St Peter and St Paul CofE Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve teaching and learning so that pupils of all abilities make strong progress by:
  • making sure that activities in mathematics are well matched to higher-ability pupils’ needs so that they are fully engaged in deepening their learning
  • developing the lower-ability pupils’ independence skills and raising their expectations of what they can do so that they can access their learning confidently when an adult is not nearby
  • ensuring that teaching motivates pupils of all abilities to try their best and move on quickly in their learning.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• After a decline in pupils’ outcomes, the local authority took decisive action in 2016 and issued the school with a warning notice for low standards. The work that has taken place since then – with new leaders, revitalised governance and different members of the local authority team – has been impressive. It has resulted in substantially improved outcomes for pupils across the school.
• The relatively new headteacher and deputy headteacher quickly and fastidiously identified the aspects of the school that most needed improvement. They have established strong partnerships with staff and are well supported by members of the local authority. The whole team is working with dedication and renewed ambition to improve outcomes for pupils.
• New assessment systems in place are comprehensive. They are carefully and frequently analysed in terms of the attainment and progress of pupils. Any gaps in pupils’ learning are quickly spotted, appropriate support is put in place and regular checks are made on their progress. As a result, leaders have been able to direct improvements in teaching and learning more accurately, and the progress pupils are making in reading, writing and mathematics has improved.
• Leaders have made sure that their own work and teachers’ assessments are very carefully checked and moderated within school, with the local authority and with local partner schools. Teachers say that they feel much better equipped to accurately identify when a pupil has met age-related expectations and when they are working beyond these.
• Middle leaders, many who are also new to their roles, have strengthened the capacity for improvement. They have a good subject knowledge and have accurately identified the aspects of their subject that most need improvement. They have implemented carefully considered systems, strategies and programmes that are having a successful effect on the quality of teaching and learning, for example the strong leadership of phonics and the effective implementation of a new programme that has been very successful. The programme has been thoroughly supported with training, coaching and rigorous assessment and has resulted in a substantial increase in the proportion of pupils meeting the national standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check.
• Mathematics and English leaders can successfully demonstrate improvements in the standards pupils are achieving in their subjects in the pupils’ work and school assessment information. They have already accurately identified the refinements that they now need to make to their plans to ensure that this success continues.
• The new leader for pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities has made a good start in ensuring that these pupils’ needs are understood and well met. There is clarity to the assessment procedures that now accurately identify the progress pupils are making in English and mathematics from their starting points. Specific staff training is taking place to ensure that everyone has a good understanding of how best to support pupils with different needs. Consequently, these pupils are making good progress this year.
• The headteacher is the lead teacher for disadvantaged pupils. She has an excellent understanding of the needs, attainment and progress of these children because of the rigorous systems she has put in place to identify them. This information has been used effectively to target additional support, for example for pupils in Year 2 and Year 6 in English and mathematics, and these pupils have made accelerated progress as a result. Pupils in other year groups are making good progress but the headteacher is right in her view that this needs to be quicker to ensure that pupils reach national expectations from their low starting points. She has started to further sharpen plans, considering where pupils’ progress needs to be more rapid and how additional government funding can be directed to support this.
• Leaders have devised a new curriculum to engage pupils in purposeful activities across a range of subjects. Subject leaders feel empowered by being involved in whole-school monitoring and evaluation across the curriculum that have helped them to have a clear view of the strengths and areas for development in their subject. Pupils are enthused about their learning across the curriculum because their leaders and teachers are! They are gaining skills, knowledge and understanding that they can confidently relay to visitors because leaders have made sure that their experiences are ‘hands on’ and memorable.
• The primary physical education and sport premium is used well to support a wide range of activities that engage pupils in physical activity. For example, previously reticent participants in sport thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to be part of the ‘Glow’ sport activity, where they competed in the dark with luminous clothing.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness and understanding are developing well due to the actions leaders are taking to support pupils in becoming well-rounded, good citizens.

Governance of the school

• Governors provide good strategic leadership and accountability in the school. They acknowledge that this has not always been the case. The warning notice issued by the local authority identified some fundamental aspects of governance that needed to improve. Once reconstituted, with a new chair and vice-chair, the governing body has been committed to accessing a variety of training and support to improve its practice.
• Governors say that they feel very much part of the school team. Staff and governors work together to share the progress of the improvement actions that they have put in place. Governors are extremely supportive and positive about the school. However, they are now better equipped to test out and challenge the school’s actions for improvement. They use a variety of ways to find out about the progress being made, including reports from school senior and middle leaders, joint visits with, and records of visits from, the local authority, external reports and their own regular visits to school.
• There is a clear understanding among governors of their accountability in checking that leaders have effective procedures and systems in place to ensure that pupils are safeguarded. Governors themselves are well trained in safeguarding. They now have a handle on how finances are spent overall, as well as how additional funding is used to support specific pupils, such as the pupil premium, SEN and/or disabilities funding and the sport premium.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Through their improvement to safeguarding systems, thorough staff training for everyone and clear direction to pupils, leaders have built a culture of safeguarding in the school. Everyone is able to confidently recognise potential concerns and knows how to respond when they arise.
• Leaders have implemented a new electronic system for recording and following up concerns. This is used very effectively and provides a comprehensive working document that everyone understands.
• Risk assessments are carried out involving pupils, as far as possible, in understanding how to keep safe. For example, when a fire evacuation practice takes place, one of the pupils is identified as ‘missing’. The pupils know the importance of working with adults to quickly identify this pupil so that adults could find them and make them safe.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Historic weaknesses in teaching have been challenged and addressed. Significant changes have taken place in staffing and staff training. Leaders have implemented clear systems and expectations that everyone understands and responds to well. As a result, teaching has improved and pupils now make good progress across subjects.
• High-quality staff training in a new programme of phonics and regular coaching and support from the phonics leader have resulted in pupils making a good start to their early reading. Pupils respond well to the good organisation and routines in phonics teaching and have direction that is well matched to their needs. Any inaccuracies in teaching or pupils’ learning are quickly identified and addressed. Consequently, pupils are confident in using their phonics skills in their reading and writing and make good progress.
• Teachers and teaching assistants in key stage 2 have been well supported with training and clear direction in delivering specific aspects of the reading curriculum successfully. They speak confidently about this work and the skills and activity ideas this training has equipped them with. All staff have attended regular staff meetings and training to improve pupils’ reading. For example, they know how to extend pupils’ vocabulary more effectively and use books and reading to deepen learning across the whole curriculum. Consequently, more pupils are reaching and exceeding national age-related expectations. Pupils hear their peers and adults read aloud regularly and, as a result, many of them read with animation and expression, whatever their ability.
• Training and new carefully evaluated systems in mathematics have supported teachers in delivering, and assessing against, the expectations of the mathematics curriculum more effectively. As a result, school assessment information is generally accurate. New teaching strategies have particularly helped middle-ability pupils develop their number skills and apply these successfully to reasoning and problem-solving tasks. However, although teachers have aimed to provide more challenging tasks for the most able pupils, these are not consistently challenging enough. The most able pupils compliantly work through tasks but they do not fully test their skills and thinking or deepen their learning.
• Pupils’ writing shows that, at the start of the year, many pupils were working below national age-related expectations. Since then, improved teacher direction, higher expectations in the quality of writing and plentiful opportunities to write have meant that pupils have made good progress in writing. A higher proportion of pupils are working at, and above, age-related expectations across classes. High-quality texts are used to promote pupils’ reading and writing across the whole curriculum. Pupils’ writing in other subjects is of the same quality as their literacy work. However, sometimes in lessons, pupils lose momentum in a task and lower-ability pupils rely heavily on the support of an adult. Leaders agreed that a greater emphasis on building specific skills through a style of writing will support pupils in deepening their learning. It will also give lower-ability pupils a necessary scaffold to be able to work with greater independence.
• Pupils are keen to share their learning and experiences across a wide, practical curriculum. Trips, visitors to school, activities and celebration events are used successfully to make learning memorable and enjoyable. For example, when learning about the Fire of London, pupils made model houses in design and technology and re-created the fire in detail on the playground, with close attention to their understanding of fire safety too. Most notable is pupils’ developing understanding in different subjects that they are able to articulate well. For example, during the inspection, pupils in key stage 2 demonstrated thoughtfulness and respect when explaining why they felt it was important to learn about different faiths, cultures and ways of life.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are well supported in class and around school. Adults understand their needs well and make sure that their academic, social and emotional needs are well met.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils say that school is a safe place and that they have regular teaching and reminders about how to stay safe. They say that buddy benches, buddies, e-safety lessons, the Worry Monster box to post concerns in and the way adults support them if they have arguments or disagreements help them to be safe.
• Parents, carers and pupils overall feel that the school deals well with any worries or concerns they have. When asked if the adults in school are helpful, one child said with feeling, ‘Yes, I love them!’
• School leaders, including the pastoral leader, have put effective systems in place to ensure that there is a good understanding of pupils’ different needs and any potential barriers to learning.
• The school takes its responsibility in developing pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural learning seriously. Older pupils know why this learning is important. They have opportunities to share their ideas and views and listen carefully to the opinions of others. The words they use to describe their school include ‘safe’, ‘fair’, ‘respectful’ and ‘caring’.
• School leaders have put strategies and teaching in place which are intended to help pupils to develop their thinking skills and make independent choices. However, this work is still in its infancy and developing pupils’ independence and sense of drive in their work is acknowledged by leaders as needing further development.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils display positive attitudes to school and listen carefully to adults’ instructions. Leaders have put a new behaviour policy in place, and staff and pupils say that this has helped everyone know exactly what is expected of them.
• Pupils can explain the difference between right and wrong, giving examples of assemblies and lessons that help them in choices they make. Older pupils give very good examples of how they might support other pupils in making a ‘good choice’. They also show a good understanding of the teaching they have had about how to manage difficult situations that may arise with their peers as they get older.
• At less structured times, such as playtime and lunchtime, pupils play well together, enjoying the opportunity to meet up with siblings and friends in other classes.
• Pupils attend school regularly and on time. Leaders have many strategies to promote good attendance and support families where attendance dips. Pupils’ attendance is above the national average.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• The progress that pupils make in reading, writing and mathematics has improved because of good leadership and good teaching.
• The decline in the proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check has been reversed. Provisional results show that the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard has risen and is now similar to last year’s national average. All pupils who underwent the phonics screening check again at the end of Year 2 made substantial gains on their previous outcomes.
• Pupils in key stage 1 continue to make good progress, and a similar proportion to last year’s national average are working at age-related expectations across subjects. Key stage 1 pupils’ work shows that slightly fewer pupils are working at greater depth, particularly in mathematics.
• In 2017, standards at the end of key stage 2 were well below the national average in reading and below in mathematics. Teacher assessments in reading, writing and mathematics for pupils currently in Year 6, checked by local authority moderators, show great improvement in these outcomes this year. School assessment information and pupils’ work show that a much higher proportion of pupils are working at age-related expectations
• New strategies and training in mathematics have resulted in an increase in the proportion of pupils meeting age-related expectations. This is now similar to the national average. However, the progress that the most able pupils make is not consistently good.
• The progress that disadvantaged pupils make has improved this year across subjects, although pupils’ attainment is still varied across school because of previous gaps in learning. Year 2 and Year 6 pupils’ work and assessment information show the accelerated progress they have made to catch up with their peers.
• As a result of improved systems for checking their progress, and therefore providing appropriate support, pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make good progress.
• Overall, the actions of leaders in eradicating weak teaching and introducing more effective teaching strategies and assessment systems have significantly improved pupils’ outcomes across the school in a range of subjects, including English and mathematics.

Early years provision Good

• Children get off to a great start to school in the early years classrooms. Adults have a good understanding of children’s needs and plan activities that help children to take their next steps across the curriculum. As a result, children make good progress through Reception and are well prepared for Year 1.
• The school liaises carefully with the many different nursery providers and childminders to establish a clear view of children’s starting points. They find out about children’s individual likes and dislikes so that they can plan provision that motivates and interests the children when they start school. A personal welcome card, a photograph of the child with their teacher and personal letters create a positive start to school and a sense of belonging for children and their families.
• The early years lead teacher works effectively with the early years team to ensure that the provision, indoors and outdoors, meets the children’s needs. Accurate assessments of the children’s learning help the adults know how to support all children effectively with tasks and high-quality questioning that help children test out, and make good progress in, their learning.
• The new programme for phonics begins when children enter Reception. Careful checks on their progress result in children having teaching that is well matched to their skills and being moved on quickly in their learning. Adults make sure that reading books are well matched to children’s abilities so that they can become successful and fluent readers.
• The early years environment has a wealth of enticing English and mathematics opportunities for children to engage in. Carefully planned activities that are well modelled by adults, good relationships between adults and children and clear expectations in behaviour and conduct mean that children confidently go about their work. They demonstrate both good independence and cooperation with others. For example, during the inspection, after a whole-class activity to create story maps and retell stories, children set off purposefully to choose activities, including phonics games, making books and storytelling. Because the areas of provision inside and outdoors were carefully resourced, children independently accessed whiteboards, clipboards and different drawing and writing materials. For example, one child used a magnifying glass to find minibeasts and, when she was successful, collected a clipboard where she carefully sounded and recorded the names of the minibeasts she had found.
• Children show similar confidence in accessing the resources they need to answer questions and challenges in mathematics. Children start school with stronger skills in mathematics and leaders acknowledge that the progress that the most able children make in this subject could be further improved so that a greater proportion of children exceed typical age-related skills in mathematics.
• The school has developed strong partnerships with parents, who are positive about the way their children’s learning is celebrated through the online learning journey and regular media messages.
• All children’s welfare needs are met well by caring staff who know the children very well. They are well trained in all aspects of safeguarding and teach the children how to stay safe in the classroom and beyond, from their very first days in school.

School details

Unique reference number 136058 Local authority North Lincolnshire Inspection number 10047385 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 Foundation 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 265 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Michael Galey Louise Cranidge 01724 701 980 www.stpandstp.org.uk admin.stpandstp@northlincs.gov.uk Date of previous inspection October 2013

Information about this school

• The headteacher and deputy headteacher were new to the school in 2017. Half of the teaching staff were new to their roles in September 2017.
• The school was served a warning notice from the local authority in November 2016 for low standards.
• The school is growing rapidly due to the development of housing in the area. There were 138 pupils on roll at the last inspection and there are now 265. The school is now average-sized.
• Most pupils are of White British heritage. A lower proportion of pupils than the national average speak English as an additional language.
• The proportion of pupils eligible for the pupil premium additional funding is below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities, or who have an education, health and care plan, is below the national average.
• The early years comprises two Reception classes. Children enter the early years from a large number of other settings.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ progress and attainment in reading, writing and mathematics.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed lessons across a range of subjects in all classes. Most of these observations were carried out jointly with senior leaders.
• Inspectors met regularly with the headteacher and deputy headteacher. Meetings were also held with the school business manager and subject and middle leaders. The lead inspector met with six members of the governing body and with two representatives from the local authority.
• During visits to lessons, the inspectors spoke with pupils and looked at their work to find out more about how well they are learning.
• Meetings were held with pupils and the inspectors talked informally with pupils around the school. Inspectors listened to some pupils read and talked with them about reading. Pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school was observed.
• A range of documentation was scrutinised, including leaders’ evaluation of school performance, school development planning and documents relating to pupils’ behaviour and the quality of teaching and learning. Inspectors also reviewed the minutes of meetings of the local governing body and information relating to safeguarding and attendance.
• Inspectors met with parents at the end of the school day and considered the 54 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. They also considered the 32 responses to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire.

Inspection team

Kate Rowley, lead inspector Simon Bissett Jo Bentley

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector