Colyton Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the progress of disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, by:
  • identifying precisely the next steps in their learning and using the information to inform lesson planning and feedback to pupils
  • ensuring that funding, including the pupil premium, is used effectively to address the pupils’ specific barriers to learning, especially their language development
  • making sure that the pupils read regularly and often
  • continuing to work with parents to improve the pupils’ attendance.
• Build on the examples of strong practice in the school and federation to improve the quality of teaching and learning across year groups and subjects, especially in writing, by:
  • improving teachers’ use of ongoing assessment to plan and adapt learning so that all pupils make equally good progress across all subjects
  • developing teachers’ subject knowledge in English, especially in key stage 1, to enable them to challenge and extend pupils’ knowledge and skills confidently.
• Develop leadership skills at all levels, by:
  • extending the monitoring and evaluation skills of subject and other leaders to enable them to drive improvement consistently well across all subjects and for groups of pupils
  • developing governors’ skills in monitoring the school’s progress and holding senior leaders to account in order to secure the best possible outcomes for all pupils. An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved. An external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

• Over time, school leaders have not made good use of the pupil premium to support disadvantaged pupils or of the funding to support pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Consequently, these pupils are not making the progress they should across the school, particularly in writing. Until recently, pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs have not received consistently effective support in learning to manage their behaviour, and this has also impeded their progress.
• The development of subject and other leaders has been too variable over time to secure a consistently good quality of teaching and learning. Some leaders are not skilled in monitoring and evaluating the impact of teaching on pupils’ progress to identify and address areas in need of improvement. This has led to differences in progress between groups of pupils, year groups and subjects.
• The new executive headteacher has evaluated the school’s performance rigorously and identified accurately the key areas for improvement. School development planning now provides clear direction for teachers. Staff morale is high.
• The new head of school leads by example and is successful in establishing a culture of respect and tolerance in which discrimination is not tolerated. The good relationships between leaders, staff and pupils have created a positive ethos for learning.
• The executive headteacher and head of school are beginning to raise teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve, for example in regular meetings about pupils’ progress. This, together with robust procedures for managing the performance of staff and their training, is leading to improvements, as in the teaching and learning of mathematics, and in the progress of the most able pupils, throughout the school. However, improvements in the teaching of writing and in the learning and progress of vulnerable pupils overall have been too slow over time and these areas remain weak.
• The improvements that have been made are underpinned by comprehensive tracking of pupils’ progress. The school works effectively with other schools in the federation to increase the accuracy of teachers’ assessment of pupil progress.
• Other heads of school within the federation are providing effective support for the new head of school. In addition, the school receives good support from the local authority, for example in safeguarding pupils and in improving pupils’ behaviour.
• The broad and balanced curriculum covers the national curriculum appropriately. Music is taught well and pupils have the opportunity to learn to play a wide range of musical instruments. Suitable use is being made of the sport premium to engage pupils in a wider range of sport such as tennis and cricket. Trips and events, for instance participating in the local community’s re-enactment of the civil war, Shakespearian productions such as the current performance of ‘Macbeth’, and extra-curricular clubs including football, enrich pupils’ learning experiences. The school has identified the need to review the use of the sport funding and curriculum planning to ensure that they meet the needs and interests of all pupils fully.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is enhanced through learning about other faiths and cultures, as in a project on India. These and other activities, for example holding a mock general election and contributing to class rules, help to develop pupils’ understanding of the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law and tolerance.
• Parents are generous in their praise of the new leadership and improvements in communication with the school. Ofsted’s online Parent View survey shows that the very large majority of parents who responded are satisfied with the work of the school.

Governance of the school

• Over time, governance has not been effective in holding senior leaders to account for the good progress of pupils across all year groups and subjects.
• In particular, governors have not ensured the effective use of the pupil premium and other funding to secure good progress for disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• The new chair of the governing body and current governors are now better informed about the school’s strengths and areas in need of improvement, including pupils’ progress. They challenged the new leadership team to improve the safeguarding and behaviour of pupils, to good effect.
• The new school development plan provides clear and relevant success criteria that enables governors to monitor more effectively leaders’ progress in addressing the areas identified for improvement.
• Together with senior leaders, governors are in the process of reviewing the use of funding and staff deployment to secure better outcomes for pupils. However, this is too recent to show improvements in progress for current disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The new leadership team has rightly prioritised improving the school’s procedures for safeguarding pupils and improving their behaviour. They have made good use of the local authority’s safeguarding and behaviour support teams to ensure that all safeguarding and behaviour arrangements are fit for purpose. This includes complaints procedures and risk assessments. They have also ensured that records, such as those for restraining pupils, contain appropriate detail and include the views of pupils and parents. The school now works effectively with parents and external partners to support pupils who are at risk.
• All staff and governors are up to date with training in safeguarding. Staff are trained in preventing radicalisation and extremism, which governors have yet to do. There are sufficient staff trained in first aid and enough governors and staff trained in safer recruitment. The training enables staff to implement effectively the comprehensive policy and procedures that are in place and to maintain suitable records.
• Pupils’ personal development, behaviour and welfare, including their attendance, are monitored rigorously and prompt action is now taken to address any issues. This resulted in a high proportion of pupils being excluded for a fixed term at the start of the academic year. Staff have since been trained in de-escalating situations and this has led to a steep decline in exclusions and incidents. It has also resulted in a significant improvement in behaviour overall, including for pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching, and specifically teachers’ use of assessment, is too variable. It results in uneven progress for pupils across year groups and subjects, especially for disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Teachers’ subject knowledge in English, particularly in writing and in key stage 1, has not been developed well over time. Consequently, some teachers are not identifying precisely enough what pupils need to learn next or what teaching assistants need to do to help the pupils.
• Pupils’ writing is not improving quickly enough. There is too great an emphasis on the presentation of their work rather than the development of their language skills. Training and support in mathematics is improving teaching and learning in this subject throughout the school. Teachers are making better use of assessment in mathematics to set work at the right level of challenge for the pupils’ different starting points. As a result, more pupils are exceeding expectations.
• Due to their higher expectations of what the most able pupils can achieve, teachers are now deepening the pupils’ understanding well through tasks that extend their thinking. For example, the most able pupils are challenged effectively to explain their reasoning in mathematics and to consider what the author is inferring in the books they are reading.
• Improvements in the teaching of reading have led to a rise in the Year 1 phonics screening check over time and, more recently, to more pupils exceeding expectations in reading across the school.
• Pupils make fastest gains where teachers constantly check their progress and adapt activities to reinforce or deepen their learning. Teachers’ skilful questioning extends the pupils’ thinking, time is used productively and pupils are eager to act on the teacher’s advice to improve their work. Pupils are also given effective opportunities to apply and consolidate their new skills across a wide range of subjects.
• Teachers set homework in line with the school’s policy, although they are not checking that disadvantaged pupils are reading regularly enough.
• School reports provide accurate information for parents about their child’s progress. Next steps are provided to help parents to support their child at home. They are more precise and helpful in mathematics than in English.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils grow in confidence in the school’s positive ethos for learning. They work and play well together, showing respect for each other’s views and ideas.
• Pupils are eager to learn and they are proud of their school. Older pupils in particular take pride in the presentation of their work.
• Pupils say they feel safe in school and the vast majority of parents agree. Through teaching, assemblies and talks by visitors, pupils learn how to stay safe, for example when using the internet. They say, and records confirm, that staff deal well with the few incidents of bullying.
• Pupils learn to be good citizens. For example, the school council takes its responsibility seriously and has helped to improve lunchtime arrangements. Pupils learn to care for the environment through the innovative use of the school’s outside space, which includes a forest school, ‘mud kitchen’ and polytunnel for growing vegetables. These, and the range of sports on offer, provide effective opportunities for pupils to learn how to keep healthy.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Since the previous high number of fixed-term exclusions, the school is now a calm and orderly community.
• Recent training for teachers and teaching assistants enables them to provide specific and effective support to meet the needs of pupils who have social, emotional and mental health challenges. The staff are supported well by strategies recorded in the pupils’ behaviour plans. As a result, the pupils are helped to focus on their work without distracting others. Records show a rapid and marked improvement in behaviour for these pupils.
• The vast majority of pupils conduct themselves well throughout the day. Lunchtimes make a positive contribution to pupils’ social skills as older pupils play with those who are younger.
• All staff and most parents agree that the school makes sure that its pupils are well behaved. Staff report that they are supported well in managing pupils’ behaviour. A few parents feel that the behaviour support given to a small number of pupils results in less attention to their child. The school is reviewing staff deployment appropriately to ensure that the needs of all pupils are met.
• Most pupils attend school regularly. However, attendance is low for a small minority of disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. This impedes their learning and progress. Senior leaders are implementing a range of suitable strategies to address the pupils’ persistent absence and it is improving slowly.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Current pupils’ progress across year groups and in a wide range of subjects is too uneven. Progress in writing is not as strong as in reading and mathematics, and it is particularly low at the end of key stage 1.
• Disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are not progressing as well as others. This is because teachers are not addressing their specific needs and filling the gaps in their learning across subjects, especially in writing. Interventions funded by the pupil premium have not been targeted well enough on the specific barriers to learning for disadvantaged pupils, notably their language development.
• Some of these vulnerable pupils are not reading widely and often enough to develop fluency and good comprehension. Nonetheless, their knowledge of phonics enables them to tackle unfamiliar books. Standards in the Year 1 phonics screening check were above average in 2016 and the school’s information indicates that current pupils are achieving the expected standard.
• Most pupils draw on a range of strategies to read fluently with good comprehension. They read regularly and are able to discuss favourite books and authors. In 2016, progress was above average in reading by the end of key stage 2 overall and above average for pupils with middle prior attainment at key stage 1. The school’s information on current pupils indicates that the most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged, are exceeding expectations in reading in both key stages 1 and 2. However, too many of the disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are not making sufficient progress in both key stages.
• Due to improvements in teaching, pupils’ progress in mathematics is increasing throughout the school. In 2016, pupils’ progress was well above average at the end of key stage 2, but below at the end of key stage 1. The school’s information on current pupils indicates that the most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, are now exceeding expectations in both key stages.
• Given that most pupils make good progress in reading and mathematics, and the most able pupils make good progress in writing, by the end of key stage 2, most pupils are suitably prepared for secondary school.

Early years provision Good

• Leaders have an accurate picture of the early years provision, which is gained through rigorous self-evaluation. The early years team are knowledgeable and continue to improve the provision through working with other schools in the federation.
• Procedures for identifying and addressing the individual needs of the children are robust. For example, staff attended specific training to meet the needs of children on the autistic spectrum.
• Safeguarding is effective and staff training is up to date, including paediatric first aid training. There are no breaches of statutory welfare requirements. Child protection policies and procedures are implemented consistently.
• The curriculum provides a broad range of interesting and challenging experiences both indoors and outside, for example ‘wellie walks’ and the forest school.
• The quality of teaching is good. Staff have high expectations of the children based on accurate initial assessments when they join the school. Regular assessments of learning are used well to plan activities that are suitably challenging for all children and this is key to the success of the provision.
• Parents and staff at the local separately managed pre-school contribute to children’s initial assessments. The pre-school staff praise the arrangements for transition which help the children to settle quickly into the Reception class. However, the next steps for learning are not recorded systematically in the pupils’ learning journeys to keep parents informed and enable them to help their children’s learning at home.
• Children are motivated by the rich and varied range of activities. For example, writing a description of a pirate with the teacher inside the classroom and then designing and measuring a pirate ship in the well-resourced outside area. They listen carefully to adults and to each other.
• Children’s behaviour is good. They understand the clear expectations of staff. They develop an awareness of risk, and how to keep safe, by engaging in challenging physical activities.
• Children learn to respect diversity through activities such as celebrating Diwali.
• Almost all of the current children are progressing well. There are very few vulnerable pupils in the cohort. The proportion of children achieving a good level of development is above average. The children are prepared well and are ready to start Year 1.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 113067 Devon 10034489 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 Community 5 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 160 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Executive Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Tim Leat Michael Rolls 01297 552231 www.colyton-primary.devon.sch.uk admin@colytonprimary.org.uk Date of previous inspection 3–4 July 2014

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school is one of four schools in the Axe Beacon Federation which is maintained by the local authority. There is one governing body responsible for all schools across the federation. A new chair of the governing body and the executive headteacher of the federation were appointed in September 2016. The post of headteacher at the school was replaced by an acting head of school in November 2016. The post of acting head of school was made substantive in March 2017.
• The school is smaller than most primary schools. With the exception of Years 5 and 6, pupils are taught in discrete year groups. Children in the early years foundation stage are taught full time in the Reception class.
• The vast majority of pupils are of White British heritage.
• The proportion of pupils eligible for support from the pupil premium is broadly average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is above average. The needs are various although several pupils have social, emotional and mental health needs.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress. It is above the Department for Education’s definition of a coasting school.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed pupils learning in all classes and carried out scrutiny of their work in books. Most of this was done jointly with the executive headteacher and head of school. Inspectors also listened to small groups of pupils reading. They observed pupils at play and lunchtimes.
• Inspectors held meetings with governors, the executive headteacher and head of school, subject and other leaders, and pupils. They telephoned representatives of the local authority and met informally with some parents.
• Inspectors examined a range of documents, including those relating to the school’s evaluation of its performance, development planning and the safeguarding of pupils. They also examined information on pupils’ progress, attendance and behaviour.
• Inspectors took account of 59 responses to Ofsted’s online Parent View survey, the comments posted online by parents and questionnaires completed by 10 members of staff. There were no survey responses from pupils.

Inspection team

Sue Frater, lead inspector Simon Mower Deborah Tregellas Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector