Farway Church of England Primary School

Age group 4–11 Inspection date(s) 25–26 January 2012 Inspection number 378706 Farway Church of England School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 113432 Local authority Devon Inspection number 378706 Inspection dates 25–26 January 2012 Lead inspector Peter Clifton

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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 36 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Tim Bucknall Headteacher Angela Potter Date of previous school inspection 26 February 2009 School address Church Green Farway Colyton EX24 6EQ Telephone number 01404 871239 Fax number 01404 871464 Email address admin@farway.devon.uk 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

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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 telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.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 used a number of strategies to observe learning. These included lesson observations ranging from 25 to 35 minutes, which were then followed by discussions with the teacher and separately with pupils. Seven lessons were visited, observing three teachers. The inspector listened to children read. Meetings were also held with staff, members of the governing body and groups of pupils. Inspectors took account of the responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) in planning the inspection, observed the school’s work, and looked at documents including the school improvement plan, the school’s information on pupils’ progress, samples of pupils’ work and information sent home to parents and carers. The responses to 19 questionnaires from parents and carers, 11 responses from staff and 15 pupil responses were examined and analysed.

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Information about the school

This is a smaller than average-sized primary school with pupils attending from the local area and nearby town of Honiton. There are three mixed-age classes. All pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is broadly average although in some year groups proportions are much higher or lower than those found nationally because of the small cohort sizes. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals are below average. Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are taught in a combined Reception and Year 1 class and have their own separate outside learning area. There is pre-school provision on-site that is managed by a private body. This is situated next to the Reception class.

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Information about the school

The school meets the current government floor standard. It has achieved Healthy Schools Plus status, Eco schools, Travelwise and Active Lifestyle awards as well as the International School award. 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 good school where every pupil is known well by staff and treated as an individual. Pupils’ progress is carefully monitored and additional support quickly provided should any pupil be in danger of falling behind with their learning. Issues from the previous inspection have been tackled well because of strong leadership and management. Pupils’ writing skills and provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage have both improved.

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Key findings

 Pupils are very proud of their school and their attendance is above average. Safeguarding requirements are met. Pupils comment that they are treated with kindness and respect. Parents and carers confirm that pupils feel safe.

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Key findings

 Pupils, including children in Reception, make good progress and achieve well because teaching is mostly well matched to the needs of individual pupils. Some year groups are very small and, consequently, there is some year-on-year variation in attainment. In Year 2, and most years in Key Stage 2, pupils are working at levels above those expected for their age in reading, writing and mathematics. There are no consistent or significant differences between the achievements of any groups of pupils. However, on a few occasions, the learning of more-able pupils slows when they finish work sooner than expected.

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Key findings

 The behaviour of pupils in lessons is consistently good. They are exceptionally friendly and talk about their school and the activities they do with considerable confidence. Parents and carers agree that pupils behave well.

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Key findings

 Teaching is mainly good with discussion being a strong feature across the school. Teachers typically ensure that learning moves along at a brisk pace. On a few occasions, the pace of learning slows, for example when too much time is spent recapping on previously learned skills. The marking of pupils’ writing is consistently good and helps the pupils to improve. However, strategies used to help the pupils to assess their own work and to set personal goals are underdeveloped. 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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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that all teaching matches that of the best by:  maintaining at all times a good pace of learning, particularly for more-able pupils, throughout each lesson  fine-tuning planning so that individual tasks are consistently challenging and extending.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Develop self-assessment strategies for pupils so that they can be fully involved in setting their own goals for improvement.

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Achievement of pupils

Children start school with skills, knowledge and understanding that are typically in line with those expected for their ages. In the current Reception, children have a secure grasp of letters and their sounds and use these to spell and write simple words. They choose activities and play together confidently in a well-resourced area. They have made good progress from their different starting points.

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Achievement of pupils

The lessons observed and pupils’ work seen show that pupils make good progress and achieve well. Reading skills are above average in Year 2 and by the time pupils leave school in Year 6. Weaker readers in Key Stage 1 read at expected levels by Year 6 because intervention programmes have been successful in boosting skills. Older pupils have good reading habits. Year 4 pupils, for example, have developed preferences about different authors and their styles of writing. The school’s focus on improving pupils’ writing has been successful in boosting attainment and progress. In Year 2, pupils’ writing is at least at expected levels. In Key Stage 2, pupils’ sentence writing shows good use of adjectives and adverbial phrases to create effect. Much of the writing is well presented and well punctuated. Pupils in Years 4, 5 and 6 write fluently and logically making clear links between sections. However, in lessons there

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Achievement of pupils

are a few occasions when pupils finish quickly and have to wait for further instructions and this occasionally slows their progress. Pupils have a secure grasp of number and place value. In Key Stage 2, pupils tackle investigations confidently when, for example, they look for patterns with prime numbers, or try to prove or disprove a theory.

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Achievement of pupils

Most disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make good progress through the National Curriculum levels from their different starting points. Those with more complex needs are gaining basic writing skills securely because support is closely tailored to their needs. Questionnaires from parents and carers indicate a strong level of agreement that their children make good progress. 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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Quality of teaching

Teachers are particularly successful in motivating pupils to engage in activities especially when using discussion to generate ideas. Activities stimulate the interest of boys and girls, for example, to write descriptive phrases or to think about different words they could use when ‘dragons’ visited the school. Through effective promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, adults successfully encourage cooperation, fairness and respect. Pupils are proud of the work that they do in school and comment that they usually work hard and like their teachers. Their parents and carers rightly agree with these views.

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Quality of teaching

Across the school teaching is mainly good and parents and carers agree. Teaching in Reception provides children with good strategies to decode and write simple words. In choosing time they use information and communication technology applications which enable them to practise these decoding skills independently.

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Quality of teaching

Lessons have clear objectives which are shared with pupils and are mostly well targeted at the wide range of needs of pupils. Planning was particularly successful in a mathematics lesson when the task enabled the pupils to explore a range of different solutions to a problem. However, learning is occasionally limited when tasks are narrow in their scope, such as when pupils do straightforward addition and subtraction sums. Pupils take note of the comments made in their books suggesting how they could improve their work. Nevertheless, they are not yet helped enough to decide for themselves what could be improved, for example in their writing, to help move it on to the next level.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Around the school pupils are very courteous and polite. They talk proudly about many aspects of the school that they particularly enjoy. Responsibilities are taken very seriously, such as looking after the school’s chickens. Pupils are genuinely appreciative of going to a small school where they know everyone and feel valued by staff. Discussions with many pupils indicated that they had no concern about bullying, including cyber bullying. These views are supported by the parents and carers through the questionnaires. Pupils and parents and carers commented on how well pupils get on with each other and that any issue is quickly dealt with by staff. Behaviour in lessons is good and the pupils say this is always the case.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils are punctual to school and attendance is above average, reflecting pupils’ enjoyment of school. In addition, the school effectively promotes regular attendance. Members of the governing body play their full part is discouraging absences such as pupils taking holidays in term time, and in ensuring the school’s safety.

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Leadership and management

Leadership and management arrangements have been stable since the previous inspection. The determined efforts to improve the school’s effectiveness by the 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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Leadership and management

headteacher with the strong support of the governing body and other staff have been effective. This has consolidated good aspects of the school since the previous inspection as well as firmly tackling areas for development. In the Early Years Foundation Stage, opportunities to develop the children’s independence through play, tracking the progress of children, and the approach to the use of letters and their sounds have all improved. Writing improvements in the rest of the school include a stronger emphasis on talk as a starting point and the use of accurate grammar.

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Leadership and management

Leaders track the progress of individuals and groups of pupils closely and take swift action to prevent anyone from falling behind. This has led to any gaps in achievement being closed rapidly. Provision to secure equal opportunities and tackle discrimination for pupils is effective. The governing body supports and challenges leaders effectively, for example by asking questions about pupils’ rates of progress. Regular visits to the school provide them with first-hand knowledge about what happens in lessons. They have a clear understanding about their responsibility for safeguarding, and arrangements to promote this are comprehensive. The headteacher regularly monitors teaching. Teachers are given opportunities to visit other schools to help them reflect on their own practice. These arrangements are helping to ensure that teaching is generally good or better. Given the strength of improvement in achievement and behaviour as well as teaching since the previous

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Leadership and management

inspection, the school demonstrates good capacity to improve further.

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Leadership and management

The curriculum is good and planning covers a range of stimulating activities in different subjects. Links between subjects are exploited well to extend pupils’ basic skills and support their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. History is used effectively as a stimulus for a range of writing activities. Pupils say they employ information and communication technology regularly in their work. The international link with the school in Uganda enables the pupils to exchange work and write to each other. The impact of the curriculum on the pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is evident in their confidence and the good relationships in school. The curriculum provides pupils with a strong appreciation of the environment and the importance of leading active lives. They show they value each other though the ‘learner of the week’ and ‘thank you’ books. Links with the local church and the

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Leadership and management

vicar’s visits to the school help the assemblies programme greatly.

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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 sta tistics 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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Inspection of Farway Church of England School, Colyton, EX24 6EQ

Thank you for being so welcoming and friendly to me when I visited your school. Farway provides you with a good education. A strength of the school is how well you work together. Staff know you all very well and give each of you good individual attention. You are rightly very proud of your school and show this by attending very regularly and on time. In discussion with many of you, you made it clear that you feel safe and valued, and your parents and carers agree.

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Inspection of Farway Church of England School, Colyton, EX24 6EQ

You make good progress because the work you are given is well matched to your individual needs. However, on a few occasions, you finish your work sooner than your teachers expected. I have asked the school to make sure that this does not happen in the future. You can help by telling your teachers at any time if you find work too easy or difficult. Teaching in the school is good and your teachers use discussion well to help you to learn. However, there are a very few occasions when too much time is spent going over work you already understand. Several of you told me that you find the marking in your books helpful. I have asked your headteacher to make sure you are given more opportunities to check and level your own work so that you can identify for yourselves what you need to do better.

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Inspection of Farway Church of England School, Colyton, EX24 6EQ

Your behaviour in lessons is good. I was pleased that you confirmed that any misbehaving or bullying is very rare and quickly dealt with. I really enjoyed walking around the school with a group of you and was amazed at how much information you told me in the time available.

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Inspection of Farway Church of England School, Colyton, EX24 6EQ

Your headteacher and other adults have done a good job in improving your school since you were last visited by an inspector. I hope you will continue to cooperate fully with your teachers so that you learn as well as you can.

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Inspection of Farway Church of England School, Colyton, EX24 6EQ

Peter Clifton 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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