Kincraig Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Ensure that leadership and management become more effective by including precise success criteria in the school’s action plans for improvement that evaluate the impact of actions taken with reference to pupils’ achievement.
• Leaders and governors should ensure that all pupils, including the most able pupils, reach the standards of which they are capable by:
  • further sharing the approaches to teaching that have proved most effective with all staff in the school
  • ensuring that teachers adapt tasks and approaches flexibly in lessons in response to pupils’ skills and understanding so that their learning is deepened
  • giving pupils further opportunities to practise and apply their writing skills in subjects other than English.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Leaders have created a culture of high expectations of themselves, staff and pupils. All members of the school community share the vision and aspirations of leaders. Leaders say that pupils ‘deserve the best’ and this approach is evident in all that the school does.
• Leaders have a consistent focus on pupils’ outcomes. Published data shows an improvement in attainment, including for disadvantaged pupils, over the last three years. Outcomes for disadvantaged pupils match those for other pupils nationally. Pupils made similar progress to other pupils nationally in reading and mathematics in key stage 2 in 2015 and in 2016. They made better progress than others nationally in writing in 2016. The work of pupils currently, evidenced in books, lessons and the school’s own data shows good progress and attainment in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Leaders of subjects other than English and mathematics are relatively new to their role. Under the direction of the leadership team, they have been given the skills and confidence to develop their roles. As a result, systems are in place to track pupil progress and monitor the effectiveness of teaching across a wide range of subjects. However, these systems and leaders’ use of them are at an early stage, meaning the impact on pupils’ achievement is yet to be seen.
• Due to careful, targeted use of the funding which the school receives for disadvantaged pupils, these pupils are making good progress from their starting points. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) knows pupils well. As a result, pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported well and make good progress from their starting points. The pastoral leader works closely with the SENCo to support pupils with social and emotional needs. The additional funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is used well.
• Senior leaders share the headteacher’s passion for every child to succeed. This vision is evident in all aspects of school life. Leaders go the extra mile to support families. They live by the motto: ‘Children are at the heart of everything we do.’ For example, all pupils receive breakfast in school before lessons begin. Leaders use the expertise of staff from the children’s centre to support the work of the school.
• Staff are very happy in this supportive working environment where all work as a team and are treated equally. Staff development is given a high priority and, as a result, staff feel well supported.
• Parents are very supportive of the school. They value the support given to individual pupils and to families. Parents feel that teachers are approachable and they appreciate the work of the headteacher.
• The curriculum on offer is a strength of the school. The clear focus on English and mathematics is matched by work across the whole curriculum. Innovative approaches to curriculum design enable pupils to make good progress in almost all areas of the curriculum, as well as giving pupils exciting opportunities to learn. Progress is less evident in religious education and history.
• Classroom environments are of an exceptionally high quality. Pupils were observed working in a Victorian mill, on a Viking longboat and in a Roman marketplace. Pupils say that they love this approach and that it makes them ‘excited to learn’.
• The carefully planned curriculum contributes exceptionally well to pupils’ outstanding personal development and to the promotion of British values. Pupils are given regular opportunities to discuss and debate issues that matter to them. Visitors to school give pupils opportunities to make meaningful links between the curriculum and their own lives. As a result, pupils are prepared well for life in modern Britain.
• Leaders ensure that pupils are prepared well for their transition to high school. Links have been established with local high schools and staff from Kincraig have shared pupils’ work with the high schools. Pupils in Year 6 take part in a handover project which bridges primary and secondary school.

Governance of the school

• Governors are ambitious for the school. They have worked with leaders to create an environment where all are valued and staff morale is high.
• The governors receive detailed and accurate reports from the headteacher. This, along with the fact that governors know the school well through their first-hand knowledge, enables them to appropriately challenge leaders at all levels. Recent appointments to the governing body have further widened the range of relevant skills.
• The governing body ensures that the school’s performance management policy is applied effectively.
• Governors have ensured that the primary school sports funding has been used well. A specialist provider contributes to the very good progress seen in physical education and sports. Teachers use this expertise to further develop their own teaching and offer a wide range of additional sporting opportunities.
• The additional support that disadvantaged pupils receive to help them to catch up with their peers is very effective. The adults who support these pupils have high expectations, secure subject knowledge and a good understanding of the needs of these pupils. As a result, the pupil premium spending on this support is effective and disadvantaged pupils of all abilities make good progress. Governors have a good understanding of how this spending has improved outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. However, leaders have not ensured that action plans focus on the intended impact of this spending well enough.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The governing body ensures that the school meets all its statutory requirements for safeguarding. This includes the robust checking of the suitability of adults to work with children. Suitable checks are made on visitors to school.
• All staff are vigilant and well trained and leaders ensure that staff keep their knowledge up to date, including how to prevent pupils from radicalisation and extremism.
• Staff know to report and act on any concern without fear or favour. Leaders record and manage any concerns and these are tracked through to a satisfactory conclusion. The headteacher demonstrates a high level of professionalism and a passion to ensure the safety and welfare of all pupils.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Staff use their good subject knowledge to ensure that teaching is matched well to pupils’ needs. Consequently, most pupils currently in the school, including those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress from their starting points.
• Very strong teaching in some year groups leads to accelerated progress. Some teachers use highly effective questioning and so pupils’ thinking is extended. However, this highly effective questioning is not consistent across all year groups.
• Regular assessments contribute to teachers’ planning effectively for most groups of pupils. However, some teachers do not take account of what pupils have learned during the lesson to move them on quickly enough. This is particularly the case in some classes for the most able pupils.
• Phonics teaching is effective in helping pupils to tackle new words. As a result, pupils use these strategies when they come across unfamiliar words in texts.
• The quality of teaching in mathematics has improved due to the focus which leaders have placed on this. The most able pupils are given opportunities to develop their mathematical reasoning and problem-solving skills. Sometimes pupils are given additional challenge to deepen their understanding. However, this level of challenge in mathematics is not fully developed in all classes or for all pupils, especially for the most able pupils.
• The systematic teaching of writing skills and the high-quality modelling of their application ensures that pupils achieve well in writing. Teachers plan writing lessons which give pupils a purpose to write. For example, in a Year 4 lesson during the inspection, pupils were structuring information texts to send to a publisher. They were challenged to justify their choices so that the publisher would choose their work. As a result, pupils were highly engaged in the lesson and the work completed was of a high quality.
• Teachers develop pupils’ writing skills across most areas of the curriculum. This is done particularly successfully in Years 4, 5 and 6. However, the quality of English work in some subject areas, for example in science, is not of the same quality as that seen in English books.
• The most able pupils in Year 6 use imaginative vocabulary and structure their writing well. For example, one pupil wrote, ‘Although the shadows had gone, some still lurked below like a tiger in a cage, waiting for its prey.’
• Pupils use their knowledge of spelling, grammar and punctuation in their English lessons; however, these skills are not always applied consistently in other subject areas.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Pupils take pride in their work, school and behaviour. Pupils are articulate and confident as a result of the opportunities they are given to express their thoughts, feelings and ideas. Pupils say that teachers make learning enjoyable and that they enjoy being challenged in their work.
• Adults have high aspirations for pupils’ future lives. Adults show a high level of respect for pupils. Adults develop warm and positive relationships. As a result, pupils trust and respect the adults in school. Pupils feel they can go to an adult if they are worried about anything and know help will be available. Pupils say adults support them well with their work and ‘adults help us to work things out and how to understand things’.
• Staff apply the behaviour policy consistently. Careful consideration is given to the needs of individual pupils and additional support is provided by the pastoral leader. Pupils say that the work of the pastoral leader makes them feel valued. As a consequence, the number of exclusions reported has dropped to zero.
• British values are promoted exceptionally well. Children know about the democratic process in Britain and can talk about how the rule of law applies to them. They accept differences as a matter of course and show high levels of respect for themselves and one another. Adults encourage pupils to think about the impact their actions have on others. Pupils have a good understanding of right and wrong and understand that actions have consequences.
• Pupils have a good understanding of bullying. They say it happens sometimes but is dealt with by adults. Pupils value the anti-bullying ambassadors as a source of support.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Pupils conduct themselves well in and out of the classroom during lessons and at playtimes. This reflects the school’s effective and consistent behaviour management strategies. There is almost no low-level disruption in lessons and pupils have a strong desire to learn. Pupils have positive attitudes to their work and this factor has a good impact on the progress pupils make.
• Pupils get on very well together, showing a high degree of respect for each other and adults. They regularly help each other in lessons and they are proud of their own and other pupils’ achievements. Pupils readily accept the views of others and are both complimentary and supportive of each other.
• Pupils have an excellent understanding of right and wrong. They talk about this and demonstrate it through their outstanding behaviour.
• Attendance is in line with the national average and improving. This is because leaders ensure attendance is high-profile and the attendance of all pupils is tracked and monitored. Leaders follow up absences robustly with a first day call and subsequent checks.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Across almost all year groups and subjects, current pupils make good progress from their different starting points.
• The proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in phonics is high. Nearly all pupils reached the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check. This proportion is well above the national average.
• The results of national assessments for pupils at the end of Year 2 show an increasing proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics.
• The results of national assessments for pupils at the end of Year 6 show progress in writing above that seen nationally and progress in line with that seen nationally in reading and mathematics. The work of pupils currently, including that of disadvantaged pupils, evidenced in books, lessons and the school’s own data shows that pupils are making good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils in Years 5 and 6 are making more rapid progress.
• Current pupils, including lower-ability pupils, are given the skills needed to read effectively. They confidently talk about their favourite authors and types of books and can use the text to talk about characters and events. They enjoy reading. Pupils are encouraged to read widely both in school and at home. The most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, are given the opportunity to read a wide variety of challenging books both in school and when reading for pleasure. There is a systematic and consistent approach to the teaching of reading and, as a result, pupils make good progress.
• In mathematics, a focus on basic calculations ensures that all pupils make good progress in this area. Lower-ability pupils are given additional opportunities to consolidate their learning and as a result are making rapid progress. Due to high expectations and good-quality teaching in mathematics, pupils from all starting points achieve well and some of the most able pupils are working at higher levels. However, outcomes for the most able pupils are not as strong in the lessons and subjects where the pupils are not sufficiently challenged.
• Pupils make good progress in science, history and geography. The curriculum is carefully planned to ensure that pupils develop knowledge and skills systematically across school. Skills in art and design technology are developed well. However, writing skills are not as well developed across the curriculum.

Early years provision Good

• Leaders and managers have an accurate understanding of the strengths and areas for development. There are comprehensive plans in place to tackle the areas identified for improvement. Staff receive appropriate training and support to help them to develop in their role.
• The two-year-olds in the setting are cared for well and their welfare needs are met. Two-year-olds are given opportunities to develop alongside three-year-olds. As a result, two-year-olds learn from their older role models. Staff are suitably qualified.
• Many children start school with skills and abilities below those typical for their age. Some speak English as an additional language. Where children’s starting points are below those typical, they quickly catch up. There has been an improvement in the proportion of children reaching a good level of development at the end of the Reception Year in the past three years and this remains around national averages.
• Leaders use the additional funding for disadvantaged children well. Support is targeted at specific needs. For example, swift access to speech and language provision is put in place for those children who start Nursery with poor language and communication skills. As a result, these children make good progress to catch up with their peers.
• All statutory welfare requirements are met and clearly established routines contribute to the smooth running of the classrooms. All adults in the Nursery and Reception classes have developed good relationships with the children and keep them safe. They know the children well and have high expectations of behaviour. As a result, behaviour is very good and children work together very well.
• Adults use ongoing assessment to plan activities which meet the needs of the children, including two-year-olds. Early assessment is used to identify children who would benefit from extra support. This support is put in place quickly and, as a result, these children make good progress.
• The environment, both indoors and outside, is stimulating. Adults provide exciting activities which capture the children’s interests. Teachers plan with the interests of the children in mind. They provide opportunities to write and to explore numbers, patterns and shape. For example, two children working in the sand made different shapes with the toys they had been given. One child looked up and exclaimed: ‘Look, it has made a triangle.’
• The quality of teaching is good. Teachers and teaching assistants frequently use questioning well to probe and develop children’s understanding. For example, one child had drawn a robot. The teacher asked him about his picture, encouraging descriptive language. The child then labelled his robot. However, this is not consistent across both classes.
• Leaders strive to engage parents in their children’s learning. Regular ‘stay and play’ sessions and homework activities contribute to this.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 131414 Blackpool 10032418 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 Maintained 0 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 179 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Roy Lewis Karen Appleby 01253 354059 www.blackpool.gov.uk/ karen.appleby@kincraig.blackpool.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 9–10 January 2013

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• Kincraig Primary School is slightly smaller than most primary schools.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium is much higher than that found nationally.
• The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds and of pupils who are at the early stages of learning English as an additional language is lower than average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities supported by an education, health and care plan is higher than that seen nationally.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment in English and mathematics by the end of Year 6.
• The school shares a site with a children’s centre which is inspected separately and its report is available on the Ofsted website.

Information about this inspection

• The inspectors observed a range of lessons or parts of lessons. Some of these observations were carried out jointly with the headteacher. The inspectors looked at pupils’ work, listened to pupils reading and talked with pupils about their lessons and school life.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, senior leaders, teachers, representatives of the governing body and representatives from the local authority.
• The inspectors observed the school’s work and scrutinised documentation relating to pupils’ progress and to the school’s management, including the arrangements to ensure that pupils are kept safe.
• Inspectors spoke with parents at the start of the school day and considered the nine parents’ responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View. Inspectors also considered the 24 responses to the staff questionnaire and 36 responses to the pupils’ questionnaire.

Inspection team

Tanya Hughes, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Leon Bernstein Ofsted Inspector