Lingwood Primary Academy Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Ensure that teaching consistently supports and challenges the most able pupils so that their knowledge, understanding and skills deepen and they reach the higher standard by the end of key stage 2.
• Improve leadership and management by ensuring that:
  • parents are informed regularly about the work of the school and the trust
  • the curriculum provides a coherent approach to the acquisition of knowledge, skills and understanding across all subject areas so that pupils can make strong progress in all areas of learning.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The executive headteacher oversees the work of the four schools in the trust and sets high expectations for standards, as well as providing effective support for school leaders. The headteacher and her senior leaders share the trust’s ambition for pupils to achieve highly. They are an effective team, as seen in pupils’ rapidly improving progress and attainment.
• Leaders and trustees have high aspirations for the standard of education that pupils receive in the school. However, a number of respondents to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, indicated that leaders and governors have not been successful in communicating their vision to parents.
• Leaders’ improvement plans are well focused and set measurable targets. Consequently, leaders can talk confidently about what needs to improve and how the quality of education is improving in the school. Leaders of English and mathematics are passionate about their role in the school’s improvement journey. They gather evidence about the impact of work already undertaken and evaluate their findings to determine their plans for improvement.
• The trust shares expertise and staff across all four schools to support improvements in teaching, learning and assessment. School leaders and staff value this collaborative approach, particularly the shared professional development. The trust has also commissioned a number of specialists who provide expertise to address areas for improvement identified in the school development plan. As a result, progress and attainment across the school are improving and there is evident capacity to effect further improvement.
• Responses made by staff to Ofsted’s online staff questionnaire indicated that they feel well supported and are happy to work at the school. Leaders provide effective professional development and coaching, which have improved the quality of teaching.
• Leaders monitor the quality of teaching well. They know where teaching supports gains in pupils’ learning. They also identify what needs to improve, for example teachers’ use of questioning skills to stretch and challenge pupils’ deeper understanding. Where staff need support to improve their practice, this is provided by coaching both within the school and by the trust. Newly qualified teachers receive regular mentoring so that they rapidly make a strong contribution to the overall quality of teaching in the school.
• Leaders are committed to improving outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. Pupil premium funding is used to support a range of activities, including supporting the social and emotional needs of pupils, intensive phonics support and The Prince William Award, which is designed to improve the confidence of older pupils. Disadvantaged pupils in Year 6 are now attaining at least as well as other pupils nationally and those in Year 2 are making better progress to catch up.
• Leaders use the additional funding for physical education (PE) and sport to provide extra coaching and enhance the early years play area. Pupils engage very well with the excellent range of outside equipment that is available and spoke of their enjoyment when participating in sporting activities.
• The curriculum is broad and balanced and offers a wide range of interesting and exciting learning, including, for example, ‘The Steam Project’, which involves building a train out of recycled materials. Pupils also made a volcano in the outside space. A residential trip takes place in Year 4, where pupils learn about conservation and working as a team. However, when inspectors looked at pupils’ work in history, geography and art, it was evident that pupils are not consolidating their knowledge, skills and understanding consistently well.
• The leadership of subjects other than mathematics and English is less well developed. Pupils’ work shows that leaders have yet to embed a coherent curriculum plan which delivers strong progress across all subject areas.
• Additional funding for pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities is used to provide bespoke support where required, to improve pupils’ achievement.
• Leaders make sure that pupils have a good understanding of British values, for example through discussions about the country’s involvement in conflicts abroad and voting on whether or not the school should have a dog. Pupils celebrate a wide range of religions and cultures through religious education (RE) lessons. They demonstrate a sense of fairness in their play through well-established turn-taking and being kind and cooperative with each other. They also said that it is not a problem to be ‘different’ in any way.

Governance of the school

• Trustees understand the strengths of the school and the broad priorities for improvement.
• They use high-quality information, prepared by school leaders for trustees, that allows them to provide both support and challenge to the leadership team. Inspectors confirmed this through the minutes of trustees’ meetings provided by the school.
• Trustees work alongside leaders when they visit the school, and this helps them judge the effectiveness of leaders’ actions to improve the school further.
• Trustees work across all of the trust schools and this allows them to evaluate where most support is needed and allocate resources from the trust appropriately.
• The school benefits from the wide range of experience and expertise trustees can draw upon.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The school has a strong culture of safeguarding, and staff at all levels receive regular training. They know what action to take if a pupil is potentially at risk and understand the need for early help.
• Leaders keep meticulous records of any concerns logged. Child protection files are maintained effectively. Leaders know the destinations of all pupils taken off the school roll.
• Leaders ensure that all pre-employment checks on staff are made, in line with statutory requirements.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Leaders’ systems for monitoring the quality of teaching and learning across the school ensure that they have a secure understanding of where the best practice in the school is and where it still needs support to improve. There are examples in the school of where coaching has had an impact to ensure more consistently good teaching.
• Pupils are willing readers and use phonics knowledge well to break down words into smaller sounds to read them better. Key stage 2 readers can confidently discuss the range of texts they have read, how they enjoy reading and that they ‘read for pleasure’. The school encourages reading through open access to the library and by each year group having a book that they refer to across other subjects.
• Teaching across English, mathematics and science enthuses pupils and supports the good progress they make. In a key stage 2 English lesson, for example, pupils were excited about preparations they were making to perform a play about Macbeth to parents. In science too, inspectors saw some engaging opportunities for pupils to learn about chemical reactions and use precise scientific vocabulary. Year 2 pupils worked confidently on some difficult grammar, while pupils in Year 1 could explain their reasoning when working on some challenging problems about time.
• Teaching continues to improve as best practice is shared across the trust, for example the most effective way to develop pupils’ reasoning skills so that they can quickly solve multi-task maths questions and reach the higher standard. Teachers provide clear information to pupils about how well they are doing; some responses to pupils’ work ensure that they improve considerably.
• Teachers use effective questioning to check understanding and resolve misunderstandings. Pupils take risks in their learning confidently because they feel able to make mistakes. Almost all pupils work hard and purposefully; they are eager to learn.
• Teaching assistants are deployed well, especially when working with those pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. They are well informed and support with kindness and sensitivity, while ensuring that pupils improve their skills and knowledge.
• Pupils are confident and successful learners. They are resilient and understand the value of perseverance. However, some of the most able pupils commented that they are ‘always told to persevere and persevere’, but sometimes they need more teacher support to be able to make progress with the task.
• The most able pupils are making good progress. However, although achievement is improving, they are not receiving the focused activities and questioning necessary to fully deepen their understanding.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• The provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is effective. Pupils are encouraged to think about and write down their feelings, for example on a ‘kindness wall’. They reflect on the quote for the week, such as ‘the beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you.’ Their creativity shows in their art on display throughout the school, and pupils were excited to be taking part in a county-wide singing competition.
• Pupils say that teachers are ‘helpful and friendly’ and that they all have a trusted adult to turn to if needed. They also said that they are happy at school and that it is ‘pretty awesome’ and ‘a very good place to learn’.
• The welfare of pupils lies at the heart of the school. The pastoral leader knows the pupils very well and provides strong support to those who are facing emotional or behavioural challenges.
• Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe through the curriculum. They have a thorough understanding of how to conduct themselves on the internet. They told inspectors that bullying is a rare occurrence in the school and that staff take swift and effective action to stop it happening.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils behave very well around school both at breaktimes and lunchtime. Pupils play well together and share the wide range of equipment available outside without dissent. They are polite to adults and respond to teacher requests quickly and willingly.
• The care pupils take with presentation in their books shows that they are proud of their work. Pupils appreciate the school environment, which offers light and space, and they commented on how they like to help keep the school clean and litter-free.
• Classrooms offer harmonious learning spaces where pupils feel able to test out their ideas without fear of failure. The contributions they make to lessons are valued by staff and by their peers. They support one another very well at all times of the school day.
• Inspectors saw a celebration assembly, which a number of parents attended. This reinforced and commended the successes pupils had achieved, including ‘good attitudes to learning’ and ‘kindness in the playground’.
• No lessons were disrupted by poor behaviour during the inspection. School logs of behaviour incidents show that any incidents of poor behaviour that do occur are recorded carefully and dealt with effectively.
• Attendance, which was average in 2017, has improved still further this year. The attendance of pupils with historical persistent absence has also improved considerably due to the determined actions taken by school leaders and supported by the trust.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• In 2017, at the end of key stage 1, pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics was broadly in line with national averages. Pupils who entered key stage 1 with a good level of development achieved well at greater depth in these subjects.
• Pupils’ current workbooks, inspector observations of learning and the school’s own assessment information demonstrate that the proportion of current pupils at key stage 1 reaching the expected standard for reading, writing and mathematics is at least in line with national averages.
• The proportion of pupils who achieved the expected standard in the phonics screening check exceeded the national benchmark, with disadvantaged pupils achieving broadly in line with other pupils nationally.
• Progress made by pupils at the end of key stage 2, in 2017, was broadly in line with national figures. Published assessment information shows that disadvantaged pupils made less progress than others both nationally and in school.
• For pupils currently in the school, the school’s own assessment information, evidenced by inspectors through pupils’ work in reading, writing and mathematics, suggests that attainment is much stronger this year in key stage 2, exceeding national figures. This shows significant improvement, including for disadvantaged pupils, who are achieving in line with their classmates and others nationally. A higher proportion of current pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education at secondary school than in the previous year.
• Across the wider range of subjects, although some gains in knowledge and skills were evident in pupils’ work, these did not consistently reflect the strong progress seen in their English and mathematics work.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make good progress from their different starting points. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) evaluates the progress of these pupils regularly and effectively. She ensures that they receive bespoke support to meet their individual needs and uses additional funding thoughtfully to improve this support. One-to-one support and small-group work delivered by learning support assistants are very effective in ensuring that they make strong progress.

Early years provision Good

• Leadership of early years provision is effective. In 2017, the proportion of children reaching a good level of development was better than that seen nationally. The small number of disadvantaged children also achieved well.
• Children in the early years get off to a good start. They are offered a balance of child-led and adult-led learning. Children learn well together and play cooperatively. Inspectors spoke to children in a ‘doctor’s reception’ and they could talk confidently about their roles and the importance of accurately recording the patient’s name using a computer.
• There are clear assessment procedures in place to track the development of writing, mathematics and phonics skills. As a result, adult-led activities ensure that children progress well. Children are developing good early writing skills and an understanding of punctuation, which prepares them well for key stage 1.
• Children who have SEN and/or disabilities are well supported. Adults understand their needs well and respond to these with thoughtful activities that capture their interest.
• Language skills are developing well through the many opportunities to engage with adults. Children immerse themselves in activities which broaden their knowledge of the world. A group of children could name all of the sea creatures in their seascape, including an octopus.
• The enticing outside space offers a very wide range of well-planned opportunities, including number work, sports, running a garage, building work, arranging a seascape and learning about the environment. Children play cooperatively together and learn as they laugh, enjoy and have fun. One parent commented that ‘reception class is brilliant, caring and receptive to my child’s needs.’
• Staff plan activities designed to offer challenges to the most able children; however, not all pupils are challenged as well as this.
• Staff ensure children’s welfare, health and safety at all times, in line with school policy.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 142005 Norfolk 10052617 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 Academy sponsor-led 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 197 Appropriate authority Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Board of trustees Stephen Beeson Alexandra Burrell 01603 712295 www.thehearteducationtrust.co.uk office@lingwoodprimary.co.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

Information about this inspection

• The inspectors saw teaching and learning in all classrooms, mostly with senior leaders. They also observed playtime and lunchtime activities and an assembly.
• Discussions were held with pupils, staff and trustees.
• The inspectors took account of the views of 42 parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. Inspectors also spoke to parents at the start of the school day.
• The inspectors listened to pupils read and looked at their work across all year groups and in different subjects.
• The inspectors looked at a wide range of documents, including the school’s self- evaluation summary, the school development plan, information about pupils’ learning and progress, planning and monitoring documents, records relating to behaviour and attendance, health and safety documentation and safeguarding information.
• The inspectors analysed 10 responses to the staff questionnaire.

Inspection team

Kay Leach, lead inspector Jamie White

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector