Lincewood Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve leadership and management by:
  • developing the capacity of leaders and governors to manage all aspects of leadership without the need for additional external support
  • ensuring that governors hold senior leaders effectively to account for all aspects of safeguarding.
• Ensure that time in lessons is used to best effect by:
  • developing the organisation and sequencing of work so that it consistently builds on pupils’ prior understanding
  • making sure that teachers consider carefully what pupils already know and are precise about what next steps will help them most, including in foundation subjects
  • ensuring that all teachers plan work which maintains pupils’ interest and challenges them.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

• Although leaders have successfully maintained the school’s good standard of education since the last inspection, leadership of the school, including governance, is currently overly reliant on support from the local authority. A recent audit by the local authority highlighted serious shortcomings in safeguarding procedures. The follow-up guidance has ensured that necessary changes have been instigated and ensured that safeguarding is now effective.
• Leaders monitor the quality of provision well and use performance information to make informed decisions about what to improve. Consequently, they have successfully addressed the areas for improvement identified in the previous inspection report and continue to sustain a good quality of education for pupils.
• Leaders hold teachers to account and provide effective training to ensure that their strategies are implemented well. For example, all teachers have been trained in leaders’ chosen approach to teaching writing. This approach is consistently adopted and is successful in ensuring good outcomes for pupils. Teachers value the professional development they receive. The vast majority of staff who responded to Ofsted’s staff survey said that they think leaders use professional development to encourage, challenge and support teachers’ improvement.
• Leaders have developed effective curricular programmes which enable pupils to make good progress from the time they join Reception to the end of Year 6. They have secured teachers’ commitment to following these schemes of work accurately. For example, inspectors saw clear evidence of teachers adhering precisely to the school’s phonics scheme. As a consequence, the proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check is consistently above the national average. Teachers’ consistent application of leaders’ plans enables leaders to review which approaches work well and to identify when to implement changes.
• Pupils learn about fundamental British values through personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) lessons and assemblies. They treat each other with kindness and understand that people are different but equal. Almost all pupils who responded to Ofsted’s survey of their views said that the school encourages them to respect people from other backgrounds and to treat everyone equally.
• Leaders of provision for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities ensure that these pupils’ needs are effectively met. The SEN coordinator (SENCo) works closely with teachers, parents and external agencies to ensure that the needs of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are understood. She checks the impact of strategies to support these pupils. For example, she attends all meetings about pupils’ progress and observes lessons that they are part of. Learning support assistants are well trained and their positive impact is seen in lessons across the school. Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are taught well and make good progress.
• Leaders make good use of pupil premium funding. Disadvantaged pupils’ progress is monitored carefully through meetings with key staff. Leaders use these meetings to identify when disadvantaged pupils are not achieving as well as they should. They seek to understand why this is and to put in place the help that pupils need. As a result, disadvantaged pupils make progress in line with other pupils nationally.
• Physical education (PE) and sport premium funding is used well to encourage pupils to participate in physical activity and also to train staff.

Governance

• Governors have a secure understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the quality of teaching pupils receive. They receive regular performance information and check the impact of new initiatives with leaders. They make good use of the educational expertise of individual governors to validate what they are told about the effectiveness of teaching. Governors have a clear understanding of school developments and track their impact well.
• Until recently, governors have been over-reliant on information they have been given by leaders regarding the safeguarding of pupils. Intervention and guidance from the local authority have clarified the role and responsibility of governors. Additional support from two national leaders of governance has strengthened the work of the governing body.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders have taken swift action to address historical weaknesses that they and the local authority identified in safeguarding practice at the school. Previously the procedures for raising concerns were not consistently followed and concerns were not systematically recorded. Governors did not have the necessary oversight of safeguarding matters and information was not shared appropriately. As a result of recent actions safeguarding procedures are fit for purpose.
• The acting headteacher, supported by an associate headteacher commissioned by the local authority, has worked swiftly and effectively to respond to recommendations made by the local authority. For example, leaders now regularly communicate with, and seek advice from, external agencies.
• Staff training has been brought up to date and new systems are in place to ensure that any concerns about pupils’ welfare are reported and acted upon appropriately. Staff at all levels in the organisation understand these systems and demonstrate a secure knowledge of how to keep pupils safe.
• Having now established safe practices, leaders have concrete plans in place to improve further the way they work. Leaders plan to streamline the way that information is recorded and stored. The local authority remains closely involved in developing this aspect of school provision.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers typically make good use of time in lessons. They set work which meets the needs of pupils well, taking into account how easy or hard pupils find a particular topic.
• Most teachers assess how well pupils are learning during lessons and adjust how they teach accordingly. They carefully judge the amount of time pupils spend on different activities, moving pupils on at just the right time, or revisiting topics if pupils’ understanding is insecure. As a result, pupils are interested in the work they do, are enthusiastic about learning, and develop their knowledge and understanding well.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are supported well in lessons. Learning support assistants are skilled at questioning pupils and guiding them to learn. Equipment, such as voice recognition software and laptops, is put to good use to help pupils overcome any barriers they face. As a result, pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities have the same access to the curriculum as other pupils.
• Over time, most lessons are well sequenced. They lead to clear, logical development of pupils’ knowledge and understanding. For example, the ‘big questions’ pupils complete while studying reading increase in complexity and skill level progressively over time. Across all year groups, the order in which pupils learn and revisit topics provides successful, increasingly sophisticated, coverage of what they need to know. Pupils’ work shows that they understand and learn what they are taught. By the time they finish Year 6 they are well prepared for the move to secondary school.
• Teachers do not always use their assessment of pupils’ work to extend learning in subjects other than mathematics and English. This means that pupils are sometimes set tasks that are too easy, and revisit work that they can already do well.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils understand how to be successful learners. They are confident in answering questions and share ideas with each other willingly. They are keen to do well, settling quickly to their work. They tackle the different tasks set for them with enthusiasm and show pride in their work.
• Pupils’ mental and physical well-being is given high priority by leaders. They are taught to keep themselves safe, including online. Pupils learn about how to eat well, and are given a raft of different sporting activities to participate in.
• Pupils benefit from a wide range of extra-curricular activities. They were effusive when explaining the extra-curricular provision on offer, and several explained how being taught about food had changed their eating habits for the better.
• The school is a kind and welcoming place. Pupils told inspectors that they feel safe from bullying. They explained how they learned about mutual respect and individual liberty and told inspectors that being different is fine. The responses from parents who completed Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, supported this view. Almost all said their children were happy and safe at school.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Around the school, pupils conduct themselves well. They play well together at breaktimes and lunchtimes. When one pupil accidentally knocked another over, for example, he was quick to say sorry while a friend fetched help. Inspectors did not witness any poor behaviour, and almost all parents, and all staff, who responded to Ofsted’s surveys agree that behaviour is well managed.
• Disruption to learning is rare. Inspectors did not witness any time in lessons where pupils prevented others from learning. Pupils are consistently polite and well mannered. On the rare occasions when pupils are slow to settle to their work or are distracted, this is because teachers do not provide work which is sufficiently challenging for them.
• Over time, attendance at the school has been broadly in line with the national average. Leaders have identified a recent dip in attendance and are working quickly to address this.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• In 2017, pupils made good progress through key stage 2 in reading, writing and mathematics. In key stage 1, pupils also made good progress from their starting points.
• In 2018, provisional data suggests that, although still broadly in line with the national average, there was a dip in pupils’ progress in reading at key stage 2. This followed a change in the way reading is taught. A review of the work of current pupils across Years 1 to 6 supports the school’s progress information in showing that the new method of teaching reading is now embedded. Pupils currently in the school are making good progress in reading.
• Pupils’ progress at key stages 1 and 2 in mathematics continues to be strong. Pupils make consistent gains in their mathematical skills and understanding through each academic year and across Years 1 to 6. The same is true in writing. In both subjects, this is reflected in the provisional key stage 2 outcomes for 2018, which remain good.
• The proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check has, for some time, been above the national average. This is because of the effectiveness with which teachers apply the school’s chosen scheme of phonics teaching.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are well supported to make good progress. Across the school, they make progress broadly in line with other pupils.
• Disadvantaged pupils also make good progress when compared to other pupils nationally.

Early years provision Good

• Leaders carefully consider the journey children make through the early years. They provide a strong induction process. They have established a curriculum which ensures an effective balance of activities to develop skills across the areas of learning. Leaders and other adults in the early years establish routines which prepare children well for future learning. Children in the early years are prepared well to progress into key stage 1.
• Teachers in the early years effectively manage the work of children to ensure that they undertake a range of different activities, making good use of inside and outside learning opportunities. They are well supported by learning support assistants, who guide and assess children’s progress well. As a result, children make good progress though the different areas of early years learning.
• Children new to Reception soon settle to its routines and socialise with other children quickly. The impact of this is evident in the way that, at this early stage in the year, children work and play well together. They behave well and approach their learning happily and with confidence.
• More children in the early years attain a good level of development than the national average. This has been the case for at least four years. Attainment in the specific early learning goals of mathematics, reading and writing has similarly been above the national average.
• Until 2018, disadvantaged children achieved less well, and fewer of these children reached a good level of development than other children nationally. However, through the academic year of 2017/18, leaders took steps to address this. They provided support which was well tailored to these children’s needs. As a consequence, the proportion of disadvantaged children reaching a good level of development rose to being above the national average for non-disadvantaged children.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 134022 Essex 10056742 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 411 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Mr Stuart Hayter Mrs Julie Braithwaite (Acting) Telephone number 01268 412888 Website Email address www.lincewood.essex.sch.uk admin@lincewood.essex.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 16–17 October 2014

Information about this school

• Lincewood Primary School is a larger than average primary school.
• The school is currently led by an acting headteacher with the support of an associate headteacher. The local authority is providing a high level of support to the school.
• Lincewood Primary School has an average proportion of pupils who have been eligible for free school meals in the last six years.
• The proportion of pupils who receive support for SEN and/or disabilities is lower than the national average, while the proportion who have an education, health and care plan is above average.
• The proportion of pupils whose first language is not English is broadly in line with the national average.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors met with the acting headteacher, associate headteacher, senior leaders and members of the governing body. They also spoke with representatives from the local authority.
• Inspectors visited 34 classes, sometimes accompanied by leaders, reviewed the work of pupils in their books and listened to pupils read.
• Inspectors reviewed a range of documentation, including leaders’ evaluation of the school and their improvement plans, a safeguarding audit conducted by the local authority, the school’s safeguarding records, staff induction documentation and documents demonstrating the work of governors. Inspectors considered the school’s information on pupils’ progress, attendance, behaviour and exclusions.
• Inspectors considered the 63 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and the 62 responses by parents to the free-text option. Inspectors considered the 85 responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey and the 33 responses to the staff survey. They spoke with parents before the start of the school day and with pupils during the inspection. Inspectors also spoke with a range of staff during the inspection.

Inspection team

Andrew Hemmings, lead inspector Susan Sutton Mark Carter-Tufnell Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector