Wolvey CofE Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Make more effective use of assessment information by:
  • developing systems that allow an accurate measure of the progress of pupils from different starting points
  • ensuring that middle leaders and class teachers use assessment information more robustly to target groups of current pupils who are not making expected progress, particularly in writing.

• Improve the quality of teaching throughout the school so that it is of a consistently high standard through:
  • sharing more effectively the good practice shown in some classes across the school
  • ensuring that opportunities to practice extended pieces of writing across the curriculum are utilised
  • using the most recent information about pupils’ starting points to ensure that they all move on fast enough, especially those with low prior attainment and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

• Leaders and managers have not ensured that consistently good teaching has led to good outcomes since the last inspection.
• Assessment procedures to track the progress of groups of pupils are not used well enough. The progress pupils make from different starting points is not tracked carefully and school leaders do not have a clear understanding of the progress made by different groups in the school. As a result, leaders and staff are unable to use assessment information in a timely manner to inform actions to improve progress, particularly in writing.
• The quality of middle leadership varies. Some areas of the school, for example early years, are well led. However, other leaders are having less impact as they are not using assessment information well enough. Actions taken to improve teaching therefore have a limited impact on pupils’ progress.
• The headteacher’s evaluation of the school’s strengths and areas for development is accurate and plans are in place to improve the school. Performance management has been used effectively to improve teaching, and training has helped to improve aspects of teachers’ practice. However, inconsistencies still exist in the quality of teaching across the school.
• The headteacher has established a nurturing culture within the school where pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding is developed well. She ensures that all pupils are treated equally and this is reflected in the behaviour of pupils both inside and outside of lessons. Pupils are taught to have respect for other cultures and beliefs. As a consequence, pupils and their families quickly feel part of the school community when they join the school.
• Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain. They experience a regular diet of curriculum enrichment, including celebrations of how the various cultures within school have impacted positively on British life throughout history. This creates an atmosphere of school unity. Fundamental British values are promoted through the school’s strong emphasis on respect and tolerance. Visits to the Houses of Parliament, and carefully chosen visitors to the school, enhance pupils’ knowledge of democracy, tolerance and the rule of law.The school’s curriculum is broad and balanced and has been tailored to reflect pupils’ cultural heritage. Remembrance events celebrating the contributions of groups during the world wars, including those from Gypsy, Roma and Nepalese backgrounds, add relevance to these celebrations. They also contribute to the school’s strong spiritual,

Governance of the school

• The governing body ensure that the school meets its statutory duties and has ensured that all the required information is on the school’s website. Governors have a clear picture of the school’s historical performance using published data. However, as a result of weaknesses in the school’s assessment information about current pupils, governors have not effectively challenged leaders on recent progress within school.
• Governors are regular visitors to the school. They have worked in partnership with the headteacher and attendance officer to address significant issues in relation to the progress made by the transient population within the school. Governance attendance panels along with other effective strategies have ensured the school now has its highest attendance figures in a decade.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Safeguarding pupils is a priority for school leaders. School systems are secure and the monitoring of pupils at risk is robust. Training and professional development is a strength within safeguarding and all staff are aware of the importance of keeping pupils safe. Pupils’ knowledge of keeping safe online is strong. The work of the e-safety pupil group, in taking assemblies and promoting keeping safe online, makes an important contribution to this.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Teaching has not been consistently good since the last inspection. School leaders have attempted to established systems to ensure improvements in the teaching of reading, writing and mathematics but variability in the quality of teaching remain.
• Assessment is not used effectively by teachers to inform them about pupil progress. Consequently, they do not have a clear picture of current progress from various starting points and so cannot plan to the best effect to help pupils improve.
• The quality of teachers’ questioning across all key stages is strong, in particular for less able pupils. Skilled use of targeted questioning is now being used to help pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make faster progress.
• Phonics is taught well and this is evident in the rapid improvement in standards achieved by pupils at the end of Year 1. Pupils enjoy reading and school staff have worked hard to ensure that pupils’ attainment is at age related expectations. The progress of some pupils is slowed as they do not read regularly at home.
• The majority of teaching assistants are well directed and their support of pupils, particularly those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, and in lessons, contribute well to pupils’ learning. Their knowledge of individual pupils is good and they are receptive to their needs, providing effective support when required. However, not all pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities benefit from this effective support. Inaccurate knowledge of pupils current progress held by leaders means that progress from pupils’ various starting points is not measured and monitored effectively enough for this group of pupils.
• Pupils’ presentation skills require improvement. The focus on improving writing has not yet progressed to improving the presentation of work and therefore handwriting is occasionally illegible. Opportunities for pupils to write at length in a range of subjects are rarely taken.
• The quality of teaching varies between year groups, particularly in writing, and this is having an impact on pupil outcomes. The school moderates its practice within a local consortium of schools. However, the practice of sharing quality teaching within school is not yet consistently well-established among staff.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school's work to promote pupils' personal development and welfare is good.
• The school environment is calm and language rich, pupils are independent and there are very few incidents of inappropriate behaviour.
• Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and British values are promoted well. Pupils’ conduct around the school, in lessons, at lunch and at play is good. The majority of pupils are self-confident and show a good understanding of how to be a successful learner.
• Pupils’ physical and emotional well-being is supported well by the school’s personalised approach to learning. The school has strategies in place to support low prior attaining pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities pupils. New arrivals settle quickly into school life as staff provide a welcoming and nurturing environment.
• Pupils understanding of the different forms bullying is good. They say that incidents are rare and that there is always an adult on hand to help them if needed.
• Pupils feel safe. Online safety is well led by a group of key stage 2 pupils who take assemblies. Information displayed around the school provides clear and consistent reminders of how to stay safe.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils have a clear understanding about the school’s behaviour system and consequences. The school’s behaviour log is effectively used to identify and resolve behavioural incidents.
• Disruption to learning is rare and pupils show high levels of self-discipline in both structured and unstructured parts of the school day.
• Attendance is rapidly improving and is now close to the national average. Persistent absence rates are reducing as a number of strategies put in place by leaders are having a positive impact. School staff work closely with the local community to improve attendance, including meeting members of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities to discuss absence and its effects. The weekly meetings between the headteacher and attendance officer are having a positive impact on improving attendance.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Pupils’ current progress throughout the school varies between subjects. Evidence in pupils’ books shows that progress is improving across the school year in their mathematics reasoning skills but that pupils make slower progress in writing from their starting points. This is because teaching does not benefit from a robust assessment of current pupils’ progress within the school.
• School leaders have identified writing as a school improvement priority. However, changes being made to address this are not yet embedded in every year group. As a result, teaching of writing is not always effective in ensuring good progress for groups of pupils. As a result, pupils at the end of key stage 2 are not yet making enough progress in writing to secure national expectations.
• School leaders have successfully diminished differences within the school to address the achievement of both pupils from Armed Forces families and for disadvantaged pupils. Pupils are identified quickly and the barriers to their learning are addressed through a focused plan for improvement. The attainment of disadvantaged pupils is often better than their peers within school but it is still below other pupils nationally. Current assessment information is not clear on the differences in the progress of disadvantaged pupils across subjects and year groups.
• The progress of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is inconsistent. Systems in place within the school do not always identify pupils quickly enough and leadership has not fully addressed these weaknesses. Some pupils who have special educational needs are making good progress as a result of effective support from individual teaching assistants, within lessons. Leadership is not measuring the impact of this support in improving overall achievement, and so, overall, pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities do not make the progress that they are capable of. Pupils’ progress in phonics is good and most pupils achieve the expected level in phonics in key stage 1.
• The proportion of children in early years who achieve a good level of development has improved over time and it is now above the national average. This is the result of good teaching and a sharp focus on language development.
• Current pupils are making improved progress in key stage 1. However, the progress made by the more able pupils in key stage 1 assessments in 2016 was not rapid enough.

Early years provision Good

• Leadership of the early years is good. Consequently, children, including disadvantaged and Armed Forces children, make good progress from their starting points.
• Leaders have an accurate understanding of the strengths and areas for development and a clear plan for improvement. A priority in the development of behaviours that support learning and a sharp focus on language development have led to the proportion of children leaving Reception with a good level of development being above the national average. Good leadership, organisation and teaching enable children to make good progress, so that most are well prepared for Year 1.
• Staff are well trained in developing early language and more recent professional development in phonics has led to improved outcomes for pupils.
• Parents and carers talk positively about the Reception class and welcomed the ‘stay and play’ sessions organised by the school. Parents were particularly enthusiastic about their children’s progress in reading and this reflects the recent impact of the school’s focus on phonics.
• Good relationships with adults and children ensure that they enjoy being in class and work together well. The early years team plan and provide interesting and motivating activities across the curriculum, and there is secure evidence of good progress across all of the key learning areas.
• The majority of children show good concentration and remain engaged within task for extended periods of time. The early years leader has identified a group of new starter children who need additional support to improve concentration. Strategies have been put in place to support this group.
• There are missed opportunities to use language and mathematics for children when accessing the outdoors.
• Safeguarding in the early years provision is effective.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 125677 Warwickshire 10025316 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 Voluntary controlled 4-11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 197 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Douglas Tribe Tana Wood 01455220279 www.wolveyschool.co.uk/ head3193@welearn365.com Date of previous inspection 18-19 April 2013

Information about this school

• The school is smaller than the averaged-sized primary school.
• The proportions of pupils from minority ethnic groups and those who speak English as an additional language are above the national averages.
• The school provides for broadly three different groups of pupils: children of traveller and Gypsy, Roma families; those with a parent in the Armed Services; and those from surrounding villages. About a third of children from Armed Services families are Nepalese and are fluent English speakers, as are those from other minority ethnic groups.
• The proportion of pupils who join and leave the school at different times throughout the year is above average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is similar to the national average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is below the national average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• Nursery provision is managed by the school’s governors but it is inspected separately.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in every class, both independently and with the headteacher.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, the special educational needs coordinator, the mathematics and English lead teachers, the early years co-ordinator, pupils, representatives of the governing body. A telephone discussion took place with the improvement adviser for the local authority.
• Inspectors scrutinised a wide range of documentation. These included the school’s self-evaluation and school development plan, responses to the staff questionnaire, governing body minutes, local authority reports, attendance records and safeguarding records.
• Inspectors scrutinised pupils’ work and observed their conduct at break and lunchtimes.
• Inspectors had discussions with parents and took account of the 14 responses to the online Parent View survey and 10 parent free text responses.

Inspection team

Max Vlahakis, lead inspector Jane Edgerton Joanne Evans

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector