Nursling Church of England Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by:
  • ensuring that teachers’ assessment is clearly focused on pupils’ skills, knowledge and understanding so that more pupils are challenged to achieve at the highest level
  • embedding current initiatives that increase the skills needed for successful learning so that more pupils take responsibility for their own learning and settle quickly to tasks.
• Improve outcomes for pupils by:
  • increasing the times that pupils are challenged to talk and write about their reasoning in mathematics and so deepen their understanding of their work
  • raising teachers’ expectations of pupils’ presentation and number formation in mathematics.
• Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by:
  • ensuring that subject leaders are held to account routinely for the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress
  • making sure that governors’ monitoring is clearly focused on the impact of leaders’ actions. An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership may be further improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• Over time, leaders’ actions have not ensured that the quality of education at the school is consistently good. The school’s new leaders make sure that teachers have accurate and incisive feedback and appropriate coaching and support so that they can improve the quality of their teaching. As a consequence, the quality of teaching has improved, but it is not yet consistently good across the school.
• Until recently, leaders did not hold teachers sufficiently to account for the progress pupils have made. New leaders have been successful in raising expectations for teachers and pupils. As a result, pupils’ progress has accelerated rapidly.
• Leaders have not, in the past, checked that teachers’ assessment of pupils’ learning was accurate. This led to a situation where governors, and others, did not receive accurate information about pupils’ progress.
• Governors’ monitoring has not always been clearly focused on the impact on pupils’ outcomes of subject leaders’ actions, particularly in the leadership of mathematics.
• Leaders and governors now have a realistic view of the school’s overall effectiveness. The school’s development planning is accurately focused on the areas for improvement. Current leaders undertake a rigorous and regular programme of monitoring of teaching and learning, which they share openly with governors.
• The number of disadvantaged pupils in each year group is small. Scrutiny of disadvantaged pupils’ work shows that their current progress is catching up with, and is sometimes better than, that of their peers. More of them are working at a greater depth in reading, writing and mathematics than previously. This is because teaching has improved and governors use the additional funds for these pupils appropriately.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress. Their needs are carefully identified and well met. They also receive skilful support from the additional adults who work with them in the classroom to support learning.
• The physical education and sport premium is used effectively to increase pupils’ sporting experiences. After-school sports clubs are popular in both key stage 1 and key stage 2. The school aims for all pupils to have the opportunity to represent the school in a competitive sporting event during their time at school. Pupils, and parents, speak very highly of the impact of the school’s sports coach in enthusing pupils with a love of sporting activities to support a healthy lifestyle.
• The curriculum is broad and balanced. Pupils have opportunities to experience a wide range of sporting, cultural and artistic events, including with pupils in other schools. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is developed well. Activities help pupils learn how to manage risk and keep themselves safe, for example online and when using new technologies.
• Parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and those spoken to at the time of the inspection were positive about the education their children receive at the school. A large majority would recommend the school to another parent. Parents say that communication has improved since new leaders took over and describe their impact as ‘transforming the school’, and ‘a breath of fresh air’.

Governance of the school

• Governors’ actions have not yet secured a good quality of education at the school.
• Nevertheless, governors acted with determination to strengthen the leadership of the school. This is resulting in better teaching and increased rates of progress for pupils.
• Through a system of assigning ‘governor champions’ for different subjects, governors visit the school regularly. However, the quality of their monitoring is not sufficiently focused on the impact of leaders’ actions on improving outcomes for pupils.
• Governors provide a strident challenge to school leaders at times. However, because their monitoring has not provided them with the information they need, it has been difficult for them to hold leaders to account accurately for the standards pupils reach. In addition, they have been frustrated, until recently, by the information provided for them by some leaders.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Staff know that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and have a clear understanding of what to do if they are concerned about a pupil. The school works effectively with outside agencies, and with parents, to support pupils and their families. Leaders are not afraid to challenge other professionals to secure safe outcomes for children.
• Pupils, parents and staff are in agreement that pupils feel safe and are safe at this school. Parents speak highly of the support they receive from inclusion staff in particular. Pupils are knowledgeable about matters of safety through activities planned in the curriculum.
• The school’s systems make sure that staff are recruited safely. Training for safeguarding and child protection is up to date and detailed. All staff and governors have taken part in training to help them protect pupils from radicalisation and extremism and so understand their responsibilities well.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Teaching is not yet consistently good across the school. This is because, until recently, leaders did not provide teachers with clear enough direction and feedback on how to improve their teaching.
• Teachers’ assessment of pupils’ learning has, at times, been inaccurate. It has been too focused on the amount of work covered by pupils, rather than the progress they make in gaining skills and understanding. Further training and moderation opportunities put in place by new leaders mean that teachers’ assessment across the school is now more accurate and pupils’ progress has increased because their needs are better met.
• Work to help pupils advance their reasoning in mathematics is still developing and is not yet consistent across the school. Pupils in some year groups are not challenged to articulate their thinking in speech or writing. This means that the development of their reasoning and deeper conceptual understanding is not as secure as it could be.
• Teachers’ expectations of pupils’ presentation in mathematics do not reflect the high standards they have for pupils’ English work, where handwriting and presentation are strong. Pupils’ untidy layout of their mathematics work and poor number formation go unchallenged by teachers. This means that pupils’ progress in mathematics is not as strong as it could be.
• Teachers provide pupils with feedback, which helps them improve their work. Pupils receive regular times to respond to the guidance they are given. However, for some of the most able pupils, the feedback they receive does not always make it clear to them how to achieve at the highest levels. Sometimes this is because teachers are unsure how best to help pupils reach a greater depth of study.
• Pupils’ work demonstrates that activities planned for them enable pupils to use their English and mathematical skills across the curriculum. Teachers make good use of trips and visits, such as recent author visits, and other experiences, to enrich the curriculum for pupils across the age ranges.
• Pupils read with fluency and enjoyment from a wide range of texts. Teachers use challenging, high-quality texts to engage pupils’ interest, particularly in Year 2 and Year 6. Most-able readers in Year 2 shared their evident enjoyment and understanding of two classic children’s books the class are using, ‘The Secret Garden’ and ‘Alice in Wonderland’. In key stage 2, the classic texts pupils experience include a number of the plays of Shakespeare.
• Additional adults in the classroom support learning effectively, striking a skilful, and delicate, balance between helping pupils and encouraging them to solve problems for themselves.
• Positive relationships between adults and pupils exist throughout the school and help develop enthusiastic attitudes to learning. The school’s work to build resilient learning skills through the attributes of the school mascot, ‘Cyril the Squirrel’, means that many pupils enjoy challenging themselves to do better in their work.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils enjoy the activities planned for them across the curriculum. For example, many talk with enthusiasm about their work, particularly in English, mathematics, science, history and information technology. Older pupils recognise that the skills they learn across the curriculum and in English and mathematics will help them in their jobs in the future.
• The curriculum helps pupils have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe in a range of situations. For example, pupils know what steps to take to keep themselves safe online, such as when protecting their own identity, and how to report concerns.
• Pupils talked to inspectors about the importance of the school’s core values of love, courage and hope, giving practical examples of how they tried to follow them. Pupils experience a range of cultural opportunities that help to prepare them well for life in modern Britain.
• Pupils, and their parents, are highly appreciative of the support they receive from members of school staff for themselves and their families.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement. Not all pupils challenge themselves to settle routinely to tasks. As a result, there are times when learning opportunities for some are lost. While many pupils have positive attitudes to learning and are keen to get on with activities, adults’ expectations of pupils are not consistently high. Where expectations are high, pupils focus briskly on their learning.
• Pupils of all ages behave well at breaktimes and as they move around the school. Older pupils take care of younger pupils. Pupils new to the school, including those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, feel quickly welcomed into the school family. The school’s breakfast club provides pupils with a good start to the school day.
• Pupils show respect and courtesy for the views of others. For example, in class collective worship sessions, pupils listen respectfully to each other and respond thoughtfully to their classmates’ opinions.
• Pupils understand well what bullying is and say that it is rare at school. They are confident that the adults around them would sort it out. Some parents do not agree with this view. Inspectors did not see evidence to support this. A number of parents responding to Parent View and who talked to inspectors mentioned how new leaders are dealing firmly with behaviour and also respond very briskly to any concerns that parents may have.
• Pupils enjoy school. Their attendance at school is better than for pupils nationally. Few are persistently absent. Leaders’ actions to support those few pupils who are persistently absent and their families mean that their attendance has improved.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• At key stage 2 in 2016, although the numbers of pupils reaching age-related expectations in writing were above the national level, the numbers of pupils reaching age-related expectations in reading and mathematics were below the national level. The proportions of pupils working at a higher level were also below national figures in reading and mathematics.
• The progress of all current pupils has improved, but it is not yet consistently good across each year group. Where progress is strongest, for example in key stage 1 and some key stage 2 classes, pupils, including the most able of them, are making much brisker progress. This is because of the improvements in teaching and raised expectations put in place by leaders.
• At key stage 1 in 2016, the proportions of pupils reaching the expected standard for their age were above the national level in reading, writing and mathematics. The proportions of pupils reaching a higher standard were above the national level in reading and writing. This is because stronger teaching is making sure that pupils’ needs are challenged better.
• Pupils across the school enjoy reading and read with expression and fluency relative to their age and development. Phonics is well taught and, in 2016, the number of pupils who reached the level of the national phonics check rose to above the national average.
• The number of children who reach a good level of development at the end of the early years has been rising steadily over time to above the national level in 2016. Observations of children’s learning indicate that those who are currently in the Reception age group are on track to achieve well from their different starting points.
• In 2016, disadvantaged pupils did not make the same progress as other pupils nationally. However, the progress of disadvantaged pupils currently in the school, including the most able of them, is steadily improving from their varied starting points and is sometimes better than the progress of their peers. More of the disadvantaged pupils are now working at a greater depth in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are making better progress from their wide-ranging starting points. This is because the help they receive, including from additional adults, is targeted well to their needs.

Early years provision Good

• Children make a strong start to their education in the early years. The education that children receive prepares them well for the learning they will experience in Year 1. Leaders’ self-evaluation of the early years is reflective and accurate. Leaders of the early years are determinedly focused on improving outcomes for all children in early years.
• Over time, the proportion of children who reach a good level of development at the end of early years has risen steadily. In 2016, the number of children reaching a good level of development was above the national figure.
• The quality of teaching in the early years is good. Teachers and other adults in the early years know children’s learning needs well. Adults quickly identify those children who may need additional help and put in place support for them, which means they can catch up quickly. Children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported, particularly those who have language and communication needs.
• Children in the early years show positive attitudes to learning and are making good progress because teachers’ careful planning has created interesting starting points for them to explore their learning. In the outdoor learning environment, there are activities for children to investigate in all the areas of learning, which help them to develop the skills they need for successful learning across the curriculum.
• As a result of learning opportunities that are well matched to their needs, different groups of children, including the most able, the least able and disadvantaged children, are making good progress. Over time, the numbers of boys reaching a good level of development have risen significantly. In 2016, boys and girls reached a good level of development in above-national numbers and in equal proportions.
• Children in the Reception Year receive a solid grounding in phonics. Children use their phonics knowledge to help their reading and writing, for example when writing recipes for baking cakes. The start children make in phonics in the early years contributes to the higher than national proportion of pupils who reach the standard of the phonics screening check in Year 1.
• The positive behaviour of children and their strong relationships with the adults around them demonstrate the confidence and safety they feel at school. Their parents agree, feeling strongly that their children are safe, happy and well looked after at school. Safeguarding is effective.
• Parents can contribute to the assessment of their child’s learning through regular meetings with staff and opportunities to view their child’s achievements online. Parents speak very highly of the warm, welcoming and inclusive transition their children make into the Reception class.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 116303 Hampshire 10024516 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 Maintained 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 196 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Peter Jackson Amber Cole 02380 732289 www.nurslingprimary.co.uk adminoffice@nursling.hants.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 9–10 December 2014

Information about this school

• The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information about the curriculum and a published link to the Department for Education performance tables on its website.
• Nursling Church of England Primary School is slightly smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• The previous headteacher left the school in January 2017. The leadership team comprises the deputy headteacher as acting headteacher, supported by a consultant headteacher from another school. Governors have appointed a headteacher to join the school in September 2017 who is already working closely with school leaders.
• The majority of pupils are of White British backgrounds. The proportion of pupils who speak English an additional language is lower than the national average.
• The number of pupils supported by the pupil premium funding is slightly lower than the national average.
• The proportion of pupils receiving support for their special educational needs and/or disabilities is slightly above the national average.
• The school is above the current government floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for attainment and progress.

Information about this inspection

• Pupils’ learning was observed in 30 sessions or part sessions, a number jointly with leaders. Learning walks were also conducted jointly with leaders. The work of pupils in all year groups was scrutinised. Many pupils were spoken to about their work during lessons and informally at breaktimes and around the school. Inspectors listened to pupils read and met with pupils to gather views about their experiences of school.
• Discussions were held with the headteacher and other leaders, governors and representatives of the local authority. Meetings were held with members of the school staff to gather their views.
• Inspectors took account of the 41 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and to 32 comments received. Discussions were held with parents at the start of the school day.
• A range of documentation was considered, including information on pupils’ attainment and progress, the school’s improvement planning, records of the monitoring of teaching, and information on the management of teachers’ performance. Procedures for the safeguarding of pupils, including information relating to attendance, behaviour and the exclusion of pupils, were examined.

Inspection team

Sarah O’Donnell, lead inspector Graham Marshall

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector