Bradley Barton Primary School and Nursery Unit

Age group 3−11 Inspection date(s) 1−2 February 2012 Inspection number 378671 Bradley Barton Primary School and Nursery Unit Inspection report

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Unique reference number 113241 Local authority Devon Inspection number 378671 Inspection dates 1−2 February 2012 Lead inspector Sue Frater HMI

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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 300 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Philip Rowe Headteacher Julie Barton Date of previous school inspection 10 February 2009 School address Ogwell Mill Road Bradley Valley Newton Abbot TQ12 1PR Telephone number 01626 203450 Fax number 01626 203451 Email address admin@bradley-barton-primary.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 teaching and learning in 20 lessons, taught by ten teachers; held meetings with groups of pupils, the Chair of the Governing Body and staff. 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 range of documentation including the school’s monitoring of pupils’ progress and teaching, the school development plan, minutes of governing body meetings and reports by the local authority School Improvement Partner. They took account of the 137 completed parental questionnaires and questionnaires completed by pupils and staff.

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Information about the school

The school is larger than most primary schools. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is average. There are few pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds or who speak English as an additional language. The school has included almost a third of its pupils on the special educational needs register. Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are taught in Nursery and Reception classes. The school gained the Healthy Schools Plus award and meets the government’s current floor standard for attainment and progress. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Key findings

 This is a good school. Standards of attainment are improving and are now above the national average in mathematics, although broadly average in English. Following a good start in the Nursery and Reception classes, pupils make good progress across the school.  The quality of teaching is improving and is now good overall. There are a few examples of outstanding teaching and a small minority of less effective teaching. Most teachers are making better use of pupils’ challenging targets and assessments to match lessons more closely to the range of abilities, but this is not consistent across all lessons.  While most pupils behave well, behaviour is satisfactory overall because a few pupils disrupt a small minority of lessons that do not engage and interest them. Pupils say they feel safe in school and that there is little bullying. They generally get on well together. Their attendance is improving and is now higher

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Key findings

than in most schools.  Leaders and managers at all levels engage in self-evaluation that is generally accurate and informs improvement plans. The effectiveness of the actions taken, including professional development, is evident in the improvements in mathematics and in the quality of teaching and learning. Key to the school’s success is its comprehensive system for monitoring pupils’ progress. However, the accuracy of teachers’ assessments is not secure enough to ensure progress is consistently good, especially for disabled pupils and those with special educational needs. The identification of needs is not accurate. This results in the school inappropriately including less-able pupils on the special needs register. Nonetheless, given the improvements to date, and the strengthened leadership, the school demonstrates the capacity for further improvement.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Accelerate pupils’ progress in English across the school to raise attainment to above average, in line with their attainment in mathematics.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the proportion of good and outstanding teaching by:  using pupils’ challenging targets and assessments to match all lessons more closely to the range of pupils’ abilities  engaging all pupils in lessons so that behaviour does not disrupt learning  disseminating the features of the most effective practice.  Improve the monitoring and evaluation of pupils’ progress across the school, particularly the progress of disabled pupils and pupils with special educational needs, to ensure it is consistently good by:  ensuring accurate identification of disabled pupils and pupils with special educational needs  securing robust and accurate teacher assessment.

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Achievement of pupils

While attainment over the past three years has been broadly average, attainment rose to above average in 2011. The school’s data indicate similar attainment for pupils currently in Year 6. This represents good progress from pupils’ starting points which are broadly average. Boys achieve above the national average. Pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and lower ability pupils achieve well. Intervention and the use of teaching assistants in lessons were seen to be effective in supporting disabled pupils and those with special educational needs. The pupils achieve as well as their peers in most lessons.

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Achievement of pupils

The improvements are a result of better quality teaching and learning. As a result, attainment was above average in mathematics. Attainment was broadly average in English. The school has identified writing as a priority for improvement in the current academic year and progress in this area is evident. Pupils’ attainment in reading is broadly average by the end of Key Stage 1 and above average by the end of Key Stage 2. Pupils select books eagerly from the school library. They read widely and discuss enthusiastically their favourite authors and books, such as Michael Morpurgo, and the ‘Horrible Histories’ series.

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Achievement of pupils

Progress in lessons is good in the Early Years Foundation Stage where children achieve outcomes that are above those expected for their age. Pupils’ progress in lessons across Key Stage 1 is variable, although satisfactory overall. Progress accelerates as pupils move through Key Stage 2, and it is good overall. Parents and carers agree that their children are making progress in the school. Pupils say they make most progress in literacy and numeracy due to curricular targets and feedback in teachers’ marking which enable them to know how to improve their work. They enjoy problem solving in mathematics and science investigations, particularly in the outdoor classroom. They also enjoy the increased use of computers, especially in researching information for topic work.

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Quality of teaching

The quality of teaching in the majority of lessons is good, with a few examples of outstanding practice. The key features of these effective lessons are: high expectations, clear planning that is informed by pupils’ targets and assessments, challenging tasks, resources and questions matched to the range of abilities, a brisk pace of learning, frequent checking of understanding and positive relationships. For example, in the Nursery class, the teacher’s good knowledge of the children’s different needs informed questions that motivated all children to participate in a counting activity. The questions ranged from counting dinosaur eggs to adding two more on to 35 eggs. As a result, all children made good progress. In a mixed-age class of Years 5 and 6 pupils, the teacher’s good subject knowledge in demonstrating narrative structure inspired pupils to write their own stories. The teacher ensured disabled pupils and those with special educational needs were supported by

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Quality of teaching

appropriate tasks and resources, while challenging more-able pupils to use the flashback technique. The teacher and teaching assistant frequently checked and extended the pupils’ learning through probing questions. Consequently, all pupils made rapid progress. Parents, carers and pupils confirm what inspectors saw, that pupils make good progress in the majority of lessons.

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Quality of teaching

Teaching makes a good contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. For example, Year 6 pupils were engaged in measuring different aspects of weather in the outdoor classroom. They discussed with awe and fascination the changing patterns in the sky. The planned curriculum provides the pupils with a broad range of experiences to develop their independent learning skills, including investigation, research, role play and discussion.

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Quality of teaching

In a minority of lessons, mainly in Key Stage 1, pupils are not sufficiently motivated and engaged in their learning because expectations are not clear, the level of challenge does not match the range of their abilities and their misconceptions are not followed up. In these lessons, teachers make insufficient use of pupils’ targets and assessments to match tasks and questions to the range of abilities.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

While behaviour in lessons and around the school was seen as mostly good, a small minority of parents, carers and pupils commented that typical behaviour over time causes some disruption to lessons. Inspectors found that a small minority of pupils disrupt lessons which do not interest and engage them. Behaviour is, therefore, only satisfactory. Pupils say they feel safe in school and believe there is little bullying. Parents and carers support this view. Pupils are very aware of risk, including cyber- bullying, and are confident to approach an adult with any concerns. They state that teachers deal with incidents effectively. The majority of pupils are welcoming, polite and considerate to each other. Most demonstrate positive attitudes to learning and work collaboratively, supporting their peers. Attendance is improving and is now high, due to clear rewards and sanctions.

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Leadership and management

The headteacher, very ably supported by the new deputy headteacher and the subject leaders, has created a shared vision of improvement among all staff. Clear direction for improvement in teaching and learning is provided in the school development plan. The positive impact of actions taken, including staff professional development, is evident in the rise in attainment in mathematics. With the exception of some overgenerous grading of teaching, self-evaluation is generally accurate. It is detailed and informs the most relevant priorities for school and subject improvement plans, including the progress of pupils with special educational needs. It is comprehensive, including lesson observations, examination of teachers’ planning and pupils’ work, and pupil conferencing, together with analysis of progress data. Subject leaders are held to account through their position statements at the end of each year.

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Leadership and management

The governing body is aware of the school’s strengths and areas for improvement. It is being provided with increasingly accurate data on pupils’ achievement to improve its ability to challenge the school and hold it to account for its attainment. In monitoring the progress of individuals and groups of pupils, and taking effective action where necessary, the governing body and all leaders and managers promote equality and tackle discrimination. Arrangements for safeguarding pupils are robust and include all required checks on staff and child-protection training. The governing body meets statutory requirements, for example in providing a broad and balanced curriculum that meets the needs of all pupils and promotes their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. It continues to work to engage all parents and carers in supporting their children’s learning. Overall, parents and carers are satisfied

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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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Abbot TQ12 1PR

Thank you for contributing to the recent inspection of your school. The inspectors enjoyed talking to so many of you and seeing you at work. The following is what we found.

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Abbot TQ12 1PR

You attend a good school. Following your good start in the Nursery and Reception classes, most of you make good progress across the school. You achieve particularly well in mathematics. Teaching is improving and is good overall. You told us that you enjoy most of your lessons. However, you and some of your parents and carers told us that a few pupils sometimes disrupt your learning. We found that this is when a few lessons do not interest and engage them. Your behaviour is satisfactory and we found you were considerate and usually work well with your friends. You told us that you feel safe in school and that there is little bullying. Your attendance is improving and is now higher than in most schools. Your headteacher, other leaders and governors, have put in place systems to help make your school even better. To support them in improving your school, we have asked them to:

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Abbot TQ12 1PR

 help you to make as much progress in English as you do in mathematics  help teachers to get even better by:  making sure your lessons are not too easy or too difficult for you  making all lessons interesting so that you all want to learn and behave  making sure all lessons are as good as the best  track your progress across the school by:  accurately identifying those of you who have special needs  accurately assessing your progress in lessons. You can help by making sure you all behave well in lessons and checking your progress against your own targets. We hope you continue to enjoy your learning and wish you success in the future.

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Abbot TQ12 1PR

Yours sincerely Sue Frater Her Majesty's 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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