Teignmouth Primary School

Age group 3 – 11 Inspection date(s) 2 – 3 February 2012 Inspection number 382059 Teignmouth Community School Mill Lane Inspection report

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Unique reference number 136493 Local authority Not applicable Inspection number 382059 Inspection dates 2–3 February 2012 Lead inspector Michael Barron

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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 Non-maintained School category Academy Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 230 Appropriate authority The directors Chair Martyn Cox Headteacher David Clifford Date of previous school inspection Inspected as Inverteign Community Nursery and Primary School in October 2008 School address Mill Lane Teignmouth Devon TQ14 9BB Telephone number 01626 772320 Fax number 01626 770524 Email address andrew.webber@teignmouth.devon.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. Inspectors observed 15 lessons taught by 10 teachers. Four of these were joint observations with the headteacher or a member of the school’s senior leadership team. Inspectors heard pupils from Year 1, Year 2 and Year 6 read and made short observations of sessions on the teaching of phonics ( pupils learning letter patterns and the sounds they represent ). They held meetings with the headteacher, the Executive Principal, and staff including senior leaders and teaching assistants. The inspectors took account of the responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) in planning the inspection. They observed the school’s work, and looked at documentation including: school policies, development planning, pupils’ work and records of learning and progress. They observed and discussed pupils’ behaviour and scrutinised the school’s safeguarding procedures.

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Introduction

The inspectors analysed several completed questionnaires from staff and pupils as well as 43 from parents and carers.

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Information about the school

Teignmouth Community School Mill Lane was formerly known as Inverteign Community Nursery and Primary School and, as such, was previously inspected in October 2008. It entered a hard federation with Teignmouth Community College in March 2011 to become the primary phase of Teignmouth Community School, and is now known as the Mill Lane campus. Teignmouth Community School converted to academy status at the same time. The headteacher of the Mill Lane campus is a member of the academy’s leadership team, which is led by an Executive Principal who reports to the academy’s board of directors.

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Information about the school

Mill Lane is the size of an average primary school. The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is well above average. Most of this group have behavioural difficulties or emotional needs. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is also well above average. Almost all pupils are White British; very few are of minority ethnic heritage and none is at the early stage of learning English as an additional language. The headteacher has recently returned from a long-term absence. The school has several recent accreditations, including the Healthy Schools Plus award. The school meets current floor standards.

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Key findings

 This is a good school. It has improved its effectiveness since the previous inspection. An overwhelming majority of parents and carers hold positive and accurate views about the school, especially the overall good quality of education it provides for their children.  Achievement is good. The effectiveness of the Early Years Foundation Stage is outstanding. Children enter the Nursery class with very low skill levels for their age and make excellent progress as a result of outstanding provision, including teaching. Pupils make good progress overall in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 and this reflects the good quality of teaching. However, work is not consistently matched to pupils’ different abilities in all Key Stage 1 classes and this prevents progress from being even faster, particularly for the most able. Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make similar progress to all other pupils. There is no difference between the achievement of boys and girls.

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Key findings

 Teaching is consistently good or better in Key Stage 2, enabling pupils to achieve well. Attainment in Year 6 has risen considerably over the last three years and is now broadly average in English and in mathematics.  Leaders have enabled the school to benefit from its move to academy status and its federation with the local secondary school, and continue to drive the school forward. The school has successfully addressed the areas for improvement identified by the previous inspection. Current priorities are very well focused on continued school improvement, especially on accelerating progress still further in Key Stage 1.  Pupils are well behaved and considerate to others. Any instances of unsocial behaviour are dealt with effectively by adults. Pupils enjoy school and have positive attitudes to learning. Attendance has improved well and pupils have a good understanding of the need to stay safe.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure, by July 2012, that teaching in Key Stage 1 consistently accelerates pupils’ progress still further by:  ensuring that assessment information on how well individuals are doing is used to best effect when planning and matching work to the different abilities of pupils  providing regular opportunities for teachers to share best practice so that it has a positive impact on pupils’ achievement.

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Achievement of pupils

From the time they enter the Mill Lane campus at the age of three until they move on to their secondary education at the age of 11, pupils from all ethnic heritages, disabled pupils and those with special educational needs, make better progress than pupils nationally.

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Achievement of pupils

Nursery children make outstanding progress because of a very well-resourced learning environment linked to outstanding teaching and planning where adults capitalise on every learning opportunity for the children. Despite this excellent progress in all areas of learning, pupils enter Year 1 with lower-than-expected skill levels for their age, particularly in numeracy and literacy. Pupils make good overall progress in Key Stage 1 and make strides forward in their key English and mathematical skills because of the push to help them succeed. Occasionally, progress is not as rapid as it could be because the level of challenge for the most- able pupils is not high enough. Attainment, although improved, remains below average in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Year 2.

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Achievement of pupils

Since its federation with the local secondary college, the school has put a lot of successful effort into ensuring that, when pupils transfer to Year 7, they are well prepared. Teachers in Years 3 to 6 display a determination to ensure that pupils are given every opportunity to succeed. Initiatives to improve pupils’ progress throughout Key Stage 2 have successfully ensured that attainment in Year 6 has risen rapidly for the last three years and that pupils of all abilities have achieved well. As a result, current Year 6 pupils are working at the levels expected for their age in all subjects, including reading. The more-able pupils are encouraged to work to their full potential, and those pupils requiring extra help are well supported and so make similar progress to all other pupils. A similar pattern is replicated for younger pupils requiring additional support. Teachers quickly assess and identify pupils who may

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Achievement of pupils

require extra help when they join the school and, where appropriate, carefully plan support. As a result, all groups of pupils make similar progress.

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Achievement of pupils

Strategies throughout the school to build up pupils’ skills in literacy and numeracy are paying off. From a low starting point, Year 1 and 2 pupils are encouraged to use differing strategies for decoding words when reading and this successfully builds up their confidence to try to read new words. Pupils’ computation skills are built up well so that they can confidently tackle mathematical problems. By Year 6, pupils read with articulation and feeling. Older pupils display a good understanding of number work in mathematics. In a Year 5 numeracy lesson, pupils enjoyed solving number sequences and made good progress because the work was very well matched to their different abilities and previous learning. Pupils had opportunities to develop their own, often complex, number sequences and explain them to their classmates. The teacher consistently asked pupils questions about their work in order to deepen

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Achievement of pupils

their thinking and improve their understanding of developing number sequences such as the Fibonacci sequence.

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Achievement of pupils

Parents and carers are right in their assertions and belief that the school has improved since it became an academy and that their children are achieving well. One comment reflected the views of the vast majority, ‘I am very pleased with this school and the progress my children have made.’ Another commented that her children had come on ‘in leaps and bounds’ since starting at the school.

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Quality of teaching

Parents and carers believe their children are well taught and inspection evidence supports their judgement. The quality of teaching is good overall, with much outstanding practice in the Early Years Foundation Stage and at Key Stage 2. Good and better teaching is typified by teachers having good subject knowledge and high expectations of what pupils are capable of achieving. Lessons are designed to stimulate pupils’ interests. They are well paced and the work pupils are set is matched closely to their different abilities. Teachers work well with effective teaching assistants to ensure that pupils requiring extra help with learning are well supported and so make good progress. As a result, pupils are keen to learn, enjoy school, work hard and display good attitudes to learning. In the Early Years Foundation Stage, adults ensure that children have a plethora of opportunities to develop curiosity about the world around them and build up an excellent ability to work both with

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Quality of teaching

adult direction and on tasks they choose for themselves.

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Quality of teaching

In a literacy lesson in Year 6, pupils were asked to create a script for a play. The teacher’s expectations were high. Planning was very detailed and the very effective use of questioning ensured that all pupils were involved in learning throughout the lesson. Work tasks were well matched to pupils’ abilities and motivated them to work hard and to use their thinking skills. Pupils thoroughly enjoyed the lesson and found their work interesting and challenging. Those pupils requiring extra help, including those with disabilities and those with special educational needs, made the same outstanding progress as all other pupils. The quality of teaching is good overall at Key Stage 1 and enables pupils to make good progress. There are times, however, when assessment information is not always used effectively to pitch work at the right ability level for some pupils. In addition, opportunities are not always provided for

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Quality of teaching

teachers to share and disseminate best practice so that it has a more significant impact on all Key Stage 1 pupils. The school is already addressing these issues and the situation is improving well.

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Quality of teaching

A scrutiny of pupils’ work confirmed pupils’ good progress over time across the school. It also showed that the school has developed a curriculum which combines subjects well in order to make learning interesting and enjoyable for pupils and add to their achievement. The quality of teachers’ marking is good across the school and teachers’ comments effectively help pupils to improve their work. Teaching makes a positive impact on pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils are able to explore similarities and differences between peoples and appreciate others’ faith and cultures. The well-resourced, newly opened school library is popular with pupils and contains books that help them to not only develop their reading skills but also their understanding of the wider world in which they live.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

The school offers a friendly, welcoming and safe environment for pupils of all ages, including those in the Early Years Foundation Stage, who get on well with each other and behave well. Nearly all the parents and carers who responded to the inspection questionnaire agree that, overall, behaviour is typically good. Inspectors endorse their views. A few parents and carers expressed concerns about behaviour in a small minority of lessons but this was not found to be the case during the inspection. Pupils say that behaviour is typically good in the school and has improved greatly in recent years. They are aware that a small minority of pupils find behaving well quite difficult, but say there is very little disruption in lessons because teachers always cope with this effectively. Discussions with different groups of pupils indicated there is no bullying, of any description, and pupils are well aware of potential internet

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

safety issues and what they should do if there was an occurrence of cyber bullying.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Parents and carers correctly believe that their children are safe in school, and pupils, including those whose circumstances may make them vulnerable, agree with this view. Pupils are confident that adults always deal well with any difficulties they encounter. One pupil commented, ‘We are looked after very well and there are no problems.’ Punctuality is good and instances of persistent absence have radically reduced. Attendance is satisfactory and continues to improve at a rapid rate due to the effective methods adopted by the school for improving attendance.

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Leadership and management

The headteacher, senior leaders and the board of directors have high expectations of what pupils can achieve. They share a vision to ensure that the school enables all pupils to reach their full potential as learners, and, since the federation, have worked well together to ensure that all pupils have equal opportunities to succeed. There is no evidence of discrimination of any kind. Staff believe that the school promotes their professional development well and positive impact is evident in the good and often better teaching in most lessons and over time. There are effective systems for assessing and tracking pupils’ progress, and senior and middle leaders use these well to identify and then put in place effective strategies for tackling any underachievement. The school’s focus for further improvement is rightly to increase the incidence of outstanding teaching and to continue to address the minor weaknesses in teaching at Key Stage 1 that prevent pupils making even better

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Leadership and management

progress. Strategies are already leading to good improvements.

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Leadership and management

The board of directors has a good understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for development. It provides effective support and challenge to the school to help drive improvement. Safeguarding procedures meet statutory requirements and there are no concerns about the safety of pupils. Good leadership and management have led to improvements in pupils’ achievement, teaching and behaviour since the last inspection, and show the school’s capacity for future sustained improvement.

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Leadership and management

The school’s self-evaluation is accurate and development planning is well focused on continuing to raise attainment. The curriculum is broad and balanced, and meets the needs of pupils effectively, particularly in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Overall, the school’s curriculum makes a significant contribution to ensuring that pupils acquire key skills in a systematic manner and to their good achievement. Opportunities are often capitalised on to develop pupils’ key skills through cross- curricular work. Well-planned enrichment activities, such as visits to places of cultural and multicultural interest, as well as visitors to school, add to the effective provision that the school makes for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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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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9BB

Thank you for making the inspectors so welcome when we visited your school. We really enjoyed talking to you and seeing you work hard in lessons. We also enjoyed watching your celebration assembly, and the way you sang ‘Walking on Sunshine’ together with your teachers was enjoyable and quite unforgettable.

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9BB

You said that your school is a good one, and we agree with you.

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9BB

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

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9BB

 You attend a happy and friendly school which gives you an excellent start to your education in the Nursery and Reception classes.  You all make good progress from Year 1 to Year 6.  You enjoy school and get on well with each other.  You feel safe at school and behave well.  The school provides you with many enjoyable learning opportunities, including trips to interesting places.  Adults work hard to help you if you are having any problems.

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9BB

Even good schools like yours can get better. We have asked the school to build on the good progress that is generally made in Years 1 and 2 and make it consistently better. Teachers should make sure that all the work you are asked to do in lessons is as exciting, challenging and as much fun as it is in the best sessions.

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9BB

Your school has improved since the last time it was inspected. All of you can help it to improve even more by coming to school as often as you can, and by working hard.

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9BB

Michael Barron 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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