St George's CofE Primary School and Nursery Ofsted Report

Full report

In accordance with section 44(1) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• As a matter of urgency, improve safeguarding so that it is fully effective by ensuring that:
  • designated senior leaders have a full and accurate understanding of all statutory safeguarding requirements and are suitably trained to fulfil their roles effectively
  • school policies and procedures are up to date and reflect current statutory safeguarding guidance
  • a robust system for recording concerns about pupils is developed and implemented, and relevant information is kept securely
  • all staff receive regular training that is appropriate to their roles in school and that an accurate record of staff training is established and maintained
  • the single central register is up to date and that the person responsible receives appropriate training in maintaining the record
  • safer recruitment procedures are followed stringently and that information held on staff is up to date
  • appropriate vetting checks, in line with Department for Education (DfE) requirements, are carried out on all governors
  • governors develop rigorous systems for ensuring that all aspects of safeguarding practice meet current requirements and guidance
  • checks on site safety and security are regularly and diligently carried out and recorded.
• Improve leadership and management by ensuring that:
  • monitoring and evaluation is used effectively across all areas of the school’s work to ensure that leaders have an accurate view of the school’s strengths and weaknesses
  • improvement plans are coherent, focus sharply on the school’s key priorities for improvement and have measurable and appropriate success criteria
  • systems for managing teachers’ performance are rigorous and are used to hold teachers to account for the impact of their work on pupils’ outcomes
  • the curriculum is broad, balanced and meets the needs of pupils across all subjects
  • governors are sufficiently skilled and knowledgeable to fulfil their responsibilities in ensuring that leaders are held to account for the quality of teaching and pupils’ outcomes.
• Improve the quality of teaching so that it is consistently good, by:
  • ensuring that teachers have sufficiently high expectations of what pupils can and should achieve
  • ensuring that teachers set sufficiently challenging tasks for pupils, especially the most able, that demand them to think deeply
  • providing more opportunities for pupils to use and apply their mathematical knowledge and skills in problem-solving using reasoning
  • providing more opportunities for pupils to apply mathematical and writing skills across different subjects
  • ensuring that teachers provide pupils with relevant learning activities across all subjects.
• Improve teaching so that it is at least good in the early years provision by ensuring that:
  • teachers and other adults plan and teach activities that are appropriate to the needs of the children and stimulate their interest in learning.
• Improve provision for pupils’ personal development, behaviour and welfare by ensuring that:
  • systems to improve attendance are sufficiently rigorous and that all parents understand the importance of ensuring that their children attend regularly and on time
  • pupils have a secure and accurate knowledge of the impact that different types of bullying can have on people. An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved. It is strongly recommended that the school does not appoint newly qualified teachers.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

• Safeguarding arrangements are not effective. The designated leaders for safeguarding have not had recent training, as required, in safeguarding. Consequently, they do not ensure that all statutory requirements are met. Leaders are not fully secure in understanding their responsibilities in reporting allegations against staff to the local authority’s designated officer.
• Systems for ensuring that training for staff in safeguarding is appropriate and up to date are haphazard. There is no cohesive system of recording staff qualifications or attendance at training. As a result, leaders are not aware of when training is required, what specific qualifications staff hold, or which members of staff have not attended safeguarding training sessions.
• The school’s safeguarding policy is not up to date and contains inaccurate information.
• Systems for reporting and recording safeguarding concerns relating to pupils in school are chaotic and not fit for purpose. There is a lack of clarity in determining which concerns relate to safeguarding and those that are connected to behaviour or other matters. Initial safeguarding concerns identified by teachers and other classroom staff are recorded in books in each classroom but are not held securely. As a result, pupil confidentiality could be compromised. Records do not show clearly what action has been taken in response to concerns raised, or where outside agencies have been involved.
• The processes for staff appointments to the school do not meet DfE requirements. There is not always a suitably trained governor or senior leader on appointment panels. Checks on staff qualifications are not always carried out. Not all governors have undertaken the required disqualification and barring service checks.
• Governors do not have a clear or accurate view of the safeguarding arrangements in school. Minutes of governors’ meetings indicate that insufficient attention is paid to monitoring this aspect of the school’s work.
• Checks on the site security and safety are not carried out regularly and are not recorded accurately. For example, checks on fire safety and prevention equipment had not been recorded as having been carried out for some time.
• School leaders have an unrealistic and inaccurate view of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. While a range of monitoring is carried out by school leaders, the outcomes from these activities are not accurately analysed. As a result, the most pressing priorities are not correctly identified.
• School improvement planning does not focus on the most important priorities for the school. Planning is not cohesive and there is not a clear, whole-school view of what needs to be addressed in order to bring about improvements. Plans are based mainly on individual class plans. There is a lack of clearly planned actions, criteria to measure the impact of actions taken and a tightly defined timescale.
• The school curriculum has not been well planned to ensure that that it is broad and balanced and that pupils cover all relevant aspects of the national curriculum across all required subjects. There is no clear, whole-school curriculum plan and, as a result, leaders lack an accurate view of what is taught in each class. Opportunities for enriching the curriculum and providing pupils with a wide range of exciting additional opportunities to extend their learning in subjects are not well planned for. There are, however, times when all pupils take part in whole-school topics based on a book, such as ‘Charlotte’s web’. In this instance, this was enhanced by the performance of a pantomime in school, which was enjoyed by pupils. Pupils also appreciate the extra-curricular clubs, including a choir and ‘fitness stars’.
• The additional sports funding has been used effectively to improve pupils’ fitness and well-being. Teachers and other staff, including lunchtime supervisors, have received training from sports coaches to enable them to teach a wide range of physical activities more effectively. Sports coaches also provide after-school clubs and activities, including football and circuit training. Opportunities for pupils to take part in competitive sports against other schools have been extended through the Wyre Valley partnership.
• School leaders have made sure that the pupil premium funding is used well to support disadvantaged pupils. This aspect of the school’s work is well-planned and evaluated. Where appropriate, additional resources have been provided for disadvantaged pupils and their families to enable them to participate fully in school life. A specialist speech and language teacher is employed by the school to develop pupils’ communication skills.
• The headteacher has embedded a set of seven school values that effectively support pupils in their development as future citizens of modern Britain. These values help to ensure that pupils show respect and tolerance for others. School leaders have also made sure that pupils develop a depth of understanding of democracy and the rule of law. For example, older pupils were recently involved in their own school ‘Brexit’ referendum where they discussed, and subsequently voted upon, staying in or leaving the European Union.
• The leader of provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities has ensured that the additional funding that the school receives is used well. External agencies, including an educational psychologist, are used well to ensure these pupils’ individual needs are addressed.
• The majority of parents who responded to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, or who spoke to inspectors were supportive of the school. A minority expressed some concerns relating to the leadership of the school.

Governance of the school

• The governance of the school is not effective.
• Governors have not ensured that the school’s safeguarding arrangements meet statutory requirements.
• Governors do not have a secure or accurate view of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. They have not used the range of information that is available to them to compare the school’s performance with that of other schools nationally.
• Governors do not provide sufficient challenge or support to school leaders. Minutes from governors’ meetings indicate that they do not ask searching questions and have a superficial understanding of pupils’ outcomes across the school.
• Governors have not ensured that the school’s policies are up to date or that the school complies with DfE requirements on the publication of information.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• There is too much inconsistency in the quality of teaching across the school. As a result, not all pupils make the progress that they should. Teaching is strongest for the oldest pupils in school.
• Teachers’ expectations of what pupils can and should achieve are not high enough. Teachers do not consistently set work that is well matched to the abilities of the pupils in their class. Work is often not demanding enough for the pupils, especially the most able pupils. Pupils spoken to during the inspection explained that their work is sometimes too easy and lacks challenge. This sentiment was also expressed by several parents.
• Opportunities for pupils to use their mathematical skills and knowledge in problem-solving using reasoning are not well developed. The majority of problems that are set for pupils are simply number problems written in words. This limits pupils’ opportunities to reflect on what they are required to do and to think deeply.
• Pupils are not provided with enough opportunities to apply their mathematical knowledge in different subjects, such as science and technology.
• Opportunities for depth of study in subjects including history and geography are not consistently strong. For example, pupils in a key stage 2 class were given the task of sticking historical pictures with dates on into a timeline. This was undemanding and easily within the pupils’ capabilities.
• Investigative work in subjects, including science and technology, is not firmly established across all classes. While pupils in some classes have opportunities to make predictions and carry out investigations, this is not consistent across the school.
• The teaching of writing has improved since the last inspection. Teachers ensure that pupils develop a good understanding of the use of spelling, grammar and punctuation. They are provided with opportunities to apply these skills in their own pieces of extended writing.
• The teaching of reading is effective. There is a systematic, whole-school approach to the teaching of phonics, with daily sessions for younger pupils. Teachers and teaching assistants accurately model sounds. They provide pupils with good opportunities to use the sounds to read and write words within sentences. Pupils develop a love of reading and are encouraged to read regularly at home. Teachers ensure that pupils develop a good understanding of what they have read and can use skills such as inference and deduction.
• The school learning environment is attractive and stimulating. Good use is made of displays to celebrate pupils’ achievements and to provide prompts for learning.
• The school assessment system is used effectively to monitor pupils’ progress. Teachers compare their assessment judgements with teachers in other schools to ensure accuracy.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Inadequate

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is inadequate because safeguarding is ineffective.
• Pupils’ understanding of different types of bullying is not secure. While pupils say that there is little bullying in school, there is some evidence of incidents of inappropriate name-calling by a small minority of pupils. Pupils do not have a clear view of what constitutes bullying, including homophobic bullying and cyber bullying.
• Nevertheless, pupils are generally caring and considerate individuals. Older and younger pupils support each other well and play well together. Pupils appreciate the opportunities to take on responsibility around school and are proud to be pupils at the school.
• Pupils show respect for other people’s beliefs and faiths. During the inspection, pupils in a key stage 2 class discussed in depth why places of worship were important to different religions. They spoke knowledgeably about temples, mosques, churches and synagogues. This indicates the positive work that the school does to support pupils’ spiritual, social, moral and cultural development.
• Pupils say that they feel safe in school. They understand the risks that the internet can pose and know about not giving out personal information to strangers.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.
• Attendance is below the national average. A small number of pupils do not attend regularly and on time. School leaders have held workshops for parents to make them aware of the impact that low attendance can have on their children’s achievement at school. They have also recently employed a family support worker on a part-time basis to help improve attendance. However, as yet, the actions taken have not had sufficient impact on the attendance of all pupils.
• Behaviour in classrooms is generally good. The majority of pupils show positive attitudes to learning. There are occasions when some pupils’ attention wanders when teaching is less engaging but they do not disrupt other pupils’ learning.
• A small minority of pupils at times exhibit challenging behaviour and this has resulted in a higher-than-average number of exclusions. The number of exclusions has fallen this year.
• Behaviour on the playgrounds is good. Pupils say that staff deal well with the isolated incidents of inappropriate behaviour that do occur at lunch and breaktimes. Pupils understand the school’s behaviour expectations and the reasons for not behaving inappropriately.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Pupils do not achieve consistently good outcomes across the school due to the varying quality of teaching. Evidence gathered during the inspection indicates that that there are marked differences in the rates of progress between classes in both key stage 1 and key stage 2 in English and mathematics. Progress is strongest in reading for pupils who are currently in school.
• The most able pupils in school, including those who are disadvantaged, do not achieve sufficiently high outcomes. In the 2016 national key stage 1 assessments, no pupils were working at greater depth in reading, writing or mathematics. The most able pupils had made less progress than pupils nationally with similar starting points.
• Outcomes for the most able pupils in Year 6 in 2016 were below the national average. No pupils were working at the higher standard in writing. Attainment for the most able pupils in mathematics was also below the national average. The most able pupils who are currently in school are not achieving consistently high outcomes.
• Pupils do not make good progress across other subjects, including history, geography and science. This is because teaching is not sufficiently well matched to their needs.
• There are no significant differences in outcomes between boys and girls. Pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds make similar progress to other pupils in school.
• Disadvantaged pupils are currently making progress that is at least in line with other pupils in school and in some classes are making stronger progress than their classmates. This reflects the effective use that is made of the pupil premium funding to support their specific needs.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress. Their needs are accurately assessed and additional support, including from educational psychologists and hearing support services, is provided that enables them to access their learning fully.
• Outcomes in the national phonics screening check for pupils in Year 1 and Year 2 were above the expected standard in 2016. This is due to the effective teaching of early reading skills.

Early years provision Inadequate

• Provision is inadequate because serious safeguarding concerns in the school as a whole also affect the early years. In other respects, the early years provision is not inadequate, although several aspects require improvement.
• Teaching is inconsistent across the early years provision and consequently children do not make rapid and sustained progress. Teaching in the Reception class is stronger than in the Nursery.
• Children enter Nursery with skills and knowledge below those that are typical for their age. The proportion of children who reached a good level of development in 2016 was broadly in line with the national average. Children’s outcomes were stronger in reading and number than in writing. While the majority of children are ready to move to Year 1 by the time they leave Reception, the varying quality of teaching slows progress for some children.
• Currently, the headteacher and deputy headteacher have responsibility for leading the early years provision. They work alongside the teachers in the early years to monitor and lead improvement work. School leaders recognise that this is not satisfactory in the long term as the focus on what aspects of the work need developing lacks precision and rigour. This has a negative impact on ensuring that all teaching is effective.
• At times, activities are not well planned to allow children to make rapid progress in key areas such as communication and working with others. As a result, children do not develop good social skills in collaboration, and lack opportunities to share their learning experiences with other children and adults.
• During the inspection, evidence was seen in the Reception class of questioning being used well to assess children’s understanding and to encourage them to answer in extended sentences. Teachers and teaching assistants provided children with tasks that were interesting and relevant.
• Children make good progress in reading. Teachers and teaching assistants lead regular phonics lessons that focus on ensuring that children develop a clear understanding of the sounds that go together to make up words.
• The indoor and outdoor classrooms are strengths of the early years provision. They are bright, well-resourced spaces that promote and stimulate children’s interest and curiosity. Good use is made of the outdoor area, with opportunities for children to explore the forest school area.
• Children are calm, polite and well behaved. Leaders recognise the need for closer and more accurate checks to ensure that children are consistently safe and secure.
• Additional funding is used effectively to meet the needs of disadvantaged children. Additional support is provided where needed, including from a speech and language specialist. This helps to ensure that differences between outcomes diminish as the children move through the early years provision.
• Parents are encouraged to be involved in their children’s education. School leaders run workshops for parents to help them support their children’s learning, including in reading at home.

School details

Unique reference number 135055 Local authority Worcestershire Inspection number 10002796 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 Voluntary controlled Age range of pupils 3 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 219 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mark Gittus Headteacher Rachel Bevan Telephone number 01562 824206 Website www.stgeorgesprimaryandnurseryschool.com Email address head@st-georges-kidd.worcs.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 13–14 June 2012

Information about this school

• The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information about the governors’ annual statement or the school’s accessibility plan for pupils who have disabilities on its website.
• St George’s CofE Primary School is smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils, those who are supported by the pupil premium funding, is above average.
• The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is the same as that that in most schools. The largest minority ethnic group is of Bangladeshi heritage.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is above the national average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics for pupils in Year 6.

Information about this inspection

• The inspectors observed pupils’ learning in 13 lessons or parts of lesson. A number of these observations were undertaken with the headteacher and deputy headteacher.
• The inspectors looked at work in pupils’ books and listened to pupils read. They met with a group of pupils, including members of the school council. The inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour at lunch and breaktimes, as well as in lessons.
• The inspectors looked at a range of documentation, including assessments and records of pupils’ progress, the school’s checks and records relating to safeguarding, child protection and attendance, records of how teaching is managed, and the school improvement plans.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, assistant headteacher and four middle leaders. The lead inspector met with four members of the governing body, including the chair of the governing body.
• The inspectors took account of the 39 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, and considered the 18 free-text responses from parents. They also talked to parents at the start of the school day. They also considered the 13 responses to the staff questionnaire.

Inspection team

Adam Hewett, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Chris Bandfield Ofsted Inspector Sally Noble Ofsted Inspector