Setting

Mrs K Batcock Headteacher All Saints Church of England VA Primary School Fulmodeston Road Stibbard Fakenham NR21 0LT

p.1

Church of England VA Primary School

Thank you for the help which you and your staff gave when I inspected your school on 29 November 2011, for the time you gave to our phone discussions and for the information which you provided before and during the inspection. Please pass my thanks to the pupils for their input to the inspection and the members of the governing body for the time they gave to talk with me about the school.

p.1

Church of England VA Primary School

Since the last inspection, the school has moved from six classes, three of which were mixed-age classes in Key stage 2, to seven single year-group classes. One teacher who was part-time has become full-time, a special educational needs coordinator has been appointed for one day a week and another part-time teacher appointed to Year 5. There is less pupil mobility. The catchment area has changed to include two additional small villages.

p.1

Church of England VA Primary School

As a result of the inspection on 27 May 2010, the school was asked to address the most important areas for improvement which are set out in the annex to this letter. Having considered all the evidence, I am of the opinion that at this time the school has made good progress in making improvements and good progress in demonstrating a better capacity for sustained improvement.

p.1

Church of England VA Primary School

Since the last inspection pupils’ attainment at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 has made a slight improvement. Pupils are currently making good progress in Year 2 and those in Year 6 and are on track to achieve standards that are in line with national expectations, with more Year 6 pupils attaining the higher Level 5 than in the previous two years. This is because leaders and the governing body are setting appropriately challenging targets. However, there remains a legacy of underachievement, particularly in Key Stage 2, due to previous inconsistencies in the deployment of staff and in teaching. The school has addressed these issues and all Serco Inspections Cedar House 21 William Street Edgbaston Birmingham B15 1LH Ofsted T 0300 123 1231 Text Phone: 0161 6188524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Serco Direct T 0121 683 3888 September 2010 Page 2 pupils have continuity in teaching throughout the week. There is good evidence of

p.1

Church of England VA Primary School

pupils having opportunities to engage in extended writing in different subjects, for example in a history project about the Victorians. Teachers’ marking has improved. The best examples were seen in Year 6, where pupils were given very precise examples of why their work is good and exactly what they need to do to improve further. This approach is currently being implemented across the school.

p.2

Church of England VA Primary School

One of the strengths of teaching is the high expectations teachers have for pupils’ learning as well as their behaviour. All teaching seen during the inspection was good. In most lessons, activities are well planned and carefully matched to pupils’ learning needs. Pupils are given opportunities to talk their ideas through with a partner, enabling every child to be fully involved in thinking about teachers’ questions. Teaching assistants give carefully targeted support throughout the lesson. All the pupils spoken to said that lessons were interesting and had just the right amount of challenge. This was seen, for example, in a mathematics lesson, where more-able pupils were calculating exactly how many boxes of cereal a parent would need to buy for their hungry children. All pupils have appropriate targets for English and mathematics and are reminded of these during lessons.

p.2

Church of England VA Primary School

The revised and updated tracking system is being used well by all staff to evaluate pupils’ learning and identify those who are not making expected progress. Middle leaders are fully involved in this process and in setting up appropriate additional support for pupils in English and mathematics where this is needed. Several support groups were observed during the inspections and pupils make good progress in these short, carefully focussed sessions. This is because of the good training teaching assistants have received in how to deliver the programmes, their enthusiastic approach and careful observations of how much pupils have learnt and when they are ready to practise different skills. These interventions are carefully monitored by class teachers and senior staff.

p.2

Church of England VA Primary School

The recently appointed special educational needs coordinator is revising pupils’ individual education plans and, as a result, targets set are sharply focussed on meeting the specific needs of each pupil. Two older pupils spoken to knew their targets and were keen to explain how they had met and were beginning to exceed them: ‘I got nine of my spellings right and my target is six!’ Due to the greater involvement of all staff in monitoring the work of the school, self-evaluation has improved. For example, all lessons observed during the inspection were done so jointly with the headteacher or one of the senior teachers. All grades awarded by staff agreed with those of HMI.

p.2

Church of England VA Primary School

The governing body has fully evaluated and revised all safeguarding policies and procedures and these now meet requirements. It has a much greater involvement in the school than at the time of the last inspection and minutes of meetings and discussions with groups of governors indicate that they are giving challenge as well September 2010 Page 3 as support to the school. The local authority has given good support to the school and a new improvement adviser has recently been allocated.

p.2

Church of England VA Primary School

I hope that you have found the inspection helpful in promoting improvement in your school. This letter will be posted on the Ofsted website.

p.3

place in May 2010

 Raise standards in English and mathematics by: - extending opportunities for pupils to write at length in different subjects - ensuring marking consistently shows pupils how to improve - having consistently high expectations for what all pupils can do and achieve, especially the more able - ensuring that targets for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are specific enough and reviewed more regularly.

p.4

place in May 2010

 Increase the rate of school improvement by: - developing a tracking system that enables staff to analyse data easily, so that they know precisely how each pupil is progressing - deploying staff to ensure a balance of commitments between the need for continuity for pupils and the professional development of staff - undertaking training for all leaders and managers in self-evaluation, so that they form accurate judgements about the school’s performance based on rigorous monitoring against external criteria.

p.4

place in May 2010

 Improve the effectiveness of the governing body by: - ensuring the governing body evaluates the effectiveness of procedures on a regular basis, particularly those relating to safeguarding arrangements - informing themselves sufficiently well to be able to hold leaders and managers fully to account for the school’s performance.

p.4