Newnham St Peter's Church of England Primary School

Age group 4 – 11 Inspection date(s) 11 –12 January 2012 Inspection number 379127 Newnham St Peter’s Church of England Primary School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 115694 Local authority Gloucestershire Inspection number 379127 Inspection dates 11–12 January 2012 Lead inspector Joyce Cox

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Type of school Primary School category Voluntary aided Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 111 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Ian Broady Headteacher Claire Cook Date of previous school inspection 14 May 2009 School address Station Road Newnham Gloucestershire GL14 1AT Telephone number 01594 516208 Fax number 01594 516208 Email address head@newnham-st-peter.gloucs.sch.uk. You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when.

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You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk, or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please

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T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days' notice. The inspector observed five teachers and visited nine lessons, spending five hours observing teaching. She held meetings with the Chair of the Governing Body, staff and pupils. The inspector observed the school’s work, and looked at the school development plan, assessment information, teachers’ planning, pupils’ work and safeguarding procedures. She also analysed questionnaires returned by 84 parents and carers, nine staff and 61 pupils.

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Information about the school

This is smaller than the average-sized primary school. There are four classes in the school and children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are taught in the Reception class. The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is average. The number of pupils with a statement of special educational needs is above the national average. Almost all the pupils are from White British backgrounds. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is rising and is currently slightly below average. The school meets the current government floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.

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Information about the school

The senior teacher became acting headteacher in September 2009 and was appointed substantive headteacher in January 2010. A newly qualified teacher joined the school in January 2012 to teach the Years 1 and 2 class.

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Information about the school

The school has an off-site pre-school playgroup which is subject to a separate inspection.

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Key findings

 This is a good school where pupils are well behaved, hard working and consequently achieve well. Pupils’ attainment by the age of 11 is above average and especially high in reading. All groups of pupils make good progress. The school has taken significant strides forward in recent years. Leaders at all levels have a much-improved capacity to measure pupils’ attainment and achievement and track their progress in all subjects. This, together with an interesting curriculum, has resulted in a sustained rise in pupils’ attainment and achievement over the last two years.

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Key findings

 Pupils achieve well because the quality of teaching is good and in the Reception and Years 5/6 classes it is frequently outstanding. Reading, writing and mathematical skills are taught well and any pupil in danger of falling behind in their learning is identified quickly and given effective support. On a few occasions higher attaining Year 1 and Year 2 pupils are not challenged sufficiently in writing lessons which can hinder their progress. All pupils are usually clear about how to improve their writing and mathematical skills. Very occasionally some teachers do not state clearly enough what pupils are to learn or write their next learning steps in easy to understand language.

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Key findings

 Parents, carers and pupils say that behaviour is good. All pupils, including those with identified behavioural difficulties, respond well to staff’s high expectations for behaviour, conduct and attitudes. Pupils feel very safe in school because staff are vigilant and ensure the site is safe.

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Key findings

 The headteacher, staff and governors strive constantly to improve the outcomes for all pupils. The school has worked hard to improve communication with parents and carers and most parents and carers are happy and would recommend the school to others. However, a small minority of parents and carers say that they feel that the school does not keep them well enough informed.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Provide teaching and learning that are consistently good or better by ensuring: – More-able Key Stage 1 pupils are consistently challenged in their writing – learning objectives are always displayed and shared with pupils – teachers’ comments in pupils’ books are always written in easy to understand language.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Build on the existing good measures to keep parents and carers well informed by updating the school’s website and by ensuring that the governing body provides regular opportunities for parents and carers to meet with governors at the school to express their concerns and/or queries.

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Achievement of pupils

Children enter the Reception class with skills that are lower than is usually expected for their age in all areas of learning and especially in their early writing and calculating skills. They achieve outstandingly well in the Reception class because of high quality teaching, excellent induction procedures, an outstanding partnership with parents and carers, and rigorous attention to encouraging children’s language development. The impressive emphasis on promoting children’s welfare and happy relationships enables them to settle quickly and happily into school routines. Children benefit from plenty of opportunities to move freely between the exceptionally colourful and exciting indoor and outdoor areas gaining good independence and personal skills. They thoroughly enjoy the inspiring and attractive activities which enable them to make outstanding progress, particularly in their language skills. Regular, focused sessions to help children learn letters and sounds (phonics) are

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Achievement of pupils

considerably enhancing their progress in early reading and writing. More-able Reception children can write several simple sentences unaided. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive high-quality support so they make outstanding progress because staff seize every opportunity to encourage children to communicate in more than single words and gestures.

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Achievement of pupils

This excellent foundation enables pupils to continue to make good progress in literacy and mathematics throughout Year 1 and Year 2. There is a strong determination that all pupils will learn to read by the end of Year 2, regardless of their prior abilities. Consequently, attainment in reading is high by the age of six and remains at this level at the end of Year 2 and Year 6. This is because virtually all the pupils attain the expected level in reading, and many exceed this by using more complex skills at the higher levels. Year 1 and Year 2 pupils demonstrate that they have acquired good strategies to tackle unfamiliar words in their reading books. Year 1 and Year 2 pupils’ attainment in writing is slightly lower than in reading and the school has put in place measures to remedy this, such as support from a literacy consultant and daily spelling and handwriting sessions. These are already proving to

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Achievement of pupils

be effective in raising attainment. Pupils continue to make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics throughout Key Stage 2 so that by the time they leave the school their attainment is above average. The school succeeds in closing any gaps in achievement for pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals and for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities; in the 2011 tests at the end of Year 6, both these groups of pupils attained higher results than similar pupils nationally. The majority of parents and carers feel that their children make good progress and these views are validated by the inspection findings.

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Quality of teaching

Teaching is good. It is frequently outstanding in the Reception and Years 5/6 classes. Consequently, all groups of pupils are achieving well over time. In Reception, staff are highly skilled at observing and assessing the children so they know precisely when to intervene and interact to extend and enhance children’s language, learning and development. Teachers’ high expectations ensure that pupils are often encouraged to challenge themselves, persevere and not give up, which enhances their moral and social skills. This was evident in an outstanding Year 6 literacy lesson where pupils of all abilities made excellent progress in writing a moral dilemma text because of the skilful way the teacher enhanced pupils’ knowledge and understanding of conditional language and complex sentences. Reading, writing and mathematics are taught well. Pupils are grouped according to their ability for short daily mathematical and writing sessions, where skills such as learning times tables

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Quality of teaching

and practising spellings and phonics are effectively developed. Pupils have good opportunities to use and develop these skills across the curriculum. Teachers’ skilful questioning and astute analysis of pupils’ responses mean that learning is normally tailored well to pupils’ ability. On a very few occasions, more-able Years 1 and 2 pupils are not challenged sufficiently in their writing as they receive the same tasks as other pupils. Learning objectives are usually displayed and shared with the pupils. For example, Reception children love to unzip a frog puppet’s mouth to discover what they are learning about. In a small number of lessons during the inspection learning objectives were not shared, so pupils did not have a clear idea of what they were expected to achieve in the lesson.

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Quality of teaching

Pupils say they like the teaching very much as teachers ‘make us feel more confident and organised and there is the right amount of challenge in our work’. They maturely describe their writing and mathematical learning targets and for the most part know how to improve their work. However, a scrutiny of pupils’ books reveals that not all the teachers write pupils’ next learning steps in language that is easy to understand, which is not helpful to pupils. The majority of parents and carers believe that teaching is good at the school and inspection evidence supports this. A parent of a Reception child wrote, ‘My child loves school. She has made lots of kind friends, learnt to write her name, she knows all her phonics sounds and can read some words. She enjoys doing her homework every weekend and loves doing her word boxes. I couldn’t have asked for more from her first term at school.’

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils’ consistently good behaviour and attitudes in lessons and around the school are key factors in their good achievement. Various groups of pupils say that although ‘some pupils with behavioural difficulties can have their moments’, on the whole behaviour is very good and there is absolutely no bullying. Year 6 pupils describe the school’s ‘Values’ of honesty, trust, tolerance and patience and maturely explain what these mean in daily school life. They have a good understanding of different types of bullying and how to deal with them. Virtually all parents and carers feel that pupils are kept very safe at school and the majority feel that behaviour is good. Many parents and carers who have children with special educational needs and/or disabilities wrote about the ‘excellent support from staff,’ not just for their children but for the whole family. Pupils feel extremely safe in school and are very aware of

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

internet dangers saying, ‘Some sites are blocked to keep us safe.’ Attendance levels are above average and most absenteeism is due to illness.

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Leadership and management

The headteacher’s good leadership has been a key factor in creating an ambitious staff team who successfully improve the outcomes for all pupils. Senior leaders provide a relentless and effective focus on improving teaching through staff training and development which results in good teaching and learning throughout the school. Senior leaders are fully aware of any differences in the progress and attainment of various groups of pupils. Through the use of early identification strategies and effective interventions staff have succeeded in narrowing these achievement gaps and confirm the school’s good capacity to improve further. The good support for potentially vulnerable pupils show the school’s strong commitment to equality of opportunity and tackling discrimination, which enables all pupils to achieve well, whatever their circumstances or difficulties. Staff ensure that they break down any barriers that might lead to gaps in pupils’ learning and achievement. For example,

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Leadership and management

the pastoral support worker, who is also a full-time teaching assistant, provides effective daily support to targeted pupils and to families through weekly counselling sessions. Safeguarding policies and procedures are of good quality and constantly reviewed to ensure pupils’ safety at all times. The curriculum is good and is skilfully adapted to meet the needs and interests of all the pupils so that they all achieve well. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. Curriculum plans and worship planning identify explicitly where these aspects are to be promoted and developed.

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Leadership and management

The governing body provides increasing challenge and good support to the school. Governors devise challenging questions in response to the headteacher’s termly reports. There is an effective partnership with most parents and carers. However, a small minority feel that communication between school and home requires improvement. The inspector looked very closely at this and discovered that the school provides good information regarding pupils’ learning and school life generally. However, the school website is not fully up to date and there is no formal arrangement for parents and carers to speak to governors about their queries or concerns.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding These features are highly effective. An outstanding school provides exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. Grade 2 Good These are very positive features of a school. A school that is good is serving its pupils well. Grade 3 Satisfactory These features are of reasonable quality. A satisfactory school is providing adequately for its pupils. Grade 4 Inadequate These features are not of an acceptable standard. An inadequate school needs to make significant improvement in order to meet the needs of its pupils. Ofsted inspectors will make further visits until it improves.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Nursery schools 46 46 8 0 Primary schools 8 47 40 5 Secondary schools 14 38 40 8 Special schools 28 48 20 4 Pupil referral units 15 50 29 5 All schools 11 46 38 6

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

New school inspection arrangements have been introduced from 1 January 2012. This means that inspectors make judgements that were not made previously. The data in the table above are for the period 1 September 2010 to 31 August 2011 and represent judgements that were made under the school inspection arrangements that were introduced on 1 September 2009. These data are consistent with the latest published official statistics about maintained school inspection outcomes (see www.ofsted.gov.uk). The sample of schools inspected during 2010/11 was not representative of all schools nationally, as weaker schools are inspected more frequently than good or outstanding schools. Primary schools include primary academy converters. Secondary schools include secondary academy converters, sponsor-led academies and city technology colleges. Special schools include special academy converters and non-maintained special schools.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Percentages are rounded and do not always add exactly to 100.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Achievement: the progress and success of a pupil in their learning and development taking account of their attainment.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attainment: the standard of the pupils’ work shown by test and examination results and in lessons.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attendance: the regular attendance of pupils at school and in lessons, taking into account the school’s efforts to encourage good attendance.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Behaviour how well pupils behave in lessons, with emphasis on their attitude to learning; pupils’ punctuality to lessons and their conduct around the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Capacity to improve: the proven ability of the school to continue improving based on its self-evaluation and what the school has accomplished so far and on the quality of its systems to maintain improvement.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Leadership and management: the contribution of all the staff with responsibilities, not just the governors and headteacher, to identifying priorities, directing and motivating staff and running the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Learning: how well pupils acquire knowledge, develop their understanding, learn and practise skills and are developing their competence as learners.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Overall effectiveness: inspectors form a judgement on a school’s overall effectiveness based on the findings from their inspection of the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Progress: the rate at which pupils are learning in lessons and over longer periods of time. It is often measured by comparing the pupils’ attainment at the end of a key stage with their attainment when they started.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Safety: how safe pupils are in school, including in lessons, and their understanding of risks. Pupils’ freedom from bullying and harassment. How well the school promotes safety, for example e-learning.

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carers to share with their children. It describes Ofsted’s

main findings from the inspection of their school.

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Newnham, GL14 1AT

I enjoyed visiting your school and I am writing to thank you for two very interesting days. You go to a good school and these are the things I found out.

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Newnham, GL14 1AT

 You enjoy school, feel very safe and your behaviour is good.  Teachers help you to make good progress in your work.  Reception children have a happy and very successful start to school life.  You enjoy your lessons and you work hard for your teachers.  You go to a caring school.  Pupils who have special educational needs and those who are disabled receive good support.

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Newnham, GL14 1AT

To make the school even better, I have asked the adults if they can make sure that more-able Year 1 and Year 2 pupils are always given challenging writing tasks. Also I would like all the teachers to share learning objectives with you and to make sure that when they write comments in your books they always use language that is easy to understand. To make sure your parents and carers have even more information about the school I have asked the governors to hold regular meetings with them and have also asked the staff to update the school website.

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Newnham, GL14 1AT

You can help by continuing to work hard and keeping up your good standards of behaviour.

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Newnham, GL14 1AT

Joyce Cox Lead inspector procedures set out in the guidance 'Complaining about inspections', which is availab le from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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