Newburgh Primary School

Age group 4-11 Inspection date(s) 13–14 June 2012 Inspection number 381090 Newburgh Primary School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 125561 Local authority Warwickshire Inspection number 381090 Inspection dates 13–14 June 2012 Lead inspector Sue Hall

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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 215 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Ron Binnie Headteacher Andrew Smith Date of previous school inspection 27 November 2008 School address Kipling Avenue Warwick CV34 6LD Telephone number 01926 775453 Fax number 01926 775438 Email address Admin2325@we-learn.com achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked

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after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when.

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You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk , or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days’ notice. The inspectors observed nine teachers in 15 lessons. They also observed guided reading activities in some classes and heard to read individually a sample of 12 pupils of mixed abilities from Year 2 and 6. The inspectors held meetings with groups of pupils, senior leaders and representatives of the governing body. Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at data about achievement across the school and examined samples of pupils’ recent work. They scrutinised documents, including self-evaluation information, the school improvement plan and a sample of whole-school policies. They examined evidence regarding the safeguarding of pupils. Inspectors analysed 96 questionnaires received from parents and carers, 26 from members of staff and 99 from pupils.

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Information about the school

This is a school that is slightly below the average size. A large majority of pupils are of White British background and a small number speak English as an additional language. The percentage known to be eligible for free school meals is average, as is the proportion of pupils supported by school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs. The school meets the current floor standard, the minimum expectations for attainment set by the government. There is provision for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage from the age of four. There is on site provision for children of nursery age, but this is privately organised and not included in this inspection. There is also an adjoining Children’s Centre that is inspected and reported upon separately. There have been three headteachers during the past three years. The current headteacher and acting deputy headteacher took up their roles in

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Information about the school

September 2011. The school is in the middle of a full re-building programme to double its intake of pupils. The school holds three Green Flag awards, a Silver Artsmark award and Silver Science award. 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 good school. It is not outstanding because, while there is an effective focus on improving standards and teaching, there are inconsistencies in some areas including writing and monitoring the work of the school. The headteacher is driving improvement very well by ensuring school self-evaluation is accurate and correctly identifies areas for further development.

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Key findings

 As pupils of all abilities move through the school they make good overall progress and achieve well. For several years there have been strengths in reading and mathematics. Standards in writing are not quite as high and some pupils, especially the boys, are not always motivated enough to write well or have sufficient opportunity to write in depth and detail.

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Key findings

 The quality of teaching is good overall and is particularly strong in Key Stage 1 and the Early Years Foundation Stage. Across the school staff have good expectations of what the pupils can achieve and explain things well. Teaching assistants are well-briefed and deployed effectively to support groups and individuals, including disabled pupils and those with special educational needs. In Key Stage 2, teaching is good but there are occasions when teachers’ planning does not take sufficient account of assessment information to set challenging work for all groups.

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Key findings

 The behaviour and safety of pupils are good and most behave very well in and around the school. They have positive attitudes to their work and understand how to keep safe.

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Key findings

 Leadership and management are good. The headteacher has developed a strong focus on improving teaching and further raising standards through the management of performance. Senior leaders have closely monitored teaching and learning activities but subject leaders have had few such opportunities, which limits their effectiveness in identifying areas for further development. Governance is good, as is the capacity for the school to continue to improve. 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?

 Raise standards of pupils’ writing and achieve greater consistency in the quality of teaching by:  providing a wide range of activities that particularly interest boys and motivate all pupils to write at length and in depth  ensuring that activities are well-planned and matched to the needs of pupils of different abilities.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the monitoring and evaluation of the work of the school by extending the involvement of subject leaders in checking planning, teaching and learning to help ensure consistency of provision.

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Achievement of pupils

When children enter the Early Years Foundation Stage they have knowledge and experiences that vary from year to year. Recent groups had skills in line with expectations for their age but some previous cohorts entered with lower level skills particularly in communication, language and literacy. Children make consistently good progress during their time in both Reception classes and many now enter Year 1 with skills a little above the expectations for their age. For example, when learning about letters and the sounds they make (phonics), all children become confident enough to make good attempts at writing a simple sentence on their own.

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Achievement of pupils

In Years 1 and 2, pupils make good and sometimes outstanding progress, especially in mathematics. For example, in Year 1 pupils made excellent progress when learning more about odd and even numbers through very practical learning activities. They joined in songs and games, then acted as characters when dividing cakes and used a range of resources to complete other challenging tasks.

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Achievement of pupils

Throughout the school pupils make good progress in reading so that attainment in reading at the end of Key Stage 1 and when they leave the school is above average. Most also continue to develop their mathematical skills well and attainment is above average. Pupils’ calculation skills are good although at times they lack confidence in solving problems. The progress made in Key Stage 2 is mostly good though sometimes uneven.

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Achievement of pupils

Data show that for several years in Key Stage 1 and 2 standards in writing while average have been below other areas, especially for the boys. Not as many pupils achieve the higher levels in writing as in reading and mathematics. The school has rightly recognised this, and during the last year in particular there has been a focus on improving writing, which is starting to narrow the gap between subjects. However, some pupils do not have enough opportunities to write at much length or 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 depth. While they write in different styles regularly, they do not develop the skills to produce good quality writing which reaches the higher levels.

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Achievement of pupils

The progress of pupils speaking English as an additional language is good. Most are bi-lingual on entry and often do very well. Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs also make good progress, because work and support are matched effectively to their particular needs. Most parents and carers who responded to the inspection questionnaire rightly believe their children make good progress.

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Quality of teaching

All staff have good expectations of both what the pupils can achieve and how they should behave. Adults use praise well to raise self-esteem and to encourage everyone to try even harder. Teachers use interactive whiteboards effectively to interest pupils and focus them on the task, such as watching clips of the Jubilee Flotilla to help them in their descriptive writing. The teaching of reading is good and well supported by reading at home. Teachers and support staff work well together to ensure there is close and well-focused support for disabled pupils and those with special educational needs. Skilled and experienced volunteers are also used very effectively to support learning, working with the Reception classes outdoors and with the school’s choirs.

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Quality of teaching

The curriculum is effective in meeting the needs of the pupils. Parents and carers are pleased with the quality of teaching and additional sporting activities introduced during the last year. This has been promoted by the headteacher and is already successful in raising the self-esteem of some lower attaining boys. Recent Jubilee celebrations have supported the pupils’ cultural development well. Teachers have ensured that activities also contain an element of fun to interest and motivate everyone. This was well illustrated in Year 1 when pupils produced a poster for a lost trunk linked to the story ‘The Queen’s Knickers’. Reception-aged children, meanwhile, enjoyed counting pictures of and writing the number on ‘Prince Philip’s pants’.

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Quality of teaching

Teaching is most effective in Key Stage 1 and the Early Years Foundation Stage because activities are well planned with clear identification of exactly what the pupils are to learn. For example, pupils in Year 2 made excellent progress when learning to use grid references so that they could make their own treasure maps and play against one another, sometimes using four-figure grid references. In such successful lessons, linked but different tasks ensure a high level of challenge for all abilities. In some other lessons in Key Stage 2, planning is occasionally brief and the levels of challenge are not as well matched to pupils’ different needs. Pupils’ work is marked conscientiously, although targets for improvement are not updated regularly to take account of the progress made.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

School records and inspection observations show that the typical behaviour of the large majority of pupils is good and many behave very well. Most are polite 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

courteous including in the classroom, when moving around the school and at lunch. Pupils are generally keen to do well although a few do not try very hard to answer questions or offer their ideas. While a small number of parents and carers who responded to the inspection questionnaire do not believe behaviour is good, discussions with pupils indicate they think it usually is. They recognise what bullying is, are aware of the different forms that bullying can take, and know this would not be acceptable in school. Most older pupils understand about cyber-bullying, but younger ones have limited knowledge of what this entails. Pupils from different ethnic groups say there is no racism in school. All the pupils spoken to during the inspection say they would feel comfortable to talk to an adult should they have a concern about anything and feel confident these are dealt with sensitively.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils know how to keep themselves and others safe and parents and carers are confident this is a high priority in school. While building work is taking place and play space is limited, pupils know they have to be aware of others in the playground. Attendance is good overall and the school is working with parents and carers to minimise the impact of holidays in term time.

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Leadership and management

The new headteacher is leading the school very well and providing a vision for improvement, following a period of uncertainty when the school had three headteachers in as many years. Most parents and carers speak with satisfaction about how well they feel the school is led as do all the staff who responded to the inspection questionnaire. The school has improved provision for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage since the previous inspection.

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Leadership and management

School self-evaluation is highly accurate and senior leaders clearly recognise the strengths in provision and areas for further improvement. This is contributing to improving pupils’ achievement and the quality of teaching and is ensuring there is the capacity to improve further. Professional development activities play an important part in this. The headteacher, as assessment leader, ensures there is a good range of information available that tracks the progress of individuals and groups of pupils. However, the use of this in the classroom to inform planning is still variable. The inclusion manager leads provision for disabled pupils and those with special educational needs well, and the strong team of teaching assistants are well briefed, which enables them to carry out their roles efficiently. Subject leaders have a good grasp of achievement data, but have had few recent opportunities to monitor

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Leadership and management

and evaluate the effectiveness of provision. This has therefore limited the impact they can have in supporting colleagues to improve planning and teaching.

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Leadership and management

The school provides a broad and balanced curriculum which meets the pupils’ needs well. Their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is well supported in learning activities and assemblies, where everyone celebrates the work of the three school choirs. The school promotes equality of opportunity and tackles discrimination well, through an increasing focus on the achievement of all groups of pupils including the most vulnerable. Governance is good. Governors are knowledgeable about 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

attainment and are keen to develop their effectiveness even further. They ensure that the requirements for safeguarding the pupils are fully met.

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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 Newburgh Primary School, Warwick, CV34 6LD

Thank you very much for making my colleague and me feel so welcome when we visited your school recently. We enjoyed talking to you and listening to your ideas, especially when chatting to groups of you, hearing some pupils reader and looking at your questionnaires. We both enjoyed seeing the work you have been doing following the Jubilee celebrations particularly in Key Stage 1 and the Early Years Foundation Stage. We also enjoyed listening to the choirs sing in assembly but were glad we didn’t have to sing as the pieces were very difficult. Well done!

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Inspection of Newburgh Primary School, Warwick, CV34 6LD

The school provides you with a good education. These are the things we liked best.  Your new headteacher has made a really good start to helping the school to find out what works well and what could be improved.  The standards you reach when you leave school are above average especially in reading and mathematics.  You behave well and understand how to keep safe. Most of you get on together very well and try hard with your work.  The quality of teaching is good, especially for those of you in Key Stage 1 and the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Inspection of Newburgh Primary School, Warwick, CV34 6LD

These are the things we have asked your school to do to make it even better.  Help all of you, and especially the boys, to make even better progress in your writing.  Provide you with work that is just hard enough for different groups.  Make sure that staff have the opportunity to check your learning more carefully so that they can help improve things even more.

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Inspection of Newburgh Primary School, Warwick, CV34 6LD

You could also help your school by making sure that you always offer ideas in discussions.

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Inspection of Newburgh Primary School, Warwick, CV34 6LD

Sue Hall 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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