Sayes Court School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Continue to improve teaching so that all groups of pupils make rapid progress from their starting points and overall attainment improves by:
  • ensuring that the most able pupils receive challenging work
  • checking how well pupils are doing in lessons and making tasks more difficult or providing extra support when needed
  • developing the skills of adults in the early years so that their interactions with children are highly effective
  • sharing best practice within the school and the academy trust.
• Leaders should:
  • make sure that there is more rigour in their analysis of pupil’s progress information and behaviour records so that those responsible for governance can easily access the information they need to challenge leaders strategically
  • embed the current work to improve the curriculum so that pupils’ skills are developed well in a wider range of subjects.
• Governors should confirm a strategy for the leadership of provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, so that parents have a regular, named point of contact.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Since her appointment in September 2015 the headteacher has been passionate about getting things right for the pupils in her care. She has high expectations of all pupils and staff. Determined resilience has enabled her to successfully make the improvements to the school that were necessary.
• Although this is now a good school, the headteacher is restless because she understands that there is still more to do to make Sayes Court a great school. Staff and pupils are positive about their ability and optimistic for the future. They clearly believe the school motto: ‘I can, I can, I can!’
• The executive headteacher has provided calm and measured leadership and additional experience to the school. His wider expertise has helped the headteacher and other leaders to develop their own skills while the school has improved.
• Leaders, including the deputy headteacher, have an accurate evaluation of the current strengths and weaknesses in the school and in the quality of teaching in particular. They know in great detail how well individual pupils are learning and behaving. However, they do not analyse this information to spot trends in progress for different groups or patterns in behaviour over time.
• Leaders who are responsible for key subjects such as English and mathematics have received effective training. This has enabled them to have a positive impact on improving teaching and outcomes for pupils.
• Senior leaders have used performance management, professional development and coaching well to improve teaching and the impact of middle leaders.
• Additional funding has been spent very effectively. Disadvantaged pupils throughout the school are making strong progress. Differences in attainment between them and their peers are diminishing quickly.
• Pupils understand the school’s values and fundamental British values such as democracy and individual liberty. The promotion of spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is strong throughout the school. All of this prepares pupils well for the next stage of their education and for a happy and successful life outside of school.
• Provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is currently led by an experienced leader from another school in the academy trust. She is knowledgeable, well qualified and knows these pupils well. She makes sure that funds for special educational needs are spent effectively and that provision is strong. However, some parents are concerned that it is not always easy to access support when needed.
• School leaders recognised that the curriculum was not meeting the needs of pupils well enough. This year they have revised their approach and ensured that the curriculum is broad and balanced. The curriculum is interesting, allowing pupils to develop their knowledge (of facts) in a range in subjects and to apply their writing skills widely. Leaders, however, recognise that it does not yet enable pupils to make strong progress in developing their skills in a range of subjects, including technology, physical education, history and art.
• Pupils enjoy a variety of extra-curricular clubs, including an eco-club and a range of sports. Sport premium funding is used effectively to provide coaching at lunchtimes and in physical education lessons. However, leaders agree that even more could be done to improve the impact of this additional money.

Governance of the school

• By their own admission the Bourne Educational Trust did not have a successful first year when the school opened as an academy. After the very disappointing results in 2015 they took decisive action to change the governance and leadership of the school. This led to rapid improvement. The trust appointed the deputy headteacher from another trust school and currently organise the additional leadership support from the executive headteacher and the leader responsible for special educational needs provision. The trust recognise that the school now needs far less support, but will carry on making sure that leaders, staff and governors continue to benefit from the expertise, training and other opportunities available by working together successfully
• The local governing body was strengthened when an advanced skills governor was appointed as chair. Current governors are well trained and informed. They ask leaders searching and challenging questions, including about the use of additional funds for disadvantaged pupils and safeguarding. They regularly visit the school to check for themselves that there is evidence of the improvements that leaders tell them about.
• Governors rightly want to know how well different groups of pupils are progressing. However, leaders have sometimes found their questions difficult to answer. This is because leaders currently only analyse the attainment rather than progress of groups of pupils such as the most able and those pupils who have special educational needs.
• The trust, governors and leaders have not yet agreed on a plan for how special educational needs provision will be led in the future.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Governors, leaders and staff are well trained. They are aware of their statutory duties regarding safeguarding and ‘whistleblowing’ if they have any concerns. Checks on staff recruitment and details of the governing and propriety body are recorded on a central record as required.
• Leaders responsible for safeguarding ensure that positive links with other agencies and professionals are maintained and also exploited for the benefit of pupils. For example, the police spoke to older pupils about keeping safe online.
• Staff are aware of the main risks that pupils in their care face. They are very vigilant for any signs of danger.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Staff implement whole-school policies around planning, teaching, assessment and marking consistently well. As a result, pupils know what is expected of them. Pupils told inspectors that their teachers’ marking and comments help them to improve their work, especially in writing and mathematics.
• Pupils are very respectful and this allows them to hold focused discussions with their peers that help them to demonstrate and deepen their knowledge and understanding.
• Teachers use a range of resources well to enhance their teaching. Pupils use information on display around the classroom, practical resources, technology and dictionaries and thesauruses to help them to learn well.
• Staff have secure subject knowledge and ask pupils good questions that make them think deeply. Teachers ask further questions to check that pupils have understood what they have been learning.
• Teaching assistants make a significant and positive difference to pupils’ learning. They do this by supporting those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities in class. Additionally they provide ‘same-day’ follow-up work to help disadvantaged pupils who did not understand or master a skill from a lesson to catch up quickly.
• Where teaching is most effective, teachers are very adept at helping to move on individual pupils’ learning very quickly by giving them extra challenges or support. Some teachers who are new to the profession are not as confident to do this.
• Phonics is taught accurately and effectively in Reception and key stage 1. However, some older pupils still have weaker spelling skills. The most able pupils in upper key stage 2 are not helped to build on their impressive skills to develop a love of reading books.
• There are many opportunities for pupils to try solving challenging problems and reasoning tasks in mathematics. However, sometimes the most able pupils have to complete too many easy questions to demonstrate their calculation skills before they can attempt the more difficult tasks.
• The vast majority of parents who completed the online questionnaire, Parent View, feel that their children are taught well and that they receive suitable information about their progress. Parents like the new approach to homework which means that there is no work to complete at weekends.

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 proud of their school and are taking an increasing pride in their learning. Work by leaders and teachers to improve pupils’ presentation and handwriting has been successful. Pupils are developing mature attitudes as learners by trying to demonstrate qualities including independence, self-belief and resilience.
• Leaders ensure that pupils are kept safe and know how to stay safe, including when online. The effective programme of personal, social and health education (PSHE) contributes well to this. Leaders recognise that there is more work to do to enable pupils to understand appropriate risks and manage their perceptions of danger.
• Bullying is not a major issue at Sayes Court. Pupils understand the different types of bullying, are aware of strategies to prevent it and know that adults do help if there is a problem. However, a few pupils and parents do not fully understand the difference between unkind behaviour and bullying.
• A healthy eating policy, including at breakfast club, and ample opportunities to take part in physical education contribute well to pupils’ physical development.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Behaviour in and around the school is good and well managed, including at lunchtime. In classrooms, teachers use the agreed rewards and sanctions consistently. School records, and responses to staff and parental surveys, confirmed that the good behaviour seen by inspectors was typical. Pupils also told inspectors that pupils behave well.
• The very few pupils who find it difficult to manage their behaviour are being helped to improve. Some of this improvement is due to the effective work that takes place with other agencies. Leaders agreed that information about behaviour could be analysed better so they can identify patterns and prevent the rare incidents of poor behaviour from occurring.
• Leaders have taken effective action to improve attendance for all groups of pupils. As a result, attendance is now above average. Pupils certainly enjoy coming to school.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Improvements in leadership and teaching led to substantial improvements in progress and attainment at the end of key stage 2 in 2016 so that it was broadly average.
• Leaders have built on last year’s success and ensured that current pupils throughout the school are developing their knowledge, skills and understanding well in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Younger pupils make good progress developing their early reading skills. Outcomes in the phonics screening check have improved in recent years and are above average.
• Current disadvantaged pupils, including some that are most able, are making strong progress so that the differences in attainment that existed in 2016 are diminishing quickly. This is because additional funding is used effectively to provide additional teaching straight away when disadvantaged pupils do not understand a key concept or fall behind.
• The vast majority of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress due to the strong provision and additional support they receive from support staff.
• In 2016 the most able pupils did not reach the higher standards at the end of key stage 2 in mathematics and writing. Some of the most able pupils in key stage 1 also made limited progress in 2016. This aspect of the school’s work is improving, although there are still occasions where the most able pupils are not given challenging enough work. Leaders do not track the progress of the most able pupils well enough to ensure that they are exceeding age-related expectations.
• Pupils are not yet developing their skills in subjects other than English and mathematics well enough. This is because the new curriculum, which is more appropriate, is still being embedded.

Early years provision Good

• Children make good progress from starting points, sometimes below those found typically, to reach the expected standard in all areas of learning. Disadvantaged children make at least similar progress. The proportion of children achieving a good level of development has increased since the school opened and is now just above the national average. As a result, children are well prepared for Year 1.
• In reading, writing and number, the most able children typically make rapid progress, to exceed the early learning goals, but this is not the case in other areas of the early years curriculum. Any children that have special educational needs are identified quickly and given good support to help them make good progress in their social development and learning.
• The indoor environment is rich and covers all areas of learning well. It supports children to play and learn independently when they choose to, helping them to develop their language skills. For example, children are inspired to write independently because of the many resources available to them. The outdoor environment, although appealing, well designed and popular with children, does not promote language as well.
• Teaching is very effective. Phonics is taught accurately and in a way that engages and enthuses children. As a result, they make good progress in developing their early reading skills. High expectations are evident throughout the setting. The teacher is particularly well skilled at moving learning on quickly by asking questions or through other interactions with children. Other adults are not yet skilled enough to move learning on rapidly in this way.
• Safeguarding is effective in the setting and children’s welfare is the highest priority. Children’s behaviour is good, they get along with each other well and play and learn together sensibly.
• The early years leader is new to the role and has been supported to develop her skills very well by the headteacher. The leader understands each child as an individual and the relative strengths and weaknesses of the class. She has already developed a strong partnership with the parents, who are rightly very pleased with the provision.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 140860 Surrey 10032505 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 Academy sponsor-led 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 190 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Janet Willcox Rochelle Richmond Telephone number 01932 845093 Website Email address www.sayescourt.surrey.sch.uk admin@sayescourt.surrey.sch.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• The school opened as an academy in June 2014 and is part of the Bourne Education Trust. The school has not been inspected previously. When its predecessor school was inspected it was found to be inadequate.
• The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is above average.
• Around one third of pupils are from minority ethnic groups, this is just above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is below the national average. However, the proportion of pupils with a statement or education, health and care plan relating to special educational needs and/or disabilities is just above that found nationally.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• Following some minor administrative changes made during the inspection, the school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards.
• The school operates a breakfast club each morning.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in all classes. They looked at pupils’ workbooks and talked to pupils about their learning. Most of these observations were carried out with senior leaders.
• Inspectors met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher and executive headteacher throughout the inspection. Her Majesty’s Inspector met with three members of the governing body (including the chair), the chief executive officer of the Bourne Education Trust and a consultant representing the local authority.
• Inspectors also met with leaders responsible for English and mathematics, the school’s work in the early years and provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Her Majesty’s Inspector met a group of teachers who were new to the profession. Inspectors took account of 19 responses to Ofsted’s confidential online staff survey.
• Inspectors spoke informally to pupils in lessons and at play and lunchtime. Inspectors heard some pupils from Year 2 and Year 6 read and met with the school council.
• Inspectors spoke to parents at the start of the inspection and took account of 32 responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online parent survey.
• Inspectors viewed a wide range of the school’s documentation, including information about the work of governors, safeguarding, behaviour, attendance and self-evaluation.

Inspection team

Lee Selby, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Graham Marshall Ofsted Inspector