Colerne CofE Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by:
  • supporting new school leaders to use a wide range of evidence to evaluate and report on the impact of their work
  • increasing the rigour with which governors assess the impact of leaders’ actions
  • working with other agencies to enhance the processes and practice by which new pupils in the Reception class, including those who arrive mid-year, are assessed and supported
  • ensuring that plans for the use of pupil premium funding better identify barriers to learning for disadvantaged pupils so that the grant is used to best effect.
• Improve teaching and learning by:
  • developing pupils’ handwriting and presentation in key stage 1
  • extending teachers’ skills in planning for mixed-age classes and newly arrived pupils by using assessment information to target work more accurately.

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Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The new headteacher has quickly acquired a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school. Plans for school improvement have been extended and improved where necessary. A good example of this is the strengthening of the work to improve reading throughout the school.
• Other members of the school leadership team are also relatively new in post and the headteacher has prioritised their development through visits to outstanding schools and training. As a result, a culture of collaborative development has been created which, combined with the high aspirations of leaders, governors and staff, is driving forward improvement in the school.
• The curriculum is broad and vibrant. Through lessons, trips, assemblies, topic work, visitors, clubs and societies, leaders ensure that pupils have a wide range of experiences. Pupils find themed weeks exciting, such as the recent science and circus weeks.
• Assemblies led by visitors such as the clergy, leaders of other faiths and charities, combined with religious education lessons, ensure that pupils’ spiritual and moral education is strong. Aspects of pupils’ social and cultural education are well provided for, for example through the activities linked to the weekly newspaper and through the six different pupil councils. Pupils are taught about racism, ethnic diversity and respect for other cultures. As a result, they are well prepared for life in modern Britain.
• Disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are making good progress due to good teaching and through the additional support they receive. All other groups of pupils, including service children, are making good progress in their learning. Leaders’ and teachers’ commitment to ensuring that all pupils achieve well, academically and personally, show that they are promoting equality effectively.
• Pupils take part enthusiastically in a large number of additional clubs and societies such as bell-ringing, dancing, art, cookery and reporters club, as well as a large range of sports clubs. These enable pupils to develop their physical well-being. The impact of the primary physical education (PE) and sport funding is evident in the range of, and participation in, sports teams and clubs, as well as in lessons. The caring community within the school and well-trained staff support pupils’ mental health and personal well-being.
• The headteacher has supported teachers to improve their work, including the accuracy of their assessments. The school’s system for tracking pupils’ learning provides useful information for leaders and governors on the performance of different groups of pupils. It shows, for example, the improvement in boys’ reading. However, some leaders are not yet using the information from this system to monitor the impact of the changes they have made. Teachers feel well supported through professional development and are held to account well, so that their performance has improved.

• School leaders have allocated additional funding to support disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities carefully. The headteacher has very recently improved the way that this funding is accounted for on the school’s website. However, there is too little detail about what impact planned actions have had on pupils’ achievement.

Governance of the school

• Governors, including the new chair of the governing body, have high aspirations for the school and work hard to challenge and support school leaders. Governors have a wide range of experience to bring to their roles and regularly review their training needs to identify how they could improve their work further.
• Governors have changed the way that they monitor progress in school development plans and this is increasingly effective. However, they recognise that their monitoring of the impact of some policies and plans has not been rigorous in the past. The new chair of the governing body is working hard to improve this further.
• Governors welcome the way that the headteacher presents information about pupils’ learning and state that this helps them to ask questions about how well groups of pupils are progressing. They have a good knowledge of the improvements that the school has made in the teaching of reading, and can see the impact of this in the assessment information they receive. They are well briefed about performance management procedures and how these support improvements in teaching and learning.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Child protection records are kept appropriately and demonstrate that leaders follow through concerns to ensure that pupils at risk are cared for well. Staff recruitment checks are carried out in accordance with statutory requirements.
• Leaders have ensured that there is a caring culture in the school with strong support for children with emotional needs. Pupils feel safe at school and parents and staff are confident that they are kept safe. All members of staff are fully aware of their responsibilities for safeguarding pupils. They are aware of the signs that could indicate concern and know who to contact should this be the case. Training for staff is up to date.
• Leaders carry out risk assessments for school trips and the school site rigorously. They have put in place appropriate safeguards to ensure that children are safe in and out of school.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Good

• Teachers use their good subject knowledge to plan effectively, and have established good routines and relationships with pupils. They are keen that pupils achieve the best that they can. As a result, behaviour in class is good and pupils learn well.
• The work in pupils’ books shows that they are making good progress, especially as they get older. The quality of handwriting and presentation is strong in the key stage 2 classes. However, in key stage 1, the way that handwriting is taught and the expectations of presentation of work are not consistent between classes.
• Topic work, such as in history, is particularly strong and provides good examples of pupils using their English skills in other subjects. Pupils make good progress in mathematics – an improvement since the last inspection. However, pupils’ work in a few classes shows that problem-solving and reasoning skills are not developed well enough.
• Teachers follow the school’s policy for marking and feedback, and this supports pupils well in their learning. Teachers make careful judgements about what children have understood in order to plan further learning. They provide appropriate challenge to pupils so that all, including the most able, achieve well.
• Teachers do not always make enough use of assessment information to plan appropriate activities to challenge the different abilities and ages in the classes, but this is an improving picture. This is particularly important given the significant number of children who join the school, often mid-year, and who need to make progress rapidly from their different starting points.
• School leaders have made improvements in reading a priority. Staff have had additional training in teaching reading and the school has provided support and guidance to parents on both reading and phonics. Progress in reading has been strong this year.
• Teaching assistants play an important role in supporting pupils’ learning. The school’s leaders recognise the very important work that these staff carry out and have provided additional training to enable them to support pupils’ learning even more effectively.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.There is a caring culture in the school. Pupils and staff welcome the frequent new arrivals warmly into the school community. Staff have had additional training to support the needs of pupils who may be separated from their parents, or have had several changes to their school, and this is used to good effect to support transitions.
• Pupils are proud of their school and show good attitudes to learning in their lessons. They settle quickly to work and are keen to do their best. They are polite, listen to others, and are respectful of others’ views.
• Pupils are taught how to be safe, including when they are online, and can give a range of examples of how to stay safe.
• Leaders promote healthy lifestyles effectively. Pupils explained to inspectors how to stay healthy by eating well and exercising regularly. Lessons based around the school allotments, school clubs, PE lessons and the school food council combine to reinforce these healthy habits.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils, parents and staff report no concerns about the behaviour of pupils, or about bullying. There have been no examples of discrimination or bullying logged in the past year. However, pupils had a limited understanding of some types of bullying, such as prejudice-based bullying, and so are not well equipped to tackle such intolerance.
• Behaviour is good during lessons and at breaktimes. School leaders have worked with external staff where necessary to improve the behaviour of a very small number of pupils.

• Pupils attend school regularly and attendance is above the national average. School leaders check when a pupil’s absence increases and work well with parents to reduce this. No group is disadvantaged by poor attendance.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• School information on the progress of pupils during this year shows that their learning is good in all year groups in reading, writing and mathematics. This is supported by evidence from pupils’ books and observations of their work in class.
• For the last Year 6 cohort, the progress that pupils made in their reading skills was not fast enough and was lower than in writing and mathematics. Due to the strong actions that leaders and teachers have taken, the progress of current pupils in reading has improved. The progress that boys make in their reading, which had been a concern, is now the same as girls in some year groups and above in others.
• The attainment of pupils in Year 6 was not as strong last year as it had been in 2015, partly due to the lower progress in reading. Attainment at key stage 1 was similar to the national average in mathematics and above the national average in reading, writing and science. Attainment at the end of Reception was similar to the national average.
• Leaders and governors have refurbished and restocked the library and increased pupils’ enthusiasm for reading. Pupils read more often and have access to a wider range of reading material. Many adult volunteers and teaching assistants help to improve pupils’ reading skills and understanding. Pupils in younger year groups are taught phonics effectively and results in the year 1 phonics check have been rising over time to be above the national average.
• Over time, pupils with lower starting points have made less progress than other pupils in the school, but this is starting to change. There are very few disadvantaged pupils and those that have fallen behind are catching up in their learning. The books of the most able disadvantaged pupils show that they are making good progress. The children of service families are making good progress.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are making better progress than other children in most year groups due to the additional support they are given by teaching assistants and teachers.

Early years provision Good

• The early years staff have planned meticulously to create stimulating environments for varied, imaginative play and learning inside and outside the classroom. Parents have joined with staff to provide high-quality and interesting areas for learning. As a result, the children’s interest is captured and they learn and behave well.
• Teachers use a range of methods to find the children’s strengths and weaknesses when they join the Reception class, so that they can help them learn and develop quickly. Staff have worked with the local authority and the pre-school settings to produce agreed guidance on topics such as mark-making and phonics in order to help children, and this is improving transitions into school.
• Some children join the classes at different times during the year so they miss the induction sessions with the whole class. Early years staff work hard to help these children join the class and to assess their needs. However, school leaders recognise that more could be done in partnership with other agencies to improve the experiences of children who arrive during the year.

• Children arrive at the school with skills and abilities that would be typical for a child of their age, although there are some children who are at a lower developmental level. At the end of the Reception Year, the children achieve similar outcomes to children nationally. Boys have had lower achievement in reading and writing than boys nationally and the early years staff have been working hard to improve boys’ writing, in particular. This is starting to have an effect.
• Pupil premium funding is used well to support the achievement of disadvantaged children.
• Children in the Reception class are kept safe through effective procedures, partnership working with parents and the vigilance of staff.
• Parents and carers are kept well informed about their child’s progress through regular meetings and briefings, such as the session on phonics and writing at the end of the first month. Photographs of children’s achievements and examples of their work are carefully compiled into learning journals. These are highly valued by parents.

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School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 126316 Wiltshire 10033224 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 Maintained 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 255 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Ffion Prestidge Mark Solomon 01225 742367 www.colerneschool.com head@colerne.wilts.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 9–10 May 2013

Information about this school

• Colerne is an average-sized primary school.
• The school is currently organised into nine mainly mixed-age classes.
• The number of pupils supported by the pupil premium is below average.
• A large number of pupils (approximately 55% of the school roll) come from military families and stay for short periods of time. As a result, the proportion of pupils entering or leaving the school at other than the normal times is well above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils receiving support for their special educational needs and/or disabilities is in line with the national average while the proportion of pupils who have an education, health and care plan or statement of special educational needs is above the national average.
• Most pupils are from White British families. Few pupils are learning English as an additional language.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics.
• A new headteacher was appointed in January 2017.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

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Information about this inspection

• The inspectors observed learning in nine lessons and throughout the school, sometimes together with the headteacher.
• Inspectors listened to pupils read, observed them at playtime and discussed their opinions of the school at various times during the inspection, as well as considering the 128 responses to the pupil questionnaire.
• Meetings were held with staff, leaders, governors and a representative of the local authority. Staff views were ascertained through the 29 responses to the staff questionnaire.
• Parents’ opinions were considered through the 58 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, including the additional comments made by parents.
• Inspectors examined a range of documentation including the school’s analysis of how well pupils are learning, self-evaluation reports and development plans, safeguarding records, the minutes of governing body meetings, and school policies. The school’s website was scrutinised.

Inspection team

Tom Morrison, lead inspector Liz Jenkins Lizzy Meadows Jen Edwards

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector