Romsley St Kenelm's CofE Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Further improve leadership and management by:
  • ensuring that middle leaders have a more secure understanding of assessment information and how they can use this more effectively to improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment within their areas of responsibility.
• Further improve outcomes for pupils, especially the most able, by:
  • ensuring that teachers have sufficiently high expectations of what more-able pupils can achieve and set tasks that are suitably challenging
  • ensuring that pupils respond to feedback given by teachers regarding spelling, punctuation and grammar errors in order to make more rapid progress in writing.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Good

• This is a warm and welcoming school. Learning is stimulated in an environment that celebrates pupils’ achievement and motivates them to be the best they can. Senior leaders are aspirational for all pupils, across all subjects.
• Leaders have an accurate understanding of the school’s performance and this is shared effectively with staff and parents. The school’s development plan focuses closely on the next steps for improvement. The impact of the plan is monitored regularly by school leaders and governors so that the actions taken make a real difference.
• Regular checks on the quality of teaching and learning have enabled leaders to identify weaker performance and to take effective action to bring about improvements. For example, leaders are able to demonstrate how the management of behaviour is now more effective in classes where additional support was provided. The headteacher leads the rigorous performance management of all teachers and there is clear evidence of how this has been effective in securing improvement.
• The deputy headteacher provides strong and effective support for teachers’ professional development. This has had a direct and marked impact on improving the quality of teaching.
• Professional development and training for all staff is well matched to the school’s priorities for improvement. For example, leaders had noted that progress in writing was not as strong as in reading or mathematics. School staff worked closely with a literacy consultant to improve teaching in this area. As a result, rates of progress in reading and writing have improved.
• Subject leaders have started to have a positive impact on the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. Senior leaders have accurately identified that subject leaders need to analyse assessment information better and use this to bring about further improvement in school outcomes.
• Pupils receive a broad, balanced curriculum and all national curriculum subjects are taught. Pupils develop knowledge and subject-specific skills well. They appreciate the wider opportunities provided to enrich learning including learning to play a musical instrument and engaging in outdoor learning through forest school opportunities. Pupils achieve well in science in key stages 1 and 2.
• Spiritual, moral, social and cultural learning is a strength of the school. Pupils are able to demonstrate leadership opportunities by effectively fulfilling their roles and responsibilities on the school council, the eco committee and as house captains. Pupils spoke confidently to inspectors about their understanding of democracy. The school has links with schools in China and Tanzania and this provides an opportunity for pupils to gain a good understanding of cultures that are different to their own.
• Pupil premium funding has been spent effectively ensuring that disadvantaged pupils achieve well across the school. Pupils are provided with additional support in lessons as well as targeted interventions in reading, writing, mathematics and for speech and language development. The work is diminishing the gaps in attainment between disadvantaged pupils and all pupils nationally, in English and mathematics.
• Leaders now provide effective support for pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities. These pupils are now making more progress in writing and mathematics than in the past.
• The physical education (PE) and sports premium funding is spent well to provide pupils with access to a range of sports both within the school day and after school. PE is well resourced and pupils speak positively about enjoying their lessons. Teachers engage in regular training on all areas of physical activity with a coach who works with the school to improve their PE and sports skills.
• The school has been well supported by the local authority. Consultants and representatives have provided effective support and challenge through regular visits and provision of training. For example, senior leaders have received training which has ensured that they are able to analyse assessment information in detail and use this to plan for improvements.

Governance of the school

• Members of the governing body have a secure understanding of the strengths of the school. They engage in monitoring activities with school leaders and, as a result, they are able to make an effective contribution to accurate self-evaluation and plans for further improvement. They are dedicated to, and ambitious for, the school.
• Governors provide an effective balance of support and challenge. They speak highly of the headteacher and about how much she cares about the pupils and the staff.
• Governors take their safeguarding duties seriously. The safeguarding link governor meets with leaders regularly to ensure that child protection and ‘Prevent’ procedures are understood and followed by all staff to keep children safe from harm.
• Governors engage in a wide range of training opportunities including keeping up to date with safeguarding duties; working with the community and safer recruitment. Further training on the recently introduced Department for Education’s analysis of school performance is planned for early in the spring term.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Safeguarding is given high priority and keeping children safe is central to the work of the school. All staff have regular and appropriate child protection training to understand their responsibilities for keeping children safe, including preventing radicalisation and extremism. They receive regular updates as required to ensure that government requirements are met. Staff know the procedures to follow should there be a concern. Leaders make sure that all of the required staff recruitment and vetting checks are carried out on all staff, and others who work unsupervised in school before they are allowed to work with pupils.
• The school has a pastoral worker who provides effective additional support to families and pupils when needed. Records demonstrate that concerns are taken seriously and that leaders take swift action to protect pupils from harm.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Overall, the quality of teaching is good across the school and this results in pupils making good progress in most subjects. Leaders are aware that the most able pupils are not always sufficiently challenged so do not attain the standards of which they are capable.
• More rigorous, half-termly pupil progress meetings have been introduced since the last inspection. Now all teachers are aware of the prior attainment of the pupils in their class and what targets are being aimed for. Records show that each pupil is discussed in detail to pinpoint what is working well and what must be improved. Individual class action plans are produced to eradicate any underperformance or to get pupils back on track if they are falling behind.
• Relationships between pupils and adults are very positive. Most pupils demonstrate high levels of concentration and engagement in their learning. Pupils are able to work well on their own or with a partner. For example, purposeful opportunities are often given for talking to a partner in order to answer a question. This allows pupils to share their ideas in a safe environment where it is acceptable to make a mistake. Instances of disruption are very rare.
• Learning support assistants are used well in lessons to support pupils’ learning. They have good subject knowledge and they understand how to meet the specific needs of the pupils that they are supporting. Inspectors saw examples of pupils making strong progress in lessons because of the good-quality support that they received.
• The teaching of reading is a strength. Pupils develop strong phonics skills in key stage 1 and Reception. The most able pupils are fluent readers and read with expression. Pupils who find reading more challenging can use their phonic skills to decipher the sounds that letters represent in order to improve their reading and comprehension skills further.
• In mathematics, pupils are able to use a wide range of strategies to calculate. This is a result of a whole-school focus and staff training in this area. In some key stage 2 classes, pupils solve mathematical problems and are challenged effectively. However, in other classes pupils are not moved on to more difficult tasks quickly enough.
• Pupils’ books show that they make good progress in writing, especially in their use and fluency of language and the different features that they include in their sentences when writing. However, not all pupils can punctuate correctly and they spell common words incorrectly even after their teachers have corrected these. This is particularly evident in extended pieces of writing.
• Teachers give clear instructions and explain how pupils can be successful. As a result, pupils know exactly what they have to do to improve. In the best lessons, teachers use assessment information to plan the next steps for pupils. Teachers who do not currently do this are being supported to improve their practice.
• Each classroom environment supports learning through the use of displays. These include vocabulary, guidance about presentation, models of good examples and a celebration of pupils’ work across a variety of curriculum areas.
• An evaluation of the work in pupils’ books shows that they develop their literacy and numeracy skills through different areas of the curriculum. This includes PE, history, geography and forest school activities.
• This term, most classes have a focus on history and it is clear to see that pupils are grasping historical facts and concepts. Work is of a high quality which is leading to good progress in historical skills.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Special assemblies, which are organised and led by pupils in Year 5, explore the meaning of national ceremonies, including Remembrance Day, and mark significant events in the year including Harvest and Easter. Pupils have a respect for religion and have a good understanding of faiths other than their own. Pupils make visits to different places of worship during their time at school to gain an understanding of religious diversity.
• Each classroom has a reflection area where pupils can sit and have some quiet time. Some pupils take the opportunity to pray in this area. A feelings box is included in this area and pupils told inspectors that they are confident that an adult reads the messages and helps them when this is needed.
• Pupils not only have the opportunity of finding out about the everyday life of people in different cultures, but they have been able to think deeply about what is important regardless of material wealth. For example, a recent project on happiness identified that everyone benefits from having fun, dancing and being part of a family.
• Pupils have a clear understanding of what bullying is and they say that there is very little bullying in school. They confidently told inspectors that if they had any problems, worries or concerns, they would be quickly dealt with by adults.
• Pupils enjoy the opportunities that they have to develop leadership skills. Through elections for house captains and school council members, pupils have a good understanding of democracy. There was real excitement when the school was able to borrow the ballot box belonging to the local district council. Pupils also have an opportunity to join an eco-committee. The impact of this work can be seen in guidance given to classes, by members of the committee, on how to reduce energy usage.
• Pupils are kind and considerate. They are given opportunities to make decisions about charity events, which have included cake sales and donations to the local food bank.
• School leaders place emphasis on the importance of good presentation and handwriting. Most pupils respond very well to this and take a great deal of care with their work.
• Pupils are not yet demonstrating that they can take responsibility for their own learning. For example, they do not make decisions about what they need to do next in order to get better at a particular aspect of their work.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• The school is a calm and welcoming place where pupils conduct themselves well inside and outside of the classroom.
• Pupils play well together at break and lunchtimes. They are polite and well mannered. Behaviour in the dining room is good.
• Pupils are keen to learn and disruption in the classroom is rare. Very occasionally, when the pace of learning slows or pupils are not sufficiently challenged, they lose interest and become disengaged. Pupils understand the school’s behaviour system very well and almost all teachers use this to manage behaviour consistently.
• Attendance is in line with national average overall. Over time, attendance rates for disadvantaged pupils has not been as high as other pupils. However, school leaders took effective action to tackle the low attendance of this small group of pupils and current information shows that it is improving.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Pupil attainment at the end of each key stage is broadly in line with the national average. Achievement is high in the Year 1 phonics screening check. At the end of key stage 2, more pupils achieve the higher standard in reading than seen nationally.
• In the past, rates of progress have been variable for different groups. Boys made significantly less progress than girls in reading and writing while pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities made less progress than other pupils in writing and mathematics. Current assessment information shows that boys are now making rapid progress in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are now receiving appropriate support to ensure that they are making progress in line with their peers in writing and mathematics.
• Although there was an improvement in the writing progress made by Year 6 pupils last year, it was lower than the progress made in reading and maths. Current pupils are now making stronger progress in writing because of whole-school training and improvements in the quality of teaching, learning and assessment.
• Leaders regularly track pupils’ progress in reading, writing and mathematics from their starting points. This information, supported by observations in lessons and a detailed scrutiny of the work in pupils’ books, shows that pupils currently in the school are making good progress, particularly in English, mathematics and science in all year groups. Pupils are achieving well in other subjects too.
• The proportion of Year 6 pupils who are currently working at the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics is higher than the proportion who reached this standard by the end of key stage 2 in 2017. An increasing number of pupils are working confidently at greater depth in writing and mathematics.
• Pupils make good progress in other subject areas. Attainment in science is in line with national averages at the end of both key stage 1 and key stage 2. Current topic-related work shows that pupils make good progress in historical skills and have a good knowledge and understanding of the periods of time that they have studied.

Early years provision Good

• Children in the reception class are safe and happy. They behave well and they follow well-established routines. The relationships between adults and children are secure and parental engagement is high. All safeguarding and early years welfare requirements are met.
• The Reception class is well resourced both indoors and outside. Children are able to access equipment themselves and use resources well to engage effectively with their chosen activities. For example, a group of children created a mini assault course that required them to climb, crawl and slide over different-sized boxes and materials. They worked together and talked to each about making the task harder and more fun.
• The learning environment is welcoming and appropriately celebrates learning. Children are invited to display their work on a board and when there is enough work the board will light up. The children find this very motivational and they are keen to share what they have done.
• Children play together exceptionally well. They take turns and share equipment and toys well. They have good manners and are able to organise their own food and drink at snack time. They readily help each other, for example when dressing up in the role-play area.
• In previous years there had been significant differences in the achievement of boys and girls in reading and writing. Leaders took effective action to ensure that the curriculum engaged boys in worthwhile and productive reading and writing activities, including providing opportunities to write outside and during practical and physical activities. The outcomes for 2017 shows that boys performed as well as girls.
• Teacher expectations are high and the early years leader has accurately identified that writing is an area that requires improvement. During writing tasks there is an emphasis on holding pencils correctly, good letter formation and using phonics knowledge to spell words accurately. There is still work to be done on challenging the most able pupils so that they make the progress of which they are capable.
• Leadership is good. Teachers have accurately identified that assessment procedures could be improved further. They have plans in place to ensure that this is now more precise and shared more quickly with staff to ensure that learning is moved on as soon as children are ready.

• Children’s attainment is above average and they are well prepared for Year 1.

School details

Unique reference number 116846 Local authority Inspection number Worcestershire 10037157 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Voluntary controlled 5 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 191 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Lois Swift Suzanne Shackleton Telephone number 01562 710214 Website Email address www.stkenelms.co.uk office@stkenelms.worcs.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 10–11 November 2015

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• Romsley St Kenelm’s is smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• The early years consists of one class of children in the Reception Year and they all attend full time.
• Most pupils are White British and almost all speak English as their first language.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is well below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is below the national average. A small number of pupils have an education, health and care plan.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress by the end of Year 6.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed teaching in all classes. They saw 13 parts of lessons, which were all jointly observed by the headteacher or deputy headteacher.
• Inspectors talked to pupils about their reading and heard some pupils from all classes read.
• Inspectors scrutinised work in pupils’ books. They met with groups of pupils to gain their views of the school. The inspectors observed behaviour at breaktime, lunchtime and in all lessons.
• Meetings were held with pupils, the headteacher, other staff with leadership responsibilities and members of the governing body. Inspectors also spoke to a representative of the local authority.
• Inspectors reviewed and discussed documents with the headteacher, including the school development plan and self-evaluation document. They also scrutinised documents relating to the management of teachers’ performance and the minutes of governing body meetings.
• Inspectors examined and discussed information relating to pupils’ attainment and progress with the headteacher and subject leaders.
• Inspectors took into account the 70 parental views expressed through the Parent View survey including the comments made through the free-text facility. Inspectors also spoke to a number of parents at the start of the school day.

Inspection team

Joanne Evans, lead inspector Graham Tyrer Simon Mosley Ofsted Inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector