Sidbury Church of England Primary School

Age group 4–11 Inspection date(s) 9–10 July 2012 Inspection number 388382 Sidbury Church of England Primary School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 137649 Local authority N/A Inspection number 388382 Inspection dates 9–10 July 2012 Lead inspector John Cavill

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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 controlled Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 88 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Ray Rice Headteacher Gary Chown Date of previous school inspection N/A School address Church Street Sidbury Sidmouth EX10 0SB Telephone number 01395 597279 Fax number 01395 597781 Email address sidbury@thecff.org.uk achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked

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after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including 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 inspector visited eight lessons and observed five teachers. He took account of the responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) in planning the inspection. The inspector also made short observations of sessions on the teaching of phonics ( pupils learning letter patterns and the sounds they represent to enable them to read ). He had discussions with members of the governing body, staff and groups of pupils. The inspector observed the school’s work and looked at a range of documents, including the school improvement plans and priorities for development. He analysed recent evidence on pupils’ progress and attainment, checked safeguarding procedures and analysed 58 questionnaires returned by parents and carers as well as those completed by staff and by pupils in Key Stage 2.

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Information about the school

Sidbury is a much smaller than average primary school, located in a village. Almost all of the pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs supported by school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is above average. The proportion of pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals is below average but has increased recently. An above average proportion of pupils join or leave the school at times other than is usual. The school meets the current floor standards, the minimum standards expected by the government for pupils’ attainment and progress.

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Information about the school

The school joined The Children First Federation in September 2011, making the fourth school in the federation. Sidbury converted to an academy in November 2011, along with the other three schools in the federation. An executive headteacher leads all four schools and there is a single federation governing body. The day-to-day responsibility for leadership and management at Sidbury is with the leader of teaching and learning, a post that exists at each of the four schools.

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Information about the school

A privately managed after-school club is housed within the school but is inspected separately. 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 yet outstanding because the quality of teaching is not yet consistently outstanding and ensuring that all pupils are making rapid and sustained progress. Parents, carers, pupils and staff alike are all very positive about the school and value the education that it provides, especially since the school became part of The Children First Federation.

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Key findings

 All pupils, including disabled pupils and those with special educational needs, make good progress through the school and leave Year 6 with above-average attainment. Gaps that existed have all been successfully eradicated and pupils’ rate of progress continues to improve year on year.

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Key findings

 Pupils benefit from consistently good teaching and this is resulting in the good progress they make. Lessons are planned very well by teachers to meet the needs of all pupils around a stimulating curriculum that enables them to enjoy their learning. In some lessons, the balance between teacher-led and independent learning activities is limiting some pupils from making even more progress, as are the opportunities for them to regularly self-assess their work.

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Key findings

 Pupils enjoy being at the school and they interact well together. Their behaviour and safety are outstanding and they are very respectful and considerate. Their attitudes to learning are strong, ensuring that they remain focused throughout the lessons.

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Key findings

 The executive headteacher and leader of teaching and learning are providing the school with clear direction, and their good leadership and management are ensuring the school continues to improve. All staff share a common goal of improving the life chances of the pupils. Leaders manage school performance well and have secured substantial and sustained improvements, especially in achievement. Performance review and monitoring procedures have secured the good quality of teaching, supported by some effective professional development. 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?

 Improve the quality of teaching and learning to outstanding overall by:  ensuring that there is a better balance of teacher-led and independent learning activities in lessons  ensuring that pupils are able to self-assess their work using clear success criteria.

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Achievement of pupils

All pupils achieve well, a view shared by almost all parents and carers, who think that their children are making good progress. Children enter the Reception class with knowledge and skills that are generally what would normally be expected for their age. However, there is variability between different cohorts and the range of abilities is often wide. Highly effective teaching and interesting learning activities in the Early Years Foundation Stage enable all children to make at least good progress.

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Achievement of pupils

Good progress continues throughout the school, and pupils’ attainment at the end of Year 6 is above average and continues to improve. School data indicate that progress is accelerating and current pupils look set to achieve higher than those in previous years. The attainment in reading is above average both at the end of Year 2 and by the end of Year 6. Good progress in reading is made by all pupils because of the regular effective teaching of phonics (learning the connections between letter patterns and the sounds they represent) at the school. It is further supported by the introduction of a daily intervention activity focused on those pupils who make slower progress. Younger pupils are able to blend phonic sounds to confidently read unknown words and are excited about practising these skills with each other. This was seen in the Reception class, where children were using a school setting to teach

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Achievement of pupils

phonics to each other during a child-initiated activity session.

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Achievement of pupils

Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make good progress. This is secured with well-focused support and effective interventions delivered by teachers and teaching assistants. The learning needs of pupils who join the school during term time are rapidly assessed and responded to, enabling them to settle quickly. Consequently, they quickly achieve a good rate of progress in line with others.

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Quality of teaching

The good quality of teaching at the school enables good learning for all pupils. Almost all of the parents and carers who completed the questionnaire stated that their children were well taught, and the pupils agree.

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Quality of teaching

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, children benefit from some outstanding teaching. For example, in a child-initiated activity session, the children were Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Quality of teaching

developing skills such as identifying the properties of two-dimensional shapes already learnt in the morning session through play activities with modelling clay. The exciting and well-planned curriculum ensures that there is a good balance of adult-led activities and those chosen by children. They have frequent opportunities to explore, be creative and learn independently, with imaginative role-play areas effectively promoting creativity and language skills. A very well equipped outdoor space allows for development in all areas of learning.

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Quality of teaching

Throughout the school, teachers are experienced, plan their lessons well and are supported by skilled teaching assistants. Learning objectives are used effectively to focus pupils’ learning in lessons. There is a positive climate for learning and relationships are good. The tasks set by the teachers match the abilities of the pupils well and provide them with appropriate levels of challenge. This ensures that the learning needs of all pupils, including those with disabilities and those with special educational needs, are met by work that is relevant and personalised to each individual. However, in some lessons, there is a little too much emphasis on teacher- led activities. This limits the opportunities for pupils to learn independently and go on to make rapid progress.

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Quality of teaching

A Year 5 literacy lesson developing pupils’ persuasive writing on book sleeves demonstrated the pupils’ desire to learn and their enthusiasm for the topic-based work where all pupils remained on task throughout. In this lesson, pupils successfully used some self- and peer-assessment techniques with clear learning intentions to support their learning. However, this is not always the case and, in a small number of lessons, pupils are not able to use these higher-level skills effectively as success criteria are not always clearly focused on learning outcomes. This is limiting their chances to make even better progress. Pupils’ work is regularly assessed and feedback is very constructive. There is consistent use and understanding of the ‘stars and pointers’ marking to indicate next steps and the ‘code marking’ to indicate success and effort. This helps pupils’ progress onto the next level.

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Quality of teaching

Reading is taught very well and supported by daily phonics sessions in Key Stage 1. Reading at the school is a regular and popular feature and pupils enjoy using the reading logs, which provide a strong home-school link. The curriculum provides many opportunities for pupils to develop their spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness. This is enhanced well through the regular acts of worship, residential trips, visits and theme days such as the ‘Carnival Day’ developing the pupils’ understanding of different cultures.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

All pupils, including those in the Early Years Foundation Stage, feel safe and secure and are extremely well behaved. Most parents, carers and pupils endorsed these findings and stated that behaviour and safety are good. A few parents and carers indicated concern about behaviour at the school and thought that some lessons were being disrupted. However, in discussions with pupils, they commented that they thought the behaviour is very good and there is no bullying of any kind, including 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

physical, emotional and cyber bullying. The inspection supports this view and found the behaviour of pupils around the school and in lessons to be outstanding. Pupils report that they feel very safe and well looked after. They are confident that adults at the school will deal quickly with any problems that they may have.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

In all lessons, pupils’ attitude to their learning is excellent. In the small number of lessons where the expectations are not as clear, pupils demonstrate the ability to manage their own behaviour very well and remain focused and on-task. As a result, their progress remains good and is leading to good achievement. Pupils are really keen to do well and respond to the rewards system at the school. They very much enjoy taking an active role in the running of the school through the School Council and Ethos Club.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils are very keen to come to school and enjoy learning. As a result, they are punctual arriving at school and in lessons. Attendance is above average and continues to improve. This is largely due to the successful work being done to raise awareness of levels of absence with parents.

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Leadership and management

The rapid rate of improvement seen at the school since the arrival of the executive headteacher and the leader of teaching and learning has transformed pupils’ learning at the school. The experienced team of teachers and teaching assistants share a common purpose to improve the academic and personal outcomes for all pupils. The effective support structures embedded within the federation have ensured that the school is a successful learning community.

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Leadership and management

Leaders, at all levels, regularly observe teaching to monitor the quality and to help teachers develop their practice. Using individual skills and strengths within the federation, professional development and training is linked to school improvement priorities and individual performance management. Sharing excellent practice and mutual professional support is used to promote high quality teaching. However, most lessons are good rather than outstanding and this hinders pupils’ progress from being even more rapid.

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Leadership and management

Regular assessment and tracking of pupil achievement provide accurate data to analyse performance, allowing teachers to monitor the progress of individual pupils. They are very effective in targeting pupils who are not making sufficient progress with successful interventions that produce good academic outcomes, ensuring equality of opportunity.

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Leadership and management

The governing body is strategic and governors are responsible for all schools in the federation. This provides a continuity of approach, with procedures that are robustly managed. Statutory responsibilities and duties are fulfilled, including safeguarding and equalities legislation to combat discrimination. Governors are fully involved in the self-evaluation and improvement planning processes and understand the school’s strengths and weaknesses. In addition to the effective working partnerships within 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

the federation, the school works with the privately managed after-school club to ensure that pupils are kept safe.

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Leadership and management

The curriculum has been revised to ensure that it promotes good outcomes for pupils. The topic-based approach is ensuring that the provision for basic skills and strong cross-curricular links are effective. This provides pupils with a wide range of exciting learning opportunities that effectively promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. A fine example of this is where the Year 3/4 class were developing a writing task around the impact that the bad weather and flooding had on the village over the previous weekend.

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Leadership and management

The school’s self-evaluation provides an accurate assessment and improvement planning is clearly focused. Leaders are relentless in their monitoring of all aspects of the school to make sure that it continues to move forward. There has been a sustained trend of improvements, especially since the school joined the federation, with noticeable improvements in achievement, attendance and the quality of teaching. This indicates that the school has a strong capacity to improve further.

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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

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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0SB

Thank you for welcoming me to your school recently, talking to me about your work and telling me about your school and what you like about it. I enjoyed talking to you and would especially like to thank those of you who met me or completed the questionnaire.

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0SB

You told me that you thought your school was a good one and I agree with you. You are all enjoying your learning and achieve good results. I found that the teaching at your school is good and that the curriculum helps all of you to achieve well. I especially noted the excitement and interest that Class 1 had in numeracy when they were looking for the shapes on the drawing of the teacher and how you were keen to make these shapes later in the day out of modelling clay. It was also fascinating to read the high quality of persuasive writing done in Class 4.

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0SB

I was very pleased to see how well you behaved around the school and in lessons, which I judged to be outstanding. Please continue to behave this well, as it will help you in the future to achieve high standards.

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0SB

Even good schools can carry on improving and I know your teachers want to do just that. I have asked your headteacher and the staff to make sure that you are given every opportunity to work independently and self-assess your work using success criteria to guide you through your learning.

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0SB

I enjoyed coming to your school. You can help it to improve by continuing to work hard and concentrating on your work in every lesson.

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0SB

John Cavill 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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