Hunton and Arrathorne Community Primary School

Hunton and Arrathorne Community Primary School Inspection report

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Age group 4–11 Inspection date(s) 19–20 January 2012 Inspection number 380204 Unique Reference Number 121302 Local authority North Yorkshire Inspection number 380204 Inspection dates 19–20 January 2012 Lead inspector Lee Owston

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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 Community Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 37 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Sylvia Best Headteacher Joanne Grainger Date of previous school inspection 14 March 2007 School address Hunton Bedale DL8 1QB Telephone number 01677 450342 Fax number 01677 450342 Email address admin@huntonarrathorne.n-yorks.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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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days' notice. The inspector observed seven lessons or part-lessons taught by four different teachers, including the headteacher. The inspector held meetings with two groups of pupils, representatives of the governing body, the chair of governors and school staff, including senior and middle leaders. The inspector observed the school's work and looked at a range of documentation, including those related to school improvement planning and safeguarding, records of pupils’ progress, pupils’ work and the school’s self-evaluation procedures. The inspector also scrutinised the 25 questionnaires returned by parents and carers as well as those completed by pupils and staff. No responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) were available to assist in planning the inspection.

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Information about the school

This village school is much smaller than the average-sized primary school. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is below average. Almost all pupils are of White British heritage and no pupil is at the early stages of learning English as an additional language. The percentage of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is below that found nationally, although the percentage of pupils being supported at School Action Plus or who have a statement of special educational needs, is above average. A greater proportion of pupils enter or leave the school other than at the usual start and end of the school year. This is partly due to the number of pupils who belong to Service families. The school has achieved Healthy School status and been awarded the Activemark for its work in physical education. Current government floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for attainment and progress, have been met. The school runs a before- and

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Information about the school

Since the previous inspection, there has been significant change to staffing. The headteacher took up post in September 2008 and the majority of staff are new. The headteacher has a part-time teaching commitment in the mornings to enable smaller classes in Key Stage 2. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Key Findings

 This is a satisfactory school. It is improving strongly through the dedication and commitment of the headteacher and the strong team spirit among the staff.

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Key Findings

 Pupils behave well, are polite and courteous and enjoy coming to school. They work hard and respect each other and the adults who care for them. This is reflected in their above average attendance and consistent punctuality. Parents and carers overwhelmingly agree that their children are well looked after and feel safe in school.

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Key Findings

 Pupils’ achievement is satisfactory. Most children start their Reception Year with skills and abilities that are broadly typical for their age and leave the school in Year 6 with average levels of attainment. This represents satisfactory progress overall. However, as a direct result of the school’s focused work, there is an increasing number of pupils now making good progress in reading and mathematics leading to increased levels of attainment across the school. The school is aware that similar improvement is now necessary in writing.

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Key Findings

 The quality of teaching is satisfactory overall but improving. Professional development and performance management have ensured that teachers are increasingly skilled in assessing pupils’ progress. However, teachers do not always use the information from assessment to exploit all pupils’ abilities and ensure all reach their potential. While these inconsistencies persist, so does the uneven profile of pupils’ achievement over time.

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Key Findings

 Senior leaders know the school’s strengths and weaknesses well. Appropriate areas for development have been prioritised and are regularly monitored but there is insufficient focus on evaluating the impact of action on improving pupils’ achievement. Leaders keep a watchful eye on how well pupils are progressing but expectations have been too narrowly focused on whether all pupils are making expected progress rather than setting targets that will enable individuals to reach higher expectations. This has further contributed to pupils’ achievement being satisfactory rather than good overall. Schools whose overall effectiveness is judged satisfactory may receive a monitoring visit by an Ofsted inspector before their next section 5 inspection.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise attainment and rates of progress in English, particularly writing, across the school by: - ensuring that new learning is modelled and explained effectively - ensuring that all sessions to develop pupils’ knowledge of the links between letters and sounds include frequent opportunities to apply learning to spelling and writing tasks as well as to reading - providing greater opportunities for pupils to apply their basic skills in a wider range of contexts across the curriculum.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the proportion of teaching that is good or better by: - ensuring lessons proceed at a brisk pace and provide increased opportunities for pupils to work actively and independently - matching lesson activities more accurately to the needs of all pupils to support and challenge their learning, including those activities planned for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage - ensuring that all marking and feedback enables pupils to understand what they have done well, how they can improve their work, and the importance of carrying through the suggested actions.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the effectiveness of all leaders and managers, including the governing body, by: - setting more ambitious targets for what individual children can achieve in their time at the school - developing further the skills of middle managers and the governing body in monitoring and evaluating the quality of teaching and its impact on pupils’ progress and achievement in lessons and over time - ensuring that school development planning includes clearly measurable steps towards improved achievement for pupils.

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Achievement of pupils

Children make satisfactory progress in the Early Years Foundation Stage and enter Year 1 with skills and abilities that are broadly in line with expectations for their age. Recent training provided by the local authority has ensured that teachers’ observations of children’s learning, both indoors and out, are leading to more highly-tailored provision. As a result, activities are now more relevant to the needs of individual children and planning increasingly reflects children’s own interests. This is leading to more consistent learning at this key phase although, as it is recent, these developments are not reflected fully in the progress children make. Progress continues to be satisfactory through Key Stage 1 so that by the end of Year 2, attainment is typically average. Reception and Key Stage 1 deliver a structured programme to encourage young readers to grasp the links between sounds and letters,

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Achievement of pupils

although the link between reading and writing is not always made clear to pupils. While many pupils are well versed in sounding-out words to support their reading, their confidence in using this knowledge in their writing is less evident. This leads to some pupils in Key Stage 2 struggling with spelling which prevents faster progress in their writing. Attainment by the end of Year 6 remains broadly average in reading and in English and mathematics overall. This represents satisfactory progress from pupils’ starting points and given their capabilities. In 2011, attainment in reading and mathematics showed significant improvement at Key Stages 1 and 2. School tracking data and analysis of pupils’ work indicate that pupils’ progress is now improving strongly, especially at Key Stage 2. It has not had time to impact fully on attainment by the end of Year 6 where weaknesses in pupils’ writing keep overall levels of attainment in English at the national average.

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Achievement of pupils

Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make satisfactory progress in all subjects across the school so that the gap is closing between their attainment and that of their peers, both in class and nationally. This is due to a detailed analysis of their specific needs and the careful tracking of their achievements. Pupils who arrive and leave the school other than at the usual times, including those from Service families, also make satisfactory progress owing to the strong induction arrangements and the ‘family-friendly’ atmosphere in school which allow them to settle quickly and continue with their learning. Most parents and carers believe that their children are making good progress in their work. This was the case in lessons seen during the inspection, especially in Key Stage 2, where teaching was clearly focussed and offered pupils opportunities to engage with tasks which were at the correct

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Achievement of pupils

level of challenge. Good progress was less evident within the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 where activities did not always meet the needs of all learners fully and progress slowed.

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Quality of teaching

The quality of teaching is satisfactory overall, although some good teaching was observed, especially at Key Stage 2. In the best lessons, teachers make learning fun and articulate clearly what pupils will learn and how they will know if they have succeeded. They plan effective opportunities for pupils to learn through practical activities and promote maximum independence by demonstrating new strategies or techniques before allowing pupils time to practice themselves. This was particularly evident in a Key Stage 2 mathematics lesson when the teachers’ precise knowledge of where pupils were at in their learning was used effectively to introduce challenges in reading and plotting co-ordinates in more than one quadrant. Through appropriate demonstration and modelling by the teacher, all pupils could access the demanding task. The lesson allowed pupils just the right amount of time to practice their newly developed skill before giving them the opportunity to apply this within a

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Quality of teaching

problem-solving scenario. All pupils made good progress. In the less effective lessons, the teacher often overly-directs the learning, limiting the opportunity for pupils to work actively and independently. Work is not always well matched to the abilities of individual pupils and does not offer sufficient challenge or pace to enable pupils to make the accelerated progress necessary to drive up attainment even further. Recent developments to the learning environment in the Early Years Foundation Stage and at Key Stage 1 have begun to address these aspects of teaching. Reception children have greater choice over the activities they undertake and this is leading to increased levels of independence and confidence. While these developments are leading to improvements in children’s learning, they are at too early a stage to have a marked impact on their progress.

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Quality of teaching

The impact of the planned curriculum is satisfactory. There are many opportunities for pupils to practise and develop their basic skills in both English and mathematics, but they are not routinely applied to a range of contexts across the curriculum. As a result, occasions are missed to allow pupils to write at length and too few opportunities are provided for pupils to solve problems and apply their mathematical skills. Where opportunities are exploited, such as when writing to pen pals in France or explaining the importance of water to those in third world countries, the impact of teaching on pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good.

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Quality of teaching

Marking of pupils’ work is regular and supportive and reassures pupils about how well they have achieved the lesson objective. However, there is little evidence of teachers taking this opportunity to let pupils know precisely what was successful or how they can improve their work further. Other than in mathematics when calculations are incorrect, pupils do not fully understand the importance of addressing any guidance provided by their teachers. As such, they do not routinely return to their work, particularly in English, to make further improvements. This limits pupils’ overall progress and attainment.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils are very polite and courteous and show respect for each other and their school surroundings. Their attendance is consistently above the national average. This reflects their enjoyment of school and the trust that parents and carers place in the care provided. Pupils overwhelmingly say that they feel safe in school and that adults are very approachable if they have concerns. Parents and carers are similarly positive, with all questionnaire responses indicating agreement that their children are kept safe in school. Pupils have a good understanding of the risks to which they may be exposed, including those presented by modern technology such as mobile phones and the internet. They are not as knowledgeable of the different forms that bullying may take. Nevertheless, pupils, parents and carers were unanimous in saying that there was no bullying at the school. As one pupil expressed, ‘There are no bullies at this school because we all know each other like family. If

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

we do have a falling-out, we have normally made friends again by the end of the day.’ Pupils say that this is because the ‘playground buddies’ help them to sort out any issues and that teachers know them all so well that, if there was a problem, they are confident it would be resolved quickly.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

The vast majority of pupils behave well in lessons, around the school and when at play. All parents and carers responding to the inspection questionnaires agree that overall there is a good standard of behaviour in lessons and generally around school. Good behaviour was evident in nearly all lessons observed during the inspection and school records indicate that this is typical of behaviour over time. Although pupils’ learning slows at times when tasks are not well matched to their capabilities, pupils always strive to give their best and slips in behaviour do not disrupt the learning of the majority. In the small minority of lessons where low-level disruption was evident, consistent application by staff of whole-school systems, including the use of reward points in Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, ensured that pupils were back on track quickly and that the learning of the whole-class was

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

not compromised. Pupils say that the new reward system, which they call PRIDE, promotes good attitudes of presentation, respect, imagination, determination and enthusiasm. It is helping to improve behaviour in the classroom even further by showing them what good behaviour and attitudes to learning actually look like.

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Leadership and management

The leadership and management of the school are satisfactory. The headteacher works well with all staff and has created an effective team who share the same vision and values. Well targeted professional development has been effectively provided to improve the quality of teaching and develop those staff new to leadership positions. As a result, the quality of teaching is improving, especially within the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, and all teaching staff now have an improved understanding and more accurate assessment of pupils’ attainment, especially in writing. This is providing teachers with a secure base on which to plan for the next steps in pupils’ learning.

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Leadership and management

Leaders have a sound awareness of the school’s strengths and weaknesses and this has led to the correct areas for improvement being identified. However, the school’s development plan is not focused sharply enough on how the impact of actions will be measured, making it difficult to gauge precisely how far improvements to teaching have had an impact on pupils’ achievement. All leaders, including the governing body, undertake monitoring of teaching through lesson observations and scrutiny of pupils’ books. Their evaluations of teaching can be overgenerous as they focus more on what the teacher is doing rather than on the impact of this teaching on the quality and depth of pupils’ learning and progress. Leaders also regularly track pupils’ progress but this analysis has been focused on the proportion of pupils making satisfactory progress, rather than those making good progress or better. Target-setting has not been ambitious enough to secure consistently good

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Leadership and management

progress for all groups of learners across the school. The school’s capacity to improve is therefore satisfactory.

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Leadership and management

The governing body is wholly committed to supporting the school further. Governors have undertaken a range of training to support them in their roles and to offer timely support and challenge to the school. However, their effectiveness in evaluating the impact of the school’s actions to improve attainment and rates of progress is still at an early stage.

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Leadership and management

The curriculum is satisfactory overall. There is a strong focus on developing basic skills in English and mathematics and pupils’ confidence in information and communication technology. However, too few opportunities are provided for pupils to apply these skills across the curriculum to develop their learning further. A strength of the curriculum lies in the variety of enrichment opportunities on offer to pupils. The school provides all groups of pupils with equal opportunity to develop their skills and talents. For example, every pupil goes swimming each week and, in Key Stage 2, all pupils have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument. Accordingly, pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good and the school fully promotes equality of opportunity and tackles any kind of discrimination. Safeguarding procedures meet government requirements.

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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.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

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 ).

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

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.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

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

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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to share with their children. It describes Ofsted's main

findings from the inspection of their school.

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DL8 1QB

Thank you for making me so welcome when I inspected your school recently. I really enjoyed meeting you and particularly appreciate how helpful you were when you spoke with me, shared your work or explained what you were learning during lessons. I particularly enjoyed listening to your singing and was very impressed by your politeness and the care you show for one another so that you behave well most of the time and feel safe. You clearly enjoy coming to school because your attendance is always high.

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DL8 1QB

You go to a satisfactory school. This means that there are some things that your school does well and others that need improvement. Your teachers look after you well and try to make your learning fun by giving you the opportunity to try lots of different things, such as going on visits and having the chance to learn a musical instrument. You told me that you like coming to school because you know everyone so well and it feels like you are all ‘one, big family’. All the adults who work with your headteacher are determined to make sure your school keeps getting better and better. To help your school to do this, I have asked your headteacher, your teachers and the governors to do the following things:  ensure that your lessons, especially in English, are quick and snappy and give you enough time to work on your own and practice what you have been taught  give you plenty of opportunities to join in during lessons and practise your

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DL8 1QB

reading, writing and mathematics skills in other subjects  give you lots of advice about your work so that you know what you have done well and what you need to do next to get better  make sure that all leaders think carefully about what they want to improve in school so that it makes the biggest difference to the progress you make.

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DL8 1QB

You can help your school to improve further by continuing to work hard for your teachers so that you achieve the very best that you can.

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DL8 1QB

Lee Owston Lead inspector procedures set out in the guidance 'Complaining about inspections', which is available 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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