The Claypole Church of England Primary School

Age group 4–11 Inspection date(s) 30–31 January 2012 Inspection number 380055 The Claypole Church of England Primary School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 120544 Local authority Lincolnshire Inspection number 380055 Inspection dates 30–31 January 2012 Lead inspector Krishan Sharma

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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 controlled Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 178 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Ian Phillips Headteacher Heather Burns Date of previous school inspection 26 June 2009 School address School Lane Claypole Newark NG23 5BQ Telephone number 01636 626268 Fax number 01636 627997 Email address enquiries@claypole.lincs.sch.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 inspectors visited 14 lessons or parts of lessons taught by seven teachers. They also heard two groups of Year 1 and 2 pupils read. Meetings were held with the Chair of the Governing Body, senior and middle leaders and a group 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 a wide range of documentation including safeguarding records, the school development plan, a summary of self-evaluation, pupils’ written work and the tracking of their progress. Eighty-one questionnaires returned by parents and carers were analysed, as were those completed by pupils and staff.

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Information about the school

The Claypole Church of England Primary is a smaller than average primary school. Almost all pupils come from White British backgrounds. Very few come from minority ethnic groups, all of whom speak English as their first language. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is well below average. The percentage of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is well below average; it is also below average for those with a statement of special educational needs. The school holds National Healthy Schools status and has gained the Artsmark award in recognition of its promotion of the arts. The school meets the current floor standard.

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Key findings

 This is a good school, which has successfully consolidated its numerous strengths reported in the last inspection report. The richness of its provision promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. A vast majority of parents and carers appreciate what the school does for their children and would willingly recommend it to other parents.  Children acquire secure basic skills in Reception and continue to make good progress as they move up through the school. Consequently, attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 remains consistently above average and represents good achievement from pupils’ starting points on entry to school.  Teaching is mostly good because of teachers’ high expectations, skills in fostering pupils’ enthusiasm for learning and their promotion of pupils’ independence. A small proportion of teaching is satisfactory, when challenge, teachers’ oral and written feedback and the use of time in lessons are not as

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Key findings

good as in the best lessons.  Behaviour is outstanding in lessons and around the school. Pupils display very positive attitudes to learning and demonstrate high levels of engagement with their work in lessons. When moving around the school, they are considerate. Pupils are very happy at school and attend regularly. All groups of pupils feel safe in school.  Effective leadership and management are central to the school’s success in maintaining its strengths in the standards of attainment and the quality of teaching. The school’s consistent performance over time demonstrates that it has good capacity to sustain and build on this in the future. Self-evaluation is accurate and has many effective features. Even so, the monitoring and evaluation of teaching is not always sufficiently focused on pupils’ learning, including their progress in lessons and in their written work.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching so that most lessons are at least good and a higher proportion are outstanding by:  setting suitable tasks that challenge all groups of pupils in all lessons  ensuring that teachers’ feedback to pupils across all subjects reinforces the development of their literacy and numeracy skills  reducing the time given to introductions and explanations to allow sufficient time for pupils to apply their skills and knowledge on their own.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Strengthen monitoring and evaluation by:  focusing on the impact of teaching on pupils’ learning and progress more explicitly in lessons and in their written work  regularly updating the monitoring and evaluation skills of all leaders.

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Achievement of pupils

Children enter Reception with skills and knowledge that are usually broadly in line with those expected for their age. From these starting points, pupils make good progress and by the time they leave the school their attainment compares favourably with all pupils’ nationally in English and mathematics. Almost all parents and carers believe that their children make good progress at school. This is an accurate view and matches inspection findings. Provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage gives children a good start. As a result, most of them move up to Year 1 with good foundations in their early literacy and numeracy skills, which are progressively and successfully built on during Key Stages 1 and 2.

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Achievement of pupils

In recent years, standards of attainment have been consistently above average in English and mathematics by the time pupils leave the school at the age of 11. Standards are generally better in English than in mathematics. The school is alert to this difference and has taken steps to increase the focus on the application of mathematical skills in solving problems. As a result, pupils’ confidence in explaining the calculation method they use is growing.

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Achievement of pupils

Attainment in reading is above average at the end of both key stages as a result of the continuing focus on its development and the expertise the school has built in the teaching of reading, including phonics (linking letters and sounds). The focus on raising attainment further in writing is increasing because it is not as strong as in reading. Pupils are increasingly given real purposes for writing and are encouraged to rehearse their ideas orally before embarking on writing. During the inspection, pupils in a Year 3 lesson were excited about examining features of a letter and how this could help them to write better letters. Their eagerness to apply their skills in writing letters of their own was palpable. Pupils enjoy researching the information they need for their topics and regularly apply their reading and writing skills.

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Achievement of pupils

Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are progressing well as a result of the diagnosis of their precise needs and the interventions that subsequently follow. There is no difference in the progress of different ethnic groups. The potentially higher attaining pupils are working at the higher grades in their basic skills, although in a small minority of lessons, they make slower progress due to the lack of challenge provided for them.

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Quality of teaching

Typically, teaching is lively and captures pupils’ interest well. In most lessons, teachers demonstrate good subject knowledge in the teaching of basic skills. They use their expertise well in asking searching questions and giving fuller explanations to pupils. Teachers’ monitoring and assessment of pupils’ work in lessons and in their books are, in the main, informative. However, insufficient attention is paid to monitoring and commenting on pupils’ progress in literacy and numeracy in other subjects. As a result, opportunities to develop these skills across the curriculum are missed. In the very best lessons, teachers focus sharply on matching work to challenge all groups of pupils and are able to generate a very high level of commitment to learning. As a result, pupils make outstanding progress on these occasions. Almost all parents and carers, rightly, think highly of the quality of teaching their children receive at the school. Pupils, too, feel they are taught well.

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Quality of teaching

In all lessons, teachers plan and enable pupils to work independently and in groups, when they share and develop their ideas. Planned opportunities to reflect on others’ and their own experiences across the curriculum strengthen pupils’ oral as well as presentational skills. Teachers deepen pupils’ understanding of the wide range of influences that shape their lives and that of others. During the inspection, in one Key Stage 2 lesson, the teacher read a Hindu story. Despite the unfamiliar content, the teacher maintained the integrity of the story and added to pupils’ knowledge and understanding of another religious and cultural tradition.

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Quality of teaching

In the mainly satisfactory lessons, the planned tasks are insufficiently challenging and do not extend pupils’ previous knowledge. Consequently, the pace of learning and progress slows, particularly for the potentially higher attaining pupils. On occasion, teachers’ introductions are lengthy and their instructions repetitive. When this happens, pupils have insufficient time to practise their new learning on their own.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils’ excellent attitudes to learning were evident in lessons throughout the inspection. Pupils made it clear that a positive learning environment in classrooms is typical of their experience at school. Behaviour in lessons and around the school is of a very high standard: at playtimes, during the lunch hour, in the breakfast club, and on arrival to and departure from school. Almost all parents and carers who responded to the questionnaire were strongly positive about behaviour. A small number of pupils say that, although behaviour is usually exceptionally good, very occasionally boisterous behaviour occurs, but it has little or no effect on their work in classrooms or safety around the school. These pupils go on to add that adults in the school are adept in managing the situation. The school’s expectations are clear and pupils respond to them willingly. The school has a good knowledge of its very few

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

pupils whose circumstances make them vulnerable. They are systematically supported, including support from external sources, when it is necessary. Their progress against their identified needs is tracked and shows notable improvement.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Excellent, mutually respectful relationships between adults and pupils are evident in lessons and around the school. Pupils show very high levels of collaboration and all groups, including the very few pupils from minority ethnic groups, mix and work together well. As a result, prejudice-based bullying or other forms of bullying are rare. The school remains alert and ready to tackle bullying, if it occurs, with conviction.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils enjoy being at school and the above average attendance reflects their highly positive views about learning and the school. They are provided with many opportunities to understand how they can keep themselves and others safe. As a result, pupils are alert to risks posed by potential hazards in classrooms and around the school. They are also aware of risks associated with substance abuse and the potential abuse through information and communication technology. All parents and carers who responded to the inspection questionnaire believe that their children feel safe at school.

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Leadership and management

All leaders, managers and the governing body are ambitious to maintain all the strengths recognised in the school’s previous inspection report and aim to build on them to achieve excellence in pupils’ achievement and the quality of teaching. Both elements of the vision are manifested in the current priorities for improvement. Consistently above average attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 and pupils’ good progress in English and mathematics show that the school is confidently moving towards its goal. The headteacher recognises that more needs to be done in establishing outstanding features in teaching. Pupils’ achievement in reading indicates that continuing professional development in this area has paid off. The governing body is effectively engaged with the work of the school and is well- equipped to hold the school to account for its performance.

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Leadership and management

Self-evaluation is accurate and it underpins the school’s good capacity to improve further. Its findings suitably inform priorities for school improvement and the performance management objectives for the whole school and individual teachers. However, the current arrangements for monitoring and evaluating teaching are not as rigorous as they could be. The focus on pupils’ learning and progress is not always clear in lesson observations and in the scrutiny of their written work. Additionally, skills needed for all leaders to undertake these two activities are not regularly fine- tuned. This means that the monitoring of teaching is not playing as good a part as it could in enabling the school to increase the proportion of outstanding lessons.

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Leadership and management

The school’s curriculum has breadth and balance and it is tailored well to meet the needs and interests of all groups of pupils, including those who have special educational needs. Its breadth contributes fully to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. The good grounding in basic and personal skills it provides equips pupils well for the next stage of their education. Promoting the use of imagination and creativity in their learning in art and music feature strongly in the curriculum. Pupils are encouraged to express their views on current ethical issues. For example, the assembly during inspection engaged pupils in reflecting on the plight of children in the world who did not have access to education and healthcare.

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Leadership and management

Equal opportunities are promoted through rigorous monitoring of pupils’ progress to ensure that all groups succeed and that they have access to all the opportunities available in the school. Arrangements for safeguarding ensure pupils’ safety and meet statutory 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. The data in the table above are for the period 1 September 2010 to 31 August 2011 and represent judgements that were made under the school inspection arrangements that were introduced on 1 September 2009. These data are consistent with the latest published official statistics about maintained school inspection outcomes (see www.ofsted.gov.uk ). The sample of schools inspected during 2010/11 was not representative of all schools nationally, as weaker schools are inspected more frequently than good or outstanding schools. Primary schools include primary academy converters. Secondary schools include secondary academy converters, sponsor-led academies and city technology colleges. Special schools include special academy converters and non-maintained special schools.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

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

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Common terminology used by inspectors

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

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Common terminology used by inspectors

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

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Common terminology used by inspectors

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

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Common terminology used by inspectors

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

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Common terminology used by inspectors

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

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Common terminology used by inspectors

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

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Common terminology used by inspectors

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

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Common terminology used by inspectors

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

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Common terminology used by inspectors

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

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Common terminology used by inspectors

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

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

main findings from the inspection of their school.

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NG23 5BQ

Thank you for the warm welcome you gave us when we visited your school recently. Special thanks are due to those pupils who completed questionnaires or came to talk to us and willingly shared their thoughts with us. It was good to talk to you and to see your work. You will be pleased to know that we judged your school to be good.

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NG23 5BQ

Here are some of the best things we found out about your school.

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NG23 5BQ

 Most of you make good progress as you move up through the school.  The standards you achieve in English and mathematics are above average.  Your behaviour in lessons and around the school is excellent.  You say you feel safe at school and your parents and carers agree with you.  You relate well to each other and to adults in the school.  Teaching in your school is good and it helps you to learn.

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NG23 5BQ

To improve your school further, we have asked those in charge to make sure that:

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NG23 5BQ

 you are given work that stretches and challenges all of you in all lessons  teachers help you to improve your skills in English and mathematics in all subjects and they also shorten their introductions to lessons to give you more time to get on with your work on your own  school leaders check carefully on your learning and progress when they visit classrooms or look at your written work and that they continue to improve their checking skills.

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NG23 5BQ

All of you can also help by keeping up your excellent behaviour and attitudes to work.

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NG23 5BQ

Krishan Sharma 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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