Blackpool Church of England Primary School

Age group 4–11 Inspection date(s) 21–22 March 2012 Inspection number 387202 Blackpool Church of England Primary School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 137665 Local authority Not applicable Inspection number 387202 Inspection dates 21–22 March 2012 Lead inspector Robert Pyner HMI

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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 Academy Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 315 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Nick Maguire Headteacher Executive headteacher: Paul Jones Head of teaching and learning: Scott Ord Date of previous school inspection Not applicable School address Liverton Newton Abbot Devon TQ12 6JB Telephone number 01626 821316 Fax number 01626 824618 Email address admin@blackpool.devon.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 inspectors visited 23 lessons or activities amounting to over 12 hours of direct observations. These included one joint observation with the head of teaching and learning and in total 12 teachers were observed. Inspectors held meetings with senior and middle leaders, the Chair of the Governing Body and the parent governor for the school, staff and groups of pupils. Informal discussions were held with 15 parents or carers, together with a telephone conversation with one parent. Inspectors took account of the responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) in planning the inspection, observed the school’s work, and looked at progress tracking and performance data, the federation improvement plan, pupils’ work and numerous policies, guidelines, plans and reviews. An inspector analysed the reading skills of six Year 2 and six Year 6 pupils. The questionnaire responses from 138 parents and carers, 101 pupils

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Information about the school

Blackpool Church of England School is larger than the average-sized primary and part of a federation of five schools within Devon. There is one governing body and executive headteacher for the federation and each school has a head of teaching and learning. The school converted to academy status in November 2011 as part of a multi-academy trust. Almost all pupils are from a White British heritage and the proportion known to be eligible for free school meals is below average. The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is above the national average; pupils’ needs include speech, language and communication, and behaviour, emotional and social difficulties. The proportion with a statement of special educational needs or in receipt of specific provision is below the national figure. The school meets the current government floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress. Achievements by the

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Information about the school

school include gaining the Healthy School, Artsmark and International School awards; in addition, it is a National Support School. The governing body provides extended provision on site through a breakfast and after-school club for children at 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 an outstanding school. Staff are extremely successful in ensuring that all pupils make excellent progress in their learning whatever their starting points and that individual talents are fostered in a wide range of activities. Parents and carers overwhelmingly acknowledge the strong progress their children make at the school.  The excellent focus on individual learning ensures that pupils’ achievement is outstanding by the time they leave the school. Very high quality support programmes for disabled pupils and those with special educational needs ensure that they achieve equally well. Outcomes for writing at the higher level in Key Stage 1 have not been quite as strong as in reading and mathematics, although school data show a predicted improvement for this year.  The outstanding teaching and excellent curriculum motivate and challenge pupils exceptionally well. Staff are highly skilled at questioning pupils to develop

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Key findings

their skills and understanding. This, together with pupils’ excellent ability to assess their own work, means that they become very effective independent learners. However, children in the Early Years Foundation Stage do not consistently have enough opportunities to choose tasks which consolidate their learning.  The excellent behaviour seen during the inspection supports parents’ views on this aspect. Pupils’ attitudes are outstanding, exemplified by their excellent paired and group work, and this leads to the harmonious atmosphere in the school.  The executive headteacher, head of teaching and learning, and class unit learners have developed highly effective systems for managing performance related to the quality of teaching, accountability for pupils’ achievement and staff contribution to the drive for improvement. The excellent self-evaluation and development planning within the federation structure means that the

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Key findings

school has very strong capacity for further improvement. 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?

 Ensure the school’s progress tracking and intervention strategies support the more-able Key Stage 1 pupils in the development of their writing skills so that by summer 2013 at least 25% of Year 2 pupils achieve Level 3 in writing.  Improve provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage further by developing more opportunities for children to choose learning tasks which consolidate their learning.

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Achievement of pupils

Almost all parents and carers recognise that their children are progressing very well, a typical comment being that, ‘Our child has been very well supported. Her progress has been outstanding in terms of her literacy, numeracy, confidence and general well-being.’ Inspection evidence supports this view. Pupils say that they enjoy their lessons and particularly the opportunities to work in pairs or groups. The whole- school progress tracking system is well embedded and used very effectively to intervene when underachievement is detected. Individual targets are reviewed regularly and pupils can explain what they need to do to achieve them.

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Achievement of pupils

Children enter the Early Years Foundation Stage with skills broadly expected for their age. They make excellent progress overall with particular strengths in personal development and communication and language skills. A very strong feature is the way that adults model language so that children are encouraged to develop their speaking and listening skills. However, there is scope for children to consolidate their skills and understanding further by being given more opportunities to choose tasks which develop their independent learning.

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Achievement of pupils

Pupils’ attainment in reading by the end of Year 2 is above average and in Year 6 is high. Attainment in writing and mathematics reflects this pattern with excellent outcomes at the higher levels in all three subjects for pupils in Key Stage 2. Writing outcomes at the higher level in Year 2 are not as strong but progress tracking indicates an expected improvement for this year. Pupils blend letter sounds to read unfamiliar words very well and are confident in talking about their reading preferences. Data show that all groups of pupils make outstanding progress in reading, writing and mathematics during their time at the school and this is verified by inspection evidence.

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Achievement of pupils

Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make excellent progress during their time at the school in line with their peers. Very well-planned programmes of support ensure that pupils are supported and challenged extremely well. 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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Quality of teaching

The overwhelming majority of parents and carers agree that their children are taught well, and inspection evidence supports this view. In the Reception classes, excellent resources fully engage the children within the structured programmes. The highly effective work of the class unit teams means that the pupils benefit from a very well- planned curriculum which, together with the well-established progress tracking system, ensures that individual needs are met exceptionally well. Lessons are characterised by excellent pace and high quality, very carefully matched tasks, which challenge groups and individuals. Teaching assistants are used very well to support group work or individuals. The school cycle for standards meetings ensures that class unit teams plan and check pupils’ progress together very regularly, developing flexible support strategies for individuals and groups where this is appropriate. This

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Quality of teaching

results in the excellent progress being made by pupils across the school.

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Quality of teaching

Teachers have very high expectations of what pupils can achieve and teach them in a way that supports their progress whatever their starting points. They are highly skilled at monitoring progress in lessons, frequently drawing the whole class together to check learning, set new challenges and address misconceptions. A very strong feature is the effective use of paired work. An example of this was seen in a class of Year 5/6 pupils who were learning to write a balanced argument. The pupils’ highly effective work in pairs enabled them to assess each other’s work and discuss improvement. Examples such as this indicate why pupils develop such good spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness. Pupils know their learning targets and talk confidently about what they need to do to achieve them.

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Quality of teaching

The planned curriculum has a strong impact on teaching, with staff very successfully adapting lesson content to ensure engagement and enthusiasm. The use of questioning in lessons, marking and assessment information are excellent, ensuring that pupils are very well supported in their learning. Highly effective marking in writing tasks for the older children involves them in the process, enabling pairs of pupils to assess work and, building on this, the teacher to give specific guidance on how to improve. This provides an effective dialogue, with information for individual pupils on how they can improve their work. Pupils spoken to really appreciated this level of support.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Excellent outcomes in behaviour management are the result of the consistent and positive approach across the school. There is a strong culture of cooperation and respect in classrooms and around the school, based on the highly effective relationships between pupils and adults. This creates a strong environment for successful learning. Staff are excellent at encouraging all pupils to make the most of their education and develop great pride in their work. Pupils spoken to said that behaviour is at least good in lessons and around the school. Most parents and carers are pleased with behaviour and say that their children feel safe at school. Pupils say that they are encouraged to make the most of the opportunities available to them 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

and that the adults in the school will help them with their work or if they are worried or unhappy. Pupils’ punctuality is very good. Systems to check and track absences by pupils are rigorous, leading to above average, and improving, attendance rates for all groups of pupils.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Staff know pupils extremely well and those with particular needs are cared for very effectively. This was confirmed by parents and carers who spoke to an inspector, and reinforced strongly the responses to the parental questionnaire. Pupils interviewed said they understood that bullying can be in a variety of forms, including cyber- bullying. They could explain the work they undertake to help them stay safe, including in assemblies and lessons, and pointed out that if bullying occurs, staff will deal with it effectively. Pupils spoke proudly of their roles in supporting the work of the school through such activities as membership of the school council, house captains and prefects. They could explain the processes for the elections to the various roles and how they help with younger pupils throughout the school, for example leading the daily physical exercise on the playground.

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Leadership and management

The leadership structure of the federation enables a head of teaching and learning in each school, accountable to the executive headteacher, to drive improvements in attainment and progress. The success of this approach at Blackpool can be seen in the outstanding achievements of the pupils over time. The head of teaching and learning has developed a very rigorous and robust tracking system which is used in a programmed cycle by class unit teams to review pupils’ progress and implement intervention strategies if appropriate. Teachers in the units also regularly moderate work, plan together and it is this very effective approach to internal consistency which leads to the high quality of teaching and the outstanding achievement. The teaching staff appreciate this strong teamwork as well as the opportunity to work within other schools within the federation. Staff also recognise the strength of partnership working in developing the learning opportunities available for pupils

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Leadership and management

The governing body takes responsibility for the strategic development of all of the schools within the federation, with a parent governor representing each school. Again, the drive for consistency is clear and structures are in place for members of the governing body to take part in focused visits to all of the schools in the federation, reporting to the full governing body using the same format. There is a strong drive across all of the management structures within the school to continue to develop achievement and provision. As well as this, there is a clear commitment to working in partnership with staff across the federation to develop opportunities for pupils and develop teachers’ professional skills. Consequently, taking into account the excellent outcomes and the drive for continuing improvement, there is very strong capacity to improve further.

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Leadership and management

The school’s excellent curriculum enables pupils to develop their talents and skills in a wide range of activities. An outstanding feature of the provision is the enrichment 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

programme in which all pupils undertake a range of projects involving working in the natural environment. For example, one boy spoken to explained how his group had developed an audio trail for an area of Dartmoor during a six-week project. Activities such as these promote excellent spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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Leadership and management

Safeguarding procedures are effective and meet all current government requirements. The school’s strong commitment to equality of opportunity is exemplified by its highly effective work to support pupils with specific needs to play a full part in the life of the school as well as ensuring that they make outstanding progress and narrow the gap in achievement with other groups.

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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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Newton Abbot TQ12 6JB

Thank you for making the inspection team so welcome when we inspected your school recently. Special thanks go to the pupils who met inspectors and to those of you who completed the questionnaire; we found these very useful. We enjoyed talking with all the pupils we met and found what you had to say very informative and relevant.

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Newton Abbot TQ12 6JB

This letter is to tell you about our findings. Overall, we judged your school to be outstanding. You and your parents and carers told inspectors that you feel very safe in school. You also told us that you are very happy to go to school, that you learn a lot in lessons and that staff help you in many ways to do as well as you can. Your overall attendance and behaviour are excellent and the school is a very pleasant place in which to work and learn. You make outstanding progress in your work throughout the school and achieve very well by the time you leave. Teaching is outstanding and this is partly the result of the very high-quality relationships between you and the adults in the school.

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Newton Abbot TQ12 6JB

The executive headteacher, head of teaching and learning, and senior staff lead the school well. They know that some aspects of the school could be improved even further and these are the two areas that the inspection team has asked them to work on. The first is to give support for pupils in Key Stage 1 so that more achieve the higher levels in their writing. Second, we have asked the school to provide more opportunities for children in the Reception classes to choose activities that help them to practise their skills and learning.

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Newton Abbot TQ12 6JB

All of you, too, have an important part to play by continuing to work hard, making the most of the wide range of opportunities you have at school and attending regularly.

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Newton Abbot TQ12 6JB

Robert Pyner Her Majesty's 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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