Worlebury St Paul's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve leadership and management, including governance, by ensuring that:
  • pupils’ progress is consistently good in reading, writing and mathematics and a greater proportion of pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, meet and exceed national expectations
  • leaders’ checks on teaching result in swift improvement, particularly for middle-attaining and the most able pupils so that the legacy of underachievement at the school is eradicated quickly
  • leaders’ actions have a positive impact on improving the wider curriculum
  • middle leaders have a greater impact in raising pupils’ achievement across the school.
• Improve teaching, learning and assessment so that it is securely good by insisting that:
  • activities planned are sufficiently challenging so that middle-attaining and the most able pupils make consistently good progress
  • teachers’ expectations are consistently high and enable the proportion of pupils exceeding the standards expected nationally to increase
  • teaching makes pupils think hard and apply their skills across the curriculum
  • teaching builds on what pupils already know and can do.
• Improve personal development, welfare and behaviour by:
  • increasing rates of attendance for disadvantaged pupils and those who are currently persistently absent
  • eliminating low-level disruption by insisting that no learning time is wasted
  • ensuring that pupils’ aptitude for learning is consistently strong so that pupils are well prepared for secondary school.
• Improve provision in the early years by ensuring that:
  • accurate assessment is used to plan activities that closely match children’s needs
  • all groups of children make good progress from their starting points, including boys and the most able.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• The headteacher is accurate in her evaluation of school performance. Considerable staff changes have hindered the pace of improvement at the school. The headteacher is working determinedly on the right aspects for improvement. However, leaders have not secured teaching or pupils’ outcomes that are consistently good. Therefore, leadership requires improvement overall.
• Leaders’ checks on teaching and learning have not had sufficient impact. This year leaders have held teachers to account with greater rigour through a comprehensive menu of monitoring activities. However, teachers’ expectations are not high enough and inconsistencies in teaching remain. As a result, too few pupils are making the progress of which they are capable and pupils in some classes underachieve.
• There are too few opportunities to apply English and mathematical skills across the curriculum. The current curriculum on offer has narrowed as a result of leaders and teachers tackling the legacy of underachievement. Pupils’ basic skills are beginning to improve. However, some teaching in afternoon sessions is less effective. This affects pupils’ motivation and engagement in lessons and their progress stalls.
• Leaders’ work to increase levels of challenge for the most able pupils is not fully effective. Although staff training and support have taken place, they have not led to consistent sustained improvement. Leaders’ actions have not brought about sufficient improvement in the quality and consistency of teaching for this group of pupils.
• Recent external support has been effective in identifying weaknesses at the school. The local authority has provided additional leadership support and challenge. This includes support from a local headteacher who is a local leader of education (LLE). Additional support for mathematics is having a positive impact on the pace of improvement.
• Middle leaders do not have enough impact on pupils’ outcomes. Current training is enabling leaders to further develop their skills and have a greater impact on raising pupils’ achievement across the school. This aspect is beginning to develop well but needs time to embed.
• Leaders provide wide-ranging training and development for teachers. Staff value the training they receive. This is developing teachers’ subject knowledge, for example in developing greater challenge in mathematics. However, training and support for teachers are not yet bringing about teaching that is consistently good.
• Additional funding for disadvantaged pupils is managed increasingly well. Leaders have ensured that additional support is in place to develop pupils’ academic and emotional development. However, its impact is variable and this results in pupils’ progress that is uneven in some year groups.
• Arrangements for performance management of teachers are now stringent and align closely with teaching standards and current school improvement priorities.
• The sports premium funding is used to enable a greater range of sporting events. Leaders ensure that there are a wide range of extra-curricular activities on offer – for example, dance, gymnastics, photography and Lego.
• Spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is promoted well. This enables pupils to be reflective and responsible.

Governance

• Governors expedite an open culture of communication with parents. For example, their minutes of meetings are available on the school’s website along with a summary of school improvement priorities. Their newsletters report explicitly on the impact of school improvement initiatives and current school performance.
• Increasingly, governors challenge leaders in the school. They have a clear understanding of its strengths and weaknesses. However, over time, they have not successfully held leaders to account for ensuring that the quality of teaching and learning and pupils’ outcomes are consistently good. Most recently, their combined efforts with leaders have resulted in effective implementation of a new pupil tracking system that measures combined attainment. This is as a direct result of a dip in pupils’ performance measures in 2016.
• A skills audit of governors has tightened governors’ roles and responsibilities. This means that governors play to their strengths and are able to support the school well.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders, governors and staff are vigilant to keep children safe. They work in unison to ensure that the school’s safeguarding culture is secure.
• Training for all staff and governors is up to date and follows all of the most recent national guidance. Consequently, staff spoken to on inspection know exactly what to do if they have concerns about children’s well-being, development or safety. Timely referrals and external agency support ensures that concerns are followed up quickly and children’s risk minimised.
• Governors’ checks on safeguarding systems and procedures are robust and regular. Local authority safeguarding audits are completed and any actions followed up swiftly. All checks to staff vetting procedures to confirm staff suitability to work with children are in place. Safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Teaching, learning and assessment are too variable to be good. Teachers’ expectations are not uniformly high. Inconsistent teaching and frequent staff changes have resulted in some pupils underachieving. Current teaching is not ensuring that these pupils catch up quickly enough. Therefore pupils’ progress is not yet good, particularly for boys and the most able pupils.
• Interventions in place to tackle the legacy of underachievement are beginning to make a difference. However, this does not make amends for previously weak teaching. As a result, too few pupils are on track to meet expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics, and pupils are not consistently well prepared for secondary school.
• The school’s assessment system is developing and supports moderation of work to identify what pupils know, understand and can do. However, some teachers’ subject knowledge is not good enough. As a result, activities planned are not closely matched to pupils’ needs. Some pupils are moved on before they have secured their understanding and this limits the progress pupils make over time.
• Planned learning does not challenge the most able pupils. Questioning does not require pupils to think hard and apply their skills, and so their progress stalls. Pupils’ progress across key stage 2 has been too slow. Therefore too few most-able pupils are on track to exceed national expectations across the school.
• Teacher’s checks on learning do not identify misconceptions quickly enough, and this slows pupils’ learning. Work is not routinely set at the right level. Too often middle-attaining and most-able pupils have to sit through work which is too easy for them before tackling more challenging work, and so their learning falters.
• Many pupils at this school read well. However, teaching does not consistently extend pupils’ aptitude for reading or support pupils’ gaps in learning to improve their comprehension skills. As a result, pupils are not achieving the standards in reading of which they are capable.
• The teaching of phonics is too variable. While teaching supports pupils’ ability to read words successfully, there is insufficient emphasis on the application of phonics to develop writing. The teaching of spelling, grammar and punctuation is also too variable, and this hinders the cohesion of pupils’ writing overall.
• The drive to improve the quality of English and mathematics across the school has narrowed curriculum provision in other subjects. Curriculum coverage is too variable from year to year. Writing across the curriculum is not yet sufficiently developed to be good overall. Mathematical concepts are not used to full effect in other subjects, for example when investigating in science.
• Mathematics teaching across the school is inconsistent. An increased focus on reasoning and applying mathematical skills is beginning to take hold well this year. However, because basic skills are insecure for some pupils, this gets in the way of their fluency in mathematics and hinders their ability to solve mathematical problems confidently. Where the school’s approach to set progressive learning challenges is fully embedded and teachers’ expectations are consistently high, pupils from the full ability range benefit and their progress is swift, for example in Year 5.
• Most pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities benefit from effective support. Additional intervention to develop both academic and social and emotional development is comprehensive. Pupils’ progress is quickening this year.
• Teaching assistants provide a range of effective support. However, there are occasions where pupils are over-reliant on this support, resulting in pupils losing focus when they work independently. Consequently, pupils’ progress stalls and this limits their understanding.
• There is some strong teaching in the school. In such cases pupils’ progress is swift. This is underpinned by high expectations and good pupil learning attitudes.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare requires improvement. Pupils are not as well prepared for their next stage of education as they should be.
• The school’s work since the previous inspection has not ensured that pupils have a good understanding of how to show determination in their learning. Too often pupils wait for an adult to help them when they are stuck because they do not have the skills or motivation to grapple with new learning. This is not supporting them well enough to make good progress in their work. Pupils in key stage 1 are subject to inconsistent teaching and find it difficult to maintain concentration. Consequently, learning attitudes are inconsistent and pupils’ learning falters.
• Pupils talk with confidence about British values and are able to make clear links with equality. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision enables pupils to be reflective and responsible.
• Pupils take on key responsibilities across the school with pride. The school’s approach to developing leadership skills for Year 6 pupils and developing pupils’ voice has a notable impact. Pupils say that they enjoy sharing their views on whole-school topics. This develops their confidence and gives them a strong sense of belonging at the school.
• Care and support for those pupils who need additional support are thorough and well documented. Strong relationships with leaders and a range of extended services ensure that pupils’ emotional well-being and wider personal development are well catered for.
• Pupils say that they feel safe in school and talk with confidence about how to keep safe online and with mobile phones. Pupils know what to do if they have a concern and say that teachers follow up any issues quickly and sensitively.
• Pupils say that bullying is rare. When it does happen, pupils explained that it is addressed robustly.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement. When learning does not motivate and excite pupils, they sometimes become easily distracted. Low-level disruption is evident in some classes. This is because teachers’ expectations are too low and off-task behaviour is not dealt with consistently or quickly enough.
• Some pupils are compliant. They work through tasks provided but do not apply their best effort. Pupils told inspectors that in recent months their learning has become more challenging and expectations of them are heightened. They appreciate higher expectations but this is not yet consistent across the school. Overall, pupils meet the expectations set for them but too often work is not demanding enough. Therefore pupils’ concentration wanes and this limits the progress that they make.
• Conversely, pupils’ behaviour around school is good. They are polite and courteous and demonstrate good manners. Most pupils are proud of their school and talk positively about extra-curricular opportunities on offer. They play well together at lunchtime and breaktimes and adhere to routines well.
• Disadvantaged pupils do not attend well enough and this impacts on the progress these pupils make. Attendance is in line with national averages overall.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Published outcomes in 2016 at the end of key stage 2 identify that pupils’ combined attainment in reading, writing and mathematics was considerably lower than that achieved nationally. School performance information this year shows that too few pupils are on track to meet expected standards. Pupils’ achievement in Year 6 in reading and mathematics is too low. Current teaching is beginning to make a difference but these pupils are not catching up quickly enough. Sizeable gaps in learning remain. During their time in the school, these pupils have not made enough progress in reading and mathematics. As a result, pupils are not currently achieving the standards of which they are capable.
• In 2016, disadvantaged pupils made average progress across their time in school. Current pupils make uneven progress across the school, particularly in writing.
• Teachers’ expectations are too low for middle-attaining pupils across the school. Because of this, too few pupils are on track to meet expected standards, particularly in mathematics. Recent work to address this is in its infancy and its impact is inconsistent.
• The most able pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, do not make enough progress. There are too limited opportunities for pupils to deepen their understanding across a range of subjects. This hinders the progress these pupils make. Too few pupils are on track to exceed national expectations.
• Where teaching is strong, pupils across the full ability range are making strong progress because teachers’ expectations are consistently high. For example, those pupils who underachieved in middle key stage 2 are catching up rapidly in Year 5.
• At key stage 1, published outcomes in 2016 were above national averages in reading. However, too few middle-attaining pupils reached expected standards in writing and mathematics. For current pupils in key stage 1, assessment is not used sufficiently well to plan work that builds on what pupils already know. This hampers pupils’ progress. As a result, pupils’ achievement in reading, writing and mathematics is too variable for it to be good.
• Outcomes in the phonics screening check have been above the national average for the last three years. Pupils use their phonics to decode unknown words. However, pupils are less proficient in applying what they know about phonics to help them spell accurately in key stage 1.
• Over the last three years, the proportion of pupils reaching a good level of development, the standard expected at the end of the early years, has been above the national average. However, some pupils entering Year 1 have not sustained these rates of learning. Pupils’ progress has been more limited this year and is not consistently good, particularly in writing and for boys.

Early years provision Requires improvement

• Assessment information is not used consistently well to enable children to make the progress that they should. Children’s gaps in learning are accurately identified. However, leaders’ actions to tackle these gaps have not yet been fully effective. This is because activities planned are not closely matched to children’s needs and do not readily extend children’s thinking. Children who enter the setting with knowledge and skills above those expected for their age do not make enough progress over time, particularly in writing.
• Leaders are determined and ambitious and are working on the right aspects for improvement. As such, the learning environment is improving and checks on children’s progress are regular and followed up.
• The proportions of children reaching a good level of development, the standard expected nationally, have been above national averages for the last three years. Boys’ progress is inconsistent across the early years. Consequently, these children are not as well prepared for Year 1 as they could be.
• Transition into the early years is developing well. Parents agree. Staff and children have positive relationships with one another. Routines are well established. As a result, children are calm, well settled and motivated to learn.
• The curriculum provision on offer in the early years is broad and balanced. Children’s interests are taken into account. For example, the recently established outdoor café was a request from the children. As a result, children show high levels of motivation to explore this area. The inspector observed children who were keen to write menus and engage in productive role play. Children demonstrate a strong ability to articulate clearly, make conversation and write for purpose.
• Safeguarding in the early years is effective.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 109241 North Somerset 10025108 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 Voluntary aided 4–11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 210 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Felicity Williamson Michelle Bamford 01934 625 923 www.worleburyprimary.com worelebury.pri@n-somerset.gov.uk Date of previous inspection 14–15 June 2012

Information about this school

• This is a smaller-than-average primary school. Prior to September 2012, this school was a first school. The growth of the school is now complete with seven classes, one for each year group, across the full primary range.
• The school has undergone considerable staff changes recently and since the previous inspection.
• The headteacher has been in post since September 2015.
• Geeta Verrell, an LLE, is providing leadership support to the school. She is co-headteacher of Crockerne Church of England Primary School.
• The vast majority of pupils come from White British backgrounds.
• The proportion of pupils for whom the pupil premium provides support is below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is below the national average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed pupils’ learning across the school. Some learning was observed jointly with either the headteacher or the deputy headteacher.
• Inspectors looked at pupils’ books to establish the quality of their current work and their progress over time, and listened to pupils read.
• Inspectors scrutinised school documents including the school’s action plan and the school’s self-evaluation document.
• Records relating to behaviour and safety, attendance and safeguarding were also reviewed. Inspectors also reviewed the school performance information.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, school business manager, middle leaders and a small group of teachers. A meeting took place with a representative of the local authority and the LLE who is providing leadership support. A further meeting took place with the interim head of school improvement for North Somerset. An inspector also met with governors.
• Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour during their learning and at lunchtimes and breaktimes.
• Inspectors met with some pupils to seek their views of the school and discuss how they feel about their learning and development.
• Inspector considered 95 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. Inspectors also considered comments provided by parents’ text messages and spoke to parents during the inspection. The views of staff were also considered through an online survey and discussions on inspection.

Inspection team

Julie Carrington, lead inspector Ben Jordan Liz Jenkins

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector