Holbrook Primary School

Age group 4–11 Inspection date(s) 16–17 May 2012 Inspection number 395768 Holbrook Primary School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 126269 Local authority Wiltshire Inspection number 395768 Inspection dates 16–17 May 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 Community Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 234 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Michelle Frisby Headteacher Roger Whitewick Date of previous school inspection 15 July 2009 School address Holbrook Lane Trowbridge Wiltshire BA14 0PS Telephone number 01225 753708 Fax number 01225 350034 Email address office@holbrook.wilts.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. Inspectors observed teaching and learning in 15 lessons taught by nine teachers. Inspectors met with groups of pupils to discuss their learning, listened to pupils read and looked at samples of their work. Meetings were held with staff, pupils, and representatives of the governing body and the local authority. Inspectors took account of the responses to the on-line Parent View survey in planning the inspection. They observed the school’s work, and looked at a broad range of documentation, including the school’s self-evaluation, the school improvement plan, records of pupils’ achievement and progress, the school’s monitoring information and safeguarding documentation. They scrutinised questionnaires completed by 98 parents and carers, 28 staff and 97 pupils.

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Information about the school

Holbrook is an average-sized primary school. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is lower than the national average and very few pupils speak English as an additional language. The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is above average, as is the proportion of pupils supported by school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs. The majority of pupils with special educational needs have either behavioural, emotional and social issues or speech and language difficulties. In 2011, the school did not meet the government’s current floor standard, which sets the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress. 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 a satisfactory school that is moving forward securely on several fronts. Past underachievement is being addressed and pupils are now making better progress and attaining in line with national expectations. Overall effectiveness is satisfactory rather than good because there is not sufficient good teaching to secure good progress for all pupils. Schools whose overall effectiveness is judged satisfactory may receive a monitoring visit by an Ofsted inspector before their next section 5 inspection.

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Key findings

 Attainment has been in line with national results for some years but fell in 2011 to below the government’s floor standards. Historically, rates of progress have been inconsistent and boys in particular have not made sufficient progress. However, current assessment information confirms that many pupils are now making good progress in lessons, although it is not yet not securely embedded or consistent enough.

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Key findings

 Teaching is satisfactory and there is a growing proportion of good teaching, particularly in Key Stage 2. When teaching is at its best, pupils are actively engaged and lessons have a clear learning focus that is understood by the pupils. Progress is slower when pupils are passive and lessons focus on the completion of activities rather than the pupils’ learning.

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Key findings

 Behaviour is good due to a well-thought-out and caring approach from school staff. Pupils say that they feel safe in school and this is confirmed by parents and carers. Attendance is in line with the national average.

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Key findings

 There is strength in the senior leadership team, evident in the school’s approach to behaviour management and recent developments to accelerate pupils’ progress. Whilst leaders employ effective strategies, including the performance management of teachers, to improve teaching, these are not sufficiently focused to ensure all pupils make good progress. Although the governing body has a good awareness of the school’s current strengths and weaknesses, they are not yet using assessment data to accurately evaluate the impact of the school on outcomes for 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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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Accelerate the rate of pupils’ progress in lessons to be consistently good or better over time and that pupils are fully engaged in their learning by ensuring:  all activities have a clear learning purpose that pupils understand  pupils are given feedback both verbally and in their books so they know what they are doing well and what they need to do to improve  pupils develop a pride in their work by establishing consistently high expectations of the quality, quantity and presentation of their work.  Improve the management of the quality of teaching, particularly in the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, so that 80% of all lessons are good or better by March 2013 by:  establishing a rigorous approach to monitoring the quality of teaching and learning so that the resulting areas for development are acted upon swiftly  ensuring that assessment data is used to inform planning and improve

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

practice and provision, particularly in provision for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs.  Ensuring that accountability for pupils’ achievement is devolved to leaders at all levels and that those leaders are held to account by the governing body for challenging targets based on key internal and external information.

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Achievement of pupils

The attainment of children when they enter the school has been improving over recent years. Children now enter the school with skills in line with age-related expectations. Children make satisfactory progress during their time in the Early Years Foundation Stage and the proportion leaving with the expected level of skills is in line with expectations and improving. However, the analysis of assessment data in the Early Years Foundation Stage, particularly information gained on entry, is not sufficiently used to adapt the provision to meet the changing needs of the children. This is the main reason that few make rapid progress

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Achievement of pupils

The attainment of pupils by the end of Year 2 has been lower than those achieved nationally for a number of years. This was because pupils did not make sufficient progress in Years 1 and 2, resulting in fewer pupils achieving the higher levels than in other schools. Although the school has taken steps to address this, these actions are too recent to have impacted on published assessment results. However, lesson observations, scrutiny of work and the school’s own tracking show that pupils’ progress is now accelerating and is satisfactory. Pupils make satisfactory progress in Key Stage 2 and attain results that are broadly in line with national averages by the end of Year 6, although results in mathematics are higher than those in English.

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Achievement of pupils

Most parents and carers who returned the questionnaires were pleased with the progress their child is making, but the inspectors found that pupils’ rates of progress 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

In recent years, attainment in reading at the end of Key Stage 1 has been below average, but the school’s tracking information shows that pupils currently in Key Stage 1 are working at expected levels for their age. By the time pupils reach Year 6, they are reading at levels expected for their age. In lessons, pupils work well in groups and show that they listen and value the opinions of others. While there are examples of good presentation in books, expectations are not always high enough and poor presentation often limits pupils’ progress.

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Achievement of pupils

Currently different groups of pupils, including disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, make similar rates of progress. However, for many years, boys did less well than girls. Although the school has now addressed the under- achievement of boys, particularly in English, the school’s response was too slow and this resulted in a significant gap in achievement for boys.

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Quality of teaching

Teaching is satisfactory. Most parents and carers consider their children to be well taught and, although inspectors found that some teaching was stronger, overall teaching is satisfactory because it is not resulting in consistently good progress for all pupils.

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Quality of teaching

During the inspection, pupils were seen drawing successfully on their knowledge of letters and sounds in their reading and writing. However, less able pupils were not as confident when dealing with common irregular words because the teaching of phonics (linking letters with the sounds they make) and reading, although satisfactory, is not sufficiently systematic to ensure that all pupils make good progress.

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Quality of teaching

Where teaching is good, activities closely match pupils’ levels of ability and teachers have high expectations of presentation and learning behaviour. In lessons where teaching is good they feature appropriate levels of challenge and a clear focus on the skill that is being learnt or practised. Teaching is better in Key Stage 2 than in other key stages. For example, in a Key Stage 2 mathematics lesson on perimeter, the teacher used a variety of strategies skilfully to ensure that pupils clearly understood what they were learning and how to be successful. As a result, pupils were working hard and were well motivated and this resulted in good progress. This emphasis on learning and focus on rapid pace is only evident in a minority of lessons. Some lessons observed during the inspection were insufficiently engaging and, consequently, some pupils did not work as hard as they could because they were not

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Quality of teaching

always clear about what was expected of them. In such lessons, teachers and other adults tended to focus too much on completing activities and not sufficiently on what pupils were learning.

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Quality of teaching

Teachers implement the planned curriculum satisfactorily with an appropriate increasing emphasis on developing skills in English and mathematics. For example, 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

work in pupils’ books covers a range of subjects and there is good evidence of writing across the curriculum. Pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural development is effectively promoted by the teaching and everyday life of the school. A good example of this is the Year 5 and 6 pupils who were working very effectively as a team during a dance session in physical education.

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Quality of teaching

The quality of teaching for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is satisfactory because regular assessments lead to a variety of additional support programmes for them. However, although assessment information is beginning to be used to measure the impact of these programmes, it is not yet being used to evaluate the success of support and interventions to ensure consistently good progress.

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Quality of teaching

Expectations of standards of presentation are not consistent and this sometimes results in work that is untidy and poorly presented. Some marking identifies pupils’ progress and informs pupils about how well they are doing and what they needed to do to improve. However, this is inconsistent across the school and, where pupils do not receive sufficient guidance on how well they are doing, progress is slower.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Behaviour is good. Pupils have high expectations of behaviour in the school and this leads some to feel that behaviour is not very good. The school provides a caring environment where behaviour is managed in a consistent and systematic way. Parents and carers agree that pupils’ behaviour is typically good and value the school’s caring approach to the safety of pupils. As one parent said, ‘the child is at the centre of everything the school does.’ Pupils are thoughtful and considerate to each other and conduct themselves well around the school. During lessons, pupils engage well with each other and do all that is asked from them by the class teachers. Scrutiny of behavioural records and discussions show that behaviour is good over time too.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils feel safe in school and demonstrate a sound awareness of the different forms of bullying, including name-calling, physical bullying and cyber-bullying. They are confident that bullying and other issues are dealt with quickly and effectively and were keen to tell inspectors how behaviour has improved over time. Pupils are well cared for and their well-being is a high priority. Rates of attendance are above average and the school has a range of effective strategies in place to maintain these.

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Leadership and management

The headteacher and deputy headteacher have a clear vision for the school and clear expectations for pupils’ progress. The impact of this can be seen in the accelerating progress made by some pupils so far this year. Although actions have been taken to address the issues identified in the previous inspection report, these have been slow to impact as senior leaders focused on eradicating inadequate teaching rather than developing good teaching. However, there is sufficiently secure evidence to indicate 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

that this decline is now being reversed.

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Leadership and management

The school has a clear action plan in place to tackle current areas of under- achievement and the impact of this can already be seen in the good rates of progress in lessons now being achieved by many pupils. However, actions are not yet sufficiently specific to achieve the accelerated rates of progress that the school requires. Although senior leaders have taken actions to address previous levels of underachievement, the work of middle leaders is not yet sufficiently focused on raising pupils’ achievement. Similarly, while staff performance is managed satisfactorily, it is not adequately focused on pupil achievement to ensure that teaching, and therefore pupil progress, is good across the school. There are regular lesson observations to check the quality of teaching. However, monitoring and professional development opportunities are focused on what teachers do rather than what pupils learn.

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Leadership and management

The school has appropriate systems to keep children safe and the school’s arrangements for safeguarding meet statutory requirements. The school seeks to promote equality, for example in their recent work to raise the achievement of boys. It is effective in tackling discrimination and this contributes significantly to the harmonious community. The curriculum is broad and balanced and effectively promotes pupils’ spiritual, social, moral and cultural development.

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Leadership and management

The governing body are committed to raising standards in the school and have a detailed knowledge of the school’s current position. However the governing body do not yet communicate sufficiently high expectations and ambition because targets are not challenging enough and not used with sufficient rigour to hold senior leaders to account.

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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 54 42 2 2 Primary schools 14 49 32 6 Secondary schools 20 39 34 7 Special schools 33 45 20 3 Pupil referral units 9 55 28 8 All schools 16 47 31 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 to 31 December 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

Floor standards the national minimum expectation of attainment and progression measures.

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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 Holbrook Primary School, Trowbridge BA14 0PS

You may remember that I recently inspected your school, to see how well you are being helped to learn. I am writing to thank you for being so friendly and helpful. I thought you would like to know what we found out. You go to a satisfactory school that is doing a number of things well.

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Inspection of Holbrook Primary School, Trowbridge BA14 0PS

 Your behaviour is good and you try your best in lessons.  Your headteacher and the staff are working hard to make your lessons better so that you learn more.  Teaching is satisfactory, and sometimes good.

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Inspection of Holbrook Primary School, Trowbridge BA14 0PS

This is what we have asked the headteacher, governing body and teachers to do to make your school even better.

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Inspection of Holbrook Primary School, Trowbridge BA14 0PS

 Help you make even more progress by making sure you know how well you are doing and that you understand what you need to do to improve your work.  Making sure that you always do your best work in books so you can be proud of your work.  Make sure that all the adults in your school know as much as possible about how well you are doing in your learning so that you can make the best possible progress.

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Inspection of Holbrook Primary School, Trowbridge BA14 0PS

Remember, you can help by working hard and always doing your best. I wish you all the best and hope you continue to try hard and enjoy your learning.

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Inspection of Holbrook Primary School, Trowbridge BA14 0PS

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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