Carleton Green Community Primary School

Carleton Green Community Primary School Inspection report

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Age group 4–11 Inspection date(s) 20–21 June 2012 Inspection number 379778 Unique Reference Number 119316 Local authority Lancashire Inspection number 379778 Inspection dates 20–21 June 2012 Lead inspector Neil Mackenzie

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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 286 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Martin Ball Headteacher Alison Johnstone Date of previous school inspection 20 March 2009 School address Arundel Drive Carleton Poulton-le-Fylde FY6 7TF Telephone number 01253 891228 Fax number 01253 896227 Email address head@carletongreen.lancs.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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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 after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Introduction

Neil Mackenzie Naomi Taylor Additional Inspector Additional Inspector Louise Murphy Additional Inspector

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days notice. Inspectors visited 17 lessons taught by 11 teachers, observed various group activities and listened to pupils reading. Inspectors also attended two school assemblies, observed break and lunch times and held meetings with members of the governing body, staff and pupils. Inspectors spoke to parents and carers as they brought their children to school. Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at the school development plan, school policies, assessment data, school and local authority monitoring, safeguarding information, lesson plans and pupils’ work. The team analysed 100 questionnaires from parents and carers together with questionnaires from staff and pupils.

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Information about the school

Carleton Green is a larger than average sized primary school. Sharing the same site, but not inspected during this inspection, are Little Chicks pre-school and breakfast club and an after-school club, Kids Zone. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is lower than average. Almost all pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of pupils supported by school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is broadly average. There has been recent and considerable change in the personnel leading and managing the school, including within the governing body. The school meets the government’s current floor standard, which sets the minimum expectations for attainment and progress for pupils by the end of Key Stage 2. 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

 Carleton Green is a satisfactory school. It is not yet good because teaching is satisfactory and it is not strong enough to ensure pupils make good progress. The school’s main strengths are the care of pupils and their personal development, behaviour and attendance, the provision for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, and the good progress children make in the Early Years Foundation Stage. 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

 Pupils’ achievement is satisfactory. They reach broadly average standards of attainment by the end of Year 6. A significant fall in English test results in 2011 has been addressed. Pupils’ current progress in lessons and school data show that results in English have improved this year and pupils are again achieving satisfactorily. Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make good progress.

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Key Findings

 Teachers provide good guidance to pupils through conscientious marking, relationships are always positive and some lessons are delivered with pace. At times, pupils spend too long listening, and teachers do not provide appropriately challenging work consistently for different groups, particularly the most able. Teaching assistants are not always used efficiently to maximise learning.

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Key Findings

 Pupils enjoy school and are very positive about everything they do and have positive attitudes to learning. Attendance is above average. Pupils behave well in class and play harmoniously. Pupils care for each other and their environment. They have a very good understanding of how to keep themselves and others safe.

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Key Findings

 Leadership and management are satisfactory. Senior leaders are ambitious for their pupils and care deeply about every child. Parents and carers value all that the school does and relationships between home and school are strong. There are some good examples of monitoring procedures within the school. However, some systems, including systems to manage the quality of teaching, have not been rigorous enough to enable school leaders to rectify developing problems at an early stage.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching and improve pupils’ progress in Years 1 to 6 so that it is at least good by:  ensuring work is matched more closely to the needs of pupils of all abilities, particularly for the more-able pupils  ensuring all staff have consistently high expectations for all pupils  ensuring lessons are carefully planned to ensure a balance between listening and doing  improving the effectiveness of teaching assistants to that of the best.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Further develop rigorous leadership and management systems for monitoring and evaluating the school’s planned actions to ensure early and well targeted improvement.

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Achievement of pupils

Children enter the Early Years Foundation Stage with skills that are broadly expected of their age. In lessons, they rapidly build on these skills and make good progress. Children concentrate well and they enjoy learning. They make a good start in learning to read and write; writing letters well and knowing the sounds that these letters make.

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Achievement of pupils

Throughout Key Stages 1 and 2, pupils make satisfactory progress. By the end of Year 6, attainment is broadly average in English and mathematics. In lessons, including those for pupils in mixed-age classes, pupils continue to concentrate well; they cooperate with each other and are keen to learn. Most are confident in developing their numeracy skills. In recent years, pupils’ attainment in reading at the end of Year 2 and Year 6 has been average. However, current progress in reading is stronger. Those pupils who read to the inspectors were fluent and able to use intonation appropriately. Younger pupils were able to use their reading skills to break down and sound out unfamiliar words. Throughout the school pupils are now attaining above average standards in reading. Reading for pleasure is popular and many pupils read at home.

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Achievement of pupils

Attainment in writing has been variable and results in 2011 for Year 6 pupils, showed inadequate progress. This year, the whole school adopted a new strategy for the teaching of writing and this has improved pupils’ progress successfully. Teachers have a better understanding of how to develop writing skills. The curriculum for the teaching of writing is now based on logical progression. In lessons, pupils write extended pieces and understand the features of different styles of writing. The school’s tracking of pupil progress and inspection evidence confirms this improvement and shows progress in writing is now satisfactory.

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Achievement of pupils

Teachers do not always provide sufficient challenge for the most-able pupils. These pupils perceive they are doing well because their work is usually accurate and marked as correct. However, when formally assessed, some pupils do not achieve as well as similar pupils do nationally.

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Achievement of pupils

In parents and carers questionnaires, the vast majority agreed that their children were making good progress. Inspection evidence shows that progress is satisfactory overall, with increasing numbers of pupils making good progress. Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress because their needs are identified precisely, their progress is regularly and carefully monitored and extra support is very well targeted. The school has worked successfully to eliminate any identified gap in the performance of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and those who are not.

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Quality of teaching

In their questionnaires, all parents and carers agreed that their children are taught well at school. Inspection evidence shows teaching is satisfactory overall although there are examples of good practice.

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Quality of teaching

Teaching is good in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Activities are interesting and fun and children cooperate very well with others and clearly enjoy their work. To help children learn about letters and the sounds they make, teachers play a range of engaging games like ‘full circle’ where all children have a card with a sound represented on each. As the teacher says a sound, the children have to identify who has that card.

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Quality of teaching

In Key Stages 1 and 2, the quality of teaching is satisfactory. Teaching is most effective when teachers enthuse pupils, ensure a brisk pace and pupils of all abilities make good progress. This was apparent in a Year 6 class where pupils made good progress in learning about number patterns. Pupils began to appreciate the elegance of the Fibonacci Sequence and gained real pleasure from exploring it, translating the number sequence into a graphical model and then realising the link with nature. Pupils are usually clear about what they are to learn and often decide what they need to do to achieve success. Marking of pupils’ work is good; teachers provide pupils with useful guidance on how to improve their work.

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Quality of teaching

When teaching is less effective, teachers do not adequately check on pupils’ learning, expectations are low and achievement restricted. Questioning is often used well to remind pupils of previous work and to check pupils’ understanding. However, teachers rarely use questioning to make pupils think more deeply. These inconsistencies in teaching limit pupils’ progress. Occasionally, teachers do not match work to the needs of the more-able pupils. Too often learning is dominated by adults, reducing enjoyment, engagement and the opportunities for pupils to learn independently. The work of some teaching assistants is good, and in particular makes a significant contribution to the good progress of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs. They know precisely how to support pupils and take responsibility for the teaching of individuals or small groups. However, when teaching assistants are not given clear guidance by the teacher or during the

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Quality of teaching

introductions to lessons, they are often passive and support for pupils is limited.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

As a result of positive behaviour management, pupils have a clear sense of right and wrong. They have high expectations of their own behaviour and that of others. Pupils are friendly, responsible, considerate and are confident when talking with adults. Scrutiny of school documentation and discussions with older pupils show that behaviour is typically good. Pupils have a good understanding of what is meant by bullying, including cyber and physical bullying. They say it does not exist in the school. Their attitudes to learning are positive, and occasions when pupils do not fully engage with their work are not common. Pupils’ good social skills are developed through opportunities to work and play together. Virtually all parents and carers agreed that behaviour is good and inspection findings endorse these views. Fewer pupils, in their survey, agreed that all pupils’ behaviour was good. Children are secure and enjoy school. Attendance is above average and pupils are punctual to

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Leadership and management

A real strength of the school is the purposeful development of its pupils as responsible and confident members of their community. This guides teachers and other adults in successfully preparing pupils for the next step in their education.

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Leadership and management

The curriculum is planned appropriately to meet the needs of pupils, including those in mixed-year classes. Topics chosen by teachers are often engaging. There is an extensive range of enrichment activities, including every Year 4 pupil learning to play a musical instrument. The school actively and very successfully promotes pupils’ cultural development through visits and visitors. The school has an active association with a school in Zambia which includes communication between pupils regarding fundraising activities. Pupils’ spiritual dimension is developed successfully through their understanding of different religions, beliefs and cultures.

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Leadership and management

The school actively promotes equality, and discrimination is not tolerated. Pupils say they feel entirely safe at school and parents and carers agree. Arrangements for safeguarding are effective and meet statutory requirements.

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Leadership and management

Since the previous inspection, the school has improved target setting significantly and this now enables pupils to know how to improve their own work. However, strategies to improve weaknesses in writing, highlighted at the previous inspection, were initially less effective, resulting in inadequate progress for some pupils in 2011. Leaders were unaware of the extent of this underachievement until results were published because school monitoring systems did not give timely and precise information. However, changes in leadership at all levels, including governors, have resulted in effective action being taken to improve the teaching of writing, which has resulted in improved achievement. In addition, and based on some current good practice within the school, systems to strengthen the monitoring of all aspects of the school’s work are being developed. These include the quality of teaching and the impact of professional development and performance management. Teachers,

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Leadership and management

leaders and managers at all levels, including governors, are continuing to improve their skills in using these systems to evaluate the work of the school. Through improving progress in writing, leaders have shown significant recent impact on areas of weakness to demonstrate they have capacity for further improvement.

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Leadership and management

Engagement with parents, carers, local organisations and agencies is strong resulting in a school at the heart of its community. These links have been particularly helpful in the school positively engaging with families that are traditionally hard to reach.

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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. 22 June 2012

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FY6 7TF

Thank you for the warm welcome you gave to me and the other inspectors during our recent visit. We were very impressed by how well you behave, look after each other and your school environment. We really enjoyed talking to you and congratulations on attending so well and all of your other achievements.

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FY6 7TF

Inspection judgements show that yours is a satisfactory school which is improving and that in addition to the above:  you attain average standards in English and mathematics by the end of Year 6  you tell us that you feel safe and that all the adults really care about you and look after you very well  those of you who need additional support make good progress  children in the Reception class get off to a good start and make good progress  staff and governors are working hard to help you make better progress.

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FY6 7TF

I have asked your school leaders to do some things to make it even better, these are:  to improve the quality of teaching, by making sure work is set at the right level for each one of you and to give over more time to you working independently and less time listening as a whole class  to check more effectively on how well all parts of your school are performing and introduce the required improvements as soon as is possible.

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FY6 7TF

It was a pleasure working with you and we wish you well for your future.

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findings from the inspection of their school. 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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