Waddingham Primary School

Age group 4–11 Inspection date(s) 12–13 March 2012 Inspection number 380039 Waddingham Primary School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 120485 Local authority Lincolnshire Inspection number 380039 Inspection dates 12–13 March 2012 Lead inspector Glynn Storer

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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 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 70 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Andrew Dunsmore Headteacher Sharon Marsden Date of previous school inspection 3 February 2009 School address The Green Gainsborough DN21 4SX Telephone number 01673 818239 Fax number 01673 818239 Email address Sharon.marsden@waddingham.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 seven lessons and in doing so, saw all of the school’s three teachers on more than one occasion. He held informal discussions with parents and organised meetings with groups of pupils, governors, staff. The inspector took account of the responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) in planning the inspection. He observed the school’s work, and looked at the school’s self-evaluation, improvement planning and pupils’ performance data. The inspector considered the views of the 25 parents and carers who returned inspection questionnaires, as well as those of pupils and staff expressed in their questionnaire returns.

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Information about the school

This school is much smaller than the average-sized primary school. Almost all pupils are from White British backgrounds. Of the very few with minority ethnic heritage, none speaks English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is below average. The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is average. The school meets the current government floor standards for pupils’ attainment and progress. The current team of class teachers were all appointed to the school in September 2010.

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Information about the school

The school has gained Healthy Schools status and the Investor in People award.

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Key findings

 This is a good school. Provision and outcomes for pupils have improved significantly, particularly during the last two school years. This is not an outstanding school because a legacy of underachievement in mathematics that has affected some pupils in previous years, though diminishing, has not yet been completely eradicated.

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Key findings

 Pupils of all ages, abilities and backgrounds, including those who are disabled or have special educational needs and those who are known to be eligible for free school meals, achieve well. Standards are above average because almost all pupils make, and many exceed, the expected amount of progress from their starting points. Pupils’ progress in mathematics is improving rapidly but, over time, is somewhat less than that in other key subjects.

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Key findings

 The appointment of a completely new teaching team 18 months age has done much to improve pupils’ learning. Teaching is regularly good and, at times outstanding This is especially so in upper Key Stage 2 where progress is accelerating rapidly. Nevertheless, inconsistencies in teaching continue to affect pupils’ progress in some lessons.

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Key findings

 Pupils’ good behaviour and their strong relationships with others give rise to a safe and harmonious atmosphere that pervades the school. By the time that they leave the school, almost all pupils strive to succeed and readily rise to the challenge of tasks that make demands on them. This positive approach to learning improves the progress that they make.

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Key findings

 Recent appointments have strengthened leadership and management. The effective management of teaching in all phases, including the Early Years Foundation Stage, is responsible for improvements that are now clearly evident throughout school. On-going, robust management of the performance of all staff is successfully maintaining the impetus of continued improvement.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve pupils’ progress in mathematics by: – ensuring that all work for the more able pupils is challenging enough to take them to above average levels of attainment – closely monitoring and fine-tuning initiatives to boost pupils’ progress – ensuring that pupils consistently act on advice on how to improve or reinforce their learning.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Secure good or outstanding teaching in all lessons by: – ensuring that all teachers use assessment information effectively to pitch tasks at levels that enable pupils of different ages and abilities to make good progress – ensuring that learning is brisk and purposeful throughout all lessons.

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Achievement of pupils

Parents and carers, including those whose children are disabled or have special educational needs, are unanimous in the view that their children are making good progress. One commented: ‘As parents, we are delighted with this progress, and our child is very proud of his achievements.’ Such views are consistent with inspection findings.

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Achievement of pupils

Recent improvements to provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage have done much to boost children’s achievements. Attainment on entry varies but almost all children in the current cohort have made good progress during their first two terms from largely typical starting points. Most have already attained many of the early learning goals, and higher attaining children are beginning to work at levels normally expected in Year 1.

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Achievement of pupils

Standards in reading, writing and mathematics are above average by the end of Key Stages 1 and 2. The results of national tests show that pupils have regularly made good progress in Key Stage 1 and attained above average standards. This continues to be the case. Standards and progress in Key Stage 2 have been more variable and often no better than satisfactory. The appointment of the new teaching team has strengthened teaching throughout school, but especially in Key Stage 2. The impact of improved teaching is now clearly evident in pupils’ good achievement. Almost all pupils in the current Year 6 have made good progress over the last 18 months and, for some, progress has been excellent. Teaching in upper Key Stage 2 makes significant demands on pupils by strenuously reinforcing the levels at which they are working, and what is expected of them. Because a strong work ethic prevails, pupils rise to this challenge and their progress accelerates.

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Achievement of pupils

Over the whole of Key Stage 2, most pupils have made good progress in reading and writing, and the proportion of above average scores – an area for improvement at the time of the previous inspection – has improved. However, a legacy of past underachievement in mathematics remains. While a large majority of pupils are on course to make the expected two levels of progress over the key stage, a small minority, including some of the more able pupils, are falling short of this target. The school is taking steps to boost the progress of these pupils but, while there are early signs that gaps are closing, it is too soon to evaluate the success of such initiatives.

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Achievement of pupils

Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make similar progress to that of all other pupils. The standards they attain by the time that they leave the school are typically higher than those attained by similar pupils nationally, and their progress is greater.

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Quality of teaching

Pupils make good progress because most teaching is effective. The teaching team is still working to achieve consistency in all areas but, at its best, teaching is outstanding. As such, it has an extremely positive impact on pupils’ learning and on the development of good practice throughout the school. Inspection findings confirm parents’, carers’ and pupils’ belief that teaching is good. One pupil commented: ‘Teachers are very friendly and they help you if you get stuck.’

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Quality of teaching

Teaching in the Early Years Foundation Stage is consistently good. Well-conceived activities and a good balance between teacher-led sessions and child-initiated, play- based learning ensure that children learn effectively and independently.

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Quality of teaching

In the best lessons, teaching is lively and engaging but also makes considerable intellectual demands on the pupils. Expectations are high and an excellent balance of support and challenge inspires pupils to strive to succeed. The highly effective use of assessment to support learning is a strong feature of such lessons. When teaching is less successful, the pace of learning is too slow and pupils are not given enough opportunities to learn independently by doing things for themselves. Occasionally, progress is inhibited. This occurs when activities are not pitched at the right levels for all pupils or when expectations are too low, for example in relation to pupils acting on advice on how to improve their work.

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Quality of teaching

The teaching of disabled pupils and of those with special educational needs is good. These pupils have access to and benefit fully from all that the school has to offer. The school works closely with parents and carers to ensure continuity of support for them. Parents and carers endorse this judgement saying, for example: ‘Support for our child’s disabilities and special educational needs from this school has been fantastic.’ Teachers’ planning of the curriculum is effective. By building topics around pupils’ needs and interests, they motivate pupils effectively and foster positive attitudes to learning. Planning ensures that all topics contribute to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development because teachers understand the need to broaden pupils’ horizons and expand their thinking and experiences in these areas.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

All parents and carers who returned a questionnaire agreed that their children feel safe in school and that lessons are not disrupted by poor behaviour. A very large majority agreed that the school deals effectively with any bullying that occurs. Pupils express similar views. They have a good understanding of different forms of bullying and know how to combat them. Inspection findings are consistent with the views of parents, carers and pupils. Pupils’ behaviour in and around the school is consistently good. They enjoy good relationships with one another, with older pupils showing care and consideration for younger friends. Pupils’ play is lively and energetic but there is no evidence of aggressive play or play that could cause harm or upset to others.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Children begin to acquire positive learning behaviours from the time that they enter Reception. By the time pupils leave the school, most have developed highly constructive attitudes to learning and to school life in general. They cooperate well with others and are capable of good levels of independence and/or collaboration, as required by particular activities. Enjoyment of school and this positive approach to learning adds to pupils’ progress and is a factor in their high rate of attendance.

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Leadership and management

At the heart of the school’s successful drive to improve the provision and outcomes for all pupils has been the determination of the headteacher and governing body to recruit and develop staff with both teaching and leadership ability. After almost two years, the positive impact of these appointments is evident and senior and middle leadership of teaching is emerging as a strength of the school. Improvements to the learning environment, resources, organisation and teaching methods have boosted progress in Early Years Foundation Stage. New approaches to assessment and the tracking of pupils’ progress, along with ‘in-house’ examples of outstanding teaching, have underpinned improvements in teaching and achievement across the school. Improvements to the management of provision for disabled pupils and those with special education needs embody rigorous approaches to promoting equality and tackling discrimination. All recently appointed staff have settled quickly into their

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Leadership and management

teaching and/or leadership roles because induction and access to on-going professional development have promoted confidence and an ambition to ‘make a real difference’.

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Leadership and management

The new leadership team has also been responsible for improvements to the curriculum. Together, they have devised an integrated, thematic, skills-based curriculum that is strongly influenced by the interests of the pupils. Within an established framework that ensures balanced coverage of subjects and the systematic reinforcement of skills, especially in literacy and numeracy, pupils have a real say in the detail of what they want to learn. This, along with frequent, carefully- linked special events and educational visits, ensures high levels of interest and engagement that bring out the best in most pupils. Though still very much work in progress, an emerging strength of this new curriculum is the extent to which it promotes spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Topics that enable pupils to confront global issues or to experience at first-hand the religious and cultural diversity of modern Britain, or to participate in local community events, strengthen

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Leadership and management

The governing body is conscientious in overseeing the school’s work and in ensuring that safeguarding arrangements meet current requirements. Members of the governing body are increasingly independent in their monitoring. This gives them a real voice in school self-evaluation and adds to their authority when they challenge the school about what it achieves, or about progress towards identified targets. The school’s record of improvement since its last inspection, the impact of the recently appointed leadership team, and strengthened governing body monitoring give the school a good capacity for sustained improvement.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding These features are highly effective. An outstanding school provides exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. Grade 2 Good These are very positive features of a school. A school that is good is serving its pupils well. Grade 3 Satisfactory These features are of reasonable quality. A satisfactory school is providing adequately for its pupils. Grade 4 Inadequate These features are not of an acceptable standard. An inadequate school needs to make significant improvement in order to meet the needs of its pupils. Ofsted inspectors will make further visits until it improves.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Nursery schools 46 46 8 0 Primary schools 8 47 40 5 Secondary schools 14 38 40 8 Special schools 28 48 20 4 Pupil referral units 15 50 29 5 All schools 11 46 38 6

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

New school inspection arrangements have been introduced from 1 January 2012. This means that inspectors make judgements that were not made previously. The data in the table above are for the period 1 September 2010 to 31 August 2011 and represent judgements that were made under the school inspection arrangements that were introduced on 1 September 2009. These data are consistent with the latest published official statistics about maintained school inspection outcomes (see www.ofsted.gov.uk ). The sample of schools inspected during 2010/11 was not representative of all schools nationally, as weaker schools are inspected more frequently than good or outstanding schools. Primary schools include primary academy converters. Secondary schools include secondary academy converters, sponsor-led academies and city technology colleges. Special schools include special academy converters and non-maintained special schools.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Percentages are rounded and do not always add exactly to 100.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Achievement: the progress and success of a pupil in their learning and development taking account of their attainment.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attainment: the standard of the pupils’ work shown by test and examination results and in lessons.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attendance the regular attendance of pupils at school and in lessons, taking into account the school’s efforts to encourage good attendance.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Behaviour how well pupils behave in lessons, with emphasis on their attitude to learning. Pupils’ punctuality to lessons and their conduct around the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Capacity to improve: the proven ability of the school to continue improving based on its self-evaluation and what the school has accomplished so far and on the quality of its systems to maintain improvement.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Leadership and management: the contribution of all the staff with responsibilities, not just the governors and headteacher, to identifying priorities, directing and motivating staff and running the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Learning: how well pupils acquire knowledge, develop their understanding, learn and practise skills and are developing their competence as learners.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Overall effectiveness: inspectors form a judgement on a school’s overall effectiveness based on the findings from their inspection of the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Progress: the rate at which pupils are learning in lessons and over longer periods of time. It is often measured by comparing the pupils’ attainment at the end of a key stage with their attainment when they started.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Safety how safe pupils are in school, including in lessons; and their understanding of risks. Pupils’ freedom from bullying and harassment. How well the school promotes safety, for example e-learning.

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carers to share with their children. It describes Ofsted’s

main findings from the inspection of their school.

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Inspection of Waddingham Primary School, Gainsborough, DN21 4SX

It was a delight to visit your school. I really enjoyed talking to you and listened very carefully to what you had to say. I was very impressed by your good manners and the thoughtful way you treat each other. It was really good to see you helping each other in lessons. Your positive attitudes are helping you to learn.

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Inspection of Waddingham Primary School, Gainsborough, DN21 4SX

Your school is giving you a good education. Your standards of attainment are above average. Most of you make good progress, but your progress in mathematics is not as strong as it is in reading and writing. Teaching is usually good and sometimes outstanding, but there are times when it is inconsistent. I have asked school leaders to make sure that teaching is good or outstanding in as many lessons as possible. That way, your progress will improve further. Occasionally, the tasks that teachers set do not bring out the best in all of you, I have asked teachers to match activities to your needs more closely and to make sure that the more able mathematicians make the progress that they should. Sometimes, teachers do not make the best possible use of your individual targets or make sure that you follow advice on how to improve when they mark your work or talk to you about it. I have asked staff to improve these aspects of teaching.

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Inspection of Waddingham Primary School, Gainsborough, DN21 4SX

The leaders and managers at your school are doing lots of things to make the school better. For example, you told us that the new curriculum has made lessons more exciting. This, and other new ideas, for example on how to boost progress in mathematics, will take a while longer to settle in.

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Inspection of Waddingham Primary School, Gainsborough, DN21 4SX

You can help your school to improve further by continuing to try very hard in all your lessons, by following the advice that teachers give you and by being patient until all of the new things going on in school have their full effect.

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Inspection of Waddingham Primary School, Gainsborough, DN21 4SX

Glynn Storer 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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