Goodly Dale Primary School

Goodly Dale Primary School Inspection report

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Age group 3–11 Inspection date(s) 19–20 June 2012 Inspection number 378441 Unique Reference Number 112191 Local authority Cumbria Inspection number 378441 Inspection dates 19–20 June 2012 Lead inspector Robert Pye

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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 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 66 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Dorothy Hill Headteacher Maggie Cole Date of previous school inspection 1 July 2009 School address Lake Road Windermere LA23 2JX Telephone number 01539 462482 Fax number 01539 462483 Email address head@goodlydale.cumbria.sch.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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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days’ notice. The inspector observed teaching and learning in nine lessons or part-lessons, taught by five teachers. Meetings were held with the headteacher, senior leaders, teaching staff, the Chair of the Governing Body and groups of pupils. The inspector observed the school's work and looked at school development planning and progress-monitoring documentation, listened to pupils reading and examined their workbooks. The inspection took account of questionnaires completed by 23 parents and carers and those completed by pupils and staff.

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Information about the school

Goodly Dale Primary School is smaller than the average-sized primary school. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is broadly average. The proportion of pupils at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is above average. Most pupils are of White British heritage. The school meets the government’s current floor standard, which sets the minimum expectations for attainment and progress. The school has nationally accredited Activemark, Inclusion Chartermark and Healthy School status.

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Information about the school

Since the previous inspection, there have been significant changes to the teaching staff. 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. The school is not yet outstanding because pupils’ attainment in writing is not as high as that in reading or mathematics. The school’s outstanding curriculum provides pupils with a wealth of motivating experiences and develops their skills in verbal communication exceptionally well.

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Key Findings

■ Children achieve well in the Early Years Foundation Stage from starting points that are generally as expected for their age. By the end of Year 6, pupils’ attainment is above average in English and mathematics but, over the years, attainment has been stronger in mathematics than in English. The school is successful in closing any gaps in achievement for different groups of pupils. Those pupils who have special educational needs make the same good progress as their peers. Parents and carers have high regard for the school's work. This is evident in many positive comments as, ‘The school provides many excellent learning opportunities for children to gain confidence.’

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Key Findings

■ The quality of teaching is good, with examples of outstanding practice. Where teaching is outstanding, there is an imaginative use of resources to ensure that pupils are given every opportunity to explore ideas and think things out for themselves. In a minority of lessons, however, progress in writing is not as evident because teachers’ expectations do not always challenge the pupils sufficiently well to produce their best written work across all areas of the curriculum.

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Key Findings

■ Pupils’ behaviour is outstanding. They have a very good understanding of how to keep themselves safe in various situations, including when using the internet. Pupils say that bullying is extremely rare. This view was unanimous amongst the parents.

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Key Findings

■ Leadership and management are good, including the leadership of teaching, the management of the performance of adults and the management of recent staff changes. This has led to improvements in pupils’ progress and the development of an outstanding curriculum, contributing to pupils’ outstanding spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 ■ Improve attainment in writing by:  ensuring that all teachers have high expectations of pupils’ written work in all subjects  making greater use of the imaginative way pupils are able to communicate in their speaking when teaching writing.

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Achievement of pupils

Overall achievement is good. Pupils are enthusiastic, have excellent attitudes to learning, cooperate extremely well and are motivated to do their best. Pupils apply themselves well to learning in all subjects, not just in English and mathematics. For example, in a Year 2 science lesson, the pupils were engaged fully in developing a fair test to examine how well vehicles rolled on different surfaces. This resulted in excellent progress. Such practice makes learning enjoyable for the pupils. Parents and carers unanimously share the view that pupils’ progress is good.

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Achievement of pupils

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, children make good gains in all areas of learning because of the high-quality adult support and effective curriculum which make the best use of the school’s natural, rural setting. Children enthusiastically join in well-planned activities, both inside and outside, led by members of staff. They also have appropriate opportunities to make decisions and choices to direct their own learning. In one ‘Forest School’ lesson, for example, in Reception and Year 1, children learnt how to count to 20 as part of a ‘hide and seek’ game. In the same activity, they learnt to safely manage risks and make decisions on where to hide in the enclosed woodland setting.

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Achievement of pupils

The small number of pupils in each year group means that attainment at the end of each key stage can vary from year to year. In 2010, for instance, there was a dip in Key Stage 2 attainment in both English and mathematics. However, by the end of Year 6, attainment is typically above average in English and mathematics. Across the school, pupils make good progress overall, including those with special educational needs. Boys make similar progress to the girls and pupils known to be eligible for free school meals make the same progress as their peers.

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Achievement of pupils

The development of reading is given a high priority. Pupils quickly learn to link letters and sounds because these sessions are sharply focused. As a result progress in reading is good and attainment above average in Year 2 and Year 6. Likewise, mathematics progress is consistently good. However, progress in writing is more variable throughout the school and pupils’ work shows that they do not always apply their well-developed speaking skills to their written work.

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Quality of teaching

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, the teacher and teaching assistant support and challenge children well both in the classroom and in the outside area, with a strong emphasis on children’s personal development. They ensure there is a very good balance of child-initiated and adult-led activities.

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Quality of teaching

Across the school, parents and carers think that their children are taught well with good use made of support staff. These views are endorsed by the inspection findings. Reading skills are taught very well. For example, in a Year 2 class, pupils enjoyed spotting letter sounds in a story. This enabled them to develop this into reading new words, which consisted of these sounds mixed with others. While teaching is good overall, there are examples of outstanding teaching. In the best lessons, teachers move learning along briskly. They set high expectations of what pupils can achieve. In a Year 5 mathematics lesson, for example, pupils were keen to work out a problem that involved ratio and proportion. This was very challenging and required skilful questioning by the teacher in order to assess the pupils’ understanding and provide personalised explanations to individuals to enable them to grasp the concept. Teachers generally use marking well and pupils are aware of their targets.

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Quality of teaching

Most lessons promote good communication skills and interesting vocabulary. For example, in a mixed Year 3 and 4 lesson, pupils learnt new vocabulary associated with the senses through games and the use of poetry. Pupils spoke articulately of the many opportunities they have to discuss a variety of issues through the ‘Philosophy for Children’ lessons. However, while pupils are clearly being challenged to speak expressively, expectations to communicate through writing are not as high. Consequently, when writing opportunities are provided in subjects other than English, the resulting written work is not of as high a standard as that in English and this slows the pupils’ progress.

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Quality of teaching

In some classes, there is a relatively large number of pupils with special educational needs who receive good support, including that provided by additional adults and carefully tailored programmes. The excellent curriculum provides substantial opportunities for pupils to develop socially and morally. The school organises a weekly outdoor ‘Wellies and Worms’ toddler group. This successfully establishes early routines and expectations with very young children through group play and interaction with adults. These expectations and relationships flourish through the ‘Forest School’ and are well supported by many other activities throughout the school. For example, younger pupils learn Kenyan songs and African drumming to widen their understanding of different cultures. They demonstrated their skills magnificently during a special assembly that involved a visitor from an African school. Pupils were able to show deep appreciation of the different lives and challenges

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Quality of teaching

people face in other countries around the world.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils’ behaviour is outstanding. Everyone cares for each other and falling out is very rare indeed. The strong ethos of inclusion and care is very evident in every aspect of school life. As a result pupils know that everyone’s efforts are appreciated and valued. Pupils are happy at school, eager to learn and play happily together.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

All parents and carers report that there is a high standard of behaviour in the school and their children feel very safe. Pupils cannot recall any instances of bullying and, when questioned, display a very clear understanding of the causes and effects of different types of behaviour. Younger pupils are very confident that older pupils or adults will always provide help whenever it is needed. The school council regularly considers pupils’ suggestions about school improvement and all pupils make a very good contribution to school and community life. Effective partnerships exist between the police and school to ensure pupils learn about road safety as well as the potential dangers posed by the internet and strangers. Pupils have a very good understanding about how to stay healthy through exercise and healthy eating. There have been no exclusions or reported racial incidents in the last three years. Pupils’

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

attendance is average overall, and improving rapidly.

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Leadership and management

Parents and carers think highly of the school leadership and management. There have been significant changes to the teaching staff of the school since the previous inspection. The good quality leadership of teaching has enabled these changes to be managed well so that learning continues at a good pace and reflects the high expectations of the headteacher.

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Leadership and management

Members of the governing body visit the school regularly. Together with the headteacher they give a high priority to promoting equality and tackling discrimination. As a result all pupils, including those with special educational needs, are fully included in the life of the school, enjoy learning and achieve equally well. Effective procedures to safeguard pupils are in place and government requirements are met.

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Leadership and management

Monitoring and the management of the performance of adults are robust, and regular assessments and detailed analyses of information are carried out. Members of the governing body use this to ask challenging questions which support the school’s drive for improvement. A detailed development plan includes relevant key priorities. Staff respond readily to the professional development programmes. Consequently, the school has an accurate understanding of its effectiveness, giving it a good capacity to improve even further.

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Leadership and management

The outstanding curriculum enables teachers to utilise themed topics and a range of stimulating activities. These enrich pupils’ experiences, stimulate their curiosity and make learning an enjoyable experience. For example, the ‘Secret Windermere’ project involved going on the lake ferry and visiting a viewing station. Such an activity allows the pupils to look in awe at the area’s natural physical beauty and wildlife. These frequent opportunities, alongside high expectations of behaviour, make a significant contribution to pupils’ excellent spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils talk enthusiastically about these events and how much they have learned from them.

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Leadership and management

Partnerships with parents and carers are excellent and have a positive impact on the learning. Regular newsletters and the website help keep everyone informed about what is happening in school. Parents and carers are given many opportunities to comment on the school’s work and make suggestions for further improvement. The school serves the local community well. For example, the breakfast club, and ‘Wellies and Worms’ make additional provision to support present and future families.

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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.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

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 ).

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

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.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

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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to share with their children. It describes Ofsted's main

findings from the inspection of their school.

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Inspection of Goodly Dale Primary School, Windermere, LA23 2JX

 Thank you all for your extremely warm welcome when I visited your school recently. You were very polite and helpful to me. I was also grateful to those of you who came to talk to me on Tuesday and for those pupils who showed me your guinea pigs, ‘Toffee and Liquorice’. I was very impressed with your excellent behaviour around school and the way you support each other confidently in class.

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Inspection of Goodly Dale Primary School, Windermere, LA23 2JX

Goodly Dale is a good school. You are right to be proud of it. You are making good progress in your lessons and you enjoy learning. By the time you leave school at the end of Year 6, your attainment is above average and generally you make good progress to reach this point. You have well developed knowledge of how to stay safe. The adults who work with you care for and look after you extremely well. In turn, older pupils look after younger children very well, too. You make the best use of your outdoor ‘Forest School’ and clearly have lots of fun! Your school is skilled at developing your outstanding spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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Inspection of Goodly Dale Primary School, Windermere, LA23 2JX

Your headteacher and all the other staff are very proud of you and they are always looking for ways to make the school even better. To do this I have asked your teachers to help you improve your writing and to ensure that your written work reflects the imaginative way you talk.

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Inspection of Goodly Dale Primary School, Windermere, LA23 2JX

Thank you again for your kindness to me. Please keep working hard and looking after each other.

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Inspection of Goodly Dale Primary School, Windermere, LA23 2JX

Robert Pye 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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