Abbey Gates Primary School

Age group 3–11 Inspection date(s) 31 January–1 February

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Inspection number 380509 Abbey Gates Primary School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 122659 Local authority Nottinghamshire Inspection number 380509 Inspection dates 31 January–1 February 2012 Lead inspector Andrew Stafford

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

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Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 230 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Brian Ramsay Headteacher Kate Cumberpatch Date of previous school inspection 26 September 2006 School address Vernon Crescent Ravenshead Nottinghamshire NG15 9BN Telephone number 01623 461010 Fax number 01623 461010 Email address office@abbeygates.notts.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 inspection team observed 16 lessons or part lessons, taught by 11 teachers. They held meetings with parents, groups of pupils, members of the governing body and staff, and heard a sample of pupils read. 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 the school’s tracking of pupils’ progress; the minutes of meetings of the governing body; safeguarding documentation; the school’s self-evaluation and reports on the work of the school from outside organisations. Inspectors scrutinised 97 parental questionnaires and those completed by staff and pupils.

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Information about the school

Abbey Gates is an average-sized primary school. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is much lower than average. Only a few pupils are from minority ethnic backgrounds. The percentage of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is average. The proportion of those with a statement of special educational needs is below average. The government’s current floor standards are met. The school has numerous awards including Artsmark Silver and Activemark Gold awards, Eco Schools and Healthy Schools status, the International School and the Investors in Pupils awards. The deputy headteacher was appointed in September 2011. Two teachers are currently on family leave. On site there is a privately run before- and after-school club that runs every day; this is subject to a separate Ofsted inspection and report.

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Key findings

 This is an outstanding school that has improved significantly since the last inspection. The inspirational leadership of the headteacher and her leadership team has led to considerable improvements in the quality of teaching and the achievement of pupils.  One parent wrote, summing up the views of many others: ‘I cannot praise Abbey Gates enough! My daughter looks forward to school every single day. Her reading, writing and mathematical skills have developed significantly since starting.’  Almost all pupils make outstanding progress throughout their time in school as a result of teaching that consistently sets high expectations. All groups of pupils do well and, through highly effective support, disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make good progress from their often lower starting points.  Teaching is outstanding overall because of its consistently high quality. Teachers ensure every pupil, including those with disabilities and special

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Key findings

educational needs, makes at least good and often excellent progress.  The governing body and leaders at all levels provide very strong leadership which has led to teaching now being excellent overall, making pupils’ achievement outstanding.  The school puts focused support into place when it notices that pupils’ progress slows. These interventions have helped to accelerate pupils’ progress in reading and writing, but have not been quite as successful in mathematics for a very few pupils.  Behaviour of pupils is outstanding, as reflected in their excellent attitudes and conduct in lessons and around school. This is the result of pupils being well engaged with an excellent curriculum, and the sharp focus on their exceptional spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils overwhelmingly say they feel safe in school and this is backed up unanimously by parents and carers.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure all pupils make the best possible progress in mathematics by: - assessing their progress more regularly - including targets when support is given so that the school can measure that it is making the expected improvements to pupils’ learning and progress.

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Achievement of pupils

Nearly all pupils make at least good and often outstanding progress and this has driven up attainment. From broadly average starting points when they first join the school, children make a strong start to learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage where the quality of teaching is very high. By the time they are six, pupils are reading at a level above that expected for their age. Pupils learn the basics of reading through a highly structured and regular programme which is focused on pupils learning letters and sounds. Sessions are brief but regular, and the pace of learning is brisk. At the end Key Stage 1, attainment in recent years has been regularly above average in reading, writing and mathematics. Due to the consistent high quality of teaching, pupils in Key Stage 2 make sustained progress. By the time they leave at the end of Year 6, they are working at levels in reading, writing and mathematics that are well above the national averages.

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Achievement of pupils

Nearly all groups of pupils, including disabled pupils and those with special educational needs, do well in lessons and in assessments. This is because of the well-tailored provision for their different needs, including very effective additional support. Consequently, the number of pupils identified as having special educational needs is falling, as almost all have successfully narrowed the gap in achievement with the national average by the time they leave school. Interventions to support pupils who are falling behind in mathematics are effective for the vast majority. Very occasionally, the school is not quick enough off the mark in identifying and addressing these dips in progress. In addition, the planned programmes of work to support pupils do not always include clear enough measures to show that their progress is accelerating.

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Achievement of pupils

Almost all pupils said they learnt a lot in lessons and that the school helps them do as well as they can. Typically, lessons move at a brisk pace with a wide variety of speaking and listening activities that enable pupils to discuss work in pairs or groups. All parents and carers who returned the questionnaire agreed that their children are making good or excellent progress. The inspection findings reflect the views of parents, carers and pupils.

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Quality of teaching

Teaching is always at least good and often outstanding because teachers set high expectations for all pupils. Almost all pupils, and parents and carers who completed the questionnaires, rightly said that teaching in school was good or better. Appropriate challenging tasks are set as part of the excellent planned curriculum for individuals, including those who find learning easy or difficult, and those who have disabilities or special educational needs. This was seen in an outstanding Year 4 lesson where pupils were fully briefed before going out into the extensive school grounds to ‘Narnify’ what they saw. They took photographs of tree bark that was like ‘dragon’s scales and decaying skin’ and examined exposed roots that looked like ‘fingers slithering’. They recorded their descriptions on hand-held recorders; a group of boys said: ‘All of these creepy trees are barricading us; we can hear bird songs,

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Quality of teaching

different to the ones we hear in our world.’ Back in the classroom, they used this descriptive language to create an atmosphere in stories that they word processed on laptop computers, to which they added atmospheric music.

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Quality of teaching

The excellent curriculum provides a wide variety of stimulating, first-hand and memorable experiences for pupils throughout the school. Teachers are very knowledgeable in their subjects and highly skilled through their lesson planning to include opportunities to develop pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development to a high level. For example, a very enthusiastic response was observed in a Year 2 lesson: ‘This is so cool’, said one boy as he watched cardboard houses become engulfed in flames in a mock-up of the Great Fire of London. The school has invested in a well-trained teaching and support staff who work closely together in planning and teaching in order to share good practice with each other. Teachers deploy additional support staff effectively to ensure that their time is used well. Teachers nearly always move learning on quickly and vary activities in the stimulating learning environments that they have established.

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Quality of teaching

The Early Years Foundation Stage has a well-organised induction programme that helps children settle very quickly into school routines. The setting provides a bright and stimulating learning environment. The outdoor area offers a good and safe working area for children to learn through experiencing a wide range of practical activities. Enterprising teaching, with a well-organised range of activities that capture children’s interest and imagination, helps them make consistently good progress and develop understanding rapidly. The school’s assessment data show that the vast majority are on track to exceed the levels expected by the time they move into Year1.

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Quality of teaching

Teachers use assessment in lessons perceptively through questioning to find out how well pupils are doing and whether work needs to be modified. They consistently share learning objectives with pupils and make sure they are understood. Work is marked regularly and teacher’s comments praise pupils for what they have done well. Feedback from teachers informs pupils what they need to do next to improve their learning. They know the individual targets they have been set and when these are achieved more challenging targets follow.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils’ behaviour seen during the inspection was always exceptional in lessons and consistently good around the playgrounds. Pupils confirmed that this was typical, and this is also reflected in the responses from parents and carers. Pupils are highly aware of the different types of bullying and express their confidence in bringing any concerns to the attention of staff, secure in the knowledge that these will be dealt with. Reported incidents of racism and bullying are extremely rare and records confirm the views of parents, carers and pupils that these are dealt with very effectively. Pupils say they feel safe in a secure environment and name one or more adults they trust to help them. Pupils are acutely aware of unsafe situations, such as the use of new technologies and can explain how they would minimise or eradicate the risks they identify.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils get on well together and one boy said, ‘I can’t think of any disagreements in our age group.’ They demonstrate the values of cooperation, responsibility and care they have acquired through being part of the school’s very positive ethos of supporting each other, which makes a significant contribution to pupils’ behaviour and well-being. Relationships between adults and pupils are very good. Instances of pupils being distracted during teacher-led activities are rare and most effectively addressed.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils enjoy coming to school and are willing to help out in the classrooms and run the ‘Toast Club’ at morning break. They contribute suggestions through the school council where they are rightly proud of the improvements to the playground and their designs for the tree-house that they have initiated. All parents and carers who returned a questionnaire said their child was happy and safe in school. Almost all thought that behaviour was at least good in school. Attendance is well above the national average.

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Leadership and management

Senior and middle leaders are relentless in holding staff to account for the performance of their pupils. Ambitous leaders at all levels take responsibility for monitoring the quality of teaching and learning. They know how well pupils are doing and set challenging targets for further improvements. Leaders know the strengths and relative weaknesses in their areas of responsibility. The consistency of all leaders in the quality of their work and the improvements they have brought about has ensured an excellent capacity to continue to improve further.

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Leadership and management

The school’s excellent curriculum has established strong links between subjects that, for example, give a wealth of opportunities for pupils to extend their writing skills. Pupils get the chance to study topics of their choice and ‘creative homework’ gives them opportunities to study in depth those things that interest them most. Overall, the school promotes spiritual, moral, social and cultural development exceptionally well. The school has been recognised as outward looking through its international school award and is seen as being extremely nurturing through its Investors in Pupils award. The governing body is a highly committed and enthusiastic supporter of the school. Governors are fully involved in monitoring the school’s work and holding staff to account for the performance of pupils.

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Leadership and management

Safeguarding arrangements are rigorous and all current government requirements are met. The school successfully promotes equality of opportunity by ensuring that all groups of pupils and individuals have full access to every aspect of school life, and responds well to situations where improvement is needed. All the staff who returned a questionnaire said they were proud to be a member of the school.

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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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Inspection of Abbey Gates Primary School, Ravenshead, NG15 9BH

Thank you for making us welcome when we visited your school, and particularly to those of you who took the time to tell us your views or filled in a questionnaire.

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Inspection of Abbey Gates Primary School, Ravenshead, NG15 9BH

I am writing to tell you what we have said about your school. We think you go to an outstanding school that has improved since its last inspection. Your headteacher and other leaders have made sure that all your lessons inspire you to do as well as you can. As a result, you are doing very well in reading and writing and mathematics in all year groups and making outstanding progress during your time in the school.

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Inspection of Abbey Gates Primary School, Ravenshead, NG15 9BH

You have shown us how well you behave in lessons and around school and it is clear that this typical of how you usually behave as there have been very few reported incidents of misbehaviour. You have told us you feel safe in school and your parents and carers have confirmed this.

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Inspection of Abbey Gates Primary School, Ravenshead, NG15 9BH

Whatever your different needs, your teachers make sure you are set work that is enjoyable but also challenging. When I spoke to some of you after seeing your lessons you told me that learning was fun but hard work as well. You play your part in the life of the school and show that the values you have been taught are reflected in the way you look after each other and show respect and understanding for peoples’ differences.

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Inspection of Abbey Gates Primary School, Ravenshead, NG15 9BH

We have asked the school to check your progress in mathematics more regularly, so that if you are starting to fall behind you are given support more quickly. We have asked the school to monitor that extra support you receive helps you to make faster progress. You can help by continuing to check your work carefully and by telling your teacher if you need them to explain some of the work in more detail.

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Inspection of Abbey Gates Primary School, Ravenshead, NG15 9BH

Thank you again for the warm welcome. We wish you and the school well for the future.

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Inspection of Abbey Gates Primary School, Ravenshead, NG15 9BH

Andrew Stafford 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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