All Saints Church of England Primary School, Freshwater Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Continue to develop leaders’ skills in monitoring and evaluating the impact of their actions so that the school improves rapidly to good.
• Accelerate pupils’ progress, particularly in phonics and mathematics, so that more achieve or exceed the standards expected for their age.
• Improve further the quality of teaching so that:
  • pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make better progress from their starting points
  • teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve are raised, particularly for the most able pupils
  • key stage 1 pupils make more rapid progress across all subjects.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

• Leaders’ and governors’ efforts since the last inspection have not resulted in consistent improvements to the school. Although outcomes in 2015 were stronger than previous years, standards dipped again in 2016, particularly in mathematics and phonics.
• Since the last inspection, staff have left the school for a wide range of reasons. Furthermore, leaders have encountered significant challenges in making permanent appointments. This has hindered leaders’ efforts to consistently improve the quality of teaching and leadership across the school. Staffing changes have particularly affected both the key stage 1 class and the early years class this year. As a result, progress in these classes is not as rapid as it has been in the past, including in phonics.
• Carefully targeted extra support for both teachers and pupils means that teaching is improving and pupils have begun to make better progress across all subjects than they have previously. However, changes to how phonics is planned and taught are in their early stages and leaders know that more needs to be done to ensure that the teaching of phonics is consistently strong.
• Leaders have ensured that some aspects of the school have improved steadily since the last inspection. For example, pupils’ outcomes in writing and reading have risen and the quality of teaching in key stage 2 is more consistently strong across all subjects. Progress and attainment in mathematics for current pupils in key stage 2 has improved rapidly because a more consistent approach to planning is meeting pupils’ different needs well.
• Changes to senior and middle leadership have added to the capacity of leaders to make sustained improvements to the work of the school, so that the pace of improvement is now accelerating. Support and training, provided by the local authority and the Halterworth consortium of schools, are helping new leaders to understand the contribution they need to make to the school’s improvement. This support is proving successful in improving leaders’ skills, especially in the leadership of mathematics and provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Leaders at all levels have sharpened their monitoring of the school’s work so that it is increasingly thorough and based on a wide range of evidence. Improvement plans are focused on the right things because leaders’ self-evaluation is accurate in highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the school. However, leaders do not always consider carefully enough which actions have had the most impact on improving the school.
• Leaders have reviewed the use of funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities because this group of pupils has underachieved in the past. Sharper monitoring of what individual pupils can do and where there may be gaps is allowing leaders to more finely tune the support that each pupil receives to help him or her make progress. Leaders recognise the need to monitor more closely the impact of their support on this group of pupils as a whole, so that they have a better understanding of what is and is not working and can make any necessary adjustments.
• Leaders and governors make sure that pupil premium funding is used appropriately to raise achievement of disadvantaged pupils, including the most able disadvantaged. Consequently, these pupils are achieving in line with, and sometimes better than, their peers.
• The headteacher holds staff to account for their performance well. Staff appreciate the tailored support and challenge which help them to develop their skills and adapt teaching to more precisely meet pupils’ needs. New staff say they feel especially welcome when they join the school, including those who are currently temporary staff.
• Leaders’ work to improve attendance is particularly effective. The headteacher has rightly placed a high priority on making sure that pupils and their families understand the importance of regular attendance at school. As a result, persistent absence has decreased since the last inspection.
• The primary physical education and sport premium is used efficiently to increase pupils’ participation in physical activity. Class teachers work alongside specialist sports teachers to introduce pupils to a range of sports, including tennis and swimming. Play leaders encourage pupils to be active at breaktimes.
• The curriculum is increasingly well planned to hold pupils’ interest and to meet pupils’ learning needs. Leaders and teachers have identified gaps in specific areas of teaching that will make a difference to current pupils’ learning, especially in mathematics. Teachers are addressing these to prevent the same gaps appearing in the future.
• Pupils study a wide curriculum throughout the school, although it is more finely tuned for older pupils. Science is taught well, with regular opportunities to investigate and solve problems. Pupils’ knowledge of history and geography has a high profile in the curriculum. However, teachers do not always ensure that pupils use their presentation and spelling skills well enough when writing in these subjects.
• Visiting specialist music and art teachers provide rich opportunities for pupils to develop their practical skills. In one lesson, pupils grew in confidence as they learned how to play brass instruments. Pupils’ artwork, mimicking the styles of famous painters, adorns the walls throughout the school.
• The curriculum is enriched with a number of extra-curricular activities and clubs such as the journalism club, the ‘IT’ club and a range of sporting activities. Leaders encourage pupils to broaden their horizons with visits to the mainland, including to Chichester and Winchester.
• Leaders promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils very well. As a church school, the school has a high focus on religious education and spirituality. In assemblies, pupils regularly enjoy acting out Bible stories with strong moral messages, encouraging mutual respect, friendship and cooperation with others. Year 5 pupils were particularly keen to tell the inspector about their recent study of apartheid in South Africa, sensitively showing their understanding of injustice.
• Well-planned termly and weekly themes develop pupils’ understanding of fundamental British values and help pupils to gain confidence and resilience. For example, pupils explained to the inspector the importance of voting in elections, and that they use voting in school to be fair. The current theme of perseverance, designed to help pupils keep going as they approach key stage tests, was highly evident.

Governance of the school

• Governors are highly committed, with a range of skills and experience which equip them well for their roles. They have attended extra training so that their skills and knowledge of governance are up to date and used well to help the school to improve.
• Governors have a strong understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses, developed as a result of effective monitoring of the work of the school. Governors’ challenge to leaders to make improvements to the school is starting to show an impact on pupils’ outcomes and on the increasing capacity of school leaders to bring about improvements.
• Thorough, well-kept records show that governors make sure that extra funding for disadvantaged pupils is used effectively, so that they are well supported. Sports funding is used efficiently and imaginatively to increase pupils’ activity levels. Funding for children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is increasingly well targeted and consequently it is starting to make a difference.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Staff are well trained in child protection procedures. They know pupils well as individuals and are alert to their welfare needs. Adults know how to raise a concern, and leaders report these on to appropriate outside agencies where necessary. Leaders are diligent in following up concerns to make sure that responses from outside agencies are prompt.
• Checks on the recruitment of staff and adults who work in the school are rigorous, and record-keeping is accurate. Leaders and governors’ checks on the quality and culture of safeguarding in the school are thorough and ensure that safeguarding arrangements are effective.
• Pupils know how to keep themselves safe, including when online. They feel safe in school, and are confident that adults will listen to them sensitively if they are worried about something. Parents agree that their children are safe and well cared for in school.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Teaching requires improvement because it is too variable across the school and over time, particularly in key stage 1. Where teaching is less effective, planned activities do not encourage pupils to develop skills securely or to think deeply enough. Sometimes, teachers’ planning does not enable the most able pupils to achieve highly enough.
• Over time, pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities have not been supported well enough to achieve. Carefully planned extra help is starting to make a difference for current pupils.
• Teaching in phonics has not embedded the early skills of reading well enough, so pupils need to spend time in Year 2 catching up. Teachers’ efforts to encourage pupils to read more often and more widely are having an impact. This is because by the end of key stage 2 more pupils can read with understanding and expression. One Year 6 pupil, who admitted to being a reluctant reader, showed the inspector his extensive reading log and explained how he reads every day.
• Teaching in mathematics has not been strong enough over time; as a result, pupils have gaps in their mathematical understanding, and have lacked fluency when using calculation skills. Teaching this year is more sharply focused, especially in helping pupils to recall previous learning. Pupils know to review any mistakes and can explain where they went wrong. Many pupils say that mathematics is their favourite subject because, in the words of one child, ‘It’s challenging and I like challenges.’
• Teaching in writing has improved since the last inspection. This is because teachers’ planning is ensuring that pupils know precisely what they need to do to achieve and to make progress. In a Year 3 and 4 lesson, pupils wrote booklets about life in the Stone Age, adding a ‘fascinating fact’ to hook the reader. Teachers plan tasks that enable pupils to master new skills such as editing, and pupils respond enthusiastically.
• In key stage 2, teaching enables most pupils to develop knowledge and skills across the wider curriculum subjects, particularly in science. For example, pupils in Years 5 and 6 strengthened their investigative skills when learning about the position of the planets in the solar system. Similarly, pupils in a physical education lesson practised knocking down cricket stumps, skilfully supported by adults, to improve their throwing accuracy. However, leaders know that opportunities for pupils to make good progress across the wider curriculum in key stage 1 are not developed well enough.
• New assessment systems are allowing teachers to plan pupils’ next steps more effectively. Carefully tailored extra support is now helping pupils to make progress to close gaps in previous learning.
• Most books are neatly presented because pupils take pride in their work. However, sometimes pupils are not held to account for untidiness or careless errors. When this happens, progress slows.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• The school’s ethos of respect for others permeates the school. Pupils know how to be good citizens, and contribute positively to their local community. For example, several pupils have joined in the local ‘walk the Wight’ event which raises money for a local charity.
• Pupils show respect for each other’s similarities and differences. One pupil told the inspector, ‘We believe everyone is the same, no matter what their race, religion or where they’re from.’
• Pupils participate enthusiastically in sporting activities, both in physical education lessons and in after-school clubs. They understand the importance of healthy lifestyles, highlighted by the healthy food they eat and by the large number of pupils who choose to walk to school. The school nurse helps pupils understand the importance of hand-washing to staying healthy.
• Adults look after pupils’ welfare well. Pupils know that there is an adult to talk to if they are upset or need help with a problem. A nurture group provides pupils who need extra help with support for their emotional well-being. Parents who responded to the online survey, Parent View, confirmed that their children are safe and happy at school.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils are friendly towards each other and incidents of bullying rare. At breaktimes, pupils play together actively, mixing well with pupils from different year groups. Pupils know to talk to anyone who is sitting on their own to make sure that they are okay. One boy said he likes school because ‘it is full of friends that will help you’.
• The vast majority of pupils work hard, demonstrating good attitudes to learning. Disruption to learning is rare, because pupils cooperate with each other well. In the Year 5 and 6 class, pupils helped each other to spot errors in their work, suggesting possible improvements. In the Year 1 and 2 class, pupils listened to each other carefully as they thought up different adjectives to describe the witch in ‘Hansel and Gretel’. From time to time, a few pupils need prompting by an adult to move on with their learning.
• Attendance over time has been in line with the national average, including for disadvantaged pupils. However, pupils’ attendance overall dipped last year. A range of effective rewards and sanctions are used to promote good attendance, so this year attendance has risen to be again similar to attendance nationally. The attendance of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is particularly high.
• Last year the proportion of pupils who were persistently absent was above that seen nationally. Effective work with some families to highlight the importance of coming to school regularly is having a positive impact, as fewer pupils are now persistently absent.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Pupils in Year 1 do not always build on the strong start that they receive in the early years and their progress dips at the start of key stage 1. This is particularly the case for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Although carefully targeted extra teaching is helping pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities to make progress from their starting points, this progress is not rapid enough.
• Pupils who have no special educational needs and/or disabilities achieve in line with pupils nationally. However, work in their books shows that some pupils in key stage 1 have not realised their full potential. Leaders’ recent actions are addressing this so that pupils’ progress has recently begun to accelerate.
• In 2016, the proportion of pupils who met the standard in the Year 1 phonics check was below that seen nationally. This is because teaching has not precisely focused on mastering phonics skills early enough. However, recent improvements to the teaching of phonics are helping pupils to catch up quickly. Most pupils achieve the standard required by the end of Year 2.
• The most able pupils do not make the progress they are capable of. Planned tasks are not always challenging enough for these pupils. Consequently, too few pupils exceed the standards expected for their age.
• In key stage 2 in 2016, pupils’ achievement was broadly average in reading and writing, with similar proportions to those seen nationally attaining at the expected or higher standard. However, too few pupils reached the expected standard in mathematics.
• Progress for current pupils in key stage 2 is similarly strong in reading and writing. Progress in mathematics is much improved because leaders have focused on making sure that all pupils catch up, particularly through improving pupils’ fluency in mathematical calculations. A higher proportion of current Year 6 pupils are on track to have the skills required for secondary school than last year.
• Last year, disadvantaged pupils made broadly similar progress to others nationally in reading and writing, but less progress in mathematics. However, current disadvantaged pupils are making strong progress in reading, writing and mathematics as a result of carefully targeted extra teaching. Consequently, attainment for disadvantaged pupils is improving to be close to the attainment of others nationally.
• Pupils in key stage 2 achieve well across the broader curriculum, particularly in science. However, coverage in key stage 1 lacks depth and rigour. Consequently, not enough pupils are working at the standard expected for their age.
• Where progress is weaker, leaders have scrutinised why this is the case. They are ensuring that additional support for pupils and teachers is starting to have an impact on accelerating pupils’ progress.

Early years provision Good

• Children enter the Reception Year with skills and knowledge below those typical for their age, particularly in literacy and numeracy. They make good progress so that the proportion who reach a good level of development is consistently in line with or above that seen nationally.
• The early years classroom and outside area is imaginatively designed to meet children’s learning needs and interests across the curriculum very well. Leaders have ensured that activities promote children’s physical development so that children appropriately develop the skills needed, including the ability to manipulate a pencil and to write.
• The school’s early years class is a nurturing environment. Children develop their social and communication skills very well. They include each other in their learning and their play, so that no one is left out. Children appreciate the activities which adults plan for them; one child beamed with pride when he was praised for recognising the correct phonic sound in a word game.
• Safeguarding is effective. Adults are well trained and vigilant. They liaise well with the nearby nursery and act promptly to ensure that children are safe, involving outside agencies where necessary. Children are taught how to manage risk very well. For example, they know how to use a toaster safely to make themselves a healthy snack if they are hungry.
• Leaders have an accurate understanding of the strengths and areas for improvement in the early years. This year, they have made sure that they use assessments of children’s progress and attainment to more precisely support children’s further development. Extra help for children who need to catch up, including those who are disadvantaged, is well planned and helping to improve these children’s skills and abilities.
• Adults have provided more frequent opportunities for children to be taught writing and numeracy in a more formal way. This is beginning to accelerate their progress and prepare them well for their transition into Year 1. One child enthusiastically showed the inspector her progress in putting spacing between the words in a sentence. Recent work displayed on the walls shows children using finger painting to accurately count the petals on a flower. However, transition arrangements to key stage 1 need to be improved so that children are able to build on the good start they receive in the early years.
• Children enjoy choosing activities for themselves. A recent interest in pirates sparked some children to use blocks and cardboard to build their own ship so that they could walk the plank and find treasure. However, a few children flit between activities or are unsure why they are doing an activity. The early years teacher is addressing this by carefully controlling the spaces children have access to. This is helping children to maintain better focus on activities than they have in the past.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 118185 Isle of Wight 10032857 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 Voluntary controlled 5 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 95 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Mr John Hayes Mrs Nicki Mobley 01983 753267 www.allsaintsprimaryfreshwater.co.uk admin@allsaintscepri.iow.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 17–18 March 2015

Information about this school

• All Saints Church of England Primary School, Freshwater, is a much smaller-than- average-sized school. It has four mixed-year classes.
• The vast majority of pupils are from a White British background. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is below that seen nationally.
• The proportion of pupils who qualify for the pupil premium is above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities was well above the national average, but has reduced to be broadly average.
• The proportion of pupils who join or leave the school during the year is well above average.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school did not meet the current government floor standards in 2016, which set minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.
• Since the last inspection there have been several changes in staff, including at senior leadership level. Leaders have experienced difficulties in recruitment of staff due to the school’s geographical location.
• The school receives support from Halterworth Consortium.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector, jointly with the headteacher, observed pupils’ learning in 10 lessons.
• The inspector observed pupils playing in the playground and taking part in an assembly.
• The inspector talked to pupils formally and informally in lessons and took account of the 11 pupil questionnaire responses. The inspector looked at a range of pupils’ work, and observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school.
• The inspector considered the views of parents, including the 10 responses to the online Ofsted parent questionnaire, Parent View, and the 10 free-text responses.
• The inspector held meetings with senior leaders, other staff, governors and representatives from the local authority. The inspector took account of the nine staff survey responses.
• The inspector scrutinised a range of school documentation, including the school’s self-evaluation and improvement plans, governors’ minutes, monitoring records, school policies, pupil performance information and records relating to behaviour and safeguarding.

Inspection team

Catherine Old, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector