Hugh Joicey Church of England First School, Ford Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching and learning across the school so that it is consistently good or better by ensuring that teachers:
  • increase their expectations of the most able pupils and provide challenging and thought-provoking work for them to tackle, especially in mathematics
  • plan learning activities which engage boys and enable them to make rapid progress, especially in writing
  • give high priority to the development of pupils’ basic skills, such as number formation, presentation and handwriting.
• Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management at all levels by ensuring that:
  • the new systems and procedures to track the attainment and progress of pupils and groups of pupils are fully embedded
  • governors have regular access to succinct assessment information for each year group and the different pupil groups within the school
  • the coordinator for special educational needs (SENCo) and subject leaders have opportunities to increase their expertise and are given dedicated time to monitor the impact of their actions on pupils’ progress
  • incidents of poor behaviour are analysed to identify and address trends. An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved. An external review of the school’s 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

• The acting headteacher, who was formerly the part-time teacher of the Reception class, took up post formally in January 2016. Despite inexperience at senior leadership level, she has identified and started to tackle the most pressing areas for improvement while leading the whole school community through a period of mourning for a beloved headteacher.
• The acting headteacher has begun to identify areas of stronger and weaker teaching and quickly provided support for staff where necessary.
• Subject leadership in this small school is at an embryonic stage of development. Leaders of both English and mathematics have been in place since the beginning of the academic year and have already identified some of the areas that require improvement. Progress has been more rapid in mathematics. The leader has implemented a new policy for calculations and is providing support and advice across the school. However, a scrutiny of pupils’ mathematics workbooks during the inspection revealed that pupils in Year 2 are unlikely to complete the required national curriculum content by the end of the academic year at the current rate of coverage.
• Leaders, in recognition of slower progress made by boys in writing, have recently asked teachers to make lessons more physically active. Although, at an early stage of development, some progress has been noted in boys’ letter formation and handwriting.
• Leaders have recently implemented a new system to track the attainment and progress of cohorts, groups and individual pupils. Although not yet embedded, leaders have identified which groups of pupils need additional help to catch up with their peers and have recently employed an additional teacher to support pupils’ progress in English and mathematics.
• Leaders’ management of the additional funding for the small number of disadvantaged pupils has not ensured that they make good progress and attain standards in line with or above other pupils nationally.
• Sports funding is spent well to improve pupils’ skills and increase their engagement in physical activity. As a result, the number of pupils who attend extra-curricular clubs has increased by 30%. Pupils, who ‘like to keep fit’, use equipment purchased with the funding to skip and hula-hoop at breaktimes.
• Leaders’ plans include the need to embed further spiritual, moral, social and cultural development across the curriculum. Pupils understand the need for rules and they value decisions that are made democratically. There is great kudos in being elected to the school council. Councillors take their role seriously as, evidenced in the minutes of school council meetings, which are displayed for all to read.
• The acting headteacher has taken on the role of SENCo. She has diligently acquired some of the skills necessary to carry out the role on an interim basis but acknowledges that further training is required to become fully proficient in the role. There is a lack of clarity between which pupils have special educational needs and/or disabilities and which pupils are low-attainers who need additional input to catch up quickly.

Governance of the school

• Governors have a clear vision for the school. However, they have not challenged leaders strongly or systematically enough to improve the consistency of teaching across the school and outcomes for pupils in key stage 1.
• Governors do not always understand the performance data presented to them by senior leaders. They have not ensured that they receive information regularly for all pupil groups, in all year groups throughout the school.
• Governors have an improved understanding of the links between teachers’ performance and pay progression.
• The chair of the governing body is determined to improve the impact of governance in the school. She fully appreciates the need for governors to be highly skilled and is leading the other governors by example. She has recently completed a range of online training and, as a result, plans to carry out an audit of governors’ skills before commissioning appropriate training to hone the skills of the rest of the governing body.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Staff attend training annually and receive regular updates from the acting headteacher. Staff and governors understand the risks of radicalisation and extremism.
• Officers from the diocese carried out a comprehensive and accurate safeguarding audit of the school in June 2016. Leaders have taken effective action to improve aspects highlighted by the audit.
• Adults work hard in this close community to ensure that vulnerable pupils are cared for well. The acting headteacher has established effective relationships with a range of outside agencies to ensure that pupils access the support that they need.
• The school’s safeguarding policy was updated during the inspection to reflect most of the changes in the latest version of ‘Keeping children safe in education’.
• Leaders keep thorough records of incidences of poor behaviour. However, they do not analyse this information for trends. Therefore, trends are not reported to governors.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is not consistent across the school.
• Over time, teachers do not provide sufficiently challenging work for the most able pupils, especially in mathematics.
• Since September, teachers have planned more opportunities for pupils to be physically active. The impact of active learning in terms of progress has not yet been measured, but adults have identified that boys are enjoying their learning more.
• Not all teachers are proficient at using the school’s tracking systems to identify which pupils and groups of pupils are making good or better progress. Similarly, not all teachers are using the agreed systems to assess pupils’ achievement in subjects other than English and mathematics.
• Although teaching assistants are highly skilled, they are not consistently well deployed by all teachers.
• Pupils enjoy science and would like to complete more practical investigations. Some of the most able pupils told the inspector that they would like harder work which would make them think more deeply.
• Teaching in phonics is a strength of the school, as is the development of early reading skills. Five out of the six pupils who read with the inspector during the inspection read books at just the right level of difficulty. They had to think hard to read some words but always used their knowledge of phonics to sound them out. The school makes effective provision for the most able readers. Provision for the least able readers in key stage 1 is not as effective.
• Most pupils make good progress in key stage 2 because adults have high expectations of them. Pupils respond well to the challenging work that is set for them.
• Pupils make more rapid progress when they are included in high-quality intervention activities after they are identified as requiring extra help. The quality of interventions in key stage 2 is a strength of the school.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils are happy in this caring school in which their emotional well-being is paramount. They responded maturely and with great sensitivity to their headteacher’s death during the summer holidays. Their commitment to Hospice Care Northumberland is exemplary.
• Pupils understand the actions that constitute poor behaviour. They are not as readily aware of the actions that constitute bullying although, when reminded, could describe the rare occasions on which it had occurred in school.
• Pupils enjoy taking on roles of responsibility. The ‘protector pal’ role is particularly coveted. Pupils enjoy wearing the high-visibility ‘protector pal’ jackets in the playground and are eager to help other pupils when the need arises.
• Pupils have a good knowledge of how to stay safe from harm. They are knowledgeable about fire, road and water safety. However, they could not tell the inspector what actions they should take if a stranger asked to befriend them online.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils live up to the school’s mission statement: they are ‘happy, healthy, aspirational learners in a Christian community’.
• The behaviours of the older pupils are exemplary. They are able role models for their younger friends in this caring school.
• Pupils (and staff) communicate using sign language to ensure that all in their community are valued and included.
• Although pupils’ absence and persistent absence increased during the last academic year, both are still below the national averages.
• In key stage 1, pupils are noisy and fussy when changing from one activity to another. They take too long to get down to work and have not learned that every minute is vital.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Pupils make good progress overall in Years 3 and 4. All achieve age-related expectations in English and mathematics at the end of first school. Most transfer to Berwick Middle School and also achieve age-related expectations at the end of key stage 2.
• Fewer of the most able pupils exceed age-related expectations at the end of Year 4 in mathematics than in reading and writing.
• Pupils’ attainment was broadly average in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 1 in 2014 and 2015. In 2016, pupils’ attainment was broadly average in reading and below average in writing and mathematics.
• In 2016, disadvantaged pupils did not make good progress in key stage 1 from their starting points at the end of the early years. Their attainment was below average in reading, writing and mathematics because they did not make enough progress from their starting points at the end of the early years.
• Boys’ attainment is lower than girls’ in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 1.
• Attainment in phonics has been a strength of the school over time. However, the gap between the proportions of pupils who achieve the standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check in school and nationally is diminishing over time.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make small steps of progress in line with their identified needs as a result of closely targeted support.

Early years provision Requires improvement

• Adults provide an appropriate range of activities for children to access independently. However, adults do not focus enough on encouraging children to extend their language appropriately and sometimes misuse mathematical words such as ‘longer’ and ‘taller’.
• The vast majority of children enter the Reception class with skills and attitudes typical for their age. They make steady progress during the year. Most are ready for the demands of the curriculum in Year 1 but too few of the most able children make good or better progress.
• Leaders have not ensured that the classroom environment is resourced adequately for learning through play. For example, there is a lack of mark-making equipment in both the outdoor and indoor environments.
• The welfare requirements of the early years foundation stage are met.
• Children transfer seamlessly into the Reception class from the childcare provision which is based in the same building. They are comfortable in the environment, know the staff and are ready to learn.
• Leaders were unable to provide an analysis of the different outcomes for groups of children, such as boys and girls, for the cohort of pupils currently in Year 1. This lack of analysis prevents leaders from identifying the areas for further development in the early years.
• The acting headteacher is currently leading the early years and astutely identified the strengths and areas for further development during observations of teaching and learning undertaken jointly with the inspector.
• Current assessments of children’s abilities are accurate.
• Pupils are happy in the Reception class and have formed strong relationships with the adults in the setting. They are kind to each other and play cooperatively.
• Parents are positive about the school. Many attended parent/teacher consultation meetings during the inspection.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority 122291 Northumberland Inspection number 10010976 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 First School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Maintained 4 to 9 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 60 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Carol Douglas Acting Headteacher Jacqueline Dalrymple Telephone number 01890 820 217 Website Email address www.ford.northumberland.sch.uk admin@ford.northumberland.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 13–14 December 2010

Information about this school

• The headteacher died during the 2016 summer break following a long period of absence. The school has been led by an acting headteacher since January 2016.
• There has been significant turbulence in the teaching staff in the past 12 months.
• The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information about the attendance record of governors at full governing body and committee meetings on its website.
• The school is much smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils, those eligible for support through pupil premium funding, is below average.
• The overwhelming majority of pupils are of White British heritage.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities receiving support is well above the national average. The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities with a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is broadly average.
• Children in the early years attend full-time provision in the Reception class.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector visited six part-lessons, all of which were observed jointly with the acting headteacher.
• Meetings were held with the acting headteacher and subject leaders, and six governors, including the chair of the governing body. The lead inspector also spoke with the school’s improvement officer from Northumberland local authority and a deputy director from the Church of England Diocese of Newcastle.
• The inspector spoke informally to pupils in lessons and at various times during each day. She also spoke formally with a group of pupils from Years 2, 3 and 4.
• Questionnaire returns submitted by 11 members of staff were taken into consideration.
• The inspector scrutinised a range of pupils’ workbooks and information about pupils’ current progress. She also reviewed a number of documents, including the school’s improvement plan, attendance records, information relating to the work the school does to keep pupils safe, headteacher’s reports to governors and minutes of meetings of the governing body.
• The inspector took account of the views of 17 parents from the Ofsted online survey, Parent View, together with a survey of parental views provided by the school.
• Pupils from Years 1, 2 and 3 read to the inspector.

Inspection team

Belita Scott, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector