Penruddock Primary School

Penruddock Primary School Inspection report

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Age group 5–11 Inspection date(s) 07–08 February 2012 Inspection number 378429 Unique Reference Number 112119 Local authority Cumbria Inspection number 378429 Inspection dates 7–8 February 2012 Lead inspector Alison Thomson

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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 Foundation Age range of pupils 5–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 53 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Elizabeth Connelly Headteacher David Spruce Date of previous school inspection 21 October 2008 School address Penruddock Penrith CA11 0QU Telephone number 01768 483278 Fax number 01768 483278 Email address admin@penruddock.cumbria.sch.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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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 after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days’ notice. The inspector observed four teachers teaching nine lessons, of which one was a joint observation with the headteacher. Meetings were held with members of the governing body and the school staff. The inspector observed the school’s work, including analyses of the pupils' work, and looked at a number of documents, including those relating to development planning, safeguarding and child protection, the monitoring of the quality of teaching, external views of the school and minutes of the governing body meetings. The inspector also analysed 34 parental and carers’ questionnaires, 52 pupils’ questionnaires and 10 completed by the staff.

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Information about the school

This school is much smaller than average for a primary school. The proportion of children known to be eligible for free school meals is below average. Most pupils are White British and all speak English as their first language. An average proportion of pupils is disabled or has special educational needs, including those who have a statement of special educational needs. The school has many awards, including Healthy School status for the promotion of a healthy lifestyle. The school has exceeded the Government’s floor standards for pupils’ attainment and progress for a number of years. Since the previous inspection there have been significant changes in staff, including the headteacher. Separate childcare provision shares the school site, but this is not managed by the governing body and was not included in this inspection. 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

■ Penruddock is a good school where pupils’ behaviour and safety are outstanding. Pupils, staff, parents and carers are extremely positive about all aspects of the school’s work. The following comment is typical of many: ‘The school provides a caring community where our children are nurtured and valued.’ Pupils’ attainment is above average and improving. They make good progress from skills that are generally typical for their age when starting in Reception. The effectiveness of the Early Years Foundation Stage is good.

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Key Findings

■ Teaching is good throughout the school and is sometimes outstanding. Teachers are enthusiastic and use interesting activities to make learning fun. They use skilful questioning to challenge pupils and make them think. Teachers regularly assess pupils' work and make it clear how they can improve. However, they do not always share with pupils clear enough criteria for success in lessons to enable them to tell for themselves how well they are learning. When they do, teaching and learning are outstanding.

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Key Findings

■ Pupils behave extremely well and say that they feel very safe in school. They are very polite and welcoming and look after each other well. They cooperate in a very mature way in lessons and this has a very positive effect on their learning. They rise to the challenge of helping to assess their own learning when given the opportunity to do so. Parents, carers and staff agree very strongly that behaviour is good and that the school keeps the children safe. The pupils themselves rate behaviour highly and say that there is nothing they wish to change about the school.

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Key Findings

■ The headteacher, staff and governing body know the school's strengths and areas for development very well. Monitoring and evaluation of pupils' progress is carried out increasingly rigorously and, along with the outstanding curriculum, is helping to address quickly areas that have previously been less strong. The school provides many memorable experiences for its pupils and this helps their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development to be outstanding. The quality of teaching has improved, although lesson observations are not always focused closely enough on the learning that is taking place. The capacity for future improvement is good.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

■ Further raise achievement through ensuring that more teaching is outstanding by:  sharing more effectively with pupils what it is they should be learning in lessons, so that they can tell more easily how well they are doing  having a closer focus on the learning that is taking place when evaluating the quality of teaching through lesson observations.

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Achievement of pupils

Children start in Reception with skills that are generally around those expected for their age, although lower in linking letters to sounds and writing. Excellent induction procedures with parents and carers, and good links with the nursery on site, help the children to settle quickly and get a confident start to their school life. Children play together and behave very well. They make good progress and typically enter Year 1 having exceeded the levels expected for their age in all areas of learning. Attainment in reading by the end of Year 2 is above average and improving strongly. This is helped greatly by the school’s very effective daily phonic sessions. Listening to pupils in Year 1 and Year 2 read confirmed that their attainment in reading is above average. The school's assessment shows clearly that progress in reading is good. Progress throughout the school is good and pupils consistently leave school at the end of Year 6 with attainment in reading, writing and mathematics that

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Achievement of pupils

Parents and carers strongly agree that their children are achieving well. The school’s data shows that progress has improved and is now securely good in areas that were relatively less strong, such as mathematics in Key Stage 2 and boys’ writing in Key Stage 1 and Reception. This is due to innovative changes to the curriculum and well-targeted use of teaching assistants. The inspection confirmed that learning is good and sometimes outstanding. Excellent progress was seen with a group of Reception children and some Year 1 and Year 2 pupils writing with chalk outside. The teacher involved them well in their learning by asking them to look at each other’s words and to put a tick if they judged the words to be spelt correctly. Pupils in Years 5 and 6 were seen thoroughly enjoying the challenge of estimating capacity and circumferences and then checking for themselves how accurate their estimates had been. Throughout the school, pupils who have disabilities and

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Achievement of pupils

those who have special educational needs make good progress. This is helped greatly by very sensitive and well-focused support from the teaching assistants.

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Quality of teaching

The quality of teaching is good and in some lessons outstanding. Teachers are very enthusiastic and create a very purposeful learning environment. Lessons proceed at a good pace and there is a wide range of interesting activities to engage children, including many opportunities for them to practise their basic skills of literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology (ICT). Pupils eagerly told the inspector about their enterprise project of making a CD of a Christmas carol they had written themselves. This was to help raise money for their partner school in Tanzania to get a roof on their dining hall. This is just one of the ways that the school’s provision impacts very well on pupils’ outstanding spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Innovative use of the curriculum, weaving together reading, writing, ICT and drama, was seen in a Year 5 and 6 lesson on the Rime of the

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Quality of teaching

Ancient Mariner. The pupils made outstanding progress as they worked well together to act out freeze-frames of scenes depicted from the poem.

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Quality of teaching

Teachers plan their lessons well with work that is carefully modified for the pupils’ different ages and abilities. This was seen particularly well in a Year 3 and 4 English lesson where different groups of pupils each had their own appropriate tasks to enable them to describe the story of Charlotte’s Web with interesting speech bubbles. Pupils gain in confidence well because they are given many opportunities to voice their opinions and share ideas. Teachers usually share with the pupils what it is they should be able to do in lessons and they check how well the pupils are doing throughout the lessons. However, they do not always give the pupils clear ways of being able to tell for themselves how well they are learning. Thus progress is not always as good as it could be. Teachers mark the pupils’ work thoroughly. As well as correcting mistakes and giving praise, there are many comments to help pupils know

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Quality of teaching

how they can improve their work. Parents and carers feel that their children are very well taught.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Behaviour is outstanding and there is much evidence from older pupils and from letters and emails from visitors, that it has been so for some time. Pupils say, ‘bullying just does not happen’, and they get on really well together. Incidents of poor behaviour are extremely rare and any that occur are dealt with very well. There have been no exclusions in the history of the school. Attendance is consistently above average and sometimes high and children are punctual to school. All parents and carers who returned the questionnaire agreed or agreed strongly that behaviour is good. Similarly, the pupils’ questionnaires showed that all agreed that behaviour is good in lessons all the time.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils’ behaviour impacts very well on their learning. This was seen many times throughout the inspection. They rise to the challenge of assessing their own work and that of others. For example, Year 5 and 6 pupils were observed offering constructive criticism to each other on their gallery of drawings in the style of David Hockney. Advice was always accepted well and in a very mature way. This mature way of interacting was also seen in a Key Stage 2 tag rugby lesson and in a teacher-led activity on problem solving in Reception. Here the children successfully worked out if there were enough wellingtons of the correct sizes for them to go into their sensory garden later in the day.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Throughout the inspection there were many examples of the pupils being very considerate towards others. Older pupils look after the younger ones very well, for example in helping them to carry their trays at dinner time if they are having difficulty. Most pupils agreed that they feel safe in school all of the time. They told the inspector that school is very safe because the teachers look after them well and there are locks on the doors. They have an extremely good understanding of how to take care of themselves and one another. They describe their school as ‘friendly and safe’ and one that gives them a ‘new challenge every day’.

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Leadership and management

The headteacher and his staff know every pupil very well. They make learning highly enjoyable and provide them with an outstanding curriculum that impacts particularly well on the pupils’ personal development. There is a wide range of activities, including music, art, French, ghyll scrambling and growing fruit and vegetables in the school garden. The school wins many trophies in a variety of sporting events. Pupils, parents and members of the wider community are given many exciting challenges such as cycling the equivalent of from John O’Groats to Land’s End or climbing Everest, by adding together the heights of Lakeland peaks climbed. The promotion of the pupils’ spiritual, moral and social development is outstanding. Time is built in for reflection in many lesson activities as well as assemblies. An assembly seen during the inspection illustrated how well the school stimulates an environment of respect for others. Pupils were asked what the ingredients for making a

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Leadership and management

‘friendship cake’ would be and one replied, a ‘tablespoonful of sharing’.

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Leadership and management

The school monitors and evaluates the progress of the pupils and addresses areas for development well. Consequently, attainment and progress are improving strongly. The school has a very accurate view of the strengths and areas for development in teaching and its quality has improved. It acknowledges that to improve further there should be a closer focus on the learning that is taking place when observing lessons. Members of the governing body work closely with the school and with parents and carers. They hold the school to account well through efficient monitoring and evaluation.

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Leadership and management

The equality of opportunity for each pupil is good and any possible discrimination is tackled rigorously. Safety is a very high priority and this approach results in children feeling extremely safe and secure. Safeguarding is robust with clear policies and very thorough risk assessments. Parents and carers agree strongly that the school keeps them well informed and acts promptly and efficiently on any concerns. They welcome the opportunities the school gives them to be involved in their children’s learning. Many comment very favourably about the conscientiousness and approachability of the headteacher and the staff. Based on the improvements that have already been made since the previous inspection, the capacity to improve further is good.

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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.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

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 ).

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

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.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Primary schools include primary academy converters. Secondary schools include se condary 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

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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to share with their children. It describes Ofsted's main

findings from the inspection of their school.

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Inspection of Penruddock Primary School, Penrith, CA11 0QU

Thank you for the lovely welcome you gave me when I visited your school recently. I enjoyed talking with you and seeing you learn in class. I worked closely with your headteacher and also spent time talking to your teachers and governors and looking at your work. Your school is a good one and one that is improving strongly.

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Inspection of Penruddock Primary School, Penrith, CA11 0QU

Here are some of the things that I particularly liked.

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Inspection of Penruddock Primary School, Penrith, CA11 0QU

■ You love coming to school and you are very keen to learn. ■ Your behaviour is excellent, you get on well together and you know how to keep yourselves safe. ■ Your teachers listen carefully to your ideas and make your lessons interesting. ■ The adults in school make sure that you are very well looked after.

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Inspection of Penruddock Primary School, Penrith, CA11 0QU

I have asked your headteacher to make your school even better by:

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Inspection of Penruddock Primary School, Penrith, CA11 0QU

■ helping you to be able to tell how well you are learning ■ looking more closely at how well you are learning when watching your lessons.

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Inspection of Penruddock Primary School, Penrith, CA11 0QU

You can help by telling your teacher if you are not sure if you are learning well in each of your activities.

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Inspection of Penruddock Primary School, Penrith, CA11 0QU

I really enjoyed your assembly and loved the idea of a friendship cake made with ‘a tablespoonful of sharing’. I would like to wish you all the best for the future and hope that you continue to enjoy being at your school.

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Inspection of Penruddock Primary School, Penrith, CA11 0QU

Alison Thomson 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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