Ormsgill Nursery and Primary School

Ormsgill Primary School Inspection report

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Age group 3–11 Inspection date(s) 19–20 January 2012 Inspection number 381399 Unique Reference Number 131761 Local authority Cumbria Inspection number 381399 Inspection dates 19–20 January 2012 Lead inspector Naomi Taylor

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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 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 156 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Tina Macur Headteacher Steven Herbert Date of previous school inspection 15 January 2009 School address Mill Bank Barrow-in-Furness LA14 4AR Telephone number 01229 894654 Fax number 01229 894653 Email address head@ormsgill.cumbria.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.

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

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Introduction

Naomi Taylor John Ellwood Additional inspector Additional inspector

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days’ notice. The inspectors observed six teachers and visited 15 lessons. Discussions were held with staff, groups of pupils, a representative of the local authority, members of the governing body and parents and carers. The inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a wide range of documentation provided by the school including: safeguarding documents, the school’s self-evaluation and development plans, local authority evaluations, records of pupils’ attainment and progress and pupils’ work. The inspector looked at the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) but no responses were recorded to aid inspection planning. The questionnaire responses from 40 parents and carers, 91 pupils and nine staff were also analysed.

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Information about the school

This is smaller than the average primary school. Almost all pupils are White British. The proportion of pupils with special educational needs and those with disabilities is well above the national average as is the proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals.

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Information about the school

Since the last inspection, there has been a decrease in the number of pupils on roll. The acting headteacher is in post for a term prior to the new headteacher starting in the summer term 2012. There have been a number of changes in leaders and managers in recent years.

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Information about the school

The school holds the Artsmark Gold Award, International Intermediate Award, Healthy School status, Green Flag Eco-Award and Kidsafe Certificate. The school does not meet the current government floor standards. 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. Pupils, parents and carers are overwhelmingly positive about the school. Pupils achieve satisfactorily. Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 is broadly average overall and improving. Since the last inspection, attainment in English by the end of Key Stage 2 has greatly improved and the school is now focused on improving attainment in mathematics, which is already beginning to rise.

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Key Findings

 Teaching is satisfactory and improving. The school provides good support for disabled pupils and those with special educational needs. As a result, these pupils make good and sometimes better progress. In mathematics, pupils, particularly the more-able, are not always consistently challenged through independent learning. Marking and the use of self- and peer-assessment are variable. The local authority is working with the school to share best practice and this is having a positive impact on improving the current progress of all pupils.

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Key Findings

 Pupils typically behave well in lessons and around the school and they feel very safe. Inspection evidence confirms this. There is a strong emphasis on pupils’ personal development, which gives them confidence to move on to the next stage in their education.

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Key Findings

 The acting headteacher and staff know the school’s strengths and weaknesses. Performance management has been used well to improve the quality of teaching and lessons in mathematics are now taught by ability, rather than age. The governing body is committed to supporting the school and to challenging leaders and managers.

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Key Findings

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?

 Improve the quality of teaching and learning in Key Stage 2 to raise pupils' attainment in mathematics by the end of Year 6 by: - providing more opportunities for independent learning and ensuring that all pupils are effectively challenged, particularly the more-able - using a consistent approach to marking in order to help pupils understand how to improve, by providing more opportunities for them to reflect on their work through peer- and self-assessment.

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Achievement of pupils

Children start the Early Years Foundation Stage with skills and knowledge that are generally below or well below those expected for their age. Throughout their time in the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, children achieve well. Evidence from lesson observations and from tracking data demonstrates that all pupils are fully engaged in learning and making at least good progress.

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Achievement of pupils

In 2011, the progress of pupils from Key Stage 1 to 2 was below expectations, but this is not usually the case. Overall attainment at the end of Year 6 is broadly average, but attainment in mathematics is lower than that in English. The previous headteacher and the current assistant headteacher have started to tackle this issue by undertaking assessments of all pupils in the autumn term of 2011 and then adapting the mathematics curriculum to help to eradicate gaps in pupils' knowledge through teaching by ability, rather than by age groups. The impact has yet to be fully seen, and in some mathematics lessons observed, there was evidence of pupils lacking in confidence as they worked independently on small- group activities.

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Achievement of pupils

Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs gain much in their development from working with the whole class, in smaller groups or with one-to-one support. Their progress is good and sometimes better. Parents and carers believe that their children are now making good progress, both academically and personally. There was some evidence of this during the inspection, but overall pupils' progress and achievement is satisfactory.

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Achievement of pupils

Attainment is reading is slightly below average by the end of Key Stage 1. Pupils use their skills to break down and sound out difficult or unfamiliar words. They demonstrate an understanding of what they have read by retelling the story in their own words. Analysis of data and direct observation show that attainment in reading is improving. In Years 3 and 4, pupils have a good understanding of the importance of reading both for their school work and for their future. They are confident in their reading skills and speak excitedly about enjoying reading a variety of books. Attainment in reading is broadly average by the time pupils leave Year 6.

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Quality of teaching

The quality of teaching is satisfactory and improving. Through the planned curriculum, teachers’ expectations enable pupils to work hard and achieve satisfactorily, encouraging them to make progress. There is a raft of opportunities for pupils to develop spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding, especially through visits and visitors to the school.

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Quality of teaching

In the Early Years Foundation Stage parents and carers are encouraged to ‘stay and play’ on a Thursday and this helps to engage them in their child’s learning and development. The good and better lessons seen during the inspection had pace and a variety of activities to engage and enthuse pupils. For example, in a Years 5/6 lesson, pupils learnt about developing their literacy skills through planning to produce a leaflet about Barrow. With the teacher, they analysed and discussed the language, layout and content of different leaflets. Excellent questioning techniques by the teacher helped to extend pupils’ vocabulary and encouraged them to use their imagination. Pupils were very excited and enthralled and when they started to draw a mind map to plan the content of their own leaflet, they had a raft of language and information to draw upon.

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Quality of teaching

The teaching of English has improved since the last inspection. The teaching of mathematics is weaker, but there have been recent improvements through teaching pupils by ability, rather than by year group. In a Year 2 mathematics lesson, pupils worked well as a group and the teacher effectively put into a real life context the reason for sequencing odd and even numbers. The pupils quite clearly understood how difficult it would be for a postman if numbers in a street were not in a sequence.

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Quality of teaching

In weaker lessons, the pace of activities does not match each pupil's needs so precisely. For example, in a Years 4/5 mathematics lesson, the introduction by the teacher was too long and more-able pupils could have moved on to working independently on problem-solving tasks more quickly. The tracking system to monitor progress allows teachers to plan more accurately to meet the needs of individuals. Parents and carers believe that their children are receiving good teaching. Inspectors judge that this is the case for some of the time, but that lessons need to be consistently good or better and that the overall quality of teaching is satisfactory, but more effective in English than in mathematics.

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Quality of teaching

Pupils’ work is marked frequently and regularly. Marking does not always provide pupils with clear information about the next steps to improve their work. Using the tracking system, teachers set realistic and challenging targets. Most pupils know and understand their targets. This practice is embedded across the whole school. However, some aspects are not so well established in all lessons, for example, the use of peer- and self-assessment by the older pupils, which would give them the opportunity to reflect more closely on their work.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Behaviour and safety are good. Pupils say they feel safe in school and they can turn to any adults if they have concerns. They have a good understanding of the risks to which they may be exposed, both within and beyond school. Attendance is average and pupils are punctual. Pupils typically behave well in lessons and around school, and from pupils' questionnaire responses, they feel that there are very few occasions when this is not the case. Records show that inappropriate behaviour is swiftly dealt with, using the procedures in the behaviour policy and effective strategies to support positive behaviour delivered by the learning mentors. Pupils and their parents and carers agree that behaviour is good and has greatly improved over recent years. The improvement in pupils' behaviour is reflected in the fact that there has been a dramatic reduction in the number of exclusions since the last inspection. The school increasingly ensures that pupils develop respect for each other and

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

for adults. The few incidents of bullying are dealt with very rigorously and there is strong support for pupils and their families who experience difficulties.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

The curriculum includes raising pupils’ awareness of different types of bullying. The school ensures that pupils, parents and carers have a good understanding of e-safety both at school and at home.

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Leadership and management

The acting headteacher, governing body and all leaders and managers have focussed successfully on identifying the school’s strengths and areas for development. Consequently, there have been significant improvements in the progress of children in the Early Years Foundation Stage and pupils in Key Stage 1. Since the last inspection, attainment in English by Year 6 has improved and now the gap is beginning to close between pupils' performance in mathematics and English in Key Stage 2. Coupled with improvements in attendance and pupils’ behaviour the school demonstrates good capacity to improve further.

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Leadership and management

The school has an accurate view of the quality of teaching and knows what needs to be improved. There has been sound professional development in partnership with the local authority and this is impacting on improving the quality of teaching. For example, teachers are better adapting learning to meet individual pupils’ needs and more effectively providing personalised support for pupils who are not making the expected progress.

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Leadership and management

The governing body has made significant changes, for example in appointing new leaders and managers who have instigated effective actions to drive whole-school improvements. Safeguarding procedures are good and ensure that the school is a safe place for everyone. The behaviour policy has had on impact on improving the attitude of pupils towards learning, and their conduct in and around the school. The acting headteacher and previous headteacher implemented a tracking system to monitor and evaluate pupils' learning and this has had a positive impact on the improvements in teaching and learning.

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Leadership and management

The impact of the curriculum on the outcomes of pupils is good. The curriculum is now carefully adapted to help pupils towards maximising their progress, thereby effectively promoting equality of opportunity and appropriately tackling discrimination. For example, there are now more opportunities for pupils to enjoy learning, which was clearly evident when they went bird watching. There are excellent Forest School opportunities which highly engage pupils and from which other schools also benefit. Within the curriculum, the promotion of pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding. There is a raft of opportunities for pupils to develop an understanding of other cultures, for example, in the project and display on Africa. Pupils talk very knowledgably about their responsibility to raise money to aid those less fortunate than themselves. The school is an integral part of the local community and provides a wealth of opportunities to develop pupils’ personal skills

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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 nati onally, 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 up 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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Inspection of Ormsgill Primary School, Barrow-in-Furness, LA14 4AR

Thank you for the warm welcome when we came to inspect your school recently. A particular ‘thank you’ goes to those of you who gave your time to talk to the inspectors about how much you enjoy your work and the activities you take part in outside lessons. Some of you who read to us showed how you work out unfamiliar words and told us why reading skills are so important.

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Inspection of Ormsgill Primary School, Barrow-in-Furness, LA14 4AR

You attend a satisfactory and improving school, where the staff do all they can to encourage and support you. There have been a number of changes since the last inspection, which are enabling you to make satisfactory and in some cases better progress. The teaching you receive is satisfactory and improving. Your behaviour is good in lessons and around the school and the school ensures that you are very safe. You look after each other very well and this helps the younger children in the Early Years Foundation Stage to settle quickly into school.

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Inspection of Ormsgill Primary School, Barrow-in-Furness, LA14 4AR

I have asked that the school continues to improve the quality of teaching of mathematics and to provide more opportunities that better meet the needs of all ability groups, but especially those of you who find learning easier than most. I have also asked that marking and assessments by all staff are consistent and that they increase the opportunities for you to reflect on your work through assessing your own and each other’s work. Leaders and managers, including the governing body, will monitor the recent changes and ensure that the positive changes and improvements in progress are maintained. This should help to raise your attainment further and help you to achieve more.

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Inspection of Ormsgill Primary School, Barrow-in-Furness, LA14 4AR

You can help by continuing to attend school regularly and working as hard as you can.

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Inspection of Ormsgill Primary School, Barrow-in-Furness, LA14 4AR

Naomi Taylor 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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