Berrow Church of England Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Provide a more varied range of resources in the outdoor area to widen children’s experiences, capture their interests and develop their use of imagination further.
• Ensure that teachers in Key Stage 2 promote rapid progress in mathematics by: setting work at the right level of difficulty, using precise information from the current school assessments planning work to overcome any gaps in the pupils’ calculation skills and knowledge of multiplication facts ensuring pupils master the weaker areas of their knowledge and skills in mathematics.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

• The new headteacher has very quickly ensured that staff share and understand his high expectations. Consequently, all staff have a deep sense of responsibility towards pupils’ well-being and learning, both of which are good. The present school culture is based on strong aspirations where good teaching, learning and effective feedback flourish.
• The school’s capacity to improve further is strong. The school improvement plan focuses on actions to further improve teaching and learning. For example, since the beginning of this academic year, the changes to the policy for behaviour, introduced by the new headteacher, are having a major impact on the way pupils see themselves as learners. Consequently, their progress is improving.
• Leaders at all levels have a greater responsibility for pupils’ achievements. During the last academic year senior leaders introduced a new approach for checking pupils’ progress. They scrutinise pupils’ progress carefully and use analysis to provide teaching that generally meets individual pupils’ needs. Middle leaders, such as subject leaders for English and mathematics, review the progress current pupils make in their subjects. They identify pupils who are falling behind and make sure that the correct action is taken to support these pupils. This process has had most impact in improving standards in writing.
• Continuous professional development for staff is high on the school’s agenda. Since September, the headteacher has supported teaching assistants to develop their leadership roles within classes. Lunchtime supervisors, with the leadership of the headteacher, have more responsibility for the behaviour of pupils in their care. The pre-school staff regularly join the main school for staff training. These new actions are having a positive impact on relationships at all levels.
• Systems for rewarding effective teaching are well established. The formal management of teachers’ performance is rigorous. Leaders set targets for teachers in line with current school priorities, such as pupils’ achievement in mathematics. These targets are helping teachers to raise the achievement of key groups.
• The headteacher is directly responsible for pupils with special educational needs. He checks the progress, behaviour and attendance of the pupils to ensure that their needs are being correctly met. These pupils are achieving as well as other pupils in school. Liaison with parents is good.
• The design of the effective curriculum means that a wide range of subjects is taught. Pupils explore subjects in depth. Since September, the headteacher has involved the school council in designing new curriculum themes to further enthuse pupils. The school offers extra-curricular activities, such as ‘snappy maths’, which complement work in lessons.
• The curriculum focuses on pupils’ ability to stay safe and makes sure that pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain. For example, pupils learn about the safe use of social media. The school promotes pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural development well through its values, such as respect and tolerance, and the Christian ethos. The school’s values of respect and tolerance also underpin pupils’ understanding about fundamental British values. Assemblies touch on world news items to give pupils a flavour of current issues and to help them understand how to overcome personal difficulties. They contribute strongly to pupils’ emotional well-being and preparation for their next step in education and for adulthood.
• The leadership team uses the pupil premium funding well. Disadvantaged pupils make good progress. The money is used to widen pupils’ experiences, for example through out-of-school activities and residential trips. The school ensures equality of opportunity by giving pupils access to all the activities on offer. The assistant headteachers demonstrate a strong drive to achieve even better outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. They review pupil premium spending and make changes to ensure that the support given sharply matches the needs of the disadvantaged pupils.
• The primary sport funding is used to promote equality of opportunity in sport. Many pupils participate in the out-of-class sport and the competitions with other schools. This has boosted pupils’ performance and progress in sport. The girls report proudly on the success record of the girls’ football team.
• The governance of the school
  • Governors are well organised and effective in their roles.
  • Governors have an accurate understanding of how well pupils are doing in reading, writing and mathematics, as well as pupils’ behaviour and attendance. Governors use this information to challenge leaders and hold them rigorously to account.
  • Governors have a clear understanding of the quality of teaching in the school. They check regularly that the management of staff performance is robust. Strong performance is acknowledged and rewarded. Governors know what is in place to support staff and tackle underperformance.
  • The links between governors and school leaders for English and mathematics ensure that the performance of pupils in these subjects is reviewed regularly. These links have contributed to the current improved standards in writing and some areas of mathematics.
• The arrangements for safeguarding, including child protection, are effective. School governors and leaders create a safe culture in school by constantly evaluating what needs to be done to keep pupils safe. Recent improvements since September are ensuring that the entry and exit procedures for parents, pupils and visitors are carefully supervised and checked. The school works closely with other agencies, as appropriate, to keep pupils safe.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

• Teachers plan lessons which interest the pupils, who thus learn well. For example, the teaching of phonics (letters and the sounds they make) challenges pupils in Year 1 to apply their reading skills to decide whether words are real or made-up. In this way pupils’ reading and spelling skills are developed within an exciting game where everyone wants to have a go at putting non-words in the rubbish bin.
• Most teachers consolidate pupils’ learning by checking the pupils’ understanding and going over misconceptions. In a Year 4 mathematics lesson the teacher planned different work on different mathematical rules for each group. The teacher enabled the pupils to review what they were learning, such as multiplication rules, and to develop further. This approach consolidated the pupils’ knowledge from the previous lesson.
• Teachers have secure subject knowledge. For example, in a Year 2 series of mathematics lessons, the teacher’s good knowledge of the new mathematics curriculum ensured that activities were very well matched to pupils’ abilities. Additionally, the excellent support given to disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special needs meant that these pupils made very good progress.
• Teachers give pupils feedback in line with the school’s marking policy. Pupils generally know how to improve their work. For example, in Year 1 pupils use their phonics skills to correct spelling mistakes.
• Teachers set homework. Pupils are expected to read regularly at home. Those pupils who require more help are given extra one-to-one support in school.
• Relationships are good because teachers expect pupils to work well together. This gives everyone an equal opportunity to do well. Pupils apply themselves exceptionally well where teachers continually question them carefully about their work to ensure that they have understood. This is having a strong impact on improving the progress pupils are now making.
• Of the 90 parents who responded to the online parent questionnaire, Parent View, almost all considered that the school gave them accurate information about how well their children were doing. Information on the school’s website guides parents on how to help their children at home.
• Activities are well matched to pupils’ abilities as a result of good assessment, particularly in Key Stage 1. Assessment in Key Stage 2 is generally good. However, at times assessment is not used well enough to set work, for example in Year 5, to take account of any gaps in pupils’ knowledge and understanding in mathematics.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare is good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• New reward systems, introduced at the beginning of this academic year by the headteacher, are effective in further developing the pupils’ understanding of what it means to be a successful learner. As a result pupils’ progress is improving. Examples of current pupils’ work, such as Year 6 mathematics and Year 5 English, show the good level of pride pupils take in their work.
• The new rewards are also having a positive impact on pupils’ emotional well-being. Staff report noticing a difference in pupils’ motivation this term to do well. Pupils are fired up by the newly introduced double ‘golden golden’ time, and the ‘surprise’ rewards for good effort are very popular.
• The school council presents the views of other pupils very well. Pupils on the school council are unanimous in their view that everyone in school has a right to an opinion. It is the promotion of these positive attitudes that underpin the current pupils’ good personal development.
• Staff look after pupils carefully at all times, including at the breakfast club. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe. School documentation shows that the school has given careful thought to how to guard pupils against any discriminatory behaviour or language, whether racist or related to sexual orientation. As a result, the school promotes a positive approach to pupils’ welfare and emotional well-being.
• Parents responding to the parent questionnaire had no concerns about how the school looked after their children. Similarly, staff responding to the staff questionnaire considered that pupils were well looked after.
• The school promotes e-safety well. Pupils are aware of the importance of keeping safe online. They have a strong understanding of the ways to avoid risk.
• Strong relationships are developed through the buddy system between older and younger pupils. This is successful in enabling pupils to take on responsibilities.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils take a pride in their school and their appearance. They keep the school tidy and look after resources well. This term, the newly introduced ‘dusty award’, given by the school cleaners, encourages pupils to hang up bags and coats and work as a team to gain the award.
• Pupils are friendly, respectful and polite. They are considerate of others when moving around the school. They follow the school rules without needing reminding. Lessons are rarely interrupted by poor behaviour.
• The school manages pupils’ behaviour well. School records show very few incidents of poor behaviour over time. The school has responded well to the very small number of incidents that have occurred. Records show how individual pupils have improved their behaviour over time.
• Pupils know about different forms of bullying. They say that if bullying occurs it is dealt with very promptly. Pupils report that the ‘awesome’ new headteacher is ‘strict, but fair’. The majority of parents who responded to the online questionnaire, Parent View, are of the opinion that the school manages behaviour well.
• Attendance is currently in line with other schools. There have been no exclusions. Historic published data shows that the attendance of some groups of pupils was lower in the past. The new headteacher, with the support of the governors and the appropriate agencies, is putting systems in place to ensure that all groups of pupils attend school regularly and achieve as well as they can.

Outcomes for pupils are good

• The work in pupils’ books shows a stronger picture of progress than 2014 published data. All current year groups in the school make strong progress in writing. Inspectors looked at the work in pupils’ books from the previous school year and this year. Pupils’ good progress in developing skills in spelling, punctuation, grammar, the use of interesting vocabulary and sentence construction was evident. Year 6 English books, which contain pupils’ work from Year 5, show that pupils have progressed well in the use of sophisticated language and complex sentence structure. The school assessment information shows that approximately half of the present Year 6 are working above national expectations in writing.
• From their different starting points, those pupils who need to catch up and who are disadvantaged, disabled or have special educational needs make similar progress in writing to the other pupils in the school.
• National curriculum test results in 2015 show that all pupils who were in Year 6 last year made at least expected progress in English. Within these results pupils’ attainment in grammar, spelling and punctuation improved from 2014. Additionally, as compared to 2014, a greater proportion of pupils exceeded expected progress.
• Pupils in Key Stage 1 make expected or better progress in reading because they use their good knowledge of phonics to work out unfamiliar words when reading books, or when reading back their written work to check for mistakes. This strong start is built on in Key Stage 2. Pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, demonstrate good comprehension skills when discussing different texts, showing that their reading skills are developing well.
• In mathematics, school information shows that pupils in Key Stage 1, including the most able, make the best progress. This strong start means that pupils now move into Key Stage 2 very well prepared in mathematics. In the current Year 3 nearly two thirds of pupils are working above the national expectations. However, in some years, for example Year 5, there are some gaps in pupils’ knowledge and understanding in mathematics.
• Overall, the published national assessment information for 2014 is not representative of pupils’ current achievements. The school’s analysis of performance explains why the gaps in some pupils’ knowledge and skills in mathematics are slowing their progress. Some, but not all, pupils who joined part way through Key Stage 2 have had further to catch up than other pupils already in the school. Some pupils have, in the past, not attended school as regularly as they should. Consequently, some of these pupils have not always reached the expected standard in mathematics. Some teaching has not helped pupils overcome gaps in their knowledge, such as multiplication facts. Consequently, some pupils have not mastered the skills to work out calculations which require knowledge of times tables and other mathematical facts.

The early years provision is good

• The transition from the pre-school to the Reception class is very smooth because the children know the adults in the Early Years Foundation Stage well. The baseline assessments used by the school show that when children start in the Reception class they are typically not competent in early writing and numeracy skills.
• The leader for the Early Years Foundation Stage demonstrates a concerted drive for continual improvement. She analyses assessment information regularly to check how well children are doing. From her analysis, she trains and works with the Reception staff and the pre-school staff to decide on activities which will continue to raise children’s achievements. Consequently, children make good and sometimes better progress from their different starting points.
• At the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage the proportion of children who routinely achieve a good level of development is above or in line with national averages. They develop key skills and are well prepared to start in Year 1, as a result of the good teaching.
• Children’s attitudes to learning and improving their work are strong because teachers plan activities to challenge children’s thinking. The teacher introduces the children to the school marking policy by using visual signs representing ‘green for grow’ and ‘tickled pink’. A group working on numbers to 10 evaluated their own work and corrected mistakes by talking about ‘green for grow’ and ‘tickled pink’.
• Funding is well used to narrow the gaps between the achievement of disadvantaged children and that of their peers. Teaching assistants work with individual children to help them catch up quickly. Written observations show the strong progress these children make from their different starting points.
• Relationships with parents in the pre-school and the Reception class are warm. There are opportunities for parents to celebrate their children’s achievements at home and at school. Parents contribute to their children’s initial assessments and ongoing learning journeys. They appreciate this record of their child’s achievements. The school quickly works with parents and external services to put actions in place which effectively support children with special educational needs.
• Children behave very well. They play and learn well together. They are polite and respectful to volunteers who sometimes work with them. Children listen and respond well in whole-class activities which develop their communication skills. The most-able children read aloud to the whole group very confidently. Displays in the class are attractive and relevant to the children’s current learning. Children care for and use resources for their work very sensibly, because of the high expectations from staff. This means that children know how to keep themselves and others safe.
• There are no breaches in the statutory welfare requirements. Safeguarding is effective. Child protection policies and procedures for the pre-school and the Reception class follow the same procedures as the main school.
• The most recent analysis of children’s achievements shows that both boys and girls do slightly less well in developing their imaginative skills. The Early Years Foundation Stage is not outstanding because activities provided in the outdoor area are sometimes limited and so do not always stimulate children’s imagination well enough.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number Type of school School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Number of pupils on the school roll

123807 Somerset 10005516 Primary Voluntary controlled 4–11 Mixed 208

Appropriate authority

The governing body

Chair

Ruth Chambers

Headteacher/Principal/Teacher in charge

Lee Chandler

Telephone number

01278 783614

Website Email address

www.berrowprimaryschool.co.uk sch.031@educ.somerset.gov.uk

Date of previous inspection

9–10 June 2011

Information about this school

• The school is an average-sized primary school.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.
• The proportion of pupils who are eligible for pupil premium (additional government funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals or looked after children) is at the national average.
• The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is higher than in most other schools.
• Most pupils are of White British heritage.
• Early years children attend the Reception class full time.
• Berrow pre-school shares the school site. The pre-school is managed by the governing body and reported on in this inspection. Most children transfer from the pre-school to the Reception class.
• More pupils join and leave the school partway through a school year, as compared to other schools nationally, particularly in Key Stage 2.
• The school provides a daily breakfast club.
• The governing body is led by a chair and vice chair.
• There have been leadership and staff changes since the last inspection. A new headteacher took up the post in September 2015. The deputy headteacher is on maternity leave. From September 2015 the senior leadership team has comprised the headteacher and two assistant headteachers. A newly qualified teacher took up a teaching post in the school in September 2015.

Information about this inspection

• The inspection team visited 15 lessons or parts of lessons, of which 11 were jointly observed with the headteacher. The lead inspector observed the teaching of phonics. The team made observations of intervention groups for English and mathematics in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, and communication, literacy and numeracy in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Inspectors observed teaching assistants hearing pupils read and talking about their reading.
• The lead inspector observed an assembly led by the headteacher involving all pupils and teachers in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.
• Inspectors spoke to pupils during and outside lessons. The school council met with the lead inspector to talk about the most recent changes to the school.
• Inspectors looked at work in pupils’ English and mathematics books to establish the current quality of work and progress over time.
• Discussions were held with the headteacher, assistant headteachers, the mathematics and English subject leaders, the early years leader, teachers and teaching assistants. The lead inspector held a meeting with the Chair of the Governing Body, the link governor for English and the link governor for mathematics. A team inspector met with the Chair of the Governing Body to talk about school self-evaluation.
• Inspectors looked at a range of school documentation. This included the school’s improvement plans, the management of staff performance, information on pupils’ progress and records relating to behaviour, attendance and safeguarding.
• Account was taken of 90 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View.
• Questionnaires were returned from 26 members of staff, whose views were considered.

Inspection team

Jane Neech, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Tom Morrison Paul Smith Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector