Orgill Primary School

Age group 3–11 Inspection date(s) 22–23 February 2012 Inspection number 381342 Unique Reference Number 131443 Local authority Cumbria Inspection number 381342 Inspection dates 22–23 February 2012 Lead inspector Sue Sharkey

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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 188 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Lynn Andrews Headteacher Julie Irving Date of previous school inspection 20 May 2009 School address Southey Avenue Orgill Egremont CA22 2HH Telephone number 01946 820234 Fax number 01946 823879 Email address headteacher@orgill.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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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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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

Sue Sharkey Janice Stephenson Additional inspector Additional inspector

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out with two days’ notice. The inspectors observed 10 teachers and visited nine lessons. Discussions were held with the headteacher, school staff, groups of pupils, and members of the governing body. The inspector observed pupils’ work and looked at a wide range of documentation provided by the school, including the school’s system for tracking the pupils’ progress, documents regarding the safeguarding of pupils, and key policies. Inspection questionnaires from 56 parents and carers were scrutinised and others from school staff and pupils were also taken into account. The inspectors took account of the responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) in planning the inspection.

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Information about the school

This is a smaller than average-size school. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible to free school meals is above the national average. Almost all pupils are from White British backgrounds. The proportion of disabled pupils with those with special educational needs is below the national average. The school meets the current floor standard. The school has the Gold Inclusion Charter Mark and the Early Years Foundation Stage Leading Aspects Award.

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Information about the school

The school offers a breakfast club managed by the governing body. On the same site is a children’s centre providing integrated services for children and their families in the community. This setting did not form part of the inspection, but a report about the quality of the provision can be found on the Ofsted website. 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. It is an energetic community providing a purposeful, caring environment where pupils enjoy learning. Parents, rightly, feel that their children are safe and looked after well. Pupils make good progress from their starting points in the Early Years Foundation Stage so that, by the end of Key Stage 2, their attainment is broadly average in English and mathematics and their achievement is good. The school is not outstanding overall because teaching does not yet promote outstanding achievement.

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Key Findings

 Teaching is good. Positive relationships between staff and pupils motivate the pupils. Good questioning in lessons extends pupils’ language and learning effectively. There are many opportunities to practise writing skills and marking tells pupils clearly how to improve their work. Teaching is not outstanding, however, because work does not always match pupils’ needs closely. Expectations for the quality of spelling and handwriting are not consistently high. Pupils do not always have enough opportunity to respond to the guidance that marking gives them.

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Key Findings

 Pupil’s behaviour is consistently good, both in lessons and around school. They show good levels of engagement, courtesy and cooperation. Pupils make a significant contribution to the smooth running of the safe school environment. Good behaviour is recognised by parent and carers.

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Key Findings

 The headteacher and senior leaders know the school’s strengths and weaknesses and are constantly driving improvement. However, the goals set in the school improvement plan to raise attainment and improve progress are not specific enough. Leaders are continually checking that the curriculum excites pupils as well as having an emphasis on developing basic skills, although pupils do not have enough access to information and communication technology (ICT) to support their independent learning. The school has strong links with parents and carers and partners such as other schools and external agencies.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching to outstanding and consequently raise achievement further by:  ensuring that expectations of handwriting and spelling are consistently high across the whole school  using assessment information more accurately in order to ensure that work always matches the needs of all pupils  ensuring that pupils receive sufficient opportunities to respond to feedback from marking in order to improve their work  ensuring that pupils have sufficient access to ICT in order to help develop independent learning skills.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that the goals to be achieved through the school’s improvement plan are more specific in order to raise attainment and improve pupils’ progress. 

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Achievement of pupils

Children make a good start in the Early Years Foundation Stage because of the good quality of teaching, care and support they receive. They make good progress from their starting points, which are well below those typically expected for their age. Stimulating activities are well chosen in the Early Years Foundation Stage and children have plenty of opportunities to explore the world around them, both indoors and outdoors, ensuring that children’s love of learning starts at this early stage. Lesson observations show that children are already behaving well. They play successfully together, while enjoying friendships.

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Achievement of pupils

Good progress is sustained through Key Stages 1 and 2 so that, when pupils leave in Year 6, their attainment is broadly average. Achievement is good for all groups of pupils, including disabled pupils and those with special educational needs and those known to be eligible for free school meals. Teaching assistants are proficient at clarifying teachers’ explanations for individual pupils and ensuring that they understand fully the concepts that are being taught. The school has initiated a wide range of activities in order to improve pupils’ writing and these have been particularly effective for boys. Recent assessment indicates that strategies have accelerated pupils’ learning, particularly in English, so that the gap in the quality of writing between boys and girls is closing rapidly. The work of some pupils reveals shortcomings in handwriting and spelling. Parents and carers are right to be pleased with

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Achievement of pupils

the good progress their children are making. Pupils’ positive attitudes to learning are exemplified by the way they settle quickly in lessons and are eager to learn. For example, in a Year 3 and 4 mathematics lesson, the teacher extended pupils’ knowledge to include angles larger or smaller than right angles. Pupils moved swiftly from talking together as a group to working in pairs, where they discussed and explored angles in different shapes accurately. Pupils show enthusiasm for work and talk confidently about why they enjoy lessons. This promotes their social and moral development successfully. Most pupils read confidently. From entering school in the Nursery, children are exposed to a wide range of books. They can be seen curling up with a book while they enjoy their snack with a friend, turning the pages and laughing at the pictures. As children progress through the Early Years Foundation Stage, the teaching of letter sounds engages children and they

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Achievement of pupils

begin to read. Pupils in Key Stage 1 say they enjoy all kinds of books. They show confidence in sounding out letters in order to work out unfamiliar words so that, when reading books for the first time, pupils can follow the whole story. Some pupils recognise punctuation accurately or change their voice, for example, when they read words in speech bubbles. By the end of Year 2, pupils’ reading is broadly average. As they progress through Key Stage 2, pupils learn new vocabulary and extend their use of punctuation and grammar, not only in their writing, but also to develop reading. Pupils in Years 3 and 4 speak positively about reading, saying that books help to give them information to help them learn. Boys, particularly, enjoy adventure activities which help to develop their imagination and extend their writing skills. By the end of Year 6, pupils’ reading is broadly average and improving quickly. The recent change to the teaching of letters and sounds has already had a positive

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Achievement of pupils

impact on pupils’ reading and this is raising attainment and improving progress throughout the school. All parents and carers who responded to the inspection questionnaires are rightly happy with the way that the school helps pupils to develop reading, writing and mathematical skills.

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Quality of teaching

Teaching is good and parents and carers agree. Teaching is characterised by a positive climate for learning and a strong sense of purpose. Good management of behaviour contributes to calm, safe classrooms, where teachers appreciate pupils’ contribution to lessons. For example, in a Years 5 and 6 English lesson, pupils listened attentively to the teacher as they discussed report writing in newspapers. The teacher asked good questions which challenged pupils’ thinking and drew out thoughtful responses. The lesson moved along swiftly. Strong features in teaching are stimulating activities which enthuse pupils and the teachers’ good subject knowledge. Regular tracking of pupils’ progress and discussions with senior leaders help teachers to have an understanding of pupils’ needs. However, the information is not always used accurately enough to ensure that work planned in lessons always matches the attainment of different pupils to ensure they make the best possible

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Quality of teaching

progress. Marking is frequent and positive in tone, providing pupils with comments to help them know how to improve their work. Pupils are not given sufficient opportunities to focus on putting the advice they receive into practice to help them improve their work.

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Quality of teaching

Teachers have developed a curriculum which is varied and matched to the interests of the pupils. English and mathematics are threaded through different subjects and this is helping accelerate pupils’ progress in writing particularly. Teachers’ expectations of the content of pupils’ writing are good and lead to good outcomes. However, occasionally, expectations about the quality of pupil’s joined-up handwriting and the accuracy of their spelling are not consistently high enough across the school. The planned curriculum is designed well to support both academic and personal skills and there is always a focus on extending pupils’ local knowledge, as well as their understanding of the wider world. In these ways, pupils’ spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development is fostered well.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils, clearly, enjoy coming to school. Pupils and their parents and carers are very clear that the standard of behaviour in school is typically good and has been over time. Observations in lessons and around the school confirm this. This good behaviour makes a positive contribution to pupils’ good achievement. Girls and boys participate fully in paired work and whole-class discussions. Pupils collaborate regularly in mixed groups, where relationships are strong. They demonstrate a good understanding of the different types of bullying, saying that pupils do fall out occasionally and disagree, but that there is no bullying in school. The school works very closely with parents and carers if any pupil has a problem so that it can be resolved quickly. Pupils are confident that, should the need arise, they would know how to deal with bullying. They say they are taught about different forms of bullying through the curriculum, for example, cyber-bullying. Attendance is average. The

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

school has a wide range of guidance and strategies in place to encourage regular attendance and works closely with parents and carers, particularly to discourage them from taking their children out of school for holidays.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

All pupils who responded to the inspection questionnaire said that they feel safe in school. The school council was quick to say that they can talk to any adult if they have a problem. Pupils are kind and courteous towards each other and from an early age they know right from wrong.

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Leadership and management

The headteacher and senior leaders work well together and are clearly focused on school improvement. The school has a good capacity for improvement. This is demonstrated through the successful initiatives leaders have put in place to improve the teaching of effective extended writing, not just for boys, but also for all pupils. Targets set for pupils in mathematics indicate that the regular group work for mental calculations is helping to improve pupils’ progress even further. Effective use is made of professional development resulting in the school’s actions to initiate the indicated rise in pupils’ progress in English and mathematics. All leaders contribute effectively to the school improvement plan, but the goals they wish to achieve in order to raise attainment and improve pupils’ progress have not been specific enough to accelerate progress over time.

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Leadership and management

The governing body is very supportive of the school and has a clear understanding of what the school needs to do to improve. It is increasingly involved in the work of the school, but its understanding of school data has not yet been developed fully. However, this does not deter it from challenging senior managers about the achievement of pupils to ensure a continued impetus on improving the progress of pupils. The governing body maintains a firm commitment to equal opportunities. Any potential discrimination is tackled quickly. As a result, pupils and adults work well together. Procedures to safeguard pupils meet government requirements in ensuring that the school is a safe place in which to learn.

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Leadership and management

The school provides a broad and balanced curriculum. There are many opportunities to stimulate and engage pupils’ interests and to appreciate the arts through visits to museums or dance and film clubs. Information and communication technology is used effectively during lessons, but its use in helping pupils to develop independent learning skills is less successful. A strength of the curriculum is its contribution to the good spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development of the pupils, as it provides many opportunities for pupils to demonstrate their awareness of the wider world.

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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 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

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 Orgill Primary School, Egremont CA22 2HH

Thank you for making us feel so welcome when we visited your school recently. We enjoyed talking with you, watching you learn in lessons and listening to some of you read. Your behaviour is good both in the classroom and outside and we were impressed to see how well you play all together at break time. Overall, we found that your teachers teach you well and your school provides you with a good education, so that you are able to make good progress in your work.

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Inspection of Orgill Primary School, Egremont CA22 2HH

There are a few things that we have asked the school to do to help to make it even better and to help you make even better progress. First, for teachers to ensure that your handwriting and your spelling are always good in all the work you do. Second, that when teachers plan work for you in lessons, they always remember to plan different activities when you are taught as a whole class. Third, that you are given time to read what teachers write when they mark your work and that you have time to use this to help you improve your work. Fourth, that you have more opportunities to use computers on your own. Finally, that your school is clear about what it wants to achieve when trying to make improvements.

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Inspection of Orgill Primary School, Egremont CA22 2HH

Congratulations on everything you do to help your school. We found out more and more during the two days as we talked with you! We enjoyed walking around your school as well as joining you in lessons because, everywhere we went, you were all concentrating and working hard. Often, we saw you having fun and we were pleased to hear you say that teacher’s make lessons fun while you learn. We were also pleased to hear that when we asked you if you enjoyed reading you all said, ‘YES’.

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Inspection of Orgill Primary School, Egremont CA22 2HH

Your headteacher, staff and the governing body care for you well. Remember always to do your best and help your teachers. Thank you for helping us.

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Inspection of Orgill Primary School, Egremont CA22 2HH

Sue Sharkey Lead inspector (on behalf of the inspection team) 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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