Horfield Church of England Primary School

Age group 4–11 Inspection date(s) 20–21 March 2012 Inspection number 377880 Horfield Church of England Primary School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 109143 Local authority Bristol Inspection number 377880 Inspection dates 20–21 March 2012 Lead inspector Phillip Minns

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Type of school Primary School category Voluntary controlled Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 398 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Max Khanna Headteacher Jenny Taylor Date of previous school inspection June 2009 School address Bishop Manor Road Westbury-on-Trym Bristol BS10 5BD Telephone number 0117 903 0041 Fax number 0117 903 0042 Email address horfield.p@bristol.gov.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. Inspectors observed teaching and learning in 24 lessons taught by 15 teachers. Inspectors listened to pupils read and looked at samples of their work. Meetings were held with staff, pupils, representatives of the governing body and the school’s local authority improvement partner. Inspectors looked at a broad range of documentation, including the school’s self-evaluation, the school improvement plan, its records of pupils’ progress and achievement, and safeguarding documentation. Inspectors took account of the responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) in planning the inspection, observed the school’s work, and scrutinised questionnaires completed by 163 parents and carers, 19 staff and 104 pupils.

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Information about the school

Horfield is a larger-than-average primary school. Most pupils are White British and very few pupils speak English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is higher than average. The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is lower than average, as is the proportion of pupils with a statement of special educational needs. The majority of pupils with special educational needs have speech and language difficulties. The before-school childcare provision is managed by the school. The school meets the government’s current floor standard, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress. The school has gained several awards in recognition of its work, including Sing-Up, Healthy Schools status and, most recently, as a Rights Respecting School by UNICEF. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate

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Information about the school

Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Key findings

 Horfield is a good school. It is not an outstanding school because learning and achievement are not outstanding. Pupils’ achievement is good and, although improving, trends are not yet secure enough for achievement to be outstanding. However, the behaviour and safety of pupils and leadership and management of the school are outstanding.  Pupils’ progress is tracked rigorously and underachievement tackled rapidly so that attainment is improving for all pupils and has improved significantly since the school’s previous inspection. The standards that pupils attain in reading, writing and mathematics, in both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, are significantly higher than those typically reached by pupils nationally. The proportions of pupils attaining the higher levels at the end of Year 2 and Year 6 are above average, preparing them very well for the next stages in their education.  Teaching is consistently good, which ensures all pupils make good progress

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Key findings

throughout the school. Some of the teaching is outstanding. The support provided for disabled pupils, those who have special educational needs or may be at risk of underachievement is very effective.  Through their outstanding behaviour and their conduct, pupils make a considerable contribution to the ethos and community of the school. They respect and value themselves and each other and, as a result, the school is a very safe place. This is confirmed by pupils, parents and carers. Attendance has rapidly improved since the last inspection and is continuing to improve.  Highly effective leadership and management ensure that pupils are well equipped to succeed academically and socially. Although there is an uncompromising and successful drive to improve the achievement of all pupils teaching is not consistent enough to secure outstanding achievement without the need for additional interventions. Pupils have excellent experiences which

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Key findings

secure their outstanding spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. 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?

 Improve the quality of teaching to outstanding in order to raise achievement further by:  using a range of high-order questioning in lessons that consistently challenges the pupils’ thinking  ensuring pupils are actively engaged in their lessons so they make a significant contribution to their own learning  providing additional opportunities for teachers to develop a greater understanding of outstanding teaching.

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Achievement of pupils

Parents and carers rightly believe that their children are making good progress at school. Pupils’ attainment and rates of progress have improved considerably since the last inspection, when they were broadly average. Since then, the standards that pupils attain in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6 have risen steadily and are above national averages. Children enter the school in the Early Years Foundation Stage with skills that are broadly in line with expectations. They make good progress and enter Year 1 at levels that are above average, with strengths in personal, social and emotional development. Pupils’ attainment is significantly higher than the national averages in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 2. Reading is a particular strength and, in 2011, attainment was particularly high in mathematics, where pupils were over two terms ahead of expectations.

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Achievement of pupils

The school’s rigorous and extensive analysis of assessment information demonstrates that the rate of progress is continuing to accelerate for all pupils. Those in Year 6 are on course to meet their challenging targets and the current improving trend is set to continue. Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make good progress. This is clearly reflected in lessons and shows the positive impact of the highly effective intervention and support provided for these pupils. The school is particularly strong at supporting pupils who may be at risk of underachievement. Consequently, the school is very effectively narrowing any gaps in achievement. The school has a track record of identifying pupils who are at risk of underperforming and providing high-quality interventions that put them back on to the right path. A good example of this is the ‘Maths Girls’ who were successfully targeted to ensure they

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Achievement of pupils

achieved as well as they could in mathematics.

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Achievement of pupils

Progress is consistently good across the school and pupils make swift progress in lessons because they concentrate well and work hard. In one science lesson, pupils quickly developed their understanding of the properties of materials through a range of lively and practical experiments and were able to use accurate scientific vocabulary to describe their findings. 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

Senior leaders have worked extremely hard to ensure that teachers and teaching assistants are planning lessons and interventions that provide plentiful opportunities for pupils to learn the skills they need to achieve their targets. They have also ensured that lessons are consistently good, with an increasing amount of outstanding teaching taking place. Parents and carers are confident that teaching is good and pupils told inspectors that they learnt a lot in lessons. Teaching is not yet outstanding because sometimes opportunities are missed to ask pupils challenging questions and to encourage them to engage more in lessons and take responsibility for their own learning. As a result, a number of pupils still need interventions to reach their full potential.

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Quality of teaching

The outstanding lessons make learning exciting and challenge pupils to make excellent progress because activities are stimulating and matched extremely well to their needs. An outstanding literacy lesson demonstrated all of these attributes. Pupils were inspired by the enthusiasm of their teacher to challenge their own writing ability when producing ‘Deep Sea’ newspaper articles.

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Quality of teaching

Pupils’ work is marked extremely well and pupils receive high-quality feedback about what they do well and what they need to do to improve. All pupils know their targets, which helps them to improve. Pupils make accelerated rates of progress as the result of consistently good teaching and regular, meaningful written feedback. Where pupils are not able to access written comments in their books, for example in the Early Years Foundation Stage, the very effective feedback and guidance support learning well and provide continuous and detailed assessment information that informs teachers’ future planning.

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Quality of teaching

Reading is taught well in the school and a broad range of support and interventions ensures that all pupils make good progress. Pupils are enthusiastic about reading and have access to a good selection of books that they enjoy. Pupils in Year 6 commented that they particularly value the teacher reading to them as it gives them ‘time to really think and imagine’. Reading logs are used and maintained well, with frequent comments by teachers, pupils and parents and carers. Pupils were proud of their logs as they showed the number of books they had read so far. The school’s rich curriculum uses a range of quality texts to deepen pupils’ understanding and develop their love of reading. The work these projects inspire, as well as through the teaching, also enables pupils to consider very carefully all aspects of their spiritual, social, moral and cultural development.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils are courteous, cooperative and good-natured and their behaviour over time is outstanding. Every parent and carer who responded to the questionnaire agreed that the school kept their children safe. All pupils, from the Early Years Foundation Stage right up to Year 6, have a very good understanding of their own safety and contribute to the safety of others. Pupils’ conduct around the school is first class and 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

older pupils are always willing to help out the younger ones. Year 6 peer mentors are valued by pupils in the school, who know that they can go to them for help if they need to.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils have a well-developed awareness of the many forms of bullying and are confident that, although incidents are very rare, the school deals with them promptly. Pupils’ thoughtful, caring and inclusive attitudes enable them all to get on well and treat each other with respect and dignity. This is typified in the choir, where a cross-section of pupils in the school come together and perform beautifully as a group.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils always arrive promptly to lessons. Attendance has been improving consistently for the past three years, and is above average. The number of pupils who are persistently absent has fallen significantly over the past three years and is now well below the national average.

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Leadership and management

The carefully-considered actions of the headteacher have enabled leadership at all levels to flourish within the school. The headteacher and senior leaders demonstrate an uncompromising and extremely successful drive to succeed with every pupil to ensure they all achieve their potential. Senior leaders have the support of staff and the confidence of parents and carers and leadership is further strengthened by the effective support and expertise provided by the governing body. The governing body and the whole staff share the headteacher’s pride and steadfast focus on pupils’ achievement. All safeguarding procedures are securely in place and rigorously applied.

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Leadership and management

Parents and carers show overwhelming support for the school. They value the nurturing environment and hardworking ethos and believe that the school is going from strength to strength. This was summed up by a parent who said, ‘My child is lucky to have a place at Horfield.’

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Leadership and management

Pupils’ spiritual, social, moral and cultural development is at the heart of the school’s rich curriculum. The displays of work around the school reflect the value the school places on each pupil, for example the ‘Wall of Awesomeness’ celebrates pupils’ personal achievements. Assemblies enable the whole school to come together and explore challenging themes. In an ‘Olympic’ assembly seen during the inspection, pupils were given the opportunity to see their place in the world. During this time, pupils demonstrated considerable respect and appreciation for each other’s feelings and contributions.

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Leadership and management

The senior leadership team has secured significant improvements in assessment, curriculum, achievement, teaching, attendance and behaviour since the time of the last inspection. These successes demonstrate the school’s extremely strong capacity to continue to improve. The headteacher has successfully devolved leadership across the school and inspired staff at all levels to raise their expectations of what pupils 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

can achieve, while maintaining and developing the highly supportive ethos of the school. The success of this drive can be seen in the current school improvement plan. This is focused on narrowing the gap in attainment for specific pupils who, although attaining above average results by the end of Year 6, do not reach the same high standards as other pupils. This careful analysis of data has resulted in a whole-school focus with a comprehensive range of support and interventions that enable these pupils to do well. The school’s actions have already narrowed the gap substantially and these pupils are on track to achieve the challenging targets the school has set for them. This illustrates the school’s commitment to inclusion and ensures that all pupils have an equal opportunity to succeed. The school makes exceptionally good use of partnerships to develop the school; an excellent example is the current work with a local company whose employees give up their lunchtime to

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Leadership and management

play mathematical games with some pupils in Year 3.

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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 Horfield Church of England Primary School, Bristol BS10 5BD

Thank you for the wonderful welcome you gave us when we carried out our recent inspection. Thank you to those of you who talked to us and filled out our questionnaire. It was very useful to have your views. We were particularly impressed with your very positive behaviour and how kind you are to each other. We agree with you and your parents and carers that yours is a good school. You obviously enjoy school and value all that it offers you.

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Inspection of Horfield Church of England Primary School, Bristol BS10 5BD

Here are some of the best things we found out about your school.

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Inspection of Horfield Church of England Primary School, Bristol BS10 5BD

 You are all making good progress and doing better than most other pupils of the same age in similar schools.  Your teachers help you to learn well because teaching is always good, with some that is excellent.  Your behaviour is first class and you always work hard.  You stay safe and you go out of your way to look after each other and your school.  Your school is managed extremely well, you have a great headteacher and all of the staff are outstanding leaders, helping your school to keep on improving.

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Inspection of Horfield Church of England Primary School, Bristol BS10 5BD

Your headteacher wants to make the school even better, so we have asked her to help you make faster progress. We would like your teachers to make every lesson an excellent one by always making sure the work is really interesting and that they ask you hard questions to make sure you understand what you are learning.

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Inspection of Horfield Church of England Primary School, Bristol BS10 5BD

Phillip Minns 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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