Knuzden St Oswald's CofE Voluntary Aided Primary School

Knuzden St Oswald's CofE Voluntary Aided Primary School Inspection report

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Age group 5–11 Inspection date(s) 28–29 February 2012 Inspection number Unique Reference Number 119450 Local authority Lancashire Inspection number 379806 Inspection dates 28–29 February 2012 Lead inspector Roger Gill

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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 aided Age range of pupils 5–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 206 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Samantha Thornber Headteacher Victoria Axon (Acting) Date of previous school inspection 15 June 2009 School address Mount St James Stanhill Road Knuzden Blackburn BB1 2DR Telephone number 01254 667222 Fax number 01254 699992 Email address head@st-oswaldscofe.lancs.sch.uk Inspection report: Knuzden St Oswald's CofE Voluntary Aided Primary School, 28–29 February 2012 2 of 11

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T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Inspection report: Knuzden St Oswald's CofE Voluntary Aided Primary School, 28–29 February 2012 3 of 11

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Introduction

Roger Gill Barbara Dutton Additional inspector Additional inspector

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days' notice. Inspectors took account of the responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) in planning the inspection. Twelve lessons or part lessons were observed, amounting to about six hours in total, taught by eight teachers, of which eight were joint observations with senior leaders. Meetings were held with groups of pupils, members of the governing body and staff. Inspectors observed the school's work and looked at a range of evidence, including the school's documents for self-evaluation and safeguarding. They also studied standards in reading, the work pupils were doing in their books and the tracking system used to monitor pupils' progress. Inspectors considered the 41 questionnaires completed by parents and carers as well as those from pupils and staff.

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Information about the school

Knuzden St Oswald’s is a smaller than average primary school. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is below the national average. The number of pupils from minority ethnic heritages is about average as is the proportion who speak English as an additional language. There are average proportions of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs. The school recently received Healthy School status. Since the school’s last inspection there has been a considerable change in staff. An acting headteacher has been in post since September 2011 when the substantive headteacher was seconded to another school for a year. The school falls below the current floor standards. Pupils can attend a breakfast club organised by the governing body and also an after-school facility that is privately run. A report for the after-school club can be found on the Ofsted website. Inspection report: Knuzden St Oswald's CofE Voluntary Aided Primary School, 28–29 February 2012 4 of 11

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Information about 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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Key Findings

 This is a satisfactory school. It is justifiably popular with parents and carers owing to its ability to foster in pupils mature attitudes towards learning and towards other people. The school is not yet good overall because pupils’ progress from Year 3 to the end of Year 6 is no better than satisfactory.

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Key Findings

 Attainment is below that expected of similar age children at the beginning of Reception. Pupils make good progress to the end of Year 2, reaching average levels owing to the good quality of teaching children receive in the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1. Standards in English and mathematics are only average by the end of Year 6. Pupils are capable of reaching higher levels by the time they leave the school.

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Key Findings

 Teaching is satisfactory overall. It is generally good for younger pupils and there are good aspects currently for older ones but recent improvements in teaching have not been sustained for long enough to be reflected in results at the end of Year 6.

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Key Findings

 Behaviour and safety in lessons and around the school is good. Pupils are polite, attend well and often go out of their way to think of others. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is satisfactory. Pupils frequently reflect on their own development, and help create a harmonious school community. They have too few opportunities to study the diversity of culture in relation to their own country and abroad.

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Key Findings

 The leadership has been effective in tackling weaknesses in teaching that, in the past, led to underachievement. Gaps in knowledge and understanding are being addressed through effective systems designed to improve pupils’ achievement. Leadership is adept at observing teaching and monitoring pupils’ progress in order to judge the success of its measures to improve achievement. Good professional development is provided that has produced improvements, particularly since September 2011.

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Key Findings

Schools whose overall effectiveness is judged satisfactory may receive a monitoring visit by an Ofsted inspector before their next section 5 inspection. Inspection report: Knuzden St Oswald's CofE Voluntary Aided Primary School, 28–29 February 2012 5 of 11

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the rate of progress in Years 3 to 6 to raise standards at the end of Year 6 by: - enabling pupils to use their skills in reading, writing and mathematics more purposefully in all subjects - making sure that all pupils know precisely how to improve their levels of attainment, - particularly in mathematics - ensuring that teaching in all lessons results in a good pace of learning.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Broadening pupils’ awareness and understanding of cultural diversity in Britain and abroad.

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Achievement of pupils

Children in Reception and pupils in Years 1 and 2 make good progress because lessons are securely based on imaginative play or practical activities of all kinds that capture children’s interest. For example, a story of ‘We are going on a Bear Hunt’ in Reception was used to help children learn in a variety of ways. They remembered sequences of events by heart, sharpened their knowledge of the sounds in words and created imaginative worlds, such as when a group of children made a huge cave out of sand as a place in which to hunt for the bear. In Years 1 and 2 pupils’ excitement at making up sentences, using their newfound confidence in sounding out and spelling words, makes a visible difference to their rate of learning. For example, one pupil in Year 1 wrote, ‘The pirate has a black patch. He is a scoundrel’, and everyone applauded at the adventurous use of the word ‘scoundrel’. As a result, outcomes are good at the end of Reception and standards are average at the end of

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Achievement of pupils

Year 2, but by comparison pupils’ progress in Key Stage 2 is broadly satisfactory.

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Achievement of pupils

Achievement should be better in Years 3 to 6. There is the beginning of a curve of improvement, which has accelerated particularly since January 2012; however, it is too soon to see substantive advances, which is why achievement overall is not better than satisfactory. Nevertheless, the achievement of more-able pupils has improved over time, since 2009, which is demonstrated by the greater proportion of pupils going beyond an average level at the end of Year 6 and Year 2. Moreover, boys who as a group did not progress well in the past now make at least satisfactory progress in lessons and sometimes advance well when learning is active and the goals are clearly explained. For example, in a Year 6 mathematics lesson on percentages, in which learning flowed at a fast pace, some boys were inspired to offer their own solutions to the problems being solved, which showed an intense keenness to succeed.

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Achievement of pupils

Standards in reading at the end of Key Stage 1 and by the time pupils leave the school are average. In Key Stage 2 pupils have acquired the basic skills but do not get enough opportunities to read widely for research purposes, comparing sources of information in history or geography, for example, and making their own conclusions. Similarly in writing and mathematics pupils often lack the scope to practise their skills and develop what they have learnt in English and mathematics in a variety of subjects. Inspection report: Knuzden St Oswald's CofE Voluntary Aided Primary School, 28–29 February 2012 6 of 11

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Achievement of pupils

Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs progress satisfactorily, largely because their needs are identified clearly and teaching gives them timely and effective support. Good leadership by the coordinator is ensuring that, for these pupils, the gap with the national average is closing. At the end of 2011 gaps existed in most years in Key Stage 2 between national expectations for pupils’ ages and their end-of-year performance. These gaps are now being closed, and at a particularly fast rate in Year 6. Parents, carers and pupils all agree that learning and progress are at least satisfactory and have improved of late.

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Quality of teaching

The vast majority of parents and carers, who responded to the inspection questionnaire, are pleased with the way that their children are taught. Inspectors judge that currently much of the teaching is having a positive effect on pupils’ progress. However, the impact of teaching, over time, is satisfactory, especially in Key Stage 2. Pupils enjoy learning, particularly when lessons move along at a good pace and they are given practical things to do. These good aspects of teaching are matched by satisfactory lessons in which the pace slows and opportunities to use skills purposefully are narrow or pupils are not quite clear enough about how to reach their next level of attainment.

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Quality of teaching

The planned curriculum provides some good opportunities in reading and writing for pupils to catch up in their learning. In writing there is a good emphasis on the structure of a piece of writing but not at the expense of spelling, punctuation and presentation. All this inspires younger pupils, for example, to say, ‘we enjoy writing, it is fun.’ Marking is positive but also points out aspects that need to be improved in a way that appeals to pupils. The teaching of reading, which has taken a step forward since the school introduced a new scheme to enliven the learning of letters and sounds, is having a positive influence on pupils’ progress. Reading provides a good example of how well pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is enhanced. The increasing confidence pupils’ experience in learning to read gives them a notable sense of self-esteem. They consider moral dilemmas well, as was seen

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Quality of teaching

in a Year 4 lesson when pupils wrestled with issues in ‘The Balaclava Kid.’ Pupils enjoy the various groupings for reading activities, which place those from different year groups together. These and other ploys, such as lively discussion, enhance social development. Overall, it is the missed chances to use basic skills in reading more widely and the lack of coherence in developing pupils’ cultural perspectives that stop the curriculum and spiritual, moral, social and cultural development from being good.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Parents and carers say that behaviour in the school is consistently good, and inspectors agree. The good behaviour shown by pupils in class and around the school has been maintained well over time, at least since 2009 when the last report commented favourably on pupils’ thoughtful attitudes and helpful manner. Each week, values are posted around school, explained well in assemblies, and pupils who aspire to these values, such as acting maturely, are rewarded. Pupils appreciate these methods designed to create a well-behaved and positive place in which to learn. There are times when behaviour and attitudes are excellent, such as in an assembly for pupils in Years 3 to 6. They listened intently to pupils who related their ideas on the topic of humility, showed great enthusiasm when singing and reverence when praying. Pupils act safely at all times. Pupils, parents and carers say that anti-social behaviour or bullying is rare. Consequently, pupils feel secure and safe. They

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Inspection report: Knuzden St Oswald's CofE Voluntary Aided Primary School, 28–29 February 2012 7 of 11

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

show a good understanding of the different types of bullying; for example, older pupils know a lot about cyber-bullying and staying safe on the Internet. Older pupils enjoy applying for and undertaking roles such as school council members, lunchtime monitors and playtime pals. Attendance is above average and rising due to the school’s strong procedures to ensure good attendance and because pupils value school so much.

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Leadership and management

The school has made satisfactory improvement over time. Furthermore, this year the proactive senior team and subject leaders have instigated the implementation of: an improved system for keeping a track on pupils’ progress; a more effective method of linking the teaching of letters and their sounds with the written word; and additional support for teaching through a sharper system of performance management. These initiatives have had a positive effect already on pupils’ progress and the quality of teaching provided. Notwithstanding the lack of a long-term record in these improvements, the benefits accrued this year show the school’s satisfactory, but improving, capacity for improvement.

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Leadership and management

There are still refinements to be made to the advances made since September 2011. For example, pupils have been given clear advice about how to improve their writing; they understand what to do and are trying hard to put the recommendations into practice. Pointers for improvement are given in mathematics but many pupils find them hard to understand owing to the use of vocabulary which is too hard for them.

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Leadership and management

The work of the governing body has improved since the inspection in 2009. It is more capable of asking challenging questions now that members know more about the school and the issue of achievement. Arrangements for safeguarding are effective and meet the government’s requirements. Discrimination is not tolerated but the promotion of equality of opportunity is satisfactory because the school has not yet achieved good progress in every key stage.

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Leadership and management

The school provides a satisfactory curriculum which is broad and balanced. It contains some interesting themes, but opportunities for pupils to develop basic skills across subjects are limited. Provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is satisfactory. It produces some positive results for pupils, for example when learning about concepts such as grace and humility. Moreover, outcomes from social and moral development help to make the school a cohesive community. Cultural development, by comparison, is an area for development because, at the moment, the curriculum addresses this in a piecemeal fashion. Inspection report: Knuzden St Oswald's CofE Voluntary Aided Primary School, 28–29 February 2012 8 of 11

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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 o n 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. Inspection report: Knuzden St Oswald's CofE Voluntary Aided Primary School, 28–29 February 2012 9 of 11

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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. Inspection report: Knuzden St Oswald's CofE Voluntary Aided Primary School, 28–29 February 2012 10 of 11

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Blackburn, BB1 2DR

 My colleague and I enjoyed inspecting your school. Thank you for the warm welcome you gave us. You go to a satisfactory school which has improved since it was last inspected in 2009. We agree with you that behaviour and safety are good and have been for a number of years. You all feel safe because any rare cases of bullying are dealt with promptly. You make satisfactory progress in lessons but there are also some good features to your learning, particularly for younger pupils. Your learning is improving fast in Years 3 to 6 but as yet it is too soon to tell if this will result in higher standards this year at the end of Year 6. We judge that you could reach higher standards in English and mathematics but your teachers need to keep up the good work shown in recent months and improve some aspects of your learning even more.

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Blackburn, BB1 2DR

Many of you told us how much you enjoy lessons, and this was echoed in your questionnaires, with mathematics appearing to be popular among older pupils, although learning in some lessons could be even quicker. We thought that the recently introduced scheme to help the younger ones learn letters and their sounds was also a great hit. You are learning to read, write and calculate reasonably well but we judge that you could do a lot better if reading, writing and mathematics were used more extensively in all possible subjects. What is more, you could be a lot clearer about your next steps in learning, particularly in mathematics where many of the younger pupils cannot understand their targets. In addition, we judge that you do not have enough opportunities to find out about different groups of people in our country and in countries abroad: their beliefs and ways of life.

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Blackburn, BB1 2DR

We have discussed all these points with your headteacher and governors and they know what needs to be done to make yours at least a good school. You can all help by trying hard at all times and using your skills in reading, writing and mathematics at every opportunity.

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Blackburn, BB1 2DR

Roger Gill Lead Inspector Inspection report: Knuzden St Oswald's CofE Voluntary Aided Primary School, 28–29 February 2012 11 of 11

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Blackburn, BB1 2DR

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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