West Rainton Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Enhance the quality of teaching to further increase pupils’ progress by:
  • ensuring that pupils are fully challenged in all year groups so that increasing proportions of pupils demonstrate a greater depth of understanding in a wide range of subjects
  • implementing new strategies to more thoroughly develop pupils’ inference and deduction skills in reading
  • moving pupils on in their learning more swiftly when they are ready to acquire new knowledge and skills
  • enhancing initiatives to enable teachers to learn from the good practice at the school and from wider partnership work so that they provide pupils with more consistent challenge.
• Improve rates of attendance, particularly for disadvantaged pupils, by building on the close links with families.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher and her team have shown a commitment to improving the quality of teaching and to providing a curriculum that provides exciting and enriching learning experiences for pupils. As a result, pupils make good progress and develop effective social and emotional skills.
• School leaders maintain a constant focus upon improvement. They monitor pupils’ progress every half term and regularly check this against the quality of work in pupils’ books and folders. This sustained focus on pupils’ progress enables teachers to adapt their teaching and manage interventions so that pupils can continue to make good progress.
• Leaders and teachers responded purposefully to the challenges of the new national curriculum. Pupils achieved outcomes at the end of key stage 2 in 2016 that were above those seen nationally, although underperformance by a smaller cohort in reading in Year 6 in 2017 has led to a less consistent picture.
• Leaders and teachers promote a culture of respect and mutual support where pupils regularly work and learn well alongside one another. Behaviour in lessons and around the site is consistently positive as teachers and teaching assistants have high expectations and provide engaging learning experiences.
• Governors with responsibilities for the use of pupil premium funding hold regular meetings with leaders to check what difference the funding is making. These strong systems have contributed to the good progress that disadvantaged pupils have made over time.
• Leaders and governors have a clear awareness of the school’s overall strengths and areas for improvement. They have developed effective improvement plans that have contributed to good progress and that sharply address any areas of underperformance. Phase and subject leaders regularly report on the effect of improvement plans to governors during visits and in presentations at full governor meetings.
• Leaders provide regular opportunities for teachers to develop their practice through professional development and network meetings with local schools. Teachers work with other schools and local authority moderators to check standards and build subject expertise. In 2017, moderation of early years outcomes showed that staff had an accurate view of standards.
• Performance management arrangements are effective and align individual teacher development with whole-school improvement. Whole-school targets are integrated into individual goals and this coherent approach has supported improving progress over time. Teachers’ performance is reviewed over the course of the year and governors check performance management recommendations thoroughly.
• The leadership of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is effective and enables current pupils to make good progress. Leaders maintain detailed records of pupils’ progress and work closely with parents and carers to check the progress that pupils make over time. The chair of the governing body meets leaders regularly to monitor the effect of funding for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities.
• Leaders provide a highly engaging curriculum where learning is often stimulated by external trips and through visitors to school who provide meaningful contexts for learning. Leaders ensure that a wide range of subjects are given extensive coverage in full afternoon sessions where pupils acquire key knowledge and skills in areas such as science, history, art and physical education (PE). Pupils’ emotional and social development is also promoted through a range of activities and assemblies, while extra-curricular experiences, including trips, enhance pupils’ self-confidence.
• Pupils are given regular opportunities to apply literacy and numeracy skills across the curriculum. Pupils were seen applying mathematical and scientific skills when exploring the links between leg length and the height and length of jumps in PE. Pupils have regular opportunities to apply their extended writing skills in history and religious studies.
• The provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is a strength of the school. Pupils explore a range of faiths. They interact closely with their local community through a range of inter-generational work and contribute to a variety of charities and social causes. Their interaction with key services, such as the police, fire and ambulance, helps them to develop a strong sense of British values and social responsibility.
• Funding from the government to promote sport and increase physical activity is being used extremely successfully. Pupils participate in a wide range of sports and competitions, including netball, football, swimming, gymnastics, dance and athletics. Governors review the effects of this spending very closely.
• Leaders and teachers work with other schools and the local authority to share good practice. Leaders worked extremely closely with local authority advisers before taking responsibility for the onsite nursery. They showed considerable diligence in ensuring that their moral purpose in taking over the provision was supported by due financial diligence and the judicious appointment of experienced specialist staff.
• Work with external partners is helping teachers to set work that provides more stretch and challenge for pupils, but this is not having consistent effect across all classes.

Governance of the school

• Governance is effective. Governors have specific areas of responsibility and take their monitoring responsibilities seriously. They review their own effectiveness and show a willingness to improve their practice. Governors have a clear understanding of the school’s strengths and areas of improvement.
• Governors know their community very well and this enables them to judge how effectively leaders meet the needs of pupils and their families.
• Governors closely examine the impact of additional funding on pupils’ progress. Pupil premium spending is reviewed at termly progress review meetings. The chair of the governing body regularly meets the special educational needs coordinator to check what effect additional spending is having upon the quality of support and pupils’ progress. A governor works closely with the PE lead to monitor funding to support pupils’ additional participation in sport.
• Governor committees provide a regular focus on pupils’ progress and curriculum provision. Through their work with the school improvement partners, they gather additional objective scrutiny. Governors also look at pupils’ work with school leaders to gain first-hand insight into pupils’ progress.
• Governors are committed to the ethos of the school and support the headteacher in her commitment to the development of the whole child. They ask challenging questions but are also highly supportive of the school and its values.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders carry out extremely rigorous checks to ensure the suitability of adults working on site. Leaders pursue any concerns over pupils’ welfare thoroughly and record them assiduously. Safeguarding training for all staff and governors is extensive and up to date.
• The school actively supports pupils’ welfare through its inclusive ethos and strong links with parents and families. Teachers and teaching assistants are attentive to pupils’ needs and high standards of care are evident across the early years and into key stages 1 and 2. Pupils feel safe and happy in school and the vast majority of their parents agree.
• Governors with safeguarding expertise provide additional checks on safeguarding practice. They check safeguarding records and documents and monitor and evaluate the support provided for vulnerable pupils. Governors maintain up-to-date training in safer recruitment.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers frequently plan stimulating lessons with relevant subject content that supports good progress for the majority of pupils. Pupils have regular opportunities to apply their learning in practical contexts, such as applying numeracy skills in physical education or exploring light and shade in science.
• Teachers plan effectively and take pupils’ needs into account. Pupils value the mixture of support and challenge they receive. Pupils focus effectively upon their learning, although there are occasions in mixed-year classes where pupils’ misconceptions are not as swiftly addressed.
• Pupils have increasing opportunities to consolidate and deepen their understanding. Pupils’ books often show extensive curriculum coverage and increasing opportunities to work in greater depth, although this is not consistent across all classes. Leaders and teachers regularly review pupils’ progress and closely track the impact of support and intervention.
• Teachers show good subject knowledge in both core subjects and across the wider curriculum. Teachers use questioning with increasing effectiveness to probe understanding and encourage pupils to explore mathematical problems and literary understanding in greater depth, although not with consistent effectiveness.
• Teachers provide feedback in line with the school’s policy and in the majority of cases this supports pupils in making good progress. Teachers set regular homework that deepens pupils’ learning and regular homework clubs and ‘booster’ classes further extend pupils’ learning.
• Teachers and teaching assistants model sounds effectively and develop pupils’ reading skills well, enabling the vast majority of pupils to achieve the required standard in the phonics screening check in Year 1.
• Teachers use a range of strategies to deepen pupils’ understanding of literary texts. They work with pupils and families to enhance home reading so that parents ask their children questions about characters and themes in their books. Teachers use ambitious texts to give pupils access to classics and texts that deepen social and moral understanding, often raising awareness of key equality issues of race and religion. Current pupils make good progress in reading, despite a significant dip in progress for a small number of pupils at the end of key stage 2 in 2017 whose inference and deduction skills had not been as successfully developed.
• Teachers provide regular opportunities for pupils to consolidate their mathematics skills through frequent chances to practise key operations. Pupils are highly productive, with some completing up to six exercise books a year. Teachers are providing increasing opportunities for pupils to explore more complex problems through more challenging tasks, although too few pupils are consistently working at greater depth.
• Pupils have numerous opportunities to write in a range of genres. In English, standards of writing are good and writing is often stimulated by visits, such as the recent visit of a falconer with owls and other birds of prey. Pupils are also given opportunities to apply their writing in other subjects, such as history, science and religious studies. There are still occasions where teaching supports girls to make better progress in their writing than the boys.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. Leaders ensure that the curriculum provides numerous opportunities to work with partners to explore welfare. Pupils engage with many local services, including the police, fire and ambulance services, and the NSPCC, and this develops their understanding of lifelong safety.
• Teachers and teaching assistants show a continual attentiveness towards pupils’ well-being. Teachers have introduced specific initiatives in 2016 to develop pupils’ awareness of their social and emotional health.
• Positive behaviour is regularly celebrated in assemblies and pupils have many opportunities to take on positions of responsibility, such as the recent mini-police project. Pupils feel that bullying is extremely rare and are confident that adults would address any unacceptable behaviour.
• Pupils develop physical well-being through regular opportunities to participate in sport. The vast majority of pupils participate in some form of after-school club and have taken part in a variety of sports, including hockey, gymnastics, karate, football and netball. Leaders have provided additional opportunities for pupils’ swimming to enhance their safety, with a substantial increase in the proportions of pupils achieving their 25-metre swimming award.
• Pupils are able to discuss personal safety and the actions that the school has taken to help them keep safe, including how to stay safe on the roads and how to avoid the dangers of fireworks. Through their work with police community support officers, pupils have acquired a well-developed sense of how to avoid the threats posed by mobile phones and social media.
• Leaders have introduced innovative strategies to develop pupils’ welfare. They help pupils to develop a sense of financial responsibility through a savings scheme which significant proportions of pupils participate in.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils show consistently positive attitudes to learning. Pupils work well together to discuss their thoughts and solve problems. This helps them to develop ideas and improve the quality of their work. However, they are not consistently clear on the steps they can take to demonstrate a greater depth of understanding in their work.
• Pupils show a clear pride in their school and their community. This is reflected in their appearance and the quality of work in their books. Pupils have regular opportunities to hold positions of responsibility.
• Pupils enjoy their learning and work conscientiously. Incidents of low-level disruption are rare and the occasional instances of misbehaviour are effectively addressed.
• Leaders have worked tirelessly with parents to improve rates of attendance. Leaders use a balance of close support alongside the firmer use of fixed penalty notices to get the message across to parents on the central importance of regular attendance. Their actions have resulted in significant reductions in persistent absence and sustained improvements in attendance for all pupils, whose rates of attendance are now in line with those seen nationally. Persistent absence rates have fallen significantly for disadvantaged pupils, although they remain more likely to be absent than their peers.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Over time, pupils typically make good progress. In 2016, pupils made more progress across key stage 2 that was seen nationally. The proportion of pupils who achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics was well above that seen nationally. Progress and attainment at expected standards remained above that seen nationally in writing and mathematics in 2017, but progress in reading fell significantly for a smaller cohort of pupils.
• Current standards of reading across the school are typically good. The inspector listened to a range of pupils reading and discussed their reading and understanding in lessons and reviewed their reading records. Pupils showed good textual understanding and responded well to the more challenging selection of texts being studied. New initiatives to encourage parents to question pupils’ understanding when reading at home is supporting further progress.
• Teachers and teaching assistants support pupils reading with effective phonics teaching. This enables pupils to make good progress from their starting points and achieve outcomes that are either in line with or above those seen nationally.
• Current progress at key stage 2 is good. The quality of writing is good and pupils display confidence and imagination in writing in a range of styles and genres. On occasions, boys’ writing is less accomplished than that of the girls.
• Pupils’ overall progress from their starting points at key stage 1 is good. The proportion of pupils achieving expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics is consistently above that seen nationally.
• The most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, are not making as strong progress across a wide range of subjects. This is because they are not given sufficiently regular opportunities to apply their learning and work at greater depth. Although new initiatives are increasing the degree of stretch and challenge across the school, the proportion of pupils achieving greater depth of understanding remains below that seen nationally.
• Pupils made above-average progress in mathematics at key stage 2 in 2016 and 2017. Current progress information suggests that they continue to do so at key stage 2. A thorough scrutiny of books showed that pupils have many opportunities to consolidate their skills, with some pupils completing up to six exercise books. There is increasing evidence that pupils are being given opportunities to work at greater depth through regular problem-solving tasks and tasks that apply their reasoning skills.
• Pupils’ progress across the wider curriculum in science, religious studies and history is good and pupils acquire extensive and age-appropriate knowledge of scientific processes and historical periods and themes. They are given opportunities to apply their skills and research further knowledge.
• As a result of improving teaching and well-resourced learning, children make good progress in the early years and an above-average proportion are now achieving good levels of development.
• The majority of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are making good progress through well-tailored and closely monitored support. It is clear from pupils’ progress in the classroom and over time in their books that support enables them to effectively acquire new knowledge and skills.
• Over time, disadvantaged pupils make good progress. At key stage 2 in 2016, disadvantaged pupils made progress in line with other pupils nationally in writing and mathematics, but considerably stronger progress in reading. In 2017, their progress in reading at the end of key stage 2 was much weaker, but writing and mathematics remained positive. A thorough review of their work in books shows that they continue to make good rates of progress across many year groups and subjects, in many cases equalling or surpassing their peers. Differences in attainment are diminishing across many year groups.

Early years provision Good

• Outcomes in the early years have shown consistent improvement over the past three years. As a result of thorough planning and effective teaching, children make good progress and now achieve levels of development above those seen nationally.
• Leaders and governors have shown considerable moral purpose in taking over the running of the onsite nursery. They have managed the process assiduously, checking welfare requirement and financial viability and making material changes to the indoor and outdoor environment. Crucially, they have made key staffing appointments to ensure that teachers have the expertise to cope with the needs of two-year-old children in addition to the provision for three- and four-year-olds.
• Leaders have worked closely with local authority advisers to enhance provision and check standards. The headteacher carries out lesson observations with local authority experts to check the accuracy of her observations and evaluations. Local authority moderators checked children’s work in 2017 and standards were found to be accurate.
• Teachers and teaching assistants set work that captures children’s interest and supports progress. Nursery children were happy in playing with trucks and helicopters and in colouring outside with chalk. Reception teachers modelled sounds and blends effectively. Children effectively used their phonic strategies to segment words and then blend them in order to read aloud with clarity. Reception children eagerly explored the outdoors environment while collecting leaves and cones in the autumn landscape.
• In their books and journals, children show increasing confidence in their letter formation and letter and word spacing. Some children, particularly boys, are less confident when writing independently and are less secure in their letter formations and spellings.
• Teachers monitor children’s progress closely and record this accurately. Children’s work and progress is captured in books and folders. External moderation confirms that teachers have an accurate view of standards. These collective records confirm that children make good progress from their starting points. Teachers have an accurate picture of children’s abilities and learning needs and, therefore, teaching is effective and results in good progress.
• Safeguarding practices in the early years are effective. There are no breaches in statutory welfare requirements. Children are safe and extremely well cared for and supported.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 114128 Durham 10032133 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 2 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 122 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Reverend Michael Beck Alison McDonough Telephone number 0191 584 3805 Website Email address http://westrainton.itss-durham.org.uk westrainton@durhamlearning.net Date of previous inspection 22–23 January 2013

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school is much smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• The school has a governor-led nursery provision and offers places for two- and three-year-old children.
• In some year groups, the school has mixed-year classes.
• The proportion of pupils eligible for the pupil premium is well above average.
• The proportion of pupils from Traveller and Gypsy/Roma families is above average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.
• The school runs a breakfast club and runs after-school care for pupils.
• The school has a number of awards, including the Arts Mark Gold, the Basic Skills Quality Mark, the Association for Physical Education Quality Mark and the Inclusion Quality Mark.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector observed a wide range of lessons, covering all classes in the school. The headteacher accompanied the lead inspector on a number of observations.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, deputy headteacher and subject and phase leaders. The inspector also met seven members of the governing body, including the chair. He met a group of pupils at lunchtime on the first day of the inspection. The inspector also met the local authority school improvement partner.
• Pupils’ behaviour was observed during lessons and around the school.
• The inspector listened to pupils reading and talked to them about their reading.
• The inspector extensively examined the quality of work in a wide range of books. He discussed pupils’ work and their learning with them in lessons.
• The inspector looked at the school’s work and considered documents including the school’s self-evaluation, the school improvement plan, curriculum plans and information relating to pupils’ achievement and safeguarding.
• The inspector took into account 17 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, and nine free-text responses. He also took into account 17 responses to the staff questionnaire.

Inspection team

Malcolm Kirtley, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector