Scamblesby Church of England Primary School

Age group 4–11 Inspection date(s) 23–24 February 2012 Inspection number 380069 Scamblesby Church of England Primary School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 120584 Local authority Lincolnshire Inspection number 380069 Inspection dates 23–24 February 2012 Lead inspector Lynne Blakelock

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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 73 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Helen Robinson Headteacher Julie Strawson Date of previous school inspection 2 February 2009 School address Old Main Road Scamblesby Louth LN11 9XG Telephone number 01507 343629 Fax number 01507 343629 Email address julie.strawson@scamblesby.lincs.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 observed eight lessons taught by four teachers, over approximately four hours. She held meetings with members of the governing body, with groups of pupils and with senior leaders and teachers. The inspector took account of the responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) in planning the inspection, observed the school’s work, and looked at data relating to the achievement of all groups of pupils, school improvement planning and a range of policies and procedures relating to the safeguarding of pupils. She analysed the 46 questionnaires returned by parents and carers, together with questionnaires from pupils and staff.

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Information about the school

This is a small school compared to others of its type. Most pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is below average. An average proportion of pupils are disabled or have special educational needs, most of which are specific learning difficulties.

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Information about the school

Recently, the school has achieved National Healthy School status. It works in partnership with several local primary schools.

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Information about the school

The school meets the current floor standard set by the government, which set the minimum expectations 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. Its accurate understanding of its performance and effective strategies to strengthen the quality of teaching and leadership result in pupils’ good academic achievement and their good spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. The school’s overall effectiveness is good rather than outstanding because pupils do not all learn as very rapidly as they could. Most assessment is accurate and much of its use supports pupils’ good progress. However, systems to evaluate the rate of progress of those pupils working at below the national curriculum levels are not embedded. Pupils do not make maximum use of the targets they are given and targets are not all regularly reviewed and up to date. Pupils are not always sure about what they have achieved in lessons and the next steps forward.

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Key findings

 The achievement of all groups of pupils is good from the Early Years Foundation Stage onwards, from their individual starting points. They reach above average standards in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

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Key findings

 The quality of teaching is good. Teachers’ careful planning results in interesting tasks that engage pupils and provide an accurate level of challenge to match the levels at which they are working.

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Key findings

 Behaviour and safety are good. Both in lessons and around the school, pupils’ behaviour creates a positive learning and playing environment, within a caring and sharing ethos. They feel safe and understand how to stay safe.

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Key findings

 Leadership and management, incorporating the leadership of teaching, are good at all levels. Observations of teaching are accurate and inform school development planning. Together with performance management objectives that match staff’s individual development needs as well as the school’s priorities, they lead to effective improvements in the quality of pupils’ learning and in the curriculum. 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?

 Accelerate pupils’ progress further by:  embedding the use of assessment levels for those pupils working below national curriculum standards  ensuring that the organisation, planning and reviewing of target-setting throughout the school provides pupils with up to date targets that are a good match to their needs  making sure that pupils’ targets are integral to learning so that pupils know and understand them and take ownership of them  ensuring that pupils always know what they achieve in lessons and the next steps forward.

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Achievement of pupils

Most of the high proportion of parents and carers who responded to the questionnaire feel that their children make good progress. Inspection findings match these views.

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Achievement of pupils

Children make good progress in all aspects of their learning and development in Reception. They work cooperatively and increasingly independently. Their speaking and listening skills are promoted well through daily and systematic teaching of letters and sounds. The children showed pride in their ability to recognise letters and words as they acted as post boys and girls to the rest of the class. They identified simple words or letters, according to their levels of knowledge. Some children form letters and words very accurately and are able to write simple words and carry out simple number operations.

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Achievement of pupils

Good progress continues through Key Stage 1. A Year 1 and 2 lesson showed pupils’ good understanding of the differences in the spelling of words that sound the same. In a reading lesson, a group of pupils who find reading more difficult made good progress in identifying vowels and placing them between consonants. More-able pupils showed a good, developing understanding of the different types of prose and their characteristics. While some pupils’ reading skills are above average for their age, overall they are average by the end of Key Stage 1.

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Achievement of pupils

Throughout Key Stage 2, pupils’ good progress continues, including in their understanding of the relationships between numbers as they explored patterns. During a discussion about their learning, they were able to explain confidently how to predict the sum of the numbers on a grid. As a result of their good progress, standards are above average by the end of Year 6. 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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Achievement of pupils

All groups of pupils make good progress. There are no significant differences between girls’ and boys’ rate of progress because tasks take their interests into account as well as their preferred ways of learning. Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs achieve well. They are closing the gap on pupils nationally. Younger pupils, for example, are moving forward more confidently in recognising and remembering letters and sounds and in adding and subtracting single digit numbers. Pupils known to be eligible for free school meals make similar progress to other groups of pupils.

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Quality of teaching

Good teaching from the Early Years Foundation Stage onwards results in pupils’ good progress through the school. The very large majority of parents and carers agree the quality of teaching is good, and say that it matches their children’s needs well.

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Quality of teaching

Pupils show enthusiasm for learning. Effective planning ensures tasks are interesting and enables pupils to practise both new skills and those previously learnt. For example, a range of teaching methods, including a computer-based stimulus, helped pupils of all abilities in Year 3 and 4 to make good progress in calculating time in a digital format.

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Quality of teaching

Questioning is a strong feature in the school’s promotion of good learning. Teachers vary their questioning skilfully to match the differing needs of the pupils. Its specific focus accelerates pupils’ progress and encourages their greater enquiry and reflection on what and how they have learnt. Teaching assistants provide focused and effective support for individuals and small groups. Teaching promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding through, for example, the use of texts, discussions and activities that encourage discovery and creativity. For instance, in the Reception class, the children showed joy as their division and cutting of paper resulted in icicle shapes.

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Quality of teaching

The school’s examples of outstanding teaching are typified by strong subject knowledge, an exceptionally clear focus and highly challenging, achievable goals for all groups of pupils. In an outstanding lesson in Year 5 and 6 that focused on the power of imagery in a poem, pupils worked with a high level of concentration and reflection, using a wide range of grammatical skills to back-up the images evoked through the teacher’s vivid input.

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Quality of teaching

Pupils’ work is marked regularly and they say that verbal advice given to them in lessons is often very helpful. Written marking is more variable, particularly in informing pupils of their next steps in learning. Targets are not a regular focus in lessons and some pupils are unsure of what they are, so opportunities to involve pupils in driving their own learning forward are sometimes missed.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils show respect and support for each other within a nurturing environment. The 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

school demonstrates high expectations of their behaviour and attitudes to each other, which are consistently good. Most parents and carers agree that behaviour is good in lessons and around the school.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

The staff manage behaviour effectively. From the Early Years Foundation Stage, regular routines and expectations, together with clearly understood rewards and sanctions, result in a positive, supportive and happy ethos for learning and playing. The roles and responsibilities of pupils, from those for children in the Reception onwards, promote their sense of worth and belonging. At the same time, these opportunities enable them to develop a range of interpersonal skills, such as taking on responsibilities and being an effective team player for the good of the whole school.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Every parent and carer who responded to the questionnaire said that their children feel safe in school. The very large majority of parents and carers agree that any bullying is dealt with effectively. Pupils say that they feel physically and emotionally safe in lessons and round the school site. From Reception onwards, pupils develop a secure understanding of several different types of bullying, although not all, and how to manage any unkind words and actions. Pupils speak confidently about cyber- bullying, which forms part of a wide programme of learning throughout the school. It includes potential dangers such as road safety, and the misuse of drugs and drink. Pupils’ attendance is above average, demonstrating the way they value their school and learning.

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Leadership and management

The staff form a cohesive unit that is significant in the continuing success of the school. Led well by the headteacher, regular monitoring and reviewing of practices, and evaluation of the impact of strategies, ensure a clear direction to school improvement planning. Similarly, observations of teaching ensure that performance management priorities for the staff and associated professional development strengthen classroom and leadership practices. Learning and support for pupils who find aspects of learning difficult have improved through consistent and promptly utilised strategies. This is particularly evident in the teaching of reading. However, formal assessment of the attainment of those pupils who are working below national curriculum levels is comparatively new, so these pupils’ rate of progress and the impact of teaching and learning strategies are less clear over time. The learning and development of the children in the Early Years Foundation Stage has strengthened

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Leadership and management

since the last inspection, due to the greater focus on children learning for themselves. The good progress of all groups of pupils, and opportunities for them all to develop their potential, both academically and in their personal skills, demonstrate good equality of opportunity throughout the school and freedom from discrimination.

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Leadership and management

The good improvements since the last inspection in the challenge presented to pupils and in their cultural development, demonstrate the school’s good capacity to move further forward. Governors’ accurate understanding of the school’s performance, and regular challenging of its work and impact, confirm their ability to steer the school 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

onward. They oversee comprehensive safeguarding arrangements which meet statutory requirements and which help to ensure the good care of pupils. The breakfast club, for example, is providing a safe, nutritious and sociable start to the day’s learning.

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Leadership and management

Pupils’ good spiritual, moral, social and cultural development are promoted through regular routines and assemblies, and incorporated into the good curriculum. For example, pupils show understanding and respect for those of different beliefs and cultures and understand some similarities and differences between them. Mixed-age classes are effective because provision is monitored to ensure good coverage for all pupils. While literacy and numeracy form the basis of learning, links across subjects and themes ensure a range of skills are being practised. Good enrichment, including music and an interesting range of popular after-school clubs, result in a balanced and varied curriculum.

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Leadership and management

Good links with parents and carers are forged in the Early Years Foundation Stage, through induction and opportunities to join in with their children’s learning. Target setting meetings inform parents and carers, and give pupils clear goals, although there is no clear organisation or planning for updating targets. Partnerships with a local cluster of schools broaden pupils’ learning opportunities. The headteacher and the governing body benefit from the school’s partnership with a local cluster of schools, which meets regularly to share practices, exchange information and discuss educational issues.

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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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9XG

Thank you for welcoming me into your school recently and for being so polite and helpful. I enjoyed watching you learning. I particularly enjoyed discussing your learning with you. Thank you for sharing your thoughts about your school with me, through discussions and the questionnaire. Your views are important and I have taken them into account in the judgements that I have made.

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9XG

Your school is a good school. From the Early Years Foundation Stage, you make good progress and reach above average standards in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6. Teaching is good and work is carefully planned to help you move forward in your learning. Teachers make your work interesting and challenging, so that you have to think hard. Your school ensures that you are well- prepared for secondary school. The staff help you to develop a range of skills, through a wide variety of learning opportunites, in and out of lessons. You gain personal skills through taking on responsibilities around the school. You behave well and your attendance is above average.

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9XG

The headteacher and the staff know that the school can improve further. I have asked the headteacher to ensure that you always know what you have achieved in lessons and what to do next. Target-setting is a good way of helping you to make progress and I have asked the headteacher to check that it is carefully planned so that your targets are always up to date and match your needs accurately. You should know them and use them. They will help you to take more responsibility for your learning.

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9XG

I was delighted by your positive attitudes to school and learning, which will help the school to bring about these improvements.

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9XG

Lynne Blakelock 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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