissioned by the local authority, including support from national and specialist leaders of education. This has contributed to recent rapid improvement.
• The subject leaders for mathematics and English have an excellent knowledge and understanding of their subject areas and fulfil their roles enthusiastically. They have a clear understanding of the strengths and areas for development within their areas of responsibility and have robust plans to further strengthen pupils’ outcomes.
• Leaders track the progress of each pupil meticulously and therefore have an accurate picture of each pupil’s progress. This includes those who are disadvantaged, the most able and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. This ensures that any pupil falling behind receives the right support to help them catch up. Rigorous performance management systems have been introduced by the new headteacher and these, combined with the meticulous tracking, are driving improvement in teaching and learning.
• The curriculum is rich and varied and contributes well to pupils’ personal development and the promotion of British values. Leaders have made improvements over the last year, so that it is now more stimulating and interesting for pupils. Termly topics spark pupils’ enthusiasm. The clear focus on English and mathematics is matched by work across a range of other subjects. Pupils’ work in their science and topic books is of a good quality. Work in these subject areas provides effective opportunities for pupils to apply their writing skills across the curriculum.
• Most parents are very supportive of the school. A few, understandably, have concerns about the high number of changes to teaching and leadership but a typical comment was: ‘The staff at Templefield provide my children with a good education, they care about their welfare, their behaviour and most importantly, their happiness.’
• During the inspection, pupils enjoyed taking part in activities related to enterprise week. Interesting mathematics and writing activities were planned around this. Pupils across different year groups also designed and made a range of things to sell on ‘market day’ at the end of the week, including bracelets, cakes and biscuits.
• Special educational needs funding is used effectively because the coordinator ensures that pupils’ needs are properly diagnosed. She leads effective training for all staff, including teaching assistants, and this ensures that pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make the progress of which they are capable.
• The school uses the additional physical education and sport premium for primary schools effectively to increase the number of sporting opportunities available to pupils and ensure that they receive high-quality physical education provision. Pupils enjoy the opportunities provided to engage in sporting activities at lunchtimes. A broad range of after-school activities includes basketball, street dance, cricket, rugby, archery and fencing.
• Leaders’ spending of the pupil premium funds is effective. Although numbers of eligible pupils are small, most are making good progress from their starting points. The impact of spending is closely monitored by governors. A nominated governor meets regularly with the headteacher. One specific impact of funding has been to improve the attendance of this group of pupils.

Governance of the school

• Governance is very effective. The governors are highly ambitious for the school. They bring a broad range of experience and expertise to their roles.
• Governors receive detailed and accurate reports from the headteacher. They are also actively involved in the school and gather information through regular visits to the school. Consequently, they are well informed and have an accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and the areas for improvement within the school development plan. They know how well different groups of pupils are progressing. Their detailed knowledge of all aspects of school life enables them to provide a very effective balance of challenge and support to school leaders.
• Governors fulfil their responsibilities well, including safeguarding duties and making sure that performance management and pay arrangements are robust. They are knowledgeable about how additional funding is used to improve the progress of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and ensure that the primary school sports funding is used effectively. The special educational needs governor checks that additional funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities meets these pupils’ needs.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders and governors ensure that the school meets all its statutory requirements for safeguarding. This includes robust checking on the suitability of adults to work with children. Appropriate checks are made on visitors to the school. All staff have received up-to-date training related to child protection, including ‘Prevent’ duty training. There are efficient systems in place to record any concerns that staff have about children and leaders ensure that these are tracked through to a satisfactory conclusion.
• Pupils say they feel safe and secure in school and know who to talk to if they have any worries or concerns.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• The quality of teaching across the school is good. Senior leaders set high expectations for classroom practice and ensure that everyone has access to effective training. Leaders make regular checks on teaching. They are aware when there are inconsistencies in the approaches teachers use and make sure that teachers know what they need to do to be more effective.
• Teachers have good subject knowledge. They explain new ideas clearly and ask thoughtful questions which probe pupils’ understanding and help to develop their thinking. Interesting and exciting termly topics promote a high level of pupil engagement in their learning. For example, Year 4 pupils working on the topic of machines researched different inventions prior to writing about these. They showed sustained concentration and made excellent progress, producing good-quality writing.
• Teachers have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour. Attractive and well-presented classrooms support pupils’ learning well and provide a very positive learning environment. Pupils respond well to this and display good attitudes to learning.
• Effective training enables teaching assistants to make a strong contribution to pupils’ learning. They provide appropriate support to small groups and individual pupils. This includes those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and as a result these pupils make good progress.
• Teachers mainly plan well to meet the needs of all pupils, including the most able pupils, who make good progress as a result. In a minority of lessons, teaching is not matched as well as it could be to pupils’ learning needs. When this happens, pupils’ concentration lapses and their progress slows.
• The teaching of phonics is good and this contributes to pupils’ development of strong early reading and writing skills by the end of Year 2. Reading has a high profile across the school. Pupils across the school read well. They benefit from a new school library which was opened recently by a well-known children’s author.
• Mathematics teaching is effective in developing pupils’ reasoning skills and their fluency in calculating. Lessons are planned thoughtfully to encourage pupils to make links from ‘concrete to abstract’. Skilful questioning and dynamic delivery supported Year 3 pupils to develop their understanding of multiplication and division facts. Pupils in Year 4 developed their reasoning skills when investigating area and perimeter. They challenged each other to justify their arguments, which deepened their learning and understanding.
• Teachers consistently apply the school’s marking policy and provide comments to help pupils improve their work and identify where corrections need to be made. Not all ensure that pupils respond to these. Sometimes corrections are not completed, which means that pupils do not always benefit as well as they could from teachers’ comments.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The six school values, based on British values, underpin and permeate all aspects of school life. They ensure that the school mission statement ‘through shared values we support everyone to achieve their best’ is achieved. Pupils enjoy receiving golden tickets for exemplifying these values.
• Pupils are confident learners. They respond quickly to teachers’ questions and take pride in their work, which is neat and well presented. Their positive attitudes to learning contribute to the good progress they make.
• Relationships between adults and pupils are warm and respectful. During the inspection, pupils engaged confidently with inspectors. They were polite and courteous and greeted members of the team with ‘good morning’ and ‘good afternoon’.
• Adults ensure that pupils know how to stay safe, including online. Pupils spoken to explained how they learn to stay safe. They understand what bullying is and the various forms it takes. They say that incidents of bullying are rare but when this does occur, adults deal with it effectively. Most parents and carers agree that their children feel safe and are well cared for at school.
• Pupils have good opportunities to express their opinions and contribute to school life, for example through the school council and eco council.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Most behave well in class and work hard because teachers plan interesting lessons for them. Pupils cooperate and collaborate well when given opportunities to work in pairs or groups.
• Around the school and at lunchtimes and playtimes, pupils conduct themselves well. They benefit from a large field on which to play and enjoy using a range of sports equipment. Older pupils act as play leaders and playground buddies.
• Evidence in school logs shows that behavioural, racist or bullying incidents are very rare. In the few cases identified, staff have taken effective action and recorded information appropriately.
• In a minority of lessons, where work does not challenge pupils appropriately, a few do not concentrate as well as they could.
• The school’s attendance is above the national average figure and improving for all groups.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• School tracking information and work in pupils’ books show that current pupils are making good progress from their starting points. This includes the most able, those who are disadvantaged and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• The proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in phonics was above that seen nationally in both 2014 and 2015. In 2016, it was in line. School information and evidence gathered during the inspection indicate that this will be above the national figure again in 2017, reflecting the school’s effective approach to the teaching of phonics.
• The results of national assessments for pupils at the end of key stage 1 have risen since the previous inspection. In 2016, the proportions of pupils who reached the expected standard were above the national average for reading, writing and mathematics. The proportions who exceeded age-related expectations were above the national average for reading and mathematics and in line for writing.
• Overall, these pupils had made good progress from the end of the early years. However, leaders were disappointed that not enough boys reached the expected standard at the end of Year 2. They immediately made changes to the curriculum, introducing more interesting topics to engage boys in their writing and provided training for staff. Work in pupils’ books and school tracking information provide evidence that this difference between boys and girls is diminishing.
• Funding to support pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is well used. The coordinator ensures that staff receive the right training to enable them to deliver skilled additional support to pupils who need this. Consequently, these pupils make good progress from their starting points, across the school.
• The school has a low proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged. Nevertheless, leaders rigorously plan and check on the additional academic support funded by the pupil premium to ensure that it has a positive impact on the welfare and progress of eligible pupils. Information provided by leaders and inspection evidence show that most pupils who are disadvantaged, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, are making good progress.
• The most able pupils make good progress because most teachers give them work that challenges them. The current Year 4 were a high-attaining cohort at the end of Year 2. The work in their books indicates that a high proportion are now working at above age-related expectations, indicating that they have made good progress from the end of Year 2.

Early years provision Good

• Leadership of the early years is highly effective. Leaders have created a rich and colourful learning environment, both inside and out, and plan activities to promote children’s development in all areas of learning well. Leaders and managers have an accurate understanding of strengths and areas for future development. Staff receive appropriate training and support to help them to develop in their roles.
• Most children attend the Nursery class on a part-time basis, prior to joining the Reception Year. The majority have the skills, knowledge and understanding that are expected for their age when they start in Reception.
• The proportion of children reaching the expected good level of development at the end of the Reception Year has risen steadily and has been above that seen nationally in both 2015 and 2016. School tracking information and inspection evidence indicate that this is also likely to be the case in 2017.
• There are very few children who are disadvantaged but leaders use the additional funding well, targeting support at specific needs.
• Teaching in the early years is good. Staff have high expectations of what children can achieve and challenge them effectively to develop their skills across all areas of learning. Effective teaching, including in phonics, enables children to make good progress and improve their ability to read and write words and sentences.
• Accurate ongoing assessment means that adults know each child very well and can plan activities which exactly meet their needs. For example, inspectors observed small groups of children consistently engaged in well-planned, adult-led activities in the mathematics and English bases, receiving teaching that was just right for them to be able to take the next steps in their learning.
• Inspectors observed children in the Nursery making fairy cakes to sell as part of enterprise week, while those in the Reception classes were decorating biscuits. Children who spoke to inspectors could explain what they were doing and why.
• Children in both the Nursery and Reception classes are safe and well cared for. Safeguarding procedures are effective and welfare requirements in the early years are fully met. Children are happy and polite and behave well.
• Children in the Reception classes show sustained concentration during activities. When working outside, children were highly engaged throwing beanbags into tyres containing numbers. They wrote addition sums and used a number line to help them to work out the answers. This activity demonstrated the high level at which some children are working in mathematics by the end of the Reception Year. Leaders have recognised that there is work to be done to ensure that children build on their good progress when they start in Year 1.

School details

Unique reference number 109527 Local authority Central Bedfordshire Inspection number 10031361 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Lower School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Community 4 to 9 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 282 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Mr Simon Earles Mrs Debbie Trivett Telephone number 01525 713625 Website Email address www.templefield-lower.co.uk/ templefield@cbc.beds.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 13–14 May 2015

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The number of pupils on roll is broadly similar to that in the average-sized primary school.
• There have been significant changes in staff since the previous inspection, including the leadership of the school.
• The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium funding is lower than the national average.
• The percentage of pupils from minority ethnic groups is lower than the national average, as is the proportion who speak English as an additional language.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is lower than is seen nationally.
• Pupils transfer to middle school to continue their education after the end of Year 4.
• The school provides full-time places for children in the Reception classes and part-time places for children in the Nursery group.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors undertook a range of visits to all classrooms, including short focused visits and longer lesson observations. A number of these were conducted jointly with senior leaders.
• Individual pupils were heard reading and inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour and conduct both in lessons and around the school.
• Inspectors met with three groups of pupils to find out about their school experiences and spoke with pupils during play and lunchtimes. Inspectors considered 22 responses to the pupil questionnaire.
• Discussions took place informally with parents when they were delivering their children to school. Inspectors took account of 207 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire (Parent View) and 74 free-text comments.
• Meetings were held with four members of the governing body, members of the senior leadership team, and a representative from the local authority.
• A range of documentation was scrutinised. This included that for all aspects of safeguarding, documentation relating to behaviour and bullying, the school’s information about pupils’ progress and school development plans and self-evaluations.

Inspection team

Joan Beale, lead inspector Vicky Parsey Rod Warsap

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector