Woolavington Village Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve leadership and management by ensuring that:
  • leaders check the impact of teaching on pupils’ outcomes and use this information to secure further improvements
  • middle leaders develop the skills to implement effective changes to teaching and learning
  • improvement plans set out clearly what action needs to be taken and how success will be measured governors are provided with support and training to enable them to hold school leaders stringently to account.
• Improve the quality of teaching and learning so that pupils’ achievement is good by ensuring that:
  • teachers use assessment information effectively to plan appropriate activities that meet pupils’ learning needs, particularly for the most able pupils
  • the teaching of problem-solving and reasoning in mathematics is embedded in practice consistently across the school
  • pupils have opportunities to practise applying grammar, spelling and punctuation accurately in writing across the curriculum
  • teachers have a good understanding of phonics and use this to increase pupils’ learning
  • the curriculum engages pupils’ interests consistently and supports their learning effectively. An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how these aspects of leadership and management may be improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

• Senior leaders are ambitious for the school. The newly appointed head of school has developed a collegiality among staff. She has introduced systems and procedures to aid the school’s improvement. However, these have not yet had sufficient impact on pupils’ attainment and progress.
• Over the past year, a high turnover of staff within the school has meant that some teachers are not yet as familiar as they should be with the age range they teach. Therefore, leaders have introduced training to increase teachers’ knowledge and improve the quality of teaching and learning. It is too early to see the impact of this work.
• Leaders’ plans for school improvement are not clear enough. The school development plans do not identify precisely what actions leaders will take to tackle the weaknesses in teaching and learning and to improve pupils’ outcomes. As a result, it is difficult for leaders and governors to check how effective the actions are in raising standards.
• Middle leaders are generally aware of the strengths and weaknesses in their subjects. However, new systems recently introduced to improve the quality of teaching and learning are not fully established or having sufficient impact on raising standards. For example, there have been some important changes to the teaching of problem-solving and reasoning in mathematics recently. However, middle leaders have not ensured that these changes have been implemented consistently by every teacher. This weakens the potential impact that this change could have on pupils’ outcomes.
• Leaders check the quality of teaching and learning across the school and have started to improve the way that they hold teachers to account. However, they are not focused enough on the impact of teaching, including the new strategies, on pupils’ achievement.
• The school’s curriculum is under review. The current curriculum is not engaging pupils fully or providing them with experiences and learning to enable them to be more successful in their outcomes across a range of subjects. This is particularly the case for boys.
• Leaders’ support for disadvantaged pupils has not enabled them to make good progress. This is because too little attention is given to ensuring that disadvantaged pupils’ learning builds well on what they know, understand and can do. While individual pupil plans for interventions are well documented and appropriate, pupils’ specific learning needs are not always given sufficient priority in lessons.
• The leader for special educational needs (SENCo) has appropriate skills and knowledge and understands the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) well. Support, plans and targets for these pupils are increasingly more bespoke to pupils’ individual needs. As a result, some of these pupils are making good progress from their starting points, although this is not consistent across the school.
• The sport premium is used effectively to engage pupils in physical activities. Sports coaching has a positive impact on pupils’ attitudes to physical education and it has ensured good-quality professional development for teachers. The leader for sport premium has introduced a new playground activity zone where pupils track their own levels of activity. This is well used and liked by the pupils, and it is increasing the amount of time pupils are physically active.
• The curriculum for spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is effective in promoting pupils’ understanding of the need for tolerance, respect and caring for others. Most pupils know and understand these values and try their best to uphold them.

Governance of the school

• The local governing body has recently reformed. There are very few governors, and those that are in place are new to their roles. The new trust, that has recently sponsored the school, has not taken swift action to ensure that governance is strong. The new governors have not had sufficient training or support to enable them to be active in their roles or hold leaders to account stringently.
• The governors receive some useful information from school leaders. However, this does not provide them with sufficient detail about how the school’s actions are impacting on pupils’ outcomes. Strategic plans are not clear enough. This makes it difficult for governors to check the impact of improvement work.
• The governing body ensures that leaders keep children safe. Governors make sure that the school carries out the necessary checks on staff when they are appointed, and that training on how to protect children is kept up to date. A nominated governor meets with the designated safeguarding lead to check that safeguarding procedures and systems are effective. This governor also checks regularly on the safety of those pupils most at risk.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders are vigilant in ensuring pupils’ safety. They identify and respond to concerns that pupils may be at risk from harm quickly. Leaders also identify those pupils and families who would benefit from additional help from outside agencies rapidly and effectively. They track the support that these pupils receive from outside agencies well.
• Leaders are diligent in ensuring that staff training in safeguarding is up to date. Staff are secure in their knowledge of the procedures in school. They have received clear guidance in areas such as child sexual exploitation, and the influences of radicalisation and extremism. As a result, staff know what to do if they have a concern about a pupil.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Some teachers do not use assessment information well to plan activities that build on pupils’ prior knowledge and understanding. This is particularly the case in writing and mathematics. This means that not enough pupils reach the standards of which they are capable, especially the most able pupils.
• Recent changes to the teaching of mathematics is ensuring that pupils have a better understanding of the subject. The daily arithmetic lessons are helping to improve pupils’ calculation skills. The newly introduced approach to the teaching of problem-solving and reasoning skills is not being applied consistently across the school. In some cases, teaching does not ensure that pupils move swiftly to the tasks that require them to use their understanding, especially those who are most able. As a result, this has not yet had an impact on improving pupils’ progress in this aspect of the subject.
• Pupils’ books show that they are not demonstrating their understanding of spelling, punctuation and grammar sufficiently in their writing. This is because teachers do not ensure that pupils apply these skills consistently and accurately across the curriculum. Consequently, pupils’ progress in writing is reduced.
• There is a distinct gap in the performance of boys when compared with girls. This is apparent in most year groups. The curriculum is not providing boys with enough interest and motivation to improve the quality of their work.
• The teaching of phonics is not meeting pupils’ needs well enough. This has been demonstrated in the decline in the proportion of pupils in Year 1 and 2 reaching the nationally expected standard in phonics. Some teachers’ knowledge and modelling of sounds does not enable pupils to make good progress. Pupils are able to segment sounds to break down words, but their limited skills in blending letter sounds together is hindering their ability to read more fluently. This is particularly the case for lower-attaining pupils.
• Where pupils with SEND are well supported by teachers and teaching assistants, they engage in learning effectively alongside their peers or in a one-to-one situation. However, this is not consistent across the school.
• Where teaching is stronger, in upper key stage 2, pupils are provided with tasks that meet their needs effectively. Teachers plan work that builds on gaps in pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding. This enables pupils to make more rapid progress than pupils elsewhere in the school.
• The newly introduced approach to reading in the school has fostered a love of reading and enjoyment of reading for pleasure. Pupils are keen to read at school and at home. Whole-class lessons for reading are exposing pupils to a richer vocabulary, which pupils are starting to use in their writing, especially in upper key stage 2.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils are proud of their school. Pupils know and understand the school’s values and talk enthusiastically about how they apply these within school and in their own lives.
• Positive relationships between pupils and adults are a strong feature of the school. Pupils speak well of the care, guidance and support that they receive from members of staff. A variety of different programmes provide valuable additional support, such as time within the sensory hub. Such approaches have been successful in addressing pupils’ sensory needs as well as improving pupils’ emotional and social understanding.
• Pupils say that they feel safe and secure in school. They also learn how to keep safe outside of school. Pupils have a good understanding of the potential risks when using the internet and use it safely and with confidence. For example, they know the importance of protecting their personal information.
• Older pupils learn from roles of responsibility and leadership. For example, pupils in Year 5 are playground leaders and use a computer app to monitor the use of the newly installed playground equipment. Pupils in Year 6 aid the sports coach to run clubs for younger pupils and work with an adult to run a book club.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils conduct themselves well around the school and demonstrate self-discipline. They are courteous and polite to each other, showing respect. Leaders expect pupils to demonstrate the school values and follow the ‘golden rules’.
• Attitudes to learning are becoming more positive. Pupils reported how they could challenge themselves to do better in their learning. Where teaching is stronger, pupils are attentive and work hard. Pupils do not disturb others and settle well to their learning for most of the time. However, where teaching is weaker, a minority of pupils do not concentrate as well.
• Pupils play energetically and harmoniously in the playground. School leaders have worked with pupils on their understanding of bullying. Pupils report that this rarely happens in their school. When issues do occur, leaders deal with them swiftly. However, some parents are concerned about bullying despite the school’s efforts and the fact that pupils say that bullying is not an issue.
• The school’s strategies to improve the engagement of pupils with more challenging behaviour have been successful recently, after a period of turbulence. Parents shared some concerns regarding this behaviour in their comments on Parent View. However, the measures, training and expectations that leaders are implementing are having an impact on reducing the number of incidents of poor behaviour from individual pupils. Behaviour plans provide information to aid staff in dealing with incidents well.
• Pupils’ attendance has improved this academic year, particularly that of boys. The school’s actions to reduce the proportion of pupils who are persistently absent are starting to have a positive impact. Attendance is broadly in line with the national average. However, leaders need to continue to tackle the number of disadvantaged pupils whose absence remains high.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Current pupils make progress that is too inconsistent across the curriculum. Many pupils are still catching up from previous poor attainment. Teaching has not enabled pupils to achieve well over time.
• Boys’ achievement is much lower than that of girls, apart from in mathematics. Pupils’ books, seen during the inspection, show that their current progress is not yet good.
• Standards in writing and mathematics for the most able pupils are too low. Teaching does not yet enable enough pupils to exceed the expectations for their age in these subjects.
• Disadvantaged pupils do not achieve as well as other pupils nationally. Leaders’ strategies to enable these pupils to make rapid progress have yet to come to fruition.
• The proportion of pupils reaching the standard expected for their age in the Year 1 phonics check has fallen over the past three years. In 2018, it was below the national average.
• Pupils with SEND make variable progress over time. Most teachers are planning more effectively now to meet pupils’ needs. As a result, many pupils with SEND are beginning to make better progress and, in some year groups, achieve as well as other pupils. However, this is not consistent across every subject and key stage.
• At the end of key stage 2 in 2018, pupils’ achievement in mathematics and reading improved so that it is now similar to other pupils nationally. Teaching is more effective in upper key stage 2.
• Pupils are becoming keen readers. Initiatives, such as providing pupils with copies of the class texts, encourage pupils to read more widely. This is having a positive impact on their enjoyment and understanding of different texts and increasing their use of a richer vocabulary.

Early years provision Good

• Over time, children make good progress in the early years. In recent years, the proportion of children reaching a good level of development has risen above the national average. Consequently, children are well prepared for their transition to Year 1. They develop the skills and attributes they need for the next stage of their education.
• The early years leader’s self-evaluation and plans for improvement are accurate. These highlight the areas which have improved over the past few years as well as the areas for development. The leader rightly recognises that staff need to provide greater opportunities to extend the achievement of boys and the most able children.
• The focus on improving achievement within the Nursery Year has been successful. The children moving from the Nursery to the Reception class are well equipped and are ‘school ready’. There has been a significant improvement in the proportion of children who are at the expected standards in personal, social and emotional development, physical development and levels of communication and understanding. This has enabled these children to settle into Reception very well. Leaders have now rightly identified further improvement is required in the youngest children’s literacy and mathematical skills.
• Teaching promotes children’s learning and development well. Teachers provide children with a rich variety of interesting activities both inside and in the outdoor area. Consequently, children learn and play well and have positive attitudes towards their learning. Children are eager to develop their understanding of words, number and the world, and their communication and listening skills.
• Children behave well and keep themselves safe by following the routines and expectations of staff who work with them. They sustain their involvement in activities and talk together about their interests and the tasks in hand. This was particularly evident in the Nursery where children engaged in exploring coloured lights, mark making and language development.
• Relationships between children and adults are warm and encouraging. Adults provide good care, support and guidance for all children, especially those with SEND and those who speak English as an additional language.
• Safeguarding within the early years is a high priority. Staff are well trained and know how to keep children safe. The setting meets the statutory requirements for safeguarding.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 140408 Somerset 10058311 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Academy sponsor-led Age range of pupils Gender of pupils 2 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 189 Appropriate authority Board of trustees Chair Toby Attwood-Wright Head of School Georgina Maclennan Telephone number 01278 683 267 Website Email address www.woolavingtonvillageprimaryschool.co.uk woolavingtonprimary@educ.somerset.gov.uk Date of previous inspection 28–29 September 2016

Information about this school

• The school is smaller than the average primary school.
• The school was re-brokered in September 2018 and became part of the Clevedon Learning Trust.
• The current head of school was appointed to the substantive post in November 2018 after a 6 month period of being the acting head of school. She is currently supported by another local headteacher from within Clevedon Learning Trust.
• Most pupils attending the school are of White British heritage.
• The proportion of pupils who are in receipt of pupil premium is well above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is below the national average. The number of pupils who have education, health and care plans is well below the national average.
• The school has an onsite Nursery, which it manages. It takes children from the age of two years old until they are ready to start school in the Reception class.
• The school has a breakfast club, which was part of this inspection.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed pupils’ learning across the school. Most of these observations were made jointly with school leaders.
• Inspectors scrutinised current pupils’ work in books and carried out observations of learning across the school. The inspectors observed pupils’ conduct at breaktimes and lunchtimes. The inspectors talked to pupils at breaktimes and lunchtimes, as well as during lessons.
• The inspectors listened to pupils read in Years 2, 3, 5 and 6 and spoke with them to find out about their attitudes to reading.
• Inspectors held meetings with the head of school and other senior leaders, middle leaders, groups of pupils, representatives of the Clevedon Learning Trust and members of the local governing body.
• Inspectors scrutinised a wide range of documentation, including information on pupils’ outcomes, the school’s improvement plan, minutes of governing body meetings, local authority reviews and records relating to the monitoring of teaching and performance management, behaviour, attendance and the safeguarding of pupils.
• Inspectors took account of 17 responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire, and informal discussions with parents when they brought their children to school. The lead inspector also took account of 11 responses to the online staff survey and 23 responses to the pupils’ survey.

Inspection team

Paul Smith, lead inspector Katherine Powell Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector