Sutton Primary Academy Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Ensure that governors’ and the board’s evaluation of outcomes and provision is as strong in special educational needs as it is for other aspects in the school by ensuring that:
  • the local advisory board are swift to fill the vacancy for a new link governor for special educational needs
  • leaders across the trust are well informed about provision and outcomes for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Check that different groups of pupils are well represented in additional sporting clubs and other extra-curricular activities by:
  • analysing uptake more closely by pupil group, including gender, disadvantage and special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The executive headteachers have very effectively delegated day-to-day leadership responsibility to the head of school who has successfully overseen improvements in provision and outcomes for pupils.
• The head of school has gained the full trust and support of the wider school community. All members of staff who responded to the staff survey said they were proud of being a member of the school. The overwhelming majority of the large number of parents who responded to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire, said they would recommend the school to another parent. The school is very popular in the local community, as seen in the rapidly increasing number of pupils on roll.
• The head of the school and senior leaders have an accurate view of the school’s strengths, including in teaching, and where further areas for development are needed. Performance management systems for teaching staff are thorough.
• Consistently strong teaching has ensured that pupils currently in school are making very rapid progress in reading, writing and mathematics in each year group.
• Leaders have a detailed knowledge of how well pupils are doing through rigorous analysis of assessment information, backed up by the scrutiny of pupils’ books, lesson observations and learning walks.
• Very effective, regular monitoring and analysis of outcomes by individual and pupil group ensure that the very small number of pupils who are not making expected progress are quickly identified and appropriate additional support is provided. Consequently, the very large majority of pupils on the special educational needs register are making the same rapid progress as their peers.
• Most-able pupils do well. Leaders have ensured that the curriculum is planned to stretch and challenge them so that in mathematics, for example, they have the chance to work in greater depth in problem-solving and reasoning.
• Special educational needs funding is used effectively to ensure that pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported well in order to make good progress.
• Pupils have access to a rich and varied curriculum that is broad and balanced. Older pupils have had the chance to study two languages. Science is delivered through fun and engaging practical activities such as ‘making snow’ in Reception and concocting ‘invisible potions’ in Year 3. There is a choir and opportunities to learn a musical instrument. Pupils spoke enthusiastically about using salt, wax and ink in art and were knowledgeable about the wider world through their studies of Mexico and the second world war. Pupils spoken to were positive about the array of clubs available including languages, music and sport.
• Pupils are well prepared at the end of each phase for the next stage of their education, including those leaving for secondary school at the end of Year 6. Early years leaders engage well with nursery providers to ensure that there is a smooth transition when children enter Reception.
• Leaders use pupil premium funding very effectively on specific identification, support and targeted resources to ensure that disadvantaged pupils do well. As a result, the difference in outcomes by the end of key stage 2 between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils nationally has significantly diminished.
• Leaders have used the physical education (PE) and sports premium very well to employ sports coaches. This has led to a significant increase in uptake of sports, clubs and extra-curricular activities, and federation team events. It has also increased the skills of class teachers to teach PE. However, leaders do not check the uptake of extra-curricular activities by pupil group closely enough.
• Leaders promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development very effectively. Pupils are able to interact with pupils of different backgrounds in other local schools in the trust. A programme of speakers and events ensures that pupils learn about the similarities and differences between faiths and the diversity of the UK.
• British values are promoted well, for example through elections to the school council, voting using ballot boxes and speeches by the candidates.
• Leaders are outward looking. They engage external consultants to evaluate the work of the school and contribute towards performance management arrangements.
• Leaders across the trust are well informed about provision and how well pupils are doing but this is less well developed in special educational needs.

Governance of the school

• The local advisory board effectively carries out its responsibilities to hold leaders to account. The board is well informed about progress information by different pupil groups and individual members are regularly in school to see the work of the school for themselves.
• Performance management arrangements for senior leaders are conducted by the chairs of the advisory board of each school in the trust and with external contribution to ensure there is rigour and independence in the process.
• Members ensure that safeguarding arrangements are in place and that the school meets all of its requirements.
• Governors commissioned an external review of standards to ensure that they are challenging leaders.
• At the time of the inspection there was a vacancy for a special educational needs governor.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. There is a strong culture of promoting safeguarding throughout the school. Posters around the building are in prominent positions so that staff at all levels know who to talk to if they have any concerns. Staff are vigilant and any detail, however small, is recorded to ensure a full picture is established where there are any safeguarding issues. Staff are trained regularly and kept up to date with guidance and updates. Staff know the pupils and their families very well and are alert to any issues that arise.
• Risk assessments are thorough to ensure that the site of the school is safe and secure. Almost all pupils who responded to the pupil survey agreed that they feel safe in school and the very large majority of parents responding to Parent View confirmed this.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• Teaching is characterised by consistently high expectations and challenge. Almost all pupils who responded to the pupil survey agreed with this. Teachers plan tasks which start from and build on what pupils know and can already do. They set work that is at an appropriate level of challenge for pupils’ different starting points.
• Detailed planning ensures that the most able pupils are sufficiently stretched and challenged and that those who find learning difficult or who need to catch up are supported appropriately. Teachers use good subject knowledge to ensure that the most able pupils make rapid progress through a wide range of curriculum areas including languages, science and humanities.
• Additional adults are deployed effectively. They employ a good balance of questioning and challenge. Support and provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and disadvantaged pupils are provided through detailed individual provision maps and targeted support from additional adults.
• Teachers’ and adults’ good knowledge of each individual ensures that they can tailor their questions accordingly to further probe a pupil’s depth of understanding.
• Pupils are encouraged to develop their thinking and analytical skills when conducting experiments in science and they are encouraged to use subject-specific vocabulary in their discussions. Teachers develop pupils’ speaking skills well across subjects, including mathematics where they are required to give reasons for their answers or explain an alternative method, for example when solving money problems.
• Teachers focus on pupils’ literacy and presentation in their books in subjects other than English, including mathematics and topic work. This ensures that pupils continue to develop their literacy skills in other subjects. Pupils are able to talk about their writing ideas before beginning to write. This in turn builds up their confidence.
• Teachers and adults check continuously how well pupils are doing. This is done in order to establish whether pupils are ready to move on to the next stage in their learning or need further reinforcement and practice. Teachers give regular feedback so that pupils know how they can improve their work further or work in greater depth in their learning.
• Teachers teach phonics well to ensure that as pupils enter key stage 2 they can use the phonics skills they have acquired to successfully decode more difficult or unfamiliar words such as ‘building’ and ‘structure’.
• There are good relationships between adults and pupils and between groups of pupils. Teachers manage their classes very well. This ensures that activities move at a good pace and are not disrupted by incidents of misbehaviour or pupils losing concentration.
• Pupils are set appropriate homework for their age and have the chance to engage in research and enquiry at home as well as in school.
• Almost all parents responding to Parent View said their children were taught well. The very large majority of pupils responding to their survey said that teachers help them to do their best in every lesson.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• A large majority of pupils in school responded to the pupil survey. They were overwhelmingly positive and said that they enjoy coming to school. They also said how much they enjoy their learning. This was confirmed in conversations with pupils who, with very few exceptions, said that they like all their lessons and subjects equally.
• The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Pupils can take on responsibilities, for example standing for the school council. They have supported a local homeless charity and led assemblies, run coffee mornings and organised stalls for the school fete. Pupils have also contributed to each year group’s ‘rights and responsibilities’ which has helped them in their understanding of British values and the rule of law.
• Pupils said they feel very safe in school. Through e-safety lessons and assemblies they are informed of the risks of the internet. They said they would know what to do if they saw something inappropriate when using the computer. Older pupils look out for the welfare of younger ones to ensure that they are safe and happy.
• Most pupils reported in the pupil survey that there is hardly any bullying in school. When it does occur, they said that they are confident in reporting it to an adult and that it would be dealt with promptly and effectively. Most parents responding to parent view agreed that there was very little bullying. Pupils spoke positively about the ‘worry box’ where they could place any concerns they may have.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Pupils behave very well in lessons, where they have a consistently positive attitude to their learning. They have inquisitive, enquiring minds from when they first join the school.
• They talk with maturity and responsibility with adults and their peers. They are respectful and polite, not only in lessons but in moving around the school, including in the dining hall at lunchtime. They are friendly and welcoming to visitors.
• Pupils confirmed in conversations and through the pupil survey that misbehaviour is very rare. Almost all said that the behaviour of pupils around school is good.
• The overwhelming majority of parents responding to Parent View said that the school makes sure that pupils are well behaved.
• There have been no exclusions in the school for several years.
• The rates of overall absence and persistent absence have been consistently lower than the national average. Leaders check attendance rates of different groups of pupils closely to ensure that all groups attend regularly. Leaders are rigorous at following up first-day absence and through regular communication including texts and letters advising parents of the importance of regular attendance.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• Pupils currently in school are making very rapid progress from their starting points in reading, writing and mathematics. Different groups of learners are also making equally rapid progress, including boys and girls.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are integrated well into lessons and activities. They make very good progress because of the suitable pitch of the lessons, effective support and careful pupil-grouping arrangements by teachers. Individual plans for targeted pupils set out the outcomes expected for each term, which are reviewed regularly.
• Disadvantaged pupils are making very good progress towards diminishing the difference in outcomes with other pupils nationally by the end of key stage 2. Teachers have a close focus on them in their planning and the pupil premium is used effectively, including for those who are most-able, to ensure they do very well.
• The most able pupils are identified through close monitoring of outcomes to ensure that they are on track to make rapid progress and are not coasting. The wider enrichment opportunities beyond the classroom contribute significantly to their learning.
• Outcomes in the 2016 tests and assessments in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 2 were high for pupils. They made rapid progress from the end of key stage 1, especially in reading and writing, from their broadly average starting points.
• Outcomes in phonics, based on the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard by the end of Year 1, have been consistently very high in recent years up to 2016, when all pupils achieved the expected standard.
• For the small cohort of the current Year 6, pupils’ attainment is predicted to be above expectations in reading in 2017 but below national expectations in writing and mathematics. Despite the very rapid progress these pupils are making, their outcomes were very low, especially in writing, at the end of key stage 1.
• The very large majority of parents responding to Parent View said that their children were making good progress.

Early years provision Outstanding

• Children get off to a very good start in Reception, quickly settling into classroom routines and expectations of behaviour. They move around the early years environment safely and enthusiastically.
• Very effective leadership has ensured that the different learning zones promote opportunities for pupils to develop their literacy and numeracy skills through the activities and displays both inside and outside.
• Children are able to make choices about what they are doing. They are confident to work on activities without direct supervision from an adult. They are articulate and have already developed an extensive vocabulary, for example talking about a penguin’s ‘beak’ and ‘flippers’ during their work on the South Pole. Children’s imagination is stimulated through the impressive polar setting. Their knowledge of science is developed through experiments including melting ice with salt and making snow. They already know that water can take the form of a solid, liquid or gas and use the terms with confidence.
• Children are able to make predictions and hypothesise even when an adult is not present, for example experimenting with water to see which objects or animal toys can be pushed more easily down a channel by running water.
• Teachers and additional adults are highly skilled and effective in knowing when to intervene to ask a challenging question and when to step back to observe. They make detailed notes of what children can do.
• Children work very well with each other, either unaided in pairs or in groups led by an adult.
• The proportion of children who have secured a good level of development by the end of Reception from their broadly typical starting points has increased over recent years and in 2016 was above the national average.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 136765 Herefordshire 10025225 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 Academy converter Age range of pupils Gender of pupils 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 132 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Head of school Telephone number Website Email address Paul Smith Elizabeth Orton 01432 880336 www.sutton.hmfa.org.uk admin@sutton.hereford.sch.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• Sutton Primary is much smaller than the average-sized primary school. The number on roll has grown by almost 50% since the last inspection.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is about one in nine, which is below the national average. The percentage of pupils with a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is also below average.
• The number of pupils from minority ethnic groups is very small, as is the number who speak English as an additional language.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is well below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who join or leave the school midway through a key stage is above average.
• Sutton Primary is one of five schools in the Herefordshire Marches Federation of Academies overseen by two joint executive headteachers. Day-to-day leadership of the school has been delegated to the head of school.
• The governance of the school is delegated to a local advisory board which is in turn accountable to the Federation’s board of directors.
• The school meets the government’s floor standards based on their 2016 key stage 2 results. These are the minimum standards expected for pupils’ learning and progress in reading, writing and mathematics.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector observed 10 lessons or parts of lessons, all of which were jointly observed with one of the executive headteachers or the head of school. In addition, the inspector made a number of other short visits to lessons and other activities, for example to observe work with pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• The inspector conducted a work scrutiny of pupils’ books from each class.
• The inspector heard pupils read during lessons.
• The inspector held meetings with the executive headteachers, the head of school, other leaders, other members of staff and a group of pupils.
• The inspector spoke to the chair of the local advisory board by telephone and met two other members of the board. He also met the chair of the academy trust and met an external consultant who has been working with the school.
• The inspector spoke to six parents at the gate. In addition, there were two letters from parents, 45 Parent View free-text responses and 55 responses to the online questionnaire.
• The inspector also took account of 93 responses to the pupil survey and 17 responses to the staff survey.
• The inspector observed the school’s work and scrutinised a number of documents, including the school’s self-evaluation, local advisory board and directors’ minutes, improvement plans and school information on pupils’ recent attainment and progress.
• The inspector also considered behaviour and attendance information, policies and procedures relating to special educational needs, pupil premium, PE and sports premium funding, safeguarding and child protection.

Inspection team

Mark Sims, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector