Filleigh Community Primary School

Age group 4–11 Inspection date(s) 10–11 January 2012 Inspection number 378394 Filleigh Community Primary School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 113148 Local authority Devon Inspection number 378653 Inspection dates 10–11 January 2012 Lead inspector Alex Baxter

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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 101 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Michael Huntingford Headteacher Steve Mellor Date of previous school inspection 16 September 2008 School address Filleigh Barnstaple Devon EX32 0RS Telephone number 01598 760295 Fax number 01598 760556 Email address www.filleigh-primary.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 s urvey 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 by one additional inspector. The inspector visited 11 lessons taught by five teachers, observed various group activities and listened to pupils reading. The inspector also attended a school assembly, observed break times and held meetings with representatives of the governing body, staff, pupils, and parents and carers. 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 plans and policies, records of assessments and the tracking of pupils’ progress. The inspector analysed 34 questionnaires completed by parents and carers as well as those returned by 96 pupils and 13 staff.

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Information about the school

This school is smaller than the average-sized primary school. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is below average. Most pupils attending the school are of White British heritage and there are few pupils who speak English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils joining or leaving the school at other than the normal times is above average. The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is broadly average. Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are taught in a designated Reception class and the other three classes in the school cover two year groups. The school met the government’s floor standards for academic performance in 2011 and exceeded them in 2009 and 2010. Since April 2010, the school has been part of a hard federation of two primary schools. The federation has an executive headteacher, who has overall responsibility

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Information about the school

for both the schools, and each school has a head of teaching and learning who has day-to-day responsibility for the school. The federation also has a shared governing body. 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

 Filleigh is a good school. This view is confirmed by most parents and carers. This comment by one parent was typical: ‘It is a lovely school with a family feel.’ Improvement in recent years has been helped by the federation arrangement which has increased the teaching and leadership expertise available.

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Key findings

 Pupils’ good achievements, including those of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs, demonstrate the good improvement since the previous inspection. Pupils’ speaking, listening and reading skills are particularly well developed, and their improved writing and impressive computing skills also enrich learning across the curriculum. Pupils’ attainment in mathematics is less secure.

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Key findings

 Teaching is good overall, with some outstanding practice in Reception and Years 5 and 6. Teachers set clear learning objectives and targets that meet pupils’ needs and extend learning. Strengths include good assessment procedures, enabling pupils’ needs to be tackled effectively at an early stage, and good marking and guidance, which ensure that pupils know how to improve. In Years 5 and 6, good questioning and high expectations are successfully encouraging pupils to become independent learners, but teaching is not always as effective in Years 1 to 4. Teaching and resources in the Early Years Foundation Stage are much improved and the professional development of staff is very effective.

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Key findings

 Most pupils and their parents feel that behaviour is good and that the school is a very safe place. This view matches inspection findings, which also identify improved strategies to safeguard pupils’ welfare.

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Key findings

 The executive headteacher encourages high staff morale and is supported well by the governing body. Together they provide good leadership and management and ensure that links between the two schools offer pupils a stimulating curriculum containing memorable practical learning experiences, especially outdoors and in the expressive arts. 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?

 Over the course of the next 12 months, raise pupils’ achievement in mathematics by the end of Years 2 and 6 by:  strengthening the focus on extending pupils’ mathematical vocabulary  more systematically developing the pupils’ basic numeracy skills, especially their understanding of place value, through practical calculations and solving real-life problems.  Increase the proportion of good and better teaching and accelerate the pace of pupils’ learning in Years 1 to 4 by:  ensuring that teachers spend less time leading whole class and large group discussions so that pupils have more time to work in groups and tackle work more closely matched to their ability  making more effective use of teaching assistants to support pupils with their individual needs and develop them as independent learners.

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Achievement of pupils

Children enter school with broadly expected levels of skills overall, but their communication and calculation skills are often at lower levels than average, including for those who arrive later from other schools. The quality of pupils’ learning and progress, as observed in lessons and during support sessions across the school, is good and matches the school’s own tracking and achievement data. The pupils’ above-average attainment by the end of Year 6, especially in English, shows that most pupils achieve well by the time they leave the school with no group standing out as making particularly better or slower progress than others. Assessment data show that increasingly in English, previously lower-attaining pupils, including some new to the school and those eligible for free school meals in Years 5 and 6, make good progress. This is because good engagement of pupils in discussions extends their vocabulary and helps to narrow the gap between these pupils and others.

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Achievement of pupils

Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs also make good progress, especially in speaking and listening, and understanding words. They develop new skills well because additional adult support ensures that pupils’ individual educational plans are carefully implemented. Although improving in response to more targeted school action this academic year, the pupils’ average attainment in mathematics by the end of Year 6 represents only satisfactory progress over time. This is because previous learning through Years 1 and 4 has not been as successful in securing pupils’ basic number skills, especially their understanding of place value. Observations of learning across these years now shows accelerating 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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Achievement of pupils

with most pupils making at least the expected progress and those with a tendency to slip behind being more effectively supported to bridge gaps. Pupils’ learning is also boosted by their well-developed ability to use computers to undertake research and by their willingness to think creatively and participate fully in the expressive arts.

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Achievement of pupils

Children make good progress in the Early Years Foundation Stage, particularly in developing positive attitudes towards learning and speaking and listening and social skills. This is because they have lots of opportunities to choose interesting activities for themselves and are then questioned supportively by adults to help them learn. Pupils’ broadly average attainment in reading at the end of Key Stage 1 also reflects good improvement. Listening to readers, observations of group reading and scrutiny of home-school reading records showed that effective links with parents and the close guidance of pupils when reading in groups are enabling more pupils to make good progress as they move through the school. As a result, pupils’ attainment in reading is above average by the time they leave at the end of Key Stage 2 and shows that the parents’ and pupils’ views of good progress in reading are well founded.

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Quality of teaching

Parents and pupils expressed the view that teaching is good and this is borne out by inspection findings. Key strengths in the quality of teaching observed typically included adults placing high value on pupils’ ideas and responses, supportive guidance and very good management of pupils’ behaviour. Challenging questioning, good marking and assessment and carefully organised group work were also very effective in promoting new learning. This is because they were well matched to pupils’ ability. The very good impact of these strengths on pupils’ learning and progress was seen in a successful English lesson in Years 5 and 6 as the teacher promoted high expectations and teased out the pupils’ understanding by challenging them to think independently and to report their research about mountains to the whole class. The pupils confidently rose to this challenge and demonstrated very good vocabulary. High quality learning was also seen in Reception as children

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Quality of teaching

explored the well-equipped outdoor learning area and responded excitedly to the teacher’s careful questioning as they made wind tunnels and investigated soapy water.

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Quality of teaching

Pupils’ vocabulary and writing skills are developed well in all classes and across most subjects through a consistent focus on speaking and listening, for example, when pupils were studying the Second World War. These class topics, and assembly themes such as Diwali and Chinese New Year, also successfully promote the pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and their enjoyment of school. Teachers are now promoting the technical language of mathematics to lift pupils’ skills, but this has yet to have a full impact in all classes. Role play and the interactive whiteboard were used well in Years 1 and 2 and Years 3 and 4 classes, further illustrating the varied and interesting way that pupils are taught and learn. On occasion though, in Years 1 to 4, teachers spend too long talking to the whole class and this reduces the time available for pupils to be more closely and effectively Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate

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Quality of teaching

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

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Quality of teaching

supported in smaller groups or to be helped to learn more independently by skilled teaching assistants.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils’ typical behaviour as observed during the inspection was good. This reflected their enjoyment of school, their positive attitudes to learning, their consistently good punctuality and their at least average attendance. Pupils’ behaviour and their relationships with each other and with adults in lessons were often exemplary and evidence indicates that pupils’ behaviour over time has been mostly good. There have been no recorded incidents of poor behaviour or bullying over the past academic year and there was no bullying or unacceptable behaviour seen during the inspection. This stems in no small measure from the school’s strengthened strategies for dealing with bullying and communicating with parents. These have been developed in liaison with outside specialists and parents in response to past difficulties and now include a parents’ forum, for example, which also contributes well to school development. Anti-bullying measures include regular guidance through

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

assembly themes and consistent class routines and expectations. Displayed posters made by the pupils not only condemn bullying, but also offer supportive guidance. Discussions with pupils also demonstrated their good understanding of how to prevent or react to such incidents. Most parents and pupils, who responded to the questionnaires, and all the pupils and parents interviewed by the inspector, said that behaviour was good and that they have confidence in the steps taken by staff to sustain good behaviour, deal with any future incidents and keep pupils safe.

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Leadership and management

The federation provides the full range of leadership and staff skills needed to improve the quality of teaching and learning and accelerate pupils’ achievement. Improved expertise within the single governing body also effectively supports the sharing of information and the good work of the executive headteacher, heads of teaching and learning, and subject coordinators in developing staff skills through well-targeted professional development. These features have played an integral role in bringing improvements to teaching and pupils’ achievements since the previous inspection and in securing a good capacity to continue this into the future. Much improved provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage, especially to support independent and outdoor learning, and well-embedded procedures to track pupils’ progress, have also contributed beneficially to the process of accelerating pupils’ progress. As a result, for example, disabled pupils and those with special educational

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Leadership and management

needs and those who have learnt more slowly in the past, are benefiting from an increased amount of well-matched support both as individuals and in small groups. By these means pupils are treated equally, kept free from discrimination and are enabled to make equally good progress.

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Leadership and management

The school provides a good curriculum, which places a strong emphasis on pupils enjoying their learning. Pupils are motivated to research topics which capture their 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

imagination. For example, pupils in Years 5 and 6 were exploring what it might be like to climb Mount Everest and pupils in Years 1 and 2 were role playing as ‘SuperTed’ to stimulate their imaginative writing. The school’s close links with its partner school and a town school, together with video-conferencing facilities, assembly themes, residential visits and French teaching, widen the pupils’ first-hand, multicultural experiences. These also further support the pupils’ good spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils are kept safe because all staff adhere to good safeguarding and other statutory procedures, for example those for staff recruitment and child protection.

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

Inspection of Filleigh Community Primary School, Barnstaple, EX32 0RS

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

Thank you very much for making me feel so welcome during my recent inspection of your school. You were all very polite and helpful and you are clearly proud of your school. Very special thanks to all those of you who talked to me so helpfully and enthusiastically. You said that you enjoy coming to school and are making good progress. I agree with you that Filleigh is a good school.

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

These are the other main things I found.

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

 You work hard and make good progress. An increasing number of you make outstanding progress, especially in speaking, listening and reading.  You behave well and feel safe because you have lots of friends and know that the adults in the school work hard to keep you safe.  The teaching is good and you enjoy lots of interesting activities – especially in the outdoor classroom/woodland area and when feeding the hens!  Your school continues to improve as a partner in the Chittlehampton and Filleigh federation because your senior leaders, staff and governors all work well together to help you to achieve.

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

To bring further improvement I have asked the teachers to:

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

 improve your number skills and your understanding of mathematical words  give those of you in Years 1 to 4 more time to work either on your own or in groups where adults can give you closer support to help you to learn.

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

You can help by making every effort to think carefully about your work.

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

Alex Baxter 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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