Braddock CofE Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching by ensuring that:
  • the most able pupils meet the highest standards expected of them in reading, writing and mathematics by the time they leave the school
  • pupils’ spelling and handwriting are consistently strong across the curriculum.
• Strengthen the work of the board of directors so that they have a greater impact on the school by checking and evaluating their work more systematically.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The head of school, well supported by other leaders, has taken effective action to improve the quality of teaching in the school. As a result of staff changes and targeted training, pupils are now making good progress in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Leaders, including the head of school and mathematics subject leader, demand high expectations of both teachers and pupils. They check the quality of teaching regularly against agreed criteria. As a result, they have an accurate view of teaching, what is working well and what needs to be improved.
• The leadership of mathematics is highly effective because it concentrates on critical skills and knowledge needed in order for the pupils to be able to solve problems, reason and explain their thinking. Consequently, pupils are making rapid progress and are able to apply their numeracy skills well in a range of situations.
• Strategies aimed at getting children to enjoy reading are effective, for example family reading. Similarly, leaders’ actions to enable pupils to learn and apply their phonics knowledge are having a strong impact on pupils’ reading.
• The curriculum is wide and varied. Pupils enjoy the opportunities to transfer their learning into other contexts, situations or subjects. For example, the pupils were keen to talk about their enjoyment of reading in themed events and occasions, such as fireworks night, Remembrance Day and advent.
• School leaders have introduced a range of activities across the curriculum which excite and enthuse pupils. The curriculum is further extended by a range of extra-curricular activities which pupils particularly enjoy. These include cross-country, aerobics, cooking, choir and ‘forest schools’.
• Leaders communicate well with parents and work together to set interesting home learning activities. For example, every half-term there is topic homework that pupils report as ‘creative and fun’. Teachers help with this, and pupils can use school laptops for homework if needed.
• Leaders are effective in promoting fundamental British values. Pupils are able to explain how rules and events at school reflect those in society. For example, they linked tolerance and respect to the school’s own core values, ‘family, respect and potential’. Pupils show great interest in wider cultural and global issues, including ‘Black History’ month, which focused on the life and work of Martin Luther King. In reflecting British values, one pupil remarked, ‘We’re all the same.’
• The special educational needs leader is effective because she knows the pupils well and tracks individual progress meticulously. However, the allocation of the budget is not sufficiently precise for pupils with more complex needs.
• The additional pupil premium funding is allocated and spent appropriately on a range of activities. These include transport arrangements, additional interventions, ‘Bike-ability’ and support for residential trips. However, the board of directors does not have in place a firm strategy to monitor the impact of the funding on the disadvantaged pupils, including the most able.
• Sports funding contributes to high-quality physical education lessons and a range of sporting activities such as tag-rugby. This supports pupils’ fitness, enjoyment and participation through a variety of sports.
• Leaders, including directors, promote a strong, caring ethos which reflects a high regard for individual respect and integrity. Equality of opportunity and recognition of diversity are at the core of the school’s work and Christian foundation.
• The management of leaders’ and teachers’ performance is effective because it is well focused on school priorities and links to high-quality training. Consequently, the quality of teaching has improved strongly, especially at key stage 2.
• Leaders, including the principal, engage well with external support, which is rightly focused on key priorities for improvement. As a result, the quality of teaching has improved and is impacting positively on pupils’ progress and outcomes.

Governance of the school

• Directors are steadily improving their understanding of the school and are now using information provided by the academy improvement partner (AIP) to monitor the school’s work. Information from the AIP visits is shared with the board and, as a result, directors are knowledgeable about the strengths and weaknesses of the school.
• St Barnabas Multi-Academy Trust has invested in effective external support to improve the quality of teaching, including the appointment of a specialist mathematics teacher. This has resulted in improved outcomes for pupils.
• The minutes of board meetings show that there is now more challenging questioning about pupils’ achievement. Nevertheless, checks and actions are not yet fully developed to provide the board with even more relevant and useful information to hold leaders to account.
• Directors have a realistic view of the school and recognise the strengths and ‘trajectory’ that the school is on. For example, directors understand that spelling and grammar are priorities for improvement. They also recognise that a pivotal strength in the school is in the effectiveness of the head of school because, as one director said, ‘she knows the pupils, very, very well’, which is a significant factor in the school’s successes.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders and staff rightly place a high priority on ensuring that pupils are kept safe. Processes for checking visitors meet requirements and staff training for safeguarding, including child protection, is up to date. The school’s single central record and other safer recruitment information is up to date, including how school leaders check supply teachers working in the school.
• Staff discuss a range of topics with pupils, who are able to talk at length about what steps and measures they can take to keep themselves safe. Pupils can explain how to stay safe online and recall the advice of a visiting police officer to the school. Safety, protection and nurture are so prevalent that one pupil said, ‘This school is like my second home’.
• Parents recognise that the school places a high priority on maintaining pupils’ safety and well-being. Parent View responses confirm that parents feel that their children are safe in school.
• Health and safety documents, including risk assessments, are maintained well. Health and safety procedures are monitored in a comprehensive system which contributes well to keeping children safe.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teaching at key stage 1 is a particular strength because of the high expectations of staff. As a result, pupils’ skills in reading, writing and mathematics are strong and pupils are well prepared for entry into key stage 2.
• The quality of teaching has improved as a result of the determined and accurate focus of senior leaders in the school. However, the most able pupils do not achieve as well as they should because they are not challenged sufficiently to make more rapid progress in reading and writing towards the higher standards expected of them.
• The teaching of mathematics across the school is particularly effective. Teachers use a range of resources and apparatus to provide pupils with explicit models which pupils use to support their learning. Consequently, pupils can relate and apply what they have learned in a variety of contexts. This deepens pupils’ understanding.
• The teaching of reading has also improved and been a priority for the school. Investment in book stock, a library, murals and displays have also ignited a love and passion for reading. This has been recognised by the pupils who said, ‘We are now reading more often than in the past.’ Pupils are keen and proud to read. However, teachers do not always check to ensure that pupils are reading from appropriate texts that are matched to their ability.
• Staff questioning, in all subjects, is securing better understanding to enable pupils to reason and apply their skills and knowledge. Teachers and teaching assistants check pupils’ understanding and clarify learning points, for example older pupils examining parts of the ‘The Butterfly Lion’ which highlighted inference in the text.
• Pupils apply their writing skills through well-considered activities across the curriculum. Examples of cross-curricular writing include history, geography, science and religious education. As a result, pupils are developing a better understanding of how to write for different audiences and reasons. However, leaders have rightly identified that there needs to be a greater consistency in the quality and accuracy seen in writing across the curriculum.
• The teaching of spelling and handwriting is improving, for example in phonics intervention work with pupils. However, this work is yet to take full effect and so this continues to be a priority for leaders.
• Teaching assistants make a positive contribution in lessons. As a result, pupils are well supported to make strong progress, for example lower attaining pupils spelling ‘sugar’ in a sentence to catch up with and meet standards that are appropriate for their age.
• Teaching assistants and teachers also communicate effectively to maintain high-quality notes and records. As a result, they identify exact gaps in what pupils know, can do and understand. Pupils are supported to catch up as part of their targeted support. This dialogue is essential as part of an inclusive approach to provide support for pupils in developing their skills and knowledge in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Teachers’ and teaching assistants’ subject knowledge in reading, writing and mathematics is strong. Consequently, pupils are challenged and supported well, either through verbal or written feedback, to make progress over time.

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 encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning in lessons, and also in contributing to the daily life of the school. For example, tidying the dinner hall and being responsible for the distribution of resources at playtime.
• Pupils are well supported by adults. There is a harmonious bond between pupils and staff. Pupils play well together and share happily. They wait patiently in queues and demonstrate high levels of respect and tolerance for one another.
• Pupils enjoy the roles of responsibility they are given. They take these seriously and recognise the importance of their work. For example, pupils explain how decisions made at the school council have led to changes at playtimes and their play equipment.
• Pupils feel safe in school. They know how to keep safe online and know how to protect personal information. They also show a strong awareness of safety in other situations, for example they know where to congregate in the event of a fire.
• Pupils make choices and take decisions with consideration and respect for others in mind. They are helpful and cooperative. For example, the inspector observed younger pupils being helped by older pupils to put a comment into the ‘Braddock box’ for consideration of the school council.
• Pupils understand what bullying is and are emphatic that there is no bullying at Braddock. However, they have confidence that issues relating to behaviour will be sensitively managed and taken seriously by school staff.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils make strong progress in their learning because they understand the importance of lesson time and respect learning together. There are few incidences of minor disruption which occasionally occur if the teaching is not sustaining the pupils’ attention.
• Pupils’ attendance has improved strongly because of the daily recording processes operated by the school, and is now average. Diligent checking by a member of staff completes a daily trawl based on punctuality and attendance at registration. School leaders have been proactive in working with other agencies to improve attendance. They also interact and communicate well with parents and pupils through displays, newsletters and certificates.
• Children are very happy and proud to be a part of Braddock Primary. In lessons, pupils are keen and eager to learn and develop self-assurance. However, there are occasions when pupils’ presentation in workbooks does not show the same level of interest or pride.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Current rates of progress for pupils across the school are good in reading, writing and in mathematics. Work in books confirms that pupils’ development of key mathematical skills is rapid, particularly across key stage 2. Reading and writing progress is less pronounced but discernible in the organisation, style and overall quality of pupils’ writing.
• Outcomes for pupils at the end of key stage 1 are particularly strong in reading, writing and mathematics. Attainment is above average, including for the few disadvantaged pupils that are in the cohort.
• Pupils acquire phonics skills and knowledge quickly and attain well in the Year 1 screening check. However, transferring these skills to support pupils’ wider writing is still an ongoing challenge for pupils, especially at key stage 2.
• Current progress of pupils in Year 1 is strong. For example, of the few children who did not attain a good level of development at the end of the Reception Year, very few are not yet at that standard.
• Improvements to teaching are now resulting in a sharp increase in the number of pupils reading and writing at an age-related standard across the school. Workbooks and hearing readers confirm that the assessment information held by leaders and teachers is accurate. For example, pupils are now developing more sophisticated structure, composition and effect as they progress through the school.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make stronger progress in mathematics than in reading and writing. Leaders have identified this and are working with pupils and staff through tailored individual education plans (IEPs), which now meet the pupils’ needs and are supporting them to make progress.
• At the end of key stage 1, disadvantaged pupils achieve standards that are above the national average in reading, writing and mathematics. At key stage 2, disadvantaged pupils are making strong progress from their starting points to catch up. The school’s assessment information, supported by work in books, shows that more precise teaching and interventions are impacting positively on outcomes. The majority of disadvantaged pupils across the school are now working at age-related expectations.
• Standards in subjects other than English and mathematics are also improving because pupils and teachers are placing a higher value on the use of basic numeracy and literacy skills in other subjects. Noteworthy examples include personal accounts of pupils’ reflections in religious education and written records of scientific explanations for electrical circuits.
• The most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged, are not yet consistently attaining the highest standards of which they are able in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 2. The proportion of pupils attaining the higher standards at the end of key stage 1 is above the national average. Evidence in workbooks and school assessment information shows that there now are increasing proportions of pupils working within age-related benchmarks and starting to move strongly towards the higher standards.

Early years provision Good

• Leadership and management are good because the progress of children is strong from their starting points.
• Teachers provide effective challenge and support for children. As a result, the current Reception group are making accelerated progress as their starting points are typically where children should be upon entry to Reception. Children are already writing freely and following the conventions of writing. They are beginning to produce sentences and use their developing knowledge of letters and sounds to form simple words. Furthermore, phonics teaching is already challenging pupils to write common words appropriate for their age, such as ‘dog’ and ‘cat’, and deepening this to include ‘moth’ and ‘this’. Learning journeys also showed children experimenting with numbers and making their own recordings, some including written number sentences.
• Similarly, observations of the children in the Nursery showed them being very curious about ice that had formed overnight and how mud was inside it. They asked a range of interesting questions to sustain their interest. Observations showed that children are making more rapid progress than is expected of them for their age, including those who are disadvantaged.
• The physical environment, including the outdoors, is well organised. It is lively, thought-provoking and stimulating to motivate the children. Children are well directed and supported by adults, but there is also the provision for pupils to learn at length independently.
• The teaching is effective because it is based on the children’s starting points and uses accurate assessment information well to target what children need to learn. However, some of the lower attaining children do not have their needs met precisely enough so they can catch up. Similarly, school leaders have rightly identified that the most able pupils are underachieving in ‘number’ and ‘understanding the world’.
• Children are encouraged to take turns and be respectful. For example, in a writing session, when children were writing letters to Santa, they waited for their turn to talk and ask questions but then worked industriously in writing. This also showed good physical development and gaining strength to write at length.
• Assessment information is used well to plan learning across the early years curriculum. The school’s work to engage parents in their child’s learning is effective. Parents have access to the school’s assessment system and some use this to upload information and images to inform the teacher’s own assessments.
• The school has strong links with parents and the local community. Parents enjoy participating in the ‘Family reading’ sessions, which are well attended. Other communication occurs through weekly homework, termly conferences and even a trip to the Eden Project.
• In 2016, a small number of the lowest attaining and the most able children in the Reception Year did not attain the standards expected of them. Leaders have clear plans in place to address these weaknesses.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 140232 Cornwall 10019935 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 converter 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 80 Appropriate authority The board of directors Chair Principal Telephone number Website Email address Fr Michael Brown Julie Simpson 01579 326136 www.braddock.cornwall.sch.uk/ kcastelow@st-martins.cornwall.sch.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• This school is smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• There are four mixed-aged classes: Reception and Nursery, Years 1 and 2, Years 3 and 4, and Years 5 and 6.
• The school converted to academy status in December 2013. It is part of the St Barnabas Multi-Academy Trust, which consists of six schools. There is one academy principal for the schools in the trust. The head of school at Braddock has the responsibility for the daily running of the school.
• The school has a Nursery run by the board of directors, where pupils attend on a part-time basis.
• The vast majority of pupils are White British.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils who are eligible for the pupil premium funding is lower than the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is below the national average.
• The school meets the requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school complies with the Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector visited all classes with either the principal or the head of school.
• Meetings were held with the principal, head of school, other senior leaders, key stage 2 teacher and representatives from the board of directors. The inspector also held a telephone conversation with the academy improvement adviser (AIP).
• The inspector scrutinised several documents, including minutes of board meetings, assessment information, the school’s self-evaluation, records of AIP visits, and behaviour, attendance and safeguarding records.
• The inspector undertook extensive joint workbook scrutiny with the senior leaders on both days of the inspection.
• The inspector spoke to a group of children and heard some pupils in Years 2, 4 and 6 read.
• The inspector observed pupils at break and lunchtimes and part of the ‘Family reading’ session.
• The 15 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, were considered. The inspector took into account comments provided by text message and spoke to parents informally at the start of the inspection. The online responses of 12 staff were also taken into account.

Inspection team

Stewart Gale, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector