The Billinghay Church of England Primary School

PROTECT – INSPECTION

Age group 3–11 Inspection date(s) 31 January–1 February 2012 Inspection number 380047 The Billinghay Church of England Primary School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 120515 Local authority Lincolnshire Inspection number 380047 Inspection dates 31 January–1 February 2012 Lead inspector Terry Elston

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

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PROTECT – INSPECTION

Type of school Primary School category Voluntary controlled Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 147 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Juneta Wilson Headteacher Richard Allen Date of previous school inspection 17 March 2009 School address Fen Road Billinghay Lincoln LN4 4HU Telephone number 01526 860786 Fax number 01526 860786 Email address richard.allen@billinghay.lincs.sch.uk Inspection report: The Billinghay Church of England Primary School, 31 January–1 February 2012 2 of 12

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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 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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PROTECT – INSPECTION

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 Inspection report: The Billinghay Church of England Primary School, 31 January–1 February 2012 3 of 12

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days’ notice. The inspector visited nine lessons taught by seven teachers and held meetings with members of the governing body, staff and groups of pupils. The inspector took account of the responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) in planning the inspection, observed the school’s work and looked at the tracking of pupils’ progress, curricular planning documents, examples of the ways in which the school supports different groups of pupils, evidence from the school’s lesson observations and information from questionnaires completed by pupils, staff and 31 parents and carers.

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Information about the school

The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school. The vast majority of pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs, including those with a statement of special educational needs, is above average. The proportion of pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals is also above average. The school meets the current floor standard, whereby the government sets the minimum expectations for attainment and progress. It has recently gained national Healthy Schools status and the International Schools award. It provides care before and after school. Inspection report: The Billinghay Church of England Primary School, 31 January–1 February 2012 4 of 12

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Information about the school

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

 The school is good. Parents and carers are right to believe this is a school where their children are safe, happy and successful in developing their personal as well as academic skills. One parent or carer, typical of many, commented, ‘This is a place where children do very well in all areas of development and leave very well prepared for the future.’

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Key findings

 Children make a good start in the Nursery and Reception classes. They settle quickly, enjoy school and make good progress in all areas of learning. They develop their reading and number skills particularly well.

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Key findings

 By the end of Key Stage 2, attainment is above average in mathematics and English. This represents good progress from pupils’ starting points. In English, while pupils read very well, their progress in writing is slower in some classes than others. This is because not all teachers leave pupils enough time to write, and sometimes accept writing in science and topic work that is not as good as their work in English lessons.

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Key findings

 The good teaching is a key reason for the school’s success. Pupils say how much teachers make learning fun by using exciting resources and technology to bring subjects to life. The work is, for the most part, challenging, although occasionally there is too little to stretch the more-able pupils.

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Key findings

 The good provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development shows in the way they think deeply about the world around them and develop a clear sense of right and wrong.

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Key findings

 The school has made rapid progress since the last inspection because of the way the headteacher and senior staff identify weaknesses and rectify them. This has led to big improvements, particularly in standards in English and mathematics. Inspection report: The Billinghay Church of England Primary School, 31 January–1 February 2012 5 of 12

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Key findings

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?

 By July 2012, ensure that pupils make good progress in writing in all classes by:  giving them sufficient time to write in lessons  having higher expectations of the quality of their writing in all subjects.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Make the most of the talents of more-able pupils by:  having higher expectations of their work  ensuring they know what they need to do to attain the higher levels  giving them more opportunities to plan their own work and develop their independence.

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Achievement of pupils

Parents and carers say how impressed they are at their children’s progress. The inspector, too found progress to be good, though occasionally the most able move on a little more slowly. Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage enter the school with skills lower than those expected for their ages and attainment is broadly average by the end of the year. The excellent teaching of reading skills means that children learn quickly how sounds build into words. They count confidently and recognise simple shapes. Children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is enhanced by thoughtful activities such as writing posters to help locate the missing Snow White, distributing them around the school and asking visitors whether they have seen her.

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Achievement of pupils

Pupils in Key Stage 1 build well on this good start. They enjoy reading because of the effective teaching of how to tackle unfamiliar words and this gives them confidence to pick up any book. Their reading is above average by the time they finish Key Stage 1. Their writing is imaginative and fuelled by exciting tasks such as creating a story about a hazardous trip to the moon. In mathematics, pupils learn to calculate quickly in their head and relish the quick-fire mental mathematics sessions.

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Achievement of pupils

By the end of Key Stage 2, attainment over recent years has been broadly average, but higher in mathematics than English because of boys’ underperformance in writing. The school identified this and closed the gap in boys’ attainment in writing compared with that of girls. Attainment is now above average in both subjects. Reading is securely above average by the end of Key Stage 2. Pupils read confidently and skim texts quickly to gain information. They use their imagination well to write stories and those in Year 6 use their skills very well in all subjects. This is not so much the case in other year groups. Their mathematical skills improve well because of the way teachers provide many opportunities for pupils to use their good numeracy skills to solve puzzles and conduct complex investigations in both mathematics and science. Inspection report: The Billinghay Church of England Primary School, 31 January–1 February 2012 6 of 12

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Achievement of pupils

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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Achievement of pupils

Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make good progress. They do well in their reading because of the good teaching of word-building skills. In writing, however, while they make satisfactory progress, they do not always have sufficient time in lessons to write more than a few sentences.

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Quality of teaching

Parents and carers are rightly full of praise for the way teachers help their children learn so quickly. Teachers use the interactive whiteboards confidently to help pupils enjoy and understand the work. For example, pupils were prepared very well for writing a story because the teacher showed pictures of fierce and friendly monsters to get their ideas and vocabulary flowing. Teachers are very consistent in the way they manage behaviour and this makes the most of the time in lessons. They ask probing questions and give pupils confidence by valuing every answer. The curriculum provides a good framework to support teachers’ planning. In the main, teachers’ expectations are high for all groups of pupils and all make good progress. Occasionally, however, they provide too few opportunities for the more-able pupils to move ahead at their own pace. Teachers are good at teaching basic reading and number skills and this gives pupils the confidence to tackle challenging work. In

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Quality of teaching

writing, however, they sometimes leave too little time for them to put their good ideas on paper.

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Quality of teaching

In all classes, teachers do much to enhance pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. For example, they encourage them to reflect on the need to care for the environment and to think carefully about the impact of their actions on others. They provide very good opportunities for pupils to share their ideas with their talking partner and make a point of encouraging them to value each other’s opinion.

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Quality of teaching

Teachers make detailed assessments of pupils’ progress in lessons, and use these well to plan future work. They mark pupils’ work promptly and are good at suggesting how it could be improved. However, during lessons teachers do not always make clear to the more-able pupils how they can attain the higher levels in their work.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils behave well and have a very clear sense of right and wrong. Improvements in behaviour recently have coincided with members of the school council helping to draw up rules for the way pupils should act towards one another. The school council has also helped pupils become aware of the dangers of bullying of any type and how to respond if it happens. All adults in school take rare occurrences of aggressive behaviour seriously and work closely with pupils and parents and carers to prevent it happening again. Records show that these strategies to improve behaviour are working well. Pupils, as well as their parents and carers think behaviour is good.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

In lessons, pupils are keen to learn and persevere well with their work. They listen Inspection report: The Billinghay Church of England Primary School, 31 January–1 February 2012 7 of 12

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

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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Behaviour and safety of pupils

carefully to the teachers and show respect for adults and other pupils. They are very punctual to lessons. The vast majority of pupils attend regularly, and parents and carers respond well to the school’s rigorous systems to discourage unnecessary absences.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

From an early age, pupils take responsibility well. In the Early Years Foundation Stage, children learn to take care of themselves, wash their hands, dress themselves and choose their own activities when required. Older pupils take care of younger ones and those in Year 6 do a very good job setting up activities for children in the Nursery and Reception classes. The popular gardening club gives pupils the opportunity to grow fruit and vegetables and help others appreciate the pleasure of eating freshly-grown produce.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils have a good awareness of the need to live healthy lives and eat nutritious foods. They understand the potential hazards of using the internet and have a good awareness of the dangers of fire and nearby stretches of water. They say they feel safe in school and parents and carers agree. They enjoy being involved in the community and have developed a very good reputation for their musical performances to local groups. Pupils show good concern for those in the world suffering hardships and are rightly proud of their fundraising efforts to help children in Africa.

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Leadership and management

The school runs smoothly and its identification of areas for improvement is ambitious and explicit. The headteacher leads very well with clear and high expectations of all members of the school community. His commitment to developing pupils’ spiritual as well as academic development is evident in the way their personal successes are celebrated just as enthusiastically as their academic achievements. Parents and carers say how much the school has improved in recent years. Evidence shows that higher standards are the result of rigorous self-evaluation and prompt action to rectify weaknesses. The leaders support teachers well with helpful evaluations of their teaching and good opportunities for training. This has helped raise attainment in writing and mathematics in particular. These things demonstrate that the school has the capacity to improve.

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Leadership and management

The leaders have a strong commitment of providing equal opportunities for all pupils. They monitor the progress of different groups rigorously and provide extra support if any is falling behind. There are robust systems to tackle any form of discrimination that help make the school a safe and happy community. The leaders work closely with parents and carers, who feel well-supported. They say the school keeps them informed about school events and their children’s learning. Regular questionnaires to canvas their views help them identify areas for improvement that the school uses to set future targets. Those whose children attend the care facilities in the morning and after school say how much they value this safe, well-managed provision that gives them so much enjoyment. The Friends of School provide very good support and have helped create an excellent library that encourages pupils to read for pleasure.

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Leadership and management

Inspection report: The Billinghay Church of England Primary School, 31 January–1 February 2012 8 of 12

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Leadership and management

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

Parents and carers appreciate the way that the curriculum has a good focus on basic literacy and numeracy skills while providing many opportunities for pupils to develop their musical and artistic talents. The introduction of exciting topics around themes such as space travel and mythical monsters makes learning fun and captures the imagination of boys. This has been instrumental in raising their attainment, particularly in reading and writing. The curriculum promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. For example, pupils’ cultural awareness is enhanced further by extensive work on other countries in the topics they study, visits to churches representing different faiths and links with a French community.

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Leadership and management

The governing body supports the school well. Its members show a good commitment to safeguarding systems; these are robust and reviewed regularly. They use their skills well to challenge the school’s leaders and hold them to account. Inspection report: The Billinghay Church of England Primary School, 31 January–1 February 2012 9 of 12

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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. Inspection report: The Billinghay Church of England Primary School, 31 January–1 February 2012 10 of 12

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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. Inspection report: The Billinghay Church of England Primary School, 31 January–1 February 2012 11 of 12

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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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LN4 4HU

Thank you for making me so welcome when I came to your school. I really enjoyed seeing you work so hard in lessons and play so happily outside, even when it was so cold. The many of you who were kind enough to speak to me, and those who returned questionnaires, showed how proud you are of your school. You believe yours is a good school and I agree.

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LN4 4HU

I was impressed with how hard you work. You read very well and are good at mathematics. Your writing is exciting, but sometimes you could write more. You behave well, and this helps to make school a happy place. You have a good knowledge of how to keep safe and live healthy lives. Even the youngest ones think a lot about people in the world who are poor and have little to eat. Your headteacher and senior staff run the school well. You work hard at the activities provided for you and enjoy the many clubs at lunchtime and after school. Your teachers make learning fun and are good at helping you when you find things difficult. They work really closely with your parents and carers to make sure they know how well you are doing at school. All staff at the school take good care of you and keep you safe.

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LN4 4HU

The headteacher and your teachers are always looking for ways to improve. I have asked them to:

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LN4 4HU

 help you to make even faster progress in writing - you can help by getting down to work quickly and doing your very best writing in every subject  make sure that those of you who find learning easy have work that makes the most of your talents and know how to reach the highest levels.

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LN4 4HU

Terry Elston Lead inspector. Inspection report: The Billinghay Church of England Primary School, 31 January–1 February 2012 12 of 12

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LN4 4HU

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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