Harvington CofE First School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Use the opportunity, provided by the recent introduction of an electronic system for recording children’s outcomes in the early years, to enable parents to contribute more fully to the ongoing assessment of their children’s progress.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• There is a strong moral purpose for this school to serve its pupils as well as it possibly can. This determination has been created by the headteacher’s passionate and relentless pursuit of her vision. She has been extremely well supported by the governing body and deputy headteacher. As a result, all staff, regardless of their role, are fully committed to playing their part in pupils’ academic and personal success.
• Leaders at all levels evaluate all aspects of the school’s work with pinpoint accuracy. Leaders continuously use the results of their evaluations to bring about ongoing improvements, whether it concerns the quality of teaching or the impact of lunchtime organisation on pupils’ personal development.
• The exceptional quality of teaching results from leaders’ rigorous programme of quality assurance, along with the highly effective professional development offered to teachers. Teachers say this helps them to take risks in their teaching which, in turn, opens up endless possibilities for their pupils. Teaching assistants’ performance is also managed effectively, which is why they are such a highly skilled team.
• Leaders have designed a curriculum that inspires, motivates and ensures that pupils achieve exceptionally well across a wide range of subjects. It is planned skilfully to systematically build pupils’ skills and knowledge. Subjects are delivered through meaningful themes and memorable activities which pupils value highly.
• The curriculum is strongly supported by an impressive range of extra-curricular activities. Pupils have access to a very wide menu of after-school clubs, educational visits and visitors into school. This provides a rich, broad experience which deepens pupils’ learning and helps them develop a strong cultural appreciation.
• The school prepares its pupils exceptionally well for life in modern Britain. The school’s ethos, based on its values of ‘Truthfulness, Perseverance, Friendship, Trust, Forgiveness and Respect’, provides a strong spiritual, moral and social code which pupils exemplify in their learning and behaviour. Pupils’ everyday life in the school is built upon British values: they demonstrate a genuine interest and deep respect for each other and everyone they meet; they experience democracy in the election of several representative pupil committees; and they understand how the school’s rules lay the foundations for equality.
• Additional funding is used to great effect. It is carefully targeted using meticulous analysis of achievement information and other evidence. Impact is tracked carefully to ensure maximum benefit to eligible pupils. The primary physical education and sports funding enables pupils to access a wide range of high-quality sports and physical activities. Leaders check participation to ensure that all pupils are benefiting from leading active lifestyles. The use of the pupil premium funding ensures that disadvantaged pupils achieve exceptionally well. Similarly, the use of funding for pupils who have special educational needs or disabilities also ensures high standards of achievement for these pupils.
• The school works within a cluster of local first and nursery schools. This has brought great benefits through collaborative learning. Similarly, support given by Harvington to other schools has a positive impact on the wider community.

Governance of the school

• Governors:
  • ensure that they are well informed about the school’s performance by overseeing the analysis of achievement information
  • question why things are as they are and what can be done to improve things further
  • hold all leaders to account for the impact of decisions and the use of funding
  • recognise teachers’ good performance and support the headteacher in taking any action necessary to tackle weaknesses when they occur.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Safeguarding is at the very heart of this caring school.
• All staff know all pupils very well. Consequently, pupils are surrounded by trusted adults to whom they can turn for help.
• No concern is considered too small to act upon, so every concern is noted immediately and followed up tenaciously in order to protect pupils from the risk of harm.
• Parents could not speak highly enough of the lengths the school goes to in order to ensure that their children are safe.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• A culture of challenge is central to the success of teaching at the school. Teachers challenge pupils to take risks. Pupils challenge themselves to achieve as well as possible. When asked what makes this school special, one pupil said, ‘It’s because we love a challenge!’
• As a result of the ambitious culture, teachers believe there are no limits to what pupils can achieve and are determined to help them go as far as they can. Teachers use their deep subject knowledge and understanding of how children learn to ensure that this happens.
• Teachers accurately assess what pupils can do in each subject and identify the next steps each pupil needs to take. Skilled planning and delivery of lessons helps teachers tailor learning for all pupils, ensuring that they all make good progress. Pupils’ books show many examples of pupils of different abilities making significant progress over time.
• Teachers make sure pupils, too, know how well they are doing and what they need to do to improve. Throughout lessons, teachers provide precise, timely feedback which guides pupils to correct their work or take their thinking in a different direction. Misconceptions are quickly ironed out and pupils move on to higher levels of challenge as soon as they are ready.
• Teachers work hard to develop pupils’ resilience. From the earliest age, pupils are praised for having a go and trying again when things go wrong. Therefore, children become confident, curious learners who persevere enthusiastically to find answers to their questions, or as one put it, ‘think out of the box’.
• Teachers enable pupils to develop impressive levels of independence and collaboration. Classroom environments are rich with hints, tips and resources that support children to think for themselves.
• Teaching assistants make an exceptional contribution to pupils’ learning. They are highly skilled at spotting how they can help pupils who are struggling or add a degree of challenge when pupils have grasped an idea. The impact of teaching assistants’ work is a key factor in the equally high outcomes for all groups of pupils.
• Teachers’ and teaching assistants’ questions have a significant impact on pupils’ understanding. Questions effectively probe to unpick misunderstandings or to challenge pupils to engage in high-level thinking. As a result, all pupils, including those who find learning more difficult and the most able, achieve well.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding. Pupils thrive in an atmosphere where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.
• The school is highly successful at building independence and resilience. Mistakes are viewed as opportunities to improve. As a result, pupils are exceptionally confident and self-assured as learners. These characteristics have a significant impact on their progress.
• Pupils are reflective, empathetic and thoughtful. They can consider and discuss big ideas, challenging one another while showing respect for others’ views.
• Pupils say they feel completely safe and well cared for. This view is echoed by their parents who are full of praise for the care provided to their children. The school takes pupils’ safety extremely seriously. Every opportunity is taken to promote pupils’ understanding of how to stay safe in all situations, including a high priority given to online safety and understanding of the risks associated with social networking. Even younger pupils were able to give inspectors helpful advice on how to protect their identity on the internet.
• Pupils take genuine and meaningful responsibility for many aspects of school life. This helps them develop effective leadership skills. A democratically elected pupil parliament plans how different aspects of the school will be developed. For example, it was given a budget for improving part of the school grounds. It developed and presented a fully costed action plan to the headteacher and the improvements are being implemented. The school council focuses on enhancing the school and wider community. A ‘Sunshine Group’ takes an active lead in organising and running collective worship. Other opportunities exist for pupils to be playground buddies, eco warriors or lunchtime leaders, or to take on day-to-day jobs which ensure the smooth running of the school. Pupils approach their duties with exceptional maturity and commitment. This prepares them well for the responsibilities of adult life.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Pupils show an impressive degree of self-discipline. Their conduct is impeccable in lessons and about the school. They work diligently without direct supervision. They wait patiently and sensibly to take turns or when lining up.
• Pupils are immensely proud of their school. They enjoy coming to school and rarely miss a day. The school has worked very hard to support the small number of families who have difficulty getting their children to school regularly. As a result, attendance rates for all groups of pupils are high.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• Pupils achieve well across the whole curriculum. They read effectively, write confidently and apply mathematical reasoning with ease. All learn to play at least one musical instrument. The standard of their artwork is impressive. They develop scientific understanding and a good appreciation of different times, places and cultures.
• Children join the school in the Nursery and Reception classes with skills that are well below those of many three- or four-year-olds. Many have particularly weak speaking and communication skills and they find it hard to express their feelings or make their needs known. A notable proportion struggle to manage their personal and hygiene needs.
• Very quickly, they settle in to school routines and their skills begin to improve. They make exceptional progress across both the Nursery and Reception Years. By the time they start Year 1, most children have met or exceeded the early learning goals in all areas of learning. The proportion who reach a good level of development is higher than the national figure. This makes them very well placed for the demands of the national curriculum. From such low starting points, this is impressive.
• Rapid progress continues in Years 1 and 2. Pupils quickly learn to use their very good phonic knowledge and neat handwriting to write legibly and at length for a variety of purposes. They effectively apply their growing mathematical knowledge to interesting everyday situations and to support their learning in other subjects. For example, Year 2 pupils used their skills in doubling numbers to calculate how big the chicken would become after a spoonful of ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’.
• Pupils build on these high standards as they move through key stage 2. By the end of Year 5, many pupils are working beyond the standards suggested by their attainment when they started Year 1 and above that expected for their age. This is exceptionally high achievement and prepares them well for middle school.
• Meticulous tracking of pupils’ progress is used to quickly spot any pupil who is struggling, falling behind, or not being challenged well enough. Highly effective intervention ensures that all groups perform equally well. The pupil premium funding is used to great effect to support the achievement of disadvantaged pupils. Their achievement is in line with other pupils in the school and above that of other pupils nationally.
• As a result of the outstanding quality of teaching, rigorous tracking of achievement and highly effective intervention there are no discernible differences in the performance of any groups of pupils, including the disadvantaged, pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and the most able, along with the most able who are disadvantaged.

Early years provision Outstanding

• Leaders in the early years firmly believe strong foundations for children’s futures must be laid by the end of the Reception Year. Leaders and teachers work creatively together and with external agencies to do everything possible to ensure that every child’s barriers to successful learning are overcome before they start Year 1. This provides a very strong basis for pupils’ success throughout the school.
• Teaching in the early years is inspirational. Teachers use their incisive understanding of children’s skills and interests to plan activities that capture their imagination and hold their attention. Children learn to concentrate impressively well, even in the Nursery. This skill contributes significantly to their progress.
• From the minute children join the school, teachers begin assessing what they can do. They use this knowledge to skilfully prepare activities that are both accessible to children and that enable them to make progress.
• Continuous and rigorous tracking of children’s progress is used to quickly spot those who are having difficulties. Swift and effective intervention is used at the earliest opportunity. Consequently, children overcome difficulties and learn well. As a result, by the time children complete the early years there are no differences in attainment between groups of pupils.
• Children’s personal development is exceptionally well supported by their experiences in the early years. They are happy and confident. They rarely need prompting to remember to share or take turns. Even when children occasionally argue, they quickly accept the difference of opinion and move on to another activity.
• Children learn to manage their behaviour extremely well. They need very few reminders. For example, three children arrived at a table ahead of the adult and fourth member of the group. While waiting, they chatted quietly and sensibly about what they might be about to learn.
• Actions to ensure children’s safety and well-being are rigorous and effective. All staff are vigilant to risks or signs of a possible problem. Children form secure relationships with adults because they trust them and feel safe.
• Partnerships with parents are supportive and productive. Parents are well informed about their children’s progress. Leaders have recently introduced an electronic system for recording children’s achievements. They intend to extend the use of this to enable parents to play a greater role in assessing how well their children are doing.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 116819 Worcestershire 10025349 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 First and Nursery School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Voluntary controlled 3 to 10 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 184 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Dr Chris Davies Helen Fishbourne 01386 870 412 www.harvingtonfirstschool.co.uk head@harvington.worcs.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 8–9 November 2012

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• Harvington CofE is a smaller-than-average sized first school.
• A large majority of pupils are from white British heritage. Only a few speak English as an additional language.
• The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium is below average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is broadly average.
• Staff at Harvington have, from time to time, provided support to other schools to help improve the quality of teaching and the accuracy of assessment.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed teaching and learning in all classes. One visit to each class was conducted with the headteacher and deputy headteacher.
• Inspectors met with pupils, heard a selection of pupils read, observed pupils at breaktimes and attended a school assembly.
• Inspectors met with the headteacher and deputy headteachers, teachers with subject responsibilities, and members of the governing body.
• Pupils’ books from all year groups and a range of subjects were examined.
• A range of documents were considered, including the school’s self-evaluation and development plans. Inspectors also considered information about pupils’ progress, behaviour, attendance and safety.
• Inspectors took account of 59 responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View, discussions with parents before school, an email from a parent and the school’s surveys of parents’ opinions.
• Inspectors reviewed 12 responses to an inspection questionnaire returned by staff.

Inspection team

Sandy Hayes, lead inspector Paul Whitcombe Julie McCarthy Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector