Newtown Primary School (High Peak Federation)

Age group 4–11 Inspection date(s) 8–9 March 2012 Inspection number 378518 Newtown Primary School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 112599 Local authority Derbyshire Inspection number 378518 Inspection dates 8–9 March 2012 Lead inspector Joy Considine

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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 93 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Sue Woodgate Headteacher Sarah Butterworth Date of previous school inspection 5 July 2007 School address Buxton Road New Mills High Peak SK22 3JS Telephone number 01663 744358 Fax number 01663 744410 Email address info@newtown.derbyshire.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 eight lessons or parts of lessons taught by five different teachers, including several joint observations conducted with the headteacher. The inspector also listened to pupils read. She held discussions with staff, governors and groups of pupils. The inspector took account of the responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) in planning the inspection, observed the school’s work, and looked at school development plans, pupils’ assessment and tracking information, minutes from governors’ meetings and other documentation relating to the inspection, including that regarding safeguarding. She analysed the outcomes of questionnaires received from 49 parents and carers as well as those received from staff and pupils.

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Information about the school

The school is smaller than the average primary school. Most pupils are of White British heritage, with none who speak English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is broadly average. The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is about average. The school is made up of four mixed-age classes and children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are taught in a class with some Year 1 pupils. The school meets the government’s current floor standard which sets the minimum expectation for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics. There has been significant disruption within the teaching team since the previous inspection. A new headteacher joined the school in September 2010.

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Information about the school

The breakfast club and after-school club are not managed by the governing body and are inspected separately. 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

 In accordance with section 13 (3) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement.

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Key findings

 Despite some strengths in provision, especially for younger pupils, the school is not satisfactory because its monitoring systems at all levels are not rigorous enough to ensure that necessary improvements to teaching and the curriculum are identified clearly and implemented by all staff. As a result, the quality of teaching is too variable and because it is inadequate in Key Stage 2, pupils leave at the end of Year 6 poorly prepared for later life.

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Key findings

 Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage get off to a good start and attainment in reading, writing and mathematics is above average at the end of Year 2. However, pupils do not make enough progress across Years 3 to 6 and attainment at the end of Year 6 is below average. Too many lessons offer insufficient challenge to the majority of pupils. Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs receive effective support from teaching assistants and this enables them to make satisfactory progress.

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Key findings

 Teaching is better in the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 than in Key Stage 2, where teachers’ expectations are too low and many lessons fail to engage and enthuse pupils. The curriculum fails to take into account pupils’ prior learning and they have too few opportunities to develop independence.

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Key findings

 Pupils are friendly and polite, and most behave well. However, too many lessons are interrupted by low-level disruption that adversely affects the pace of learning, especially when teaching fails to engage pupils’ interest.

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Key findings

 The leadership of teaching and management of performance are inadequate. 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

The headteacher and governors have a broad awareness of what needs to be done, but their improvement planning systems are ineffective and subject leaders’ action plans are not sufficiently focused to have any significant impact.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise achievement in reading, writing and mathematics so that by July 2013 attainment at the end of Year 6 is at least in line with national averages, by:  setting ambitious targets for pupils based on their prior attainment and robustly monitoring their progress towards these targets  improving the quality of teachers’ marking so that pupils are clear about what they have done well and what they need to do to improve  providing opportunities for pupils to respond to marking and to correct their work  providing more opportunities for pupils to learn independently through their own research using books and information and communication technology (ICT), and to discuss their work and explain their thinking  teaching more lessons in which pupils have to think creatively, work in teams and solve problems.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching and pupils’ behaviour so they are consistently good or better by April 2013, by:  eliminating inadequate teaching  using accurate assessment information to plan lessons that are matched to the learning needs of all pupils  planning learning activities that are consistently stimulating and challenging, and inspire pupils to work hard  improving teachers’ questioning skills so that they are better able to develop pupils’ understanding.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the curriculum so that pupils:  learn knowledge and skills sequentially and progressively  practise their communication and numeracy skills routinely in other subjects  benefit from learning activities that routinely enthuse and interest them.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by:  involving all stakeholders in establishing a clear vision and direction for the school  ensuring that school improvement targets are firmly focused on improving the quality of teaching  introducing systematic procedures to monitor the work of the school and to implement actions to address areas of underperformance  developing the skills of subject leaders so that they are better able to lead and improve the subject for which they are accountable. 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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Achievement of pupils

Current work in lessons and in pupils’ books shows that the majority are not reaching the standards of which they are capable. Their targets are insufficiently challenging and their progress towards these targets is not routinely monitored. Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make satisfactory progress because they are provided with specific education programmes to help them with reading and mathematics. Girls do better than boys, although both groups make inadequate progress overall. Pupils make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics at Key Stage 1 and reach levels of attainment that are above average. Their progress slows in Key Stage 2 so that by the end of it, their attainment in these subjects is below average with little sign of improvement.

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Achievement of pupils

Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are developing their literacy and numeracy skills well. They work well together and enjoy collaborating on projects such as creating a book on farmyard animals. Pupils in Years 1 and 2 build on this good start and continue to enjoy learning. In a mathematics lesson, they made good progress in understanding how to tell the time by making their own clocks with moving fingers, and by playing a bingo game that reinforced their skills in telling the time to the quarter of an hour.

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Achievement of pupils

Although most parents and carers who responded to the survey believed that their children made good progress, the inspector found that the level of work is too easy for many pupils in Years 3 to 6 and so they make inadequate progress. In most lessons, pupils sit passively listening to the teacher. There are few opportunities for pupils to show independence, take the initiative, or discuss ideas and explain their thinking. They are rarely expected to think creatively, work in teams or solve problems and this prevents them from developing the skills to learn independently. Pupils’ books show that there is little difference in the levels of work provided for the different age ranges within classes. The quality of pupils’ handwriting and presentation is poor and teachers’ marking is not used effectively enough to improve its quality. There are too few occasions when pupils can practise or apply their communication or numeracy skills when learning in subjects other than English or

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Achievement of pupils

mathematics. As a result of these weaknesses, pupils do not learn enough to prepare them adequately for the next stage of their education.

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Achievement of pupils

Pupils’ attainment in reading is above average at the end of Year 2. A systematic approach to teaching phonics builds their skills progressively. Pupils enjoy reading and they use a variety of strategies, including blending letters together to read unfamiliar words. In Years 3 to 6, pupils read for pleasure but have too few opportunities to use their reading skills to undertake independent research using non-fiction books or ICT. 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 inspector found teaching to be inadequate overall. Although most parents and carers believe that their children are taught well, this is only true for the younger pupils. In Key Stage 2, too many lessons fail to foster an enthusiasm for learning. Teachers have low expectations of what pupils can do and the pace of lessons is slow. Some do not have an accurate view of the level at which pupils are working, so they do not match lesson activities well enough to meet pupils’ needs. Teachers mark pupils’ work regularly, but do not provide enough guidance about what they have done well and how they might improve their work.

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Quality of teaching

In Key Stage 1, imaginative methods are used to capture pupils’ interest and to arouse their sense of wonder and curiosity, and this makes a good contribution to their spiritual and cultural development.

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Quality of teaching

In the good lessons, teachers are skilled at using questions to challenge pupils and to develop their knowledge and understanding. More typically though, teachers do not ask enough questions to probe pupils’ understanding, extend their learning or assess what they need to learn next.

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Quality of teaching

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, staff are skilled at observing children and using the resulting information to plan learning experiences that are matched well to their developmental needs, enabling children to make good progress.

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Quality of teaching

The curriculum has an appropriate focus on literacy and numeracy, but it is not planned in a way to ensure that pupils’ understanding and key skills build up progressively. This particularly means that the older pupils in mixed-age classes are not adequately catered for, and their progress is constrained. The curriculum promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development appropriately through the study of world faiths, and myths and legends. In one lesson, pupils were developing their social and moral skills well by playing a game in which they had to select a number corresponding to another pupil, and to pay that pupil a compliment.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

The inspector observed that where teaching was inadequate, a significant minority of pupils in Years 3 to 6 become bored, restless and disruptive. In these lessons, too much time is spent addressing low-level disruptive behaviour caused by pupils being given work that does not match their needs. School leaders have recently introduced a more consistent approach to managing pupils’ behaviour, but this has not brought about the necessary improvements.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Most pupils are friendly, helpful and polite, and get on well with each other and with adults. From the Early Years Foundation Stage onwards, they have a good understanding of right and wrong, and generally show respect for the feelings and beliefs of others. In lessons where they are challenged and provided with learning activities that meet their needs, pupils remain engaged and work hard. However, a 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

significant minority of parents and carers who responded to the inspection questionnaire did not feel that behaviour was good, and felt that some lessons were disrupted by poor behaviour.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils feel safe in school. They say there is little bullying of any kind and that adults are on hand to respond quickly to issues that occasionally arise. They are aware of different forms of bullying, particularly cyber-bullying and the need to be careful when using the internet. They understand that they might be exposed to difficult situations, but feel that they are able to resist peer pressure associated with risks such as substance abuse. Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage and pupils in Key Stage 1 have positive attitudes to learning and they behave well in the classroom and outside. Pupils’ attendance is average.

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Leadership and management

The school was judged to be good in the previous inspection. Since then there has been significant disruption to the staff team and the issues for improvement have not been tackled. The systems for monitoring performance lack rigour, so self-evaluation is overgenerous and the quality of teaching has been allowed to decline, leading to pupils’ inadequate achievement. The school has not demonstrated sufficient capacity for further improvement.

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Leadership and management

The headteacher monitors the quality of teaching and has set targets for improvement, but these are not followed up rigorously to ensure that they become embedded in practice. Hence, inadequacies in teaching remain. There are few opportunities for middle leaders to monitor the work of the school. The headteacher has introduced new systems to record and track pupils’ progress, but the data provided by some teachers are overgenerous and so do not accurately reflect pupils’ achievements. Governors challenge school leaders, but there are too few occasions when they visit the school to monitor its work and to provide support to the headteacher. School improvement planning lacks clear vision and direction. The areas for development are not sufficiently precise and the corresponding actions make no reference to raising the quality of teaching. Subject leaders’ action plans are similarly vague because they are not founded on an accurate evaluation of data. In

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Leadership and management

contrast, the action plan to develop provision for disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is clear and focused, and has led to improvements in outcomes for this group.

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Leadership and management

The planned curriculum does not take sufficient account of pupils’ needs or interests. It is uninspiring and includes too few opportunities for pupils to develop their ideas independently. It makes an adequate contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, although the pupils have too few opportunities to reflect on topical events to deepen their understanding of wider moral and ethical issues.

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Leadership and management

The school strives to ensure that all pupils have equality of opportunity and to eliminate discrimination. However, the inadequate achievement of too many pupils means that this aspect of the school’s work is also inadequate. Governors have 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

ensured that arrangements for safeguarding meet current requirements. All adults are carefully checked and arrangements for child protection are good.

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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 Newtown Primary School, High Peak, SK22 3JS

Thank you very much for making me feel so welcome when I visited your school. I enjoyed meeting you all and listening to what you had to say. You told me that you mostly enjoy school but that some of your lessons are too easy. You also said that a small number of pupils do not always behave well and that this sometimes spoils your lessons. I saw that children and pupils in classes 1 and 2 are making good progress, but too many of you are not doing as well as you should in reading, writing and mathematics. Although your school does some things well, I have judged that it requires ‘special measures’. This means an inspector will visit regularly to check on how well the school is doing.

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Inspection of Newtown Primary School, High Peak, SK22 3JS

I have asked your school leaders to improve the school. These are some of the things they need to do.

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Inspection of Newtown Primary School, High Peak, SK22 3JS

 Provide you with more guidance to show you what you have done well and how to make your work better.  Make sure that each lesson builds on what you can already do so that you make more progress. Please tell your teachers if your work is too easy.  Make sure the teachers ask you more questions to check your understanding and make you think hard.  Provide you with more opportunities to think creatively, to work in teams and to solve problems. I have also asked them to make sure that you have the chance to use your reading skills to carry out your own independent research using computers.  Make sure that lessons are always interesting and inspire you to work hard.  Make sure that school leaders check carefully on how well everyone is doing.

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Inspection of Newtown Primary School, High Peak, SK22 3JS

I am sure you will all do your very best to help the teachers by suggesting different ways to present your work and by working hard all the time. I wish you all the very best for the future.

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Inspection of Newtown Primary School, High Peak, SK22 3JS

Joy Considine 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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