Long Lawford Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Continue to develop the quality of teaching, by:
  • making sure that pupils apply their grammar and handwriting skills accurately in longer pieces of writing
  • ensuring that the teaching of reading comprehension is sufficiently challenging in every year group
  • developing staff’s questioning skills so that questions deepen pupils’ thinking, particularly for the most able pupils.
• Deepen the impact of leadership and management, by:
  • providing opportunities to share best practice that exists in middle leadership and in the quality of teaching
  • sustaining improvements in pupils’ attendance and punctuality rates.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Leaders and governors have successfully addressed a historical decline in outcomes and behaviour. The school has changed significantly since the previous inspection, including transitioning from one-form entry, to two-form entry, and then to three-form entry. A large number of staff and leaders have joined or left the school during this time. Historically, some of these changes were not managed as well as they should have been. However, leaders and governors have responded well in the last 18 months and the quality of education has improved significantly.
• The headteacher has quickened the pace of improvement since she joined the school in September 2018. Her clear vision and high standards have had a noticeable impact on the quality of teaching and the ethos of the school. Staff appreciate the renewed sense of direction. Staffing is more settled and morale is good. The vast majority of parents are complimentary about the school and would recommend it to others.
• Leaders’ effective strategic planning enables them and governors to focus successfully on improvement. Their self-evaluation is accurate and concisely identifies appropriate priorities for the school. These priorities are reflected clearly and coherently in the school improvement plan. Senior leaders review the plan on a regular basis and have a good understanding of the impact of their actions.
• Staff in the school are happy and feel well supported by leaders. Central to this is the quality of training and guidance that they receive. Leaders have clear systems to check the quality of teaching and provide staff with effective feedback. Staff training is put in place where aspects of teaching need to be improved. This quality of support extends well to those teachers who are new to the profession. These processes have helped teaching improve significantly over the last year.
• Senior leaders monitor pupils’ progress regularly and efficiently. They work closely with staff to identify pupils’ prior attainment and compare it with their current attainment. As result, there is a good understanding of those pupils who are doing well and those who require additional support.
• Middle leaders have a good understanding of the strengths in their subject areas. They are becoming increasingly involved in the monitoring of teaching and learning. Some middle leaders have a very good understanding of the impact of different strategies in their subject areas and use this information to make further improvements. However, this practice is not consistent across all middle leaders in the school.
• The special educational needs coordinator is new in post and has made a good start. She has worked closely with the headteacher to make identification procedures more robust and to improve communication with parents. Additional support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is effective and these pupils make good progress.
• The use of the pupil premium contributes well to disadvantaged pupils’ experiences and their academic achievement. Leaders and staff closely monitor pupils’ progress and put in place effective support if pupils are falling behind. The ‘30 day plans’ identify disadvantaged pupils’ barriers and the type of support required. For example, a successful reading intervention helped to boost disadvantaged pupils’ reading ages.
• The broad and balanced curriculum provides a wide range of opportunities for pupils to learn about the past and present. Each theme starts with a focus day to ignite pupils’ interest and themes are brought to life with special visitors or visits out of school. Pupils’ skills, knowledge and understanding are developing well across a range of subjects. Their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is also well considered. For example, during the inspection, older pupils in the school demonstrated a good understanding of what life was like for women in the two world wars. Younger pupils showed a deep understanding of how their life compared to that of a child in India.
• The primary physical education and sport premium is used well. Leaders have made improvements to provision and have a clear understanding of where the remaining funding needs to be spent. One of the biggest successes has been an increase in the number of sports competitions and extra-curricular activities. Pupils enjoy attending clubs such as hockey, multi-skills, cricket, basketball and dance.

Governance of the school

• The governing body has improved significantly over the last year. Members of the governing body are committed, skilled and reflective. They acknowledge that they are partly responsible for the decline seen a few years ago and, as a result, have made several changes. The new chair provides a strong level of support to the headteacher. Other governors use meetings and visits to give leaders robust challenge about the quality of teaching and pupils’ outcomes. This has helped to improve their understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses.
• Governors ensure that they fully meet their statutory responsibilities. For example, they have a very good oversight of safeguarding and carry out checks to ensure that leaders and staff are keeping pupils safe.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Keeping pupils safe is at the heart of the school’s work. Leaders and staff have a clear understanding of their responsibilities. Staff benefit from regular training and updates, which further sharpen their knowledge about important risks. For example, staff have a good understanding of the ‘Prevent’ duty and are also clear about their responsibilities for reporting cases of female genital mutilation. The culture for safeguarding is positive and pupils are kept safe from harm.
• The designated safeguarding leads ensure that other leaders and staff have a good understanding of pupils who might require support. Staff report concerns vigilantly and the safeguarding leads follows up concerns thoroughly. Leaders challenge external agencies when the quality of support for families or the school is not good enough.
• Thoughtful teaching of safety in the curriculum ensures that pupils know how to keep themselves safe. Pupils have a good understanding of how to stay safe on the internet and know what they should do if they are concerned about something. Pupils say that bullying is very rare and if it does happen, adults intervene quickly to address it.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• The quality of teaching across the school is good. There are high expectations of pupils and work is generally well matched to pupils’ abilities. Teachers have secure subject knowledge and use accurate modelling to show pupils how to be successful in their learning. Staff work closely together when planning pupils’ work within their phase. This has helped new staff to settle in quickly and all staff to develop consistent approaches to teaching across their year groups. Relationships between staff and pupils in lessons are good. Pupils enjoy learning, work hard and make good progress.
• Classrooms are purposeful and vibrant. Staff make good use of displays to aid pupils’ learning and to celebrate their work. For example, teachers model previously learned mathematical concepts and leave them up on display to consolidate learning in future lessons. Pupils also show great pride when they choose their best piece of work to put up on display in the classroom.
• There are some examples of very effective teaching in the school. This is characterised by effective questioning and high levels of challenge. This stronger practice is yet to be shared systematically across the school. Some staff’s questioning is not as strong and does not get pupils, particularly the most able, to think deeply about their learning.
• The quality of teachers’ subject knowledge in mathematics and the work in pupils’ books is good. A noticeable strength of mathematics teaching is the regular opportunities that pupils get to develop their mathematical reasoning. Pupils are developing into confident mathematicians. They enjoy applying their understanding to appropriately challenging problems.
• The culture for reading has improved. Teachers use age-appropriate and engaging whole-class texts in writing and reading lessons. These texts are sometimes linked to the curriculum topics that pupils learn about. Pupils enjoy reading regularly and have a good understanding of their favourite authors. The teaching of reading comprehension skills sometimes lacks sufficient challenge. For example, pupils’ understanding of inference and language develops inconsistently in some year groups.
• Pupils enjoy using a whole-class text as a stimulus for their writing. They write regularly across a range of genres. This approach has improved pupils’ confidence and their ability to think of ideas for their writing. Sometimes, pupils do not apply their technical writing skills, such as grammar and handwriting, into their longer pieces of writing.
• Phonics is taught well. Staff plan effectively and make sure that pupils are taught in appropriately matched groups. Teaching is secure and some of the practice seen during the inspection was strong. Pupils learn sounds quickly and apply their phonics successfully in their writing.
• Teaching assistants are generally well deployed across the school. This is particularly the case in the afternoons when they provide additional support for pupils. They have a good understanding of pupils’ needs and help to overcome barriers that pupils may face in their learning.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Relationships between adults and pupils are positive across the school. A high level of care and respect creates a supportive ethos across the school. Pupils are happy, work hard in lessons and have positive attitudes about school.
• Pupils have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe. Older pupils in the school are clear about games and applications that are not appropriate to use. The school has its own road safety crew who help raise awareness among other pupils. The typical view from parents is that that their children feel safe in school.
• The school’s enrichment opportunities are impressive and contribute well to pupils’ personal development. There is a broad range of sport and music clubs. Pupils also speak enthusiastically about the different musical instruments that they play in the curriculum. For example, all of Year 3 learn to play the ukulele.
• Pupils take on different leadership roles and enjoy the responsibility that comes with it. The anti-bullying ambassadors and the school council were proud to tell inspectors of their successful projects.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• The behaviour policy has been recently refined and sets out clear expectations for pupils’ behaviour. Staff operate the rewards and sanctions consistently. Pupils are motivated by the ‘good to be green’ system. As a result, pupils’ behaviour in lessons and at social times is good.
• In the academic year 2016/17 exclusions were too high in the school. Leaders responded well to this and put in place better support for pupils who have complex behaviours. There has been a better use of advice from specialist external services and the school has also appointed its own family support worker. Exclusions declined significantly last academic year and are low this academic year.
• Since September 2018 absence rates have improved dramatically compared to previous years. New systems have been put in place to monitor and follow up absence issues more robustly. Pupils told inspectors that they are motivated by the new attendance reward scheme. While absence rates have improved, they have not been high enough in previous academic years. Consequently, recent improvements need to be sustained.
• Leaders have started to take positive steps to address this and punctuality is gradually improving. However, on some days there are still too many pupils arriving late.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Effective teaching and a well-planned curriculum enable pupils to make good progress on their journey through school. The work in pupils’ books shows that they develop knowledge, skills and understanding at an appropriate rate.
• In 2016 and 2017 pupils’ attainment was not high enough at the end of key stage 2. However, attainment rose significantly in 2018 and was above the levels seen nationally. This was also the case for disadvantaged pupils, whose attainment compared well to other pupils nationally. The school’s assessment information and the work in pupils’ books demonstrate that improvements have been sustained in key stage 2.
• At the end of key stage 1 the proportions of pupils attaining the expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics have been similar to, or above, the levels seen nationally for the last few years. In 2018, disadvantaged pupils’ attainment was not high. However, the majority of these pupils made good progress during their time in key stage 1.
• In 2018 the proportion of pupils attaining the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check declined from the previous year but was still similar to the national average. Current Year 1 pupils’ phonics attainment has improved.
• Work in pupils’ mathematics books demonstrates that their reasoning skills develop very well over time. While pupils’ reading fluency has improved through regular reading, some pupils’ reading comprehension skills do not progress as strongly as they should. For example, sometimes pupils are not provided with challenging questions to develop their inference skills.
• Pupils with SEND are well supported in class and through additional support. This helps them to access learning at an appropriate level and make good progress on their journey through school.

Early years provision Good

• The quality of teaching and the outcomes for children in the early years are good. The proportion of children reaching a good level of development has either been above or in line with the national average over the last three years.
• Adults provide a high level of care for children and relationships at all levels are positive. Routines are well organised, so children know exactly what is expected of them. Consequently, children are happy and settled and enjoy attending school.
• Children get off to a strong start in the Nursery. Staff have high expectations and the children enjoy learning. During the inspection, the children had to guess what animal was in a bag and they were absolutely captivated by the activity. A wide range of vocabulary was modelled by staff and then used by the children.
• Reception provides a stimulating learning environment for children. The different areas for learning are clearly defined and children’s work is displayed with pride. There are useful prompts for phonics and new vocabulary is displayed inside the classrooms.
• Activities stimulate children’s interest and provide sufficient challenge. For example, in one activity, children enjoyed the challenge of using tweezers to order numbers from one to 10 on a thread. The activity supported children’s mathematical thinking and helped to develop their fine motor skills.
• Phonics is taught well across the early years. Staff use their secure subject knowledge to help children learn new sounds. Some children are starting to apply their understanding into their writing. Reception children are provided with plenty of opportunities to write and they make good progress.
• Staff develop good working relationships with parents and keep them well informed about their children’s learning. A recent ‘family phonics’ event helped to let parents know how to support their children with reading at home. Home visits are carried out for new children so that transitions run smoothly.
• The early years leader has a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the setting. She uses assessment information well to help staff meet children’s needs. For example, there has been significant work to identify and develop children’s speech and language. There are good systems for staff to moderate their assessments with one another to ensure that assessments are accurate.
• All the early years welfare requirements are met. Adults keep children safe.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 125570 Warwickshire 10058654 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 Community 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 500 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address

Sharon Marie Smyth

Claire Stringer 01788 543332 www.longlawfordprimaryschool.com admin2405@welearn365.com Date of previous inspection May 2012

Information about this school

• The school is an above-average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium funding is similar to the national average.
• A large majority of pupils come from a White British background.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is below the national average.
• The headteacher joined the school in September 2018. In the last 12 months, several new teachers have joined the school.
• The governing body has gone through several changes in recent years. The new chair of the governing body was appointed in September 2018.
• The local authority has provided regular support to the school, particularly in the last 18 months.

Information about this inspection

• This inspection started as a section 8 no formal designation inspection of an exempt outstanding school. The evidence gathered on the section 8 inspection demonstrated that the school may no longer be outstanding. Consequently, the inspection converted to a second day and a full section 5 inspection was undertaken.
• Inspectors observed pupils’ learning in 30 lessons or parts of lessons. A number of these observations were undertaken jointly with senior leaders.
• The inspectors scrutinised work in pupils’ books and listened to pupils read. They met with groups of pupils to gain their views of the school. Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour at social times and at the end of the school day, as well as in lessons.
• Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher and other leaders. The lead inspector met with four members of the local governing body. He also had a telephone conversation with a school improvement adviser from the local authority.
• Inspectors reviewed a range of documentation. This included: assessments and records of pupils’ progress; the school’s checks and records relating to safeguarding, child protection and attendance; records of how teaching is monitored; and the school’s improvement plans.
• Inspectors evaluated the 295 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View. They also talked to parents at the start of the school day.

Inspection team

Matt Meckin, lead inspector Susan Hughes Gill Turner Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector