St Matthew's CofE School

St Matthew's CofE School Inspection report

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Age group 4–11 Inspection date(s) 26–27 June 2012 Inspection number 378460 Unique Reference Number 112308 Local authority Cumbria Inspection number 378460 Inspection dates 26–27 June 2012 Lead inspector Naomi Taylor

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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 Voluntary aided Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 30 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Caroline Baxter Executive Headteacher Shaun Monaghan Assistant Headteacher Carole Satterthwaite Date of previous school inspection 17 June 2010 School address Westnewton Wigton CA7 3NT Telephone number 01697 320545 Fax number 01697 320545 Email address admin@stmatthews.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 three teachers and visited 10 lessons. She listened to pupils read and attended an assembly. Discussions were held with school staff, groups of pupils, parents and carers, a representative of the local authority and the Chair of the Governing Body. The inspector observed the school’s work and looked at a wide range of documentation including safeguarding documents, the school’s self-evaluation and development plans, local authority evaluations, records of pupils’ attainment and progress, and pupils’ work. The responses to questionnaires from 12 parents and carers were analysed, as were questionnaires from pupils and staff.

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Information about the school

St Matthew’s is much smaller than the average-sized school. All pupils are White British and there are more boys than girls in the school. The proportion of pupils supported by school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is higher than average. There are no pupils known to be eligible for free school meals. Since the previous inspection an executive headteacher has been working with the school, and the number of pupils at the school has increased by a third.

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Information about the school

Pupils are taught in three classes. Reception children are taught as one class in the mornings and join class 2 in the afternoons. Class 2 comprises Years 1 and 2. Class 3 includes pupils from Years 3, 4, 5, and 6. There are times in the week when pupils are taught in ability groups rather than in age groups. The school meets the government’s current floor standard, which sets the minimum expectations for attainment and progress in English and mathematics. The school holds International Schools and Eco bronze awards and the Sports Activemark. 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

 St Matthew’s is a good school. It is not yet outstanding because teaching is mainly good and not outstanding, and the proportion of pupils reaching the higher levels in mathematics by the time they leave school could be greater. Pupils, parents and carers are exceptionally happy with all that this school has to offer. 

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Key Findings

 Achievement is good and has improved since the previous inspection. Throughout the school pupils make good progress. By the time they leave school pupils’ overall attainment in core subjects is above average, although English is stronger than mathematics.   Teaching is good overall. Most lessons have good pace and challenge and pupils clearly enjoy learning. Teacher assessment is accurate and thorough. Occasionally, pupils do not always correct errors that have been highlighted by teachers and there are missed opportunities to extend self- and peer- assessment.   Pupils behave well both in lessons and around the school and have positive attitudes to learning. They get on well with each other and with adults within school and the wider community. The younger children settle well into school life and the older pupils are good role models for them. Pupils and their parents and carers say how well the school keeps them safe and develops their

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Key Findings

understanding of how to stay safe in other environments.   The executive and assistant headteachers, members of the governing body and staff have an accurate view of the school’s strengths and areas for development. Since the previous inspection there has been a focus on improving teaching and learning and this, together with performance management, has had an impact on improvements in achievement. There has not yet been the opportunity for staff to share outstanding practice within and beyond the school. The curriculum now has many opportunities to develop core skills across a range of subjects and topics and is impacting on pupils’ good development of spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the proportion of outstanding teaching, particularly in mathematics so that more pupils reach Level 5, by:

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

- increasing the opportunities for pupils to assess their own and each other’s work, thereby extending their understanding of how to improve further - ensuring pupils consistently respond to teachers’ marking in books by correcting errors and following up suggestions on how to improve their work - extending the opportunities for teachers to share outstanding practice within and beyond the school.

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Achievement of pupils

The inspector saw first-hand the excellent transition arrangements in place for children joining the Early Years Foundation Stage. The children currently in the Reception class were mindful of those attending the school for a half-day visit prior to joining the school in September and they engaged well in conversation and play. Children join Reception with skills that are either in line with those expected for their age or below and make satisfactory progress, although personal and social skills are weaker, reflecting their starting points. In Key Stage 1 previous poor development of core skills has been tackled and pupils now make good progress. Throughout Key Stage 2 pupils make good progress and attainment in English and mathematics by the time they leave school is above average although stronger in English. Girls and boys alike make good progress, as do those who are disabled or have special educational needs and those who join the school other than at the usual times. One

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Achievement of pupils

parent, whose child had previously attended a larger school, commented that their child had ‘progressed so much and so fast, I cannot thank the teachers and staff enough’. All parents and carers who responded to the Ofsted questionnaire believe, rightly, that their children are making good progress and achieving well.

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Achievement of pupils

There have been many changes to the curriculum and in teaching and learning styles since the previous inspection. This has made a positive impact on the development of reading skills in particular. Reception children engage enthusiastically in rapidly practising sounds that different letters make. Those who read to the inspector confidently managed to work out unfamiliar words and could tell the story in their own words, thus reinforcing their understanding of what they read. By the end of Year 2 pupils’ reading skills are above average and well above average by the time they leave school. The older pupils are very clear about how important reading skills are in helping them to achieve well in all areas of learning. The school has hosted sessions with parents and carers that promote reading skills where teachers have used parents to provide a great example of how daily reading/listening to children

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Achievement of pupils

read can help their children make really good progress in all areas of their learning.

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Quality of teaching

Parents and carers believe that their children are well taught and the inspector found this to be the case. All pupils believe they learn a lot in lessons and they do. Teaching is good overall and there were examples of outstanding teaching seen during the inspection. The focus on improving teaching and learning since the previous inspection has had a positive impact on improvements in how well pupils are taught and the good progress that they make. Many lessons are linked to trips outside of the area, and this builds upon pupils’ good spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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Quality of teaching

Lessons are well planned, taking into account the needs of a wide range of abilities in each class. The best lessons have good pace, a range of activities to meet the diverse range of preferred learning styles and provide opportunities for pupils to learn independently. This was evident when, in a Reception class, the teacher captivated the pupils’ imagination with very skilful storytelling. After reaching the end of the story one pupil asked for the story to be repeated ‘one more time, one more time’. The teacher moved the children on to building their skills in remembering the sequence of the story. Using prompts, and with headings for different sections of the story, the children actively engaged in recalling the order of events and made good progress in developing speaking and listening skills, together with developing their vocabulary.

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Quality of teaching

In a Key Stage 1 mathematics lesson pupils made good progress in developing their understanding of recording information as a block graph. They used the information they had gathered previously to record how many insects they had identified in the garden, and made comparisons of most and least seen. Similarly, pupils were equally well engaged in a Key Stage 2 mathematics lesson when they were exploring the use of co-ordinates to make images. In these lessons pupils were encouraged to assess how well they had achieved their learning objectives. However, occasionally, there are missed opportunities for more detailed peer- and self-assessment to reinforce what pupils need to do to improve their work.

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Quality of teaching

Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs are well taught. For example, the inspector witnessed highly effective one-to-one intervention work in both numeracy and literacy which led to good progress. In addition to developing numeracy and literacy skills, one pupil was also being prepared for how to behave when the new Reception children were going to be visiting the school. Teacher assessment of pupils’ work is accurate and pupils know their targets. Detailed marking of work explains to pupils what they need to do to improve but pupils do not consistently correct their mistakes nor follow up suggestions on how to improve their work.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils, parents and carers, staff and the inspector agree that behaviour is good. Both in lessons and throughout the school, pupils are respectful towards each other, to adults and to visitors to the school. The older pupils are well prepared for the next stage in their education and, during the community lunch, one Year 6 pupil talked enthusiastically to the inspector about how much they had enjoyed their visit to the secondary school the previous day.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

When asked about bullying, pupils unanimously agreed that this didn’t happen at St. Matthew’s, but if it did they were confident it would be dealt with effectively. When the inspector asked about people who have different faiths and cultures one pupil immediately retorted, ‘we’re all different…. don’t judge a book by its cover!’ The pupils’ ‘Dream Team’ is proactive in raising awareness of those less fortunate than themselves both in Britain and overseas and has helped to support a broad range of charities through fund-raising activities.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Parents and carers believe that their children are safe in school and pupils agree. The school is a safe place for pupils and staff ensure that, when activities take them beyond the school environment, there are adequate risk assessments to ensure the safety of all. Pupils were extremely well prepared for their recent residential trip to London and told the inspector of procedures that they should follow if they became detached from the main party. This demonstrated the maturity of pupils and how well they are prepared for life beyond the village community.

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Leadership and management

Senior leaders have worked effectively to provide many opportunities for professional development and the sharing of good practice between all staff. This, together with effective performance management, has resulted in improvements in teaching and learning which have led to higher levels of achievement. This demonstrates that the school has a good capacity to improve. The governing body has extended its effectiveness and members are now linked to specific subjects and report on their findings. There is scope for teachers to learn even further from sharing outstanding practice within and beyond the school.

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Leadership and management

Changes to the planned curriculum have seen more focus on developing skills in other subjects. There are many opportunities in all lessons for pupils to develop their core skills. Science books show how well pupils are able to record their observations from experiments, and their topic work, such as the Romans, provides opportunities for pupils to extend their literacy skills. The provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage has been extended, with the development of a conservatory and the improvements to the outdoor area. The recent residential trip to London has broadened pupils’ horizons and has inspired them to write at length about their experiences. The extra-curricular clubs include a broad range of sports and musical activities and the ‘connecting classrooms’ project has led to effective links with Japan, China, Taiwan and the USA. This, together with visits to a mosque in Newcastle and a Buddhist temple in Dumfries, has helped pupils to develop good

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Leadership and management

spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding. Good approaches to safeguarding, including good child protection procedures, ensure that the school is a safe and secure environment where pupils also learn how to keep safe within their local communities and beyond. All pupils, including those pupils who are disabled or have special educational needs, achieve equally well, demonstrating the school’s effective promotion of equality of opportunity.

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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 re present 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 St Matthew's CofE School, Wigton, CA7 3NT

 It was a pleasure to visit your school recently and to see how well you all get on together. You clearly value and enjoy school life and the wider opportunities that your teachers provide. Many of you talked enthusiastically about your trips and the older pupils’ residential trip to London certainly had an impact on understanding life beyond your village community. Joining you for your weekly community lunch demonstrated the importance of your school within your local community.

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Inspection of St Matthew's CofE School, Wigton, CA7 3NT

St Matthew’s is a good school. Your teachers work hard to ensure that you are well prepared for the next stage in your education by stretching you academically and promoting your personal development. You and your parents and carers are exceptionally happy with your school and this was good to see.

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Inspection of St Matthew's CofE School, Wigton, CA7 3NT

To improve further, I have asked that your teachers extend the number of outstanding lessons to increase your achievement, particularly in mathematics at the higher levels, by: - making sure that you check your own and each other’s work more often and so extend your understanding of how to further improve - making sure that you correct errors that teachers have identified in their marking, particularly your spellings, and following up your teachers’ suggestions on how to improve your work.

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Inspection of St Matthew's CofE School, Wigton, CA7 3NT

You can help by attending school regularly and working hard in all that you do. I would like to wish the Year 6 pupils success in the next stage of their education.

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Inspection of St Matthew's CofE School, Wigton, CA7 3NT

Naomi Taylor 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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