Kingston St Mary Church of England Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching and learning and lift pupils’ achievement even further in writing by ensuring that:
  • teaching provides sufficient challenge, for the most able pupils, so that they make consistently high rates of progress and a greater proportion of pupils exceed the academic standards expected nationally
  • disadvantaged pupils receive better guidance and support so that their progress in writing matches the progress they make in reading.
• Embed the roles of subject leaders even further so that their checks on teaching have an impact on raising pupils’ achievement.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Leaders have maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. The headteacher holds teachers to account for pupils’ progress effectively. Consequently, teaching, pupils’ progress and outcomes are good.
• The monitoring of teachers’ performance is robust and matched closely to school improvement initiatives. Leaders’ checks on teaching and pupils’ progress are meticulous for all groups of pupils. Consequently, leaders have an accurate understanding of the school’s performance and are acutely aware of any aspects that require further work. As a result, leaders, including governors, are working on the right aspects for development.
• Recent improvement made to the teaching of writing is proving to be effective in most classes. As a result, progress in writing is now more rapid. For the most able pupils, although challenging achievement targets are set by the headteacher, the impact of this is recent. Leaders accurately identify that it remains a key priority to ensure that progress for this group is consistently rapid.
• Subject leadership is developing well. For example, the school’s recent initiative to improve spelling is bedding in well and work in books confirms improvement in this respect. Subject leaders attend external network meetings to ensure that they are up to date in their knowledge and understanding. However, more needs to be done to ensure that subject leaders’ advice to teachers is bringing about consistently good progress for the most able pupils across the school.
• The local authority external support is ‘light touch’ because the leadership capacity of the headteacher is strong. However, leaders and governors are proactive and commission additional support from an independent adviser to develop the curriculum and more recently the local authority to monitor the school’s work.
• Leaders track and monitor the impact of additional funding. As a result, disadvantaged pupils are making rapid progress in reading.
• The curriculum supports pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Pupils confirm that the school’s values underpin their work, for example through their assembly themes. Fundamental British values are promoted successfully because pupils take on wide-ranging responsibilities within the school, for example school counsellors and sports ambassadors.
• The curriculum is broad and encompasses a range of subjects and visits to deepen pupils’ learning. Reading, writing and mathematics skills are applied across the curriculum within science and humanities work. Homework is regular and effective in consolidating pupils’ learning. Pupils enjoy the creative side of project work, for example a recent home-learning project on volcanoes.
• Almost all parents who completed the online Parent View survey were very positive about every aspect of the school and said they would recommend it to others.
• School systems to track current pupils’ behaviour are robust and appropriate. This is monitored effectively by governors.

Governance of the school

• Governors know the school well. They work in an open and transparent way. For example, minutes of meetings are displayed on the school website for parents to access. They provide effective challenge and support. Governors review the impact of leaders’ actions. They gather first-hand evidence of the effectiveness of the school by conducting visits and monitoring the impact of pupils’ performance over time. They track additional funding for disadvantaged pupils and its impact precisely.
• Governors take their responsibility to safeguard pupils very seriously. The safeguarding governor undertakes regular checks to review the culture of safeguarding and ensures that any actions needed are tackled quickly.
• Governors have been proactive in brokering additional external support to assist with headteacher performance management and to gain quality assurance of the school’s performance.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Health and safety and safeguarding audits required by the local authority are up to date and any actions have been quickly resolved. Site safety has been significantly improved since the last inspection. Risk assessments are in place to ensure that any risks are minimised.
• Inspection evidence confirms that the school is vigilant in carrying out safeguarding checks to assess adults’ suitability to work with children. All staff training is up to date. Staff have been trained to protect pupils from radicalisation and extremism through the government’s ‘Prevent’ duty and are clear how to refer any concerns.
• Referrals and active engagement with multi-agency support are documented and followed up by staff with specific responsibilities for safeguarding. Inspection evidence confirms that staff are diligent in the attention they give to current pupils who are at risk of harm and school systems are meticulously followed. All staff spoken to on inspection knew exactly what to do if they should have concerns. However, there have been occasions when the coordinated response to pupils’ needs by the school and local authority has not been consistently swift. Strengthened systems are now in place and all statutory duties met.
• Pupils say they feel safe and confident to raise concerns should they arise. They talked eloquently about how the curriculum teaches them about risks within and beyond school, including e-safety.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Current teaching is resulting in pupils’ progress that is typically good. Teaching builds on what pupils already know so that activities planned meet pupils’ needs. Consequently, teaching is good overall.
• The teaching of phonics is strong. Teaching is regular, systematic and closely linked to the application of reading and writing. Daily support for Year 1 and 2 pupils is impressive and brings about rapid improvement. As a result, pupils get off to a good start in key stage 1.
• The school’s new assessment system is used consistently to provide targeted support for pupils to fill gaps in their learning. This system is increasingly aligned with pupils’ targets and is enabling pupils to complete more challenging work throughout the year. However, leaders accurately evaluate that teachers need to increase levels of challenge for the most able pupils so that they achieve their potential in writing. Leaders have rapidly tackled this aspect and improvement is already evident, particularly in Years 3 and 4.
• Additional adults provide caring and specific support in lessons. Their impact is most effective in small-group work and interventions. Occasionally, they have less impact when key learning is being introduced by the teacher. Leaders are aware of this and are already working to ensure that the impact of all adults is fully maximised.
• Generally, the school’s policy for feedback to pupils is applied consistently. However, its impact on improving pupils’ learning in writing over time is variable in some classes. Too often a first draft is accepted and this limits the proportion of pupils on track to exceed the standards expected nationally at the end of each key stage in writing. Teachers do not provide enough opportunity to edit and improve their work. However, in mathematics teacher feedback is more consistent. As a result, misconceptions are dealt with quickly and pupils make swifter progress.
• Writing skills are applied across the curriculum. Relevant visits are incorporated successfully into teaching units to deepen pupils’ understanding. Pupils told the inspector that they value the opportunities to go on visits and meet visitors in school because this brings their learning alive. An example of this was a visit to deepen knowledge and understanding of man-made and natural geographical features in the locality.

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’s personal, social and health education curriculum is well established. Pupils talk keenly about how their learning in information communication technology (ICT) is helping prepare them for modern life. They value teaching about e-safety and know that firewalls in place keep them safe online. Consequently, pupils know how to keep safe and know what to do if they have concerns.
• Sports ambassadors and playtime buddies make a positive and valued contribution to lunchtimes. As a result, a variety of lunchtime games are on offer for pupils to enjoy and younger and older pupils happily mix together and have fun.
• Pupils say that bullying is rare. Pupils value the systems in place to support their well-being. For example, they say that they are well supervised at playtimes and lunchtimes and like the additional resources such as worry boxes in classrooms that they can use to raise any concerns. They say that any concerns they have are followed up quickly.
• The after-school club provides pupils with a ‘home-from-home’ end to the day. Healthy snacks are provided. Pupils have a wealth of choice of board games, outdoor activities and small-group activities or time to catch up with homework. Consequently, pupils are settled and have fun.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils are polite and courteous. Pupils told the inspector that behaviour has improved. Pupils fully understand the systems in place to praise positive behaviour across the school day and also give sanctions when behaviour does not meet the required standard.
• Pupils’ attendance is good, being above the national average. Where pupils have not attended regularly enough, this is monitored by leaders closely and any dips in attendance fully tackled.
• Typically, pupil motivation is high and pupils tackle their learning with resilience. Pupils demonstrate good attitudes to learning and generally present their work well. However, occasionally, when teaching is not precisely matched to their needs, a few pupils do not maintain high levels of concentration and their progress slows.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Pupil numbers are small and vary from year to year. At key stage 2 pupils’ outcomes have been broadly in line or above that achieved nationally for the last 3 years. More pupils than those nationally achieve a high standard in reading and mathematics.
• At key stage 1 pupils’ achievement is good and academic standards are better than the national average in reading, writing and mathematics. However, the most able pupils do not achieve as much as they are capable of in writing because their sentence choices are not sufficiently sophisticated.
• Outcomes in phonics at the end of Year 1 are consistently above the national average. Pupils’ achievement in reading is consistently good. In 2016 pupils reached standards that were significantly above that achieved nationally. At key stage 2, group and whole-class reading sessions help pupils unlock their understanding. Pupils read avidly and apply what they read to their writing.
• Inspection evidence confirms that pupils’ achievement in writing is good overall. However, published performance information in 2016 shows that boys’ spelling was variable in key stage 2. Current pupils’ spelling is improving quickly as a result of swift leadership action and specific teaching to address any gaps in learning.
• Across the school, the few disadvantaged pupils make good progress from their different starting points. This is most strong in reading. Additional help ensures that pupils are supported academically and emotionally. Pupil numbers are too small to compare to the national average.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities benefit from targeted support in lessons and additional intervention which tackles gaps in their learning effectively. As a result, some pupils’ learning needs have decreased. For those pupils who have significantly greater need, progress is effectively tracked by the special educational needs coordinator and small steps in progress are evident.
• Overall, the most able pupils make good progress and are highly skilled in their reading, writing and mathematics. However, the school knows that there is more to be done to ensure that a greater proportion of these pupils exceed the academic standards expected nationally in writing.

Early years provision Good

• The leadership of early years is good. Meetings held with the inspector confirm that teachers know each child well and plan for their development precisely. Consequently, children’s progress is good across all aspects of learning. Timely and effective support ensures that children settle to school life quickly and build successful relationships with each other.
• Historically, the proportion of children meeting and exceeding expected standards at the end of early years has been above the national average. There was a dip in performance outcomes at the end of early years in 2016. However, inspection evidence confirms that children’s progress across this year was good from their different starting points. For current children, progress is consistently good and rapid for some children in specific aspects of the curriculum, for example in personal, social and emotional development.
• Assessment is generally accurate and precise and enables teachers to plan in a bespoke way for individuals. Adults build on children’s interest effectively. When children are working, adults successfully prompt through effective questioning and this helps children develop and sustain their concentration and deepen their learning.
• Teaching builds on what children can do, know and understand. Children are keen to tackle the challenges set for them in- and outdoors. For example, children made chalk maps outside, from their homes to Santa’s workshop, while inside they wrote lists and Christmas cards independently. Consequently, teaching is typically good and results in children making good progress overall.
• The teaching of phonics is systematic and regular and closely matched with modelling letter formation. This is enabling most pupils to write in a cursive style and apply their phonics skills to writing successfully. Occasionally, teachers’ assessment is not as precise as it needs to be for low-ability children. As a result, opportunities are missed in small-group work to assist in developing children’s correct formation of letters.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 123795 Somerset 10019455 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 Controlled Age range of pupils Gender of pupils 5 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 120 Appropriate authority Local authority Chair Headteacher Jan Holmes and Gary Way

Kim Greenslade

Telephone number 01823 451353 Website Email address https://slp5.somerset.org.uk/webs/kingstonstmary ksmschool@educ.somerset.gov.uk Date of previous inspection October 2011

Information about this school

• This is a smaller-than-average primary school. Pupils are taught in four mixed-age classes.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils 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 requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• In 2016 the school met the government’s current floor standard which is the minimum expectation for pupils’ attainment and progress at the end of Year 6.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector observed pupils learning across the school. Some lessons were observed jointly with the headteacher.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, senior teacher and another member of staff.
• A meeting took place with three governors.
• Telephone conversations were held with two representatives of the local authority and an independent consultant who is commissioned to work with the school.
• The inspector scrutinised a number of school documents including the school action plan and the school’s self-evaluation document. Records relating to behaviour and safety, exclusions, attendance and safeguarding were also reviewed.
• The inspector met with a group of pupils to find out about their learning and development and seek their views.
• The inspector looked at work in books to establish the current quality of pupils’ work and their progress over time.
• The inspector heard pupils read and scrutinised reading assessment information.
• The inspector considered 44 responses to the online survey, Parent View. The inspector also considered comments provided by parents’ text messages and also spoke to parents during the inspection.
• The inspector also considered responses from the staff and pupil questionnaire online surveys.

Inspection team

Julie Carrington, lead inspector

Her Majesty’s Inspector