Callow End CofE Primary School

Age group 4–11 Inspection date(s) 7–8 February 2012 Inspection number 379302 Callow End CofE Primary School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 116789 Local authority Worcestershire Inspection number 379302 Inspection dates 7–8 February 2012 Lead inspector Peter Kerr

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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 86 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Suzanne Mealings Headteacher Sue Parker Date of previous school inspection 10 November 2008 School address Callow End Worcester WR2 4TE Telephone number 01905 830337 Fax number 01905 830337 Email address office@callowend.worcs.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 inspector spent over five hours in classrooms, observed seven lessons or parts of lessons taught by all four of the school’s teachers. He listened to pupils reading, looked at their writing and mathematics work across the curriculum and talked to them about their experiences. Meetings were held with teachers about their leadership responsibilities and with members of the governing body about their roles. The inspector observed the school’s work, and looked at teachers’ planning, the tracking of pupils' progress and pupils' work on display. He took account of the responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) in planning the inspection, and analysed the views of parents and carers expressed in 51 parental questionnaires.

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Information about the school

The school is much smaller in size than most other primary schools. Most pupils are White British. A small minority of pupils are in showman families that travel for part of the year. An average proportion of pupils is known to be eligible for free school meals. The proportion of pupils identified as having special educational needs is half the average for primary schools and there are no disabled pupils currently on roll. The proportion of pupils receiving support from outside the school or with a statement of special educational needs is average. Most of these have behaviour, emotional and social difficulties. The school meets the current floor standard set by the government, which determines the minimum expectations for attainment and progress. The school holds the bronze Eco-School award and is working towards the silver award. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate

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Information about the school

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. Progress is consistently good for all pupils, including those with behaviour, emotional and social difficulties, and attainment is above average in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 2 and Year 6. Reception children make good progress and achieve well.  Pupils' behaviour is outstanding and they feel very safe in school. They enjoy challenges, work independently and persevere when tasks get difficult. They have a strong sense of right and wrong and appreciate that the values they have are shared by many people of all backgrounds and religions.  Teaching is consistently good. Regular accurate assessments of pupils’ attainment and progress ensure that lessons build on pupils' existing knowledge and skills. Marking is used well in English to improve writing but is not quite as effective in improving mathematics and science skills. Teachers sometimes miss opportunities to ask probing questions in these subjects and to adjust tasks in

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Key findings

lessons according to pupils' responses in order to increase challenge.  A good curriculum provides pupils with a wide variety of enriching experiences and encourages them to be inquisitive about the world. Pupils develop and use their literacy skills to a high level in other subjects. They also apply mathematics and computer skills widely, but not to a similarly high level.  The school is well led and managed. The headteacher provides very strong leadership and has forged a sense of common purpose among pupils, staff, parents and carers and the governing body. She uses and develops the qualities of other staff well so that they all contribute to school improvement planning and feel highly valued.  Significant improvements have been brought about since the last inspection in most aspects of the school’s work and the school has a strong capacity to continue improving.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise pupils’ achievement and the quality of teaching from good to outstanding by: Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 ensuring that teachers ask demanding questions of pupils as they work at tasks and that pupils have ample time and support to fully respond and take their skills to the highest possible level  sharing examples of good practice within the school so that all staff might learn from them  extending opportunities for pupils to develop and use higher-level mathematics, technology and science skills in their topic work  using marking more effectively in mathematics and science to develop higher-order investigative skills

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Achievement of pupils

Children’s skills and understanding on entry to Reception are broadly in line with expectations. Pupils make above average progress in reading, writing and mathematics every year so that attainment builds to above average by the end of Year 2 and is substantially above average by the end of Year 6.

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Achievement of pupils

The former gap between pupils’ achievements in writing and reading has been largely eliminated and boys and girls achieve equally well. Pupils of all abilities are enthusiastic readers and writers. Pupils read widely for pleasure and produce lengthy pieces of writing to suit diverse occasions. The content of their writing is personalised and interesting because they write quickly and freely to get their ideas down. When they edit and improve selected pieces, for example to turn into a letter or a story, their spelling and punctuation are good and handwriting neat. Their spoken language is also good because of the many opportunities they have to talk to one another and speak in different ways, for example acting out scenes from a play or putting forward an argument. They also have a good knowledge of all areas of the mathematics curriculum. All the parents and carers responding to the questionnaire agreed that the school helps their children to develop good skills in communication,

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Achievement of pupils

reading, writing and mathematics. The inspector found this to be the case.

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Achievement of pupils

Children in Reception develop good reading and writing skills because they learn them daily and systematically and use them spontaneously in play. Pupils who miss periods of school because of travelling with their showman families make good progress in reading because they are supported well in school to make up lost ground and are given work packs when they travel. They enjoy reading and have good support from their families because relationships with the school are very good. The very few pupils with behaviour, emotional and social difficulties are managed and supported well so that they are fully included and make good progress without disrupting learning and progress for other pupils. The very few pupils with either moderate learning difficulties or speech, language and communication needs receive support closely matched to their needs and make good progress. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate

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Achievement of pupils

Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Achievement of pupils

Pupils learn well in all subjects. They have some say in the choice of topics they study and enjoy using books and the internet for independent research. They use computers competently to produce texts, photographs and data and illustrate their work using good art skills. They sometimes produce interesting facts and figures, but are not often challenged to use them as the basis for extending their mathematics and science skills through further investigation or research.

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Achievement of pupils

The most impressive use of modern technology was seen in Year 1, where all the pupils, working in groups, produced short animations with a commentary. One of the pupils explained how they made the models, took repeated photographs and then used a computer programme to speed up the images into an animation. The technology work in older age groups is less adventurous and advanced.

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Quality of teaching

All the questionnaire returns from pupils and parents and carers rightly agreed that teaching is good. Ambitious targets are set for each pupil every year and progress data show that these are being met.

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Quality of teaching

The planned curriculum is thorough and includes specific roles for teaching assistants and volunteer helpers. This is particularly effective in the class containing Year 1 and Reception children, enabling the curriculum for Early Years Foundation Stage and that for Key Stage 1 to be taught effectively side by side. Teaching assistants show good expertise in the direct teaching of reading and spelling skills and all staff interact with children purposefully as they play because they know the planned outcomes for each activity. For example, a teaching assistant talked with children playing in the sand tray with model animals and through this checked and supported their knowledge of colours and animal names as well as their counting skills.

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Quality of teaching

Reading and spelling skills are taught systematically throughout the school so that all pupils become skilled learners across the curriculum. Teachers provide rich displays and stimulating centres of interest to spark pupils' imagination and motivate them to learn. They use electronic whiteboards expertly to enliven lessons and clarify ideas and they encourage pupils to express their ideas fully to the class and to each other in pairs and small groups. For example, pupils in Year 4 and Year 5 worked very effectively in pairs to transform their imaginative Greek myths into play scripts because they had been given plenty of time to discuss how to do this following detailed illustrative guidance. The task made a good contribution to the pupils' self- confidence and collaborative skills as well as providing stimulating performance opportunities. This activity is also typical of many that promote pupils’ spiritual,

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Quality of teaching

moral, social and cultural development and enrich the pupils' appreciation of different cultures past and present and deepen their insight into universal human values.

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Quality of teaching

Marking is thorough and provides pointers for improvement based on pupils' individual targets. These are more detailed and challenging in English than in mathematics. The school has identified that it does not use marking effectively enough in mathematics and science to improve pupils’ investigative and experimental Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

The pupils' excellent learning behaviour is a significant factor in their good achievement and helps to prepare them extremely well for the next stage of their education and the world of work. As one written comment put it, ‘Callow End Primary School is a wonderful school. All the children that attend are happy, well mannered and well behaved’. Pupils have very positive attitudes to learning and they work well independently. They show high levels of enthusiasm and initiative and are confident in putting forward their own ideas. For example, a group of Year 6 pupils wrote to the headteacher asking for permission to organise their own scheme to make and market items following the successful enterprise project organised by the school in which they made and sold products at the school’s Summer Fayre. They convinced the headteacher that the scheme was viable and made a success of it. This exemplifies the pupils’ enthusiastic response to the exciting curriculum and helps to

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

explain why attendance has risen from below to above average over the past three years.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils respond eagerly to challenges and persevere to accomplish their tasks. Their topic books show that this willingness to extend themselves is a constant feature of their work. Behaviour is excellent around the school. Pupils are polite and helpful and fulfil many roles of responsibility with maturity. They are proud of their school and their contribution to improving society through the Eco Council. Pupils said that bullying of any kind, including name-calling and racist bullying, does not happen and that if it did, it would be dealt with immediately. The overwhelming majority of parents and carers that expressed an opinion also agreed that the school deals with any cases of bullying effectively.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils say they feel very safe and well looked after and describe risk assessment procedures, for example relating to the use of the forest schools area. The pupils know about the dangers that they may face outside school, including through the internet, and confidently describe appropriate responses to threatening situations. All the parents and carers responding to the questionnaire agreed that the school keeps their children safe.

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Leadership and management

The headteacher has established shared high aspirations throughout the school and this has been the key factor in developing a lively curriculum, increasing attendance rates and improving the effectiveness of assessments in supporting progress across the school. These improvements are securely established and underpin the school’s capacity to continue improving rapidly. Monitoring of teaching accurately identifies key strengths and areas for improvement and helps teachers to focus on personal targets. The professional development of staff is very effective and induction of new staff smooth and successful. The staff questionnaire returns were overwhelmingly positive as reflected in the comment: ‘the school is very supportive of its staff and is Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Leadership and management

managed excellently. I am proud to be a member of the team’.

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Leadership and management

The Early Years Foundation Stage is led and managed well. The information provided to parents and carers about their children’s progress and how best to help them at home is exemplary. Very nearly all parents and carers who returned questionnaires said they would recommend the school to others and some specifically praised the excellent provision in Reception as a reason for doing so.

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Leadership and management

A rich and varied curriculum has been developed, including outdoor activities such as the forest schools and gardening, residential visits and adventurous pursuits. An annual enterprise project gives the pupils valuable experience of making and selling products. Pupils appreciate these opportunities and talk about memorable experiences. All aspects of the pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development are promoted well. Art is used very well in the school to develop the pupils' aesthetic appreciation and uplifting songs enrich assemblies. Important universal human values such as trust are strongly promoted and similarities between religions in promoting them are highlighted. The school takes particular care to celebrate religions and cultures represented in the school and invites parents and carers in to talk about their beliefs and customs. Pupils say they enjoy and appreciate this. The pupils gain an insight into global cultural diversity through their

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Leadership and management

link with a school in Gambia and have enjoyed sharing information, pictures and artefacts with the pupils there. Their topic on the subject led to an insightful investigation by some pupils into the slave trade and empathic writing about the conditions faced by slaves in transit.

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Leadership and management

The governing body provides a good level of challenge and support to the school and ensures all legal requirements are met, including those relating to safeguarding. The school successfully ensures equality of opportunity for all pupils, especially those whose circumstances may make them vulnerable to underachievement, and is vigilant against discrimination. For example, it forges very strong relationships with showman families, helping them to support their children’s learning during the summer travelling period and ensuring that they do not feel excluded or isolated when they return to school. It has also successfully reduced absences due to holidays taken in term time because it has persuaded parents and carers of the impact of this on their children’s progress.

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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 Callow End CofE Primary School, Worcester, WR2 4TE

Thank you for welcoming me into your school. Callow End is a good school. One of the best things about it is your excellent behaviour and very positive attitudes to your work. Nearly all of you behave very well. The very few pupils who find it hard to behave well do not distract you unduly from your work or stop you making good progress. You enjoy school, work hard and do well in all your subjects. Your attainment is above average in reading, writing and mathematics and you make good progress each year. Teaching is good at your school and your headteacher is a good leader and manager. You have a lot of interesting things to do indoors and outdoors. I particularly liked your forest-schools areas and your garden.

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Inspection of Callow End CofE Primary School, Worcester, WR2 4TE

You enjoy your topics, which help you to use your learning skills, especially reading and writing, to discover new things. Your mathematics, technology and science skills are improving. I was very impressed with the animated videos produced in Year 1. Further up the school these skills are not quite as advanced. For you to get equally good in all these subjects I have asked your teachers to:

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Inspection of Callow End CofE Primary School, Worcester, WR2 4TE

 give you harder work to do in lessons when you find things easy  ask you to do more investigation and research when you have come up with a good idea in a topic  give you more targets in mathematics and science to improve your skills  help you to learn more advanced computer skills as you move through the school.

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Inspection of Callow End CofE Primary School, Worcester, WR2 4TE

You can help by not being afraid of putting forward your ideas and asking for harder work when you find work easy.

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Inspection of Callow End CofE Primary School, Worcester, WR2 4TE

Peter Kerr 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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