Kempsford Church of England Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Strengthen the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by:
  • developing a consistent approach to improving pupils’ spelling in all areas of their learning
  • ensuring that all teachers have high expectations of pupils’ handwriting and presentation
  • providing the highest levels of challenge for all pupils across the curriculum, to enable them to make the best possible progress from their starting points.
• Improve the progress of children in the early years by:
  • making better use of assessment information to enable teachers to plan precisely for the learning needs of all children
  • developing interesting and challenging activities where children can frequently apply their core skills, including using their developing knowledge of phonics, in their writing
  • developing a consistent approach to early phonics and handwriting to enable children to get off to a good start in their letter formation.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The school has been on a significant journey of improvement following a period of instability and turbulence. Development has been particularly rapid in the last 12 months, following staff changes. Recent improvements across the school have been fundamental, from a challenging starting point, to improve pupils’ outcomes.
• The headteacher has a relentless drive for school improvement, particularly in developing teaching, learning and the use of assessment to ensure greater challenge for pupils. He is ambitious for every pupil to reach the highest possible standards. There is a strong culture of teamwork and staff share his vision for the best-quality education for all pupils.
• The performance of staff is managed rigorously. The headteacher has an effective system to monitor the quality of teaching and learning using information from lesson observations, work in books and pupil achievement tracking. As a consequence, training and development is effective and teachers feel very well supported in improving their skills further.
• The school uses additional funding effectively. Leaders have developed a range of highly effective early help and support for families and pupils. The experienced inclusion leader provides effective guidance to staff in supporting pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, and disadvantaged pupils. Parents report that staff ‘go the extra mile’ to support vulnerable pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is a strength of the school. The curriculum is well planned and the school’s values underpin work within each topic. Core writing skills are applied in each subject, enabling pupils to embed their learning in a purposeful way.
• Leaders are aware of the comparative weaknesses in the early years, particularly in phonics, and are rapidly implementing plans to increase children’s progress. A local authority specialist works closely with the headteacher to monitor the impact of this work and provide further professional development for staff within this phase.
• Leaders use the sports premium to employ an apprentice sports coach. He provides a wide range of after-school clubs, develops lunchtime play and supports teachers in delivering physical education lessons. As a result, sports participation is high and the school now takes part in many more local sporting competitions and tournaments.
• The school’s vision and values are at the heart of the school community. Pupils are knowledgeable about British values such as respect and tolerance.
• Parents recognise the significant changes that have happened at the school in the last two years. One parent, reflecting the view of others, commented that leaders and teachers are ‘focused on the individual’.
• The local authority has provided support to the headteacher and governors in tackling staffing issues and weaknesses in teaching. As leadership capacity has strengthened and the school improved, the local authority has reduced the level of support provided so that the school now only receives tailored support, particularly for the early years.

Governance of the school

• Governance is effective. Following an external review and focused training, governors have become more skilled over the last two years and are now more strategic in their role. They are now provided with better-quality information by the headteacher, which enables them to ask effective, challenging questions.
• Governors make regular visits to the school and are involved in monitoring and evaluating the work of the school. They understand what needs to be done to improve the school further and are committed to driving these improvements in partnership with the headteacher.
• Governors have been involved in developing a more robust system for monitoring the performance of staff and have a clear view about the quality of teaching and learning. They hold staff and leaders to account effectively for pupils’ outcomes.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The safeguarding governor visits the school regularly and carries out checks of school records to ensure they meet government requirements for keeping children safe.
• Staff are well trained to recognise and act on any concerns about risk of harm, including extremist views and radicalisation.
• The headteacher, inclusion leader and pastoral leader work in close partnership to ensure they know every pupil well. There are clear processes to support the school’s partnership work with families that are helping to improve pupils’ achievement.
• The school works closely with external agencies to ensure specialist advice is provided when required. As a result, vulnerable pupils’ needs are quickly identified and they are well supported.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• The headteacher has put in place a number of strategies which have significantly improved teaching, learning and assessment across the school. The approach to teaching mixed-age classes has been particularly successful and additional adults are used well to meet the needs of all pupils. This approach is not as effective in the mixed Reception and Year 1 class. As a result, some pupils, particularly early years children, are not fully challenged in their learning.
• Expectations have risen over the last year. This has been driven by effective monitoring and feedback to teachers, who have responded with an increased determination that pupils will achieve their very best. Teachers use RISE (Respect, Improve, Succeed, Excel) awards to encourage pupils to try hard and take pride in all aspects of their work.
• Pupils have good reading habits and enjoy reading at home and at school. Most pupils read fluently and confidently, including the most able pupils and disadvantaged pupils. The level of difficulty in the books provided for different pupils in lessons, particularly in key stage 2, is carefully selected to present appropriate challenge and engage readers, particularly boys.
• The headteacher has driven developments in mathematics teaching, using activities purposefully to find out what pupils already know and can do. This ensures that work is well matched to pupils’ abilities and most pupils, including the most able, are challenged in their learning.
• Teachers plan exciting lessons through a topic approach. ‘Wow’ experiences at the start of a topic enhance pupils’ curiosity about the world and, as a consequence, they love learning. Pupils are given the opportunity to apply their reading, writing and mathematics skills across a wide range of subjects.
• Lessons focused on developing pupils’ concentration have helped to develop resilience in pupils. They talk confidently about how these regular lessons have helped them to tackle challenges in their learning, with one pupil saying, ‘’Carly Can Do’ helps me to persevere.’
• The school’s feedback policy is helping teachers to guide pupils to refine their writing and improve grammar and punctuation. However, teachers do not regularly pick up on common errors in spelling and this reflects a lack of expectation for pupils to develop good spelling habits. Additionally, teachers do not provide enough opportunities for pupils to develop their skills of redrafting and improving their writing.
• Phonics teaching across the school is improving. However, pupils are not consistently given the opportunity to use their phonics knowledge in their writing and the system for teaching phonics is not embedded in the early years. The means that pupils do not get the best possible start to reading and writing when they join the school.

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 works hard to engage families and involve them in their children’s learning. Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the ways in which staff make them feel welcome and a part of school life.
• Pupils who are new to the school, particularly those from service families, settle in quickly and leaders swiftly identify the academic and emotional needs of each pupil to ensure a programme of support where needed.
• Lunchtime provision is well thought through, informed by pupils’ views. This creates a positive meal-time ethos and pupils are eager to be chosen to sit at the ‘star table’ and earn lunchtime awards. At playtime, pupils choose to play in the ‘back garden’ or playground and are provided with a range of stimulating activities that promote sports, collaborative play and teamwork.
• Pupils are actively involved in the promotion of the school’s expectations. For example, pupils from the school council confidently told the lead inspector about an assembly they had recently led to remind pupils about routines and expectations of good behaviour in school.
• Pupils’ knowledge of internet safety ensures they have the skills they need to stay safe when using technology. The school has hosted a visit from the police to talk about this topic. Pupils say they feel safe at school and they are listened to by staff. A typical comment from pupils was, ‘The school supports everyone.’

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils contribute to a purposeful and productive atmosphere in most classrooms. A ‘behaviour stages’ system has been developed by the school and pupils know what is expected of them. As a result, pupils’ attitudes to learning are positive and they are motivated to do their best.
• ‘The Ark’ is a well-developed place of nurture, reflection and support where pupils are very well supported by all staff. The pastoral leader has had a significant impact on supporting pupils from service families and those with emotional and behavioural needs.
• The inclusion leader supports staff well to manage pupils’ sometimes complex emotional and behavioural needs and takes every opportunity to ensure that pupils’ attendance improves.
• Pupils move around the school calmly and safely and they play well together. They are polite and respectful to staff, visitors and each other.
• Older pupils are good role models and enjoy being a ‘buddy’ for younger pupils in assemblies and at lunchtimes.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Pupils at the school are now making better progress in reading, writing and mathematics than in previous years. Current assessments and work in books indicate that progress is strongest across the school in reading and mathematics. Leaders are focused on taking action to ensure progress and attainment is equally high in writing.
• The school now has a robust system for tracking pupils’ progress from their starting points. Leaders meet with teachers to monitor the progress pupils are making and agree actions to improve achievement, particularly in writing. The headteacher works closely with teachers to ensure swift action is taken to accelerate progress for any pupil who is in danger of falling behind. For example, pupils enjoyed writing a job description for ‘The Highwayman’ and, through talk with their learning partners, extending their vocabulary choices to use in their writing.
• Teachers now set higher expectations of what pupils can achieve. For example, pupils more regularly tackle challenging mathematical activities. As a result, the progress pupils make and the quality of their work have improved rapidly.
• Small numbers of pupils in certain year groups mean that assessments of pupils with additional needs or pupils who are new to the school can make an appreciable difference to the school’s nationally published assessment data. However, leaders are not complacent and are focused on ensuring every pupil makes good progress from their starting point.
• Standards in the Year 1 phonics screening check were below the national average last year. Teachers have improved the teaching of reading in several classes so that the vast majority of pupils at the school are now making better progress in reading. Pupils have good reading habits and enjoy reading at home and at school. Most pupils read fluently and confidently, including the most able pupils and disadvantaged pupils.
• Parents are positive about the progress their children are making and feel the school provides them with useful information about their children’s progress.
• Weekly handwriting awards have raised expectations for pupils’ presentation. Pupils’ pride in their work has improved; however, standards of presentation are not yet consistently good across the school. In the early years, the approach to teaching early handwriting does not ensure that pupils develop a fluency in their letter formation from an early age.

Early years provision Requires improvement

• The school currently has a mixed early years and Year 1 class. At times, children in the early years phase are taking part in lessons that are too challenging. In addition, some of the activities on offer for early years children do not allow them to develop their core skills of reading, writing and number fully.
• Adults assess children on entry to the early years phase; however, these assessments are not always precise. Ongoing assessment of what children know and can do, are not used effectively to set challenging and interesting activities and ensure children make rapid progress.
• Phonics teaching is a focus for development in the early years. However, new systems are not fully embedded to develop early reading and writing and ensure children are fully prepared for their next stage of learning in Year 1.
• Strategies to develop motor skills are engaging and interactive. For example, activities using music and playdough develop children’s coordination and hand muscles. However, the approach to developing early handwriting is not clear and the teachers do not use assessments effectively to know which children require more of this type of activity to develop their early writing skills.
• The inclusion leader works closely with staff in the early years phase to identify those children who require additional support and ensure they make good progress from their starting points. Children who are disadvantaged and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported with carefully planned targets that are shared with parents.
• Children communicate well with one another and feel safe. The school’s values are visible in the way children treat each other and work together. During the inspection, one child supported another while carrying water to the ‘mud lake’, responding with, ‘I’ll help you with that.’
• Parents contribute to their children’s assessments through ‘wow’ learning comments and feel well informed about their child’s progress. Partnerships between home and
• Parents contribute to their children’s assessments through ‘wow’ learning comments and feel well informed about their child’s progress. Partnerships between home and school are strong.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 115629 Gloucestershire 10024914 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 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 82 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Andrew Doherty Richard Mendum 01285 810367 www.kempsfordschool.com admin@kempsford.gloucs.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 10–11 February 2015

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school meets the current government floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Year 6.
• The school is much smaller than the average primary school.
• The majority of pupils are White British and almost all speak English as their first language.
• The proportion of pupils who are supported by the pupil premium is below average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is below average. The proportion of pupils who have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is above average.
• The stability indicator for the school is low compared to that seen nationally due to the large number of children from service families attending the school.
• The school runs and manages its own after-school club.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector visited lessons or parts of lessons with the headteacher.
• The inspector spoke to pupils throughout the inspection, including at lunchtime and informally in lessons. In addition, the inspector spoke with a group of pupils to determine their views of the school.
• The inspector looked at pupils’ work in their books in a range of subjects, together with the headteacher, to establish the current quality of their work and progress over time.
• The inspector listened to pupils read and talked to them about the books they enjoy.
• The inspector held meetings with the leader for special educational needs and/or disabilities, the pastoral support leader, the early years leader and the headteacher. In addition, the inspector met with three governors, including the chair of the governing body, and a representative from the local authority.
• The inspector scrutinised a range of documentation including the school’s procedure for gaining an accurate view of its own performance, the management of staff performance, information on pupils’ progress, and records relating to behaviour, attendance and safety.
• The inspector took account of 27 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View. The inspector spoke with parents at the start of the school day. In addition, responses to the Parent View free-text service were analysed.
• The inspector took account of nine questionnaires from members of staff.

Inspection team

Faye Bertham, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector