Studley Green Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching and learning to accelerate pupils’ progress in writing and mathematics by making sure that all teachers:
  • learn from the models of best practice which are now available in the school
  • develop pupils’ skills of grammar, punctuation and handwriting in line with the expectations of the key stage 2 curriculum
  • challenge pupils to improve their presentation when it falls below expectations
  • use information about pupils’ next steps in learning to plan tasks which enable pupils to gain calculation skills at the expected level or higher for their age
  • ensure that time is used well in lessons by checking that all pupils understand what they have to do and begin their tasks promptly.
• Improve the impact of leadership and management by making sure that:
  • the impact of plans for improvement can be measured against actual targets for progress and attainment for groups of pupils, particularly pupils who are below the expected level for their age
  • the curriculum for writing is further developed so that all skills are practised regularly, including in writing across the curriculum.
• Improve the behaviour of the very small number of pupils who persistently misbehave by:
  • completing accurate records of pupils’ misbehaviour so that leaders can identify whether their actions are improving pupils’ behaviour or whether more needs to be done
  • ensuring that the consequences for poor behaviour, including name-calling, are clear to pupils and consistently applied.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

• Following the previous inspection, until the appointment of the headteacher in January 2016, the school had been led by two different leaders each year. This meant that plans for improvement were not sustained long enough to prevent a dip in the school’s effectiveness. Leadership requires improvement because there is still more to do to improve teaching and pupils’ outcomes. Leaders have accurately concluded that not all pupils make good progress because teaching is not yet consistently good.
• Leaders continually keep improvement plans under review and have identified the priorities for pupils’ learning, particularly in mathematics and writing. However, they do not always set specific targets which will give them the understanding of where and when their actions are having the desired effect.
• Leaders track individual pupils’ achievement, but they do not track as effectively the behaviour of the very few remaining pupils who are causing concern. As a result, they do not have an easily accessible record of where support is being effective and where it is not. This reduces their ability to judge the success of their actions to quicken pupils’ progress.
• The school’s behaviour policy is appropriate and proportionate. The effectiveness of the policy is applied less consistently for playground incidents than in the classrooms, where it is used well. Leaders are not analysing playground behaviour records regularly to help overcome this.
• The school is now improving under the headteacher’s skilled guidance and clear vision for improvement. She and the deputy headteacher have built a strong team of effective middle leaders. Together they are giving staff and parents confidence in the future of the school.
• Until recently, leaders did not allocate pupil premium funding well enough. However, this has now improved. Leaders now more precisely allocate the additional funding. For example, the new ‘catch up and keep up’ programmes are effectively delivered and closely evaluated.
• The funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is well planned and effectively used to meet the wide range of needs in the school and resource bases. Leaders are reviewing the management structure of the resource bases following recent staff changes. This is part of the further development of the bases so that they can continue to develop.
• Senior leaders visit lessons regularly and give teachers guidance on how pupils’ learning can be accelerated. Staff are positive about this support and embrace opportunities for professional development. Most of the new teaching strategies are now used consistently by all teachers. For example, they give clear guidance to pupils on how to be successful and they allow time for pupils to respond to teachers’ feedback.
• Leaders use the additional funding for sports to give pupils wider opportunities for competitive sport. Pupils enjoy the wider opportunities to engage in sport at all levels.
• Leaders have rightly focused on developing the curriculum for reading, writing and mathematics. The curriculum for mathematics supports the development of pupils’ skills in problem solving and investigating mathematical patterns. Improvements to the curriculum for reading and writing can be seen in improved standards in most parts of the school. Currently, however, the curriculum for writing is not sufficiently focused on developing pupils’ skills of grammar and punctuation.
• The wider curriculum is well planned. Pupils have wide opportunities to express themselves through art and music. This significantly enhances their spiritual development. The school has an explicit focus on the fundamental values of British society. As a result, the moral, social and cultural development of pupils is good.
• School leaders and governors are committed to, as one governor said, ‘breaking the cycle’. This commitment to equality of opportunity is at the heart of all the school does, but currently leaders recognise that until all pupils’ achievement is good, the school will not have achieved this central aim.
• The majority of parents spoken to and those who filled in the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View, are positive about the school. A few rightly raised concerns about the poor behaviour of a few pupils. The school works closely with parents, for example through the ‘Achievement for All’ programme, which is helping disadvantaged pupils to catch up.
• The local authority adviser has worked closely with the headteacher to support the improvements which have been made. Equally, the local authority has recognised the skills of the headteacher and she is currently advising other schools with their similar journeys of improvement.

Governance of the school

• Governors have addressed the areas for their improvement from the previous inspection but improvements to teaching have not taken place soon enough to ensure that pupils’ progress has been consistently good over time.
• Governors responded to changes in leadership by quickly securing interim leadership and then robustly undertaking the appointment of the new headteacher. They have formed strong professional relationships with leaders and are well placed to continue the drive for improvement.
• Governors now challenge and support the work of individual leaders to hasten pupils’ progress. Consequently, they now more regularly monitor the impact of the school improvement plan. However, because the school improvement plan has not included specific targets for pupils’ progress across the school, this has limited governors’ understanding of the plan’s effectiveness.
• Following the previous inspection, governors created committees specifically to ensure that performance management is closely linked to outcomes for pupils.
• Governors regularly undertake training to keep up to date in their own practice. They take safeguarding particularly seriously and monitor whether policies and procedures are fit for purpose.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. The culture of vigilance for pupils who may be at risk of harm is exceptional.
• Leaders know the community well and recognise that there are a high number of vulnerable families who need care and support. All staff are well trained and fully act on their training to report any concerns about pupils. Because of the unusually high number of vulnerable pupils, there is a team of leaders trained to the highest level in safeguarding. They all use guidance from local authority agencies confidently to protect pupils at risk.
• Governors and leaders have ensured that policies for safeguarding are robust. Through their recruitment procedures and checks on volunteers, they rigorously check that adults who work with pupils are safe to do so.
• Pupils trust school staff to keep them safe and say that most pupils are kind and friendly. There is a wide pastoral team that provides very good support to pupils who have emotional needs. Pupils and parents value this support.
• Leaders rightly recognise the continuing need to reinforce with pupils how to stay safe online and when using the internet at home. Pupils already understand that they must not share personal information or send photographs through their mobile phones.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Over time, teaching has not been developed consistently well. There has been too much variability in teaching and pupils have not made the progress necessary to bring their standards of learning up to national expectations. Although there are now significant improvements to the quality of teaching, not all of the improvements have been implemented sufficiently for all pupils to be making the progress they should.
• Teachers do not systematically teach the skills of grammar, punctuation or handwriting across key stage 2. They give pupils guidance on how to write for different purposes and how to include language to make their writing more interesting. Samples of writing, however, showed that pupils, particularly those who are not yet working at the expected standard for their age, still have significant gaps in these basic skills. Equally, those pupils who are most able are not taught the grammar necessary to show that they are writing at greater depth.
• Not all teachers have high enough expectations of pupils’ presentation in their writing books. For example, because pupils are allowed to write between the lines rather than on the lines, they are left unable to orientate their writing properly.
• Sometimes teachers give instructions too quickly or explain things but fail to check whether pupils have understood what to do. They do not check frequently enough to ensure that time is not being wasted because pupils do not know where to begin.
• Teachers set challenges in mathematics which require pupils to apply their calculation skills to problem solving and investigation. However, when pupils who are not yet at the expected level lack the calculation skills or do not recognise the appropriate strategy to use, they are slow to start work and time is wasted.
• Teaching is good in the programmes which help pupils to ‘keep up and catch up’. Their progress is regularly tracked and teachers and teaching assistants develop basic skills well in these sessions.
• The leaders for mathematics and for English now have frequent opportunities to model strong teaching in their subjects and put in place high-quality training and guidance for teachers. Consequently, the quality of teaching is improving rapidly and there are examples of very good practice within key stage 1 and key stage 2.
• Good relationships within classrooms mean that pupils are not afraid to make mistakes. Pupils and teachers work together to track pupils’ developing skills through the assessment journeys in their workbooks. Increasingly, this close assessment is helping teachers to plan much more sharply for pupils’ next steps.
• The most able pupils are now beginning to make better progress. Teachers are now accurately assessing what they can do and setting challenging work that encourages their independence and engagement with learning.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities in the resource bases are taught well. In the mainstream classes, teachers and teaching assistants adapt tasks and support with well-targeted questions and guidance.
• The teaching of phonics is good and, as a result, in key stage 1, standards of reading are improving rapidly. In key stage 2, pupils enjoy their reading and recent revisions to the way reading comprehension is taught are helping pupils to adjust to the demands of the latest expected and higher standards.
• Teachers teach art well and pupils explore and develop their understanding of form and colour through using pastels, paint and three-dimensional models. In science, pupils were seen to plan an experiment on solids, liquids and gases. Teachers’ good questioning helped them to develop their hypotheses.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare requires improvement.
• Some pupils’ personal development is hampered by their lack of confidence, for instance in trying new work. They do not yet have strategies to keep going while waiting for adults to be ready to help them. Leaders have accurately identified the need to develop pupils’ resilience but there is still more work to do.
• The school’s expectations of presentation of work are not clear enough for pupils to know when they have fallen short of them. Consequently, in some cases pupils do not overcome reversals of figures or letters, or generally present their work well.
• Pupils enjoy school and are keen learners. They work well with partners and in groups. Most want to work through the lessons’ challenges to the highest point. They are increasingly making good choices about which challenge best fits their next steps.
• Pupils are keen to help their classmates with their learning. For example, in one class pupils value the role of ‘star learner’ and know that the role carries responsibilities as well as recognition of their own learning.
• Most parents are very positive about the school and the recent improvements made to the curriculum and after-school clubs. As one parent said, reflecting the opinions of others, ‘The school staff and children are proud of their school and rightly so.’

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement. There are still some instances of name-calling in the playground. Although pupils feel safe and say, ‘teachers help us sort this out’, the consequences for this behaviour are not clear or consistent enough to prevent it recurring. Records are kept, but not analysed sufficiently well to identify the few repeat offenders.
• Some pupils and parents raised concerns about the behaviour of a small minority of older pupils with social vulnerabilities or identified special educational needs and/or disabilities. These pupils are very well supported by the school’s dedicated and skilled pastoral team, but still on occasions their outbursts cause concern to other pupils.
• The great majority of pupils behave very well and their attitudes to learning are good. They are polite to adults and listen attentively in lessons. In classes, teachers are confident in using the school’s straightforward behaviour policy, should any pupil not respond to instructions in a timely fashion. These high expectations of classroom behaviour were seen in all lessons.
• Pupils are positive about lunchtimes and the staff who support them. All pupils, including those from the resource base, play harmoniously and energetically together. All are benefiting from the recent restructuring of lunchtime which allows for closer supervision.
• Pupils move around the school in a calm and orderly way, for instance in assembly and when moving in and out of lessons. Despite the few pupils who do not follow the school rules, pupils feel that any possible bullying is quickly dealt with.
• The school is tackling the persistent absence of pupils rigorously and effectively. Where there is a pattern of absence, the school takes robust action and has improved attendance for a number of families. Overall levels of attendance have improved over the past year and are now closer to recent national averages.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Recent national assessments at the end of Year 6 showed that pupils had not made good progress in reading, writing and particularly in mathematics, over their time in key stage 2. The proportion of them reaching the expected level for their age was too low. No pupil reached the higher standard of greater depth. This legacy of weak progress caused by variability in teaching is also evident in the current Year 6 pupils. They are not on track to improve on last year’s attainment.
• A very high proportion of pupils in both year groups are disadvantaged and, over time, the use of pupil premium has not accelerated their progress towards standards similar to other pupils nationally.
• Current assessment information shows that the proportion of pupils working at the expected level for their age is much higher now in Years 3, 4 and 5. Pupils’ workbooks, both currently and those from across classes last year, show that most pupils now make good progress. This is equally true for disadvantaged pupils.
• Most-able pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, are now more consistently challenged in lessons. They are making rapid progress in mathematics, reading and writing expressively but their work in writing does not yet show that they are working at greater depth. This is because they are not yet using the expected complex forms of grammar and punctuation consistently well.
• Pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, make good progress in special classes to help them catch up. However, this progress has not yet enabled them to reach the expected standard for key stage 2. In mathematics lessons, they do not always achieve the best that they are capable of because they are not independently able to tackle the tasks they are given. This group of pupils still do not have the technical accuracy in their writing which is expected for their age, particularly in handwriting and punctuation.
• In key stage 1, standards are rising. Pupils’ skills and knowledge are approaching that expected for their age. In national assessments last year, attainment represented good progress for the Year 2 class. Similarly, pupils now make good progress in gaining phonic skills. The proportion of mainstream pupils who reached the expected level in the Year 1 phonics check is close to the recent national average.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress in all parts of the school, including in the resource bases, where many exceed their targets.
• Pupils of all ages say that they enjoy reading. In key stage 2, pupils are acquiring age-appropriate skills of comprehension as a result of the school’s new approach to teaching reading.
• As a result of improved teaching and stronger progress, pupils are better prepared now for the transition to their next stage of education. The school is now providing pupils in Year 6 with additional support to ensure that they have the best possible chance to succeed.

Early years provision Good

• Children, including those who are disadvantaged, make good progress in the Reception class. The leader for early years has made strong links with local nurseries and pre-schools. As a result, she has extensive knowledge of what individual children know and can do when they start in school.
• Typically, children begin school with development and skills below, and in some cases well below, those usually seen for their age. Only a very few start school with the expected speaking skills. With the recently accelerated rate of progress, the proportion of children reaching a good level of development has risen significantly. Standards are now much closer to national levels for mainstream children.
• Children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities in the resource base and in the Reception class make good progress towards their individual planned targets.
• Recently, teachers have more quickly identified those children who have a higher starting point. These most-able children now make strong progress and have exceeded the expected level of attainment by the end of the year.
• Teachers teach phonic skills well and so children get off to a good start in their reading. Children currently in their first full week in school are tackling breaking down words into sounds and blending them together. They are making a good start in forming letters correctly to write.
• Samples of work from last year showed children’s strong progress across a wide curriculum. All staff in the Reception class contributed pertinent and detailed assessments of what children knew and could do. The records of children’s achievements were exceptionally well recorded.
• Children just starting school already follow the teachers’ expectations, behave well and cooperate in their learning. They use the good range of resources in the indoor and outdoor classrooms to create role play in a group, for example driving a bus. The Reception classroom is a secure area and children’s welfare is given a high priority.
• Parents are involved in the routines of the class from the earliest days. They are currently helping children to register when they arrive at school and to put their name on their choice of food for school lunch. Parents say that they are very happy with the confident start their children have made in school. Leaders recognise that there is more work to do to involve parents in children’s learning, particularly in reading.
• The current, much higher, standards are evident now in the work of children in Year 1. Their letter formation, number knowledge and phonic skills show that they have been well prepared for that transition.

School details

Unique reference number 126480 Local authority Wiltshire Inspection number 10025004 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 Foundation Age range of pupils 5 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 214 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Steven Uncles Headteacher Sarah Garbutt Telephone number 01225 752713 Website www.studleygreenprimary.co.uk Email address admin@studleygreen.wilts.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 15–16 January 2013

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• Studley Green Primary School is an average-sized primary school. The school is organised into single-aged classes. Children begin their education in the Reception class.
• The school has two designated resource bases for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. There are 17 places for pupils who have speech and language special needs and 17 places for pupils with complex needs. The resource bases are organised into three classes, broadly based on age.
• There have been changes to the leadership team since the previous inspection. During the time of change, the school was led by the previous deputy headteacher, an interim headteacher and the current deputy headteacher. The substantive headteacher took up her post in January 2016.
• The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium is well above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have support for special educational needs and/or disabilities and education, health and care plans is also well above average.
• The proportion of pupils who move in and out of the school at times other than the usual times is also well above average.
• In 2016, the school met the government’s current floor standards. These set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed lessons or parts of lessons, including all the resource-base classes. Some of the visits to classrooms took place with the headteacher or deputy headteacher.
• Samples of pupils’ work in a range of subjects were looked at and discussed with subject leaders. Inspectors listened to pupils read.
• Inspectors met with a group of pupils to seek their view of the school and spoke with other pupils in the playground. They took account of the 22 questionnaires completed by pupils.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, senior leaders, governors and a representative of the local authority. Inspectors took the views of staff into account through the questionnaires completed by 31 members of staff.
• A wide range of documentation was scrutinised during the inspection, including the school’s evaluation of its own performance, the school’s development plan and information relating to pupils’ attainment and progress. Inspectors also checked the effectiveness of the school’s safeguarding arrangements.
• The 37 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, were taken into account. On both days of the inspection, inspectors spoke to parents at the start of day.

Inspection team

Wendy Marriott, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Andrew Brown Ofsted Inspector Peta Dyke Ofsted Inspector