St Peter's CofE Primary School

St Peter's CofE Primary School Little Green Lane, Farnham, Surrey, GU9 8TF

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Satisfactory 3 This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

 There is not enough teaching that is good and outstanding teaching is rare.  The progress of pupils during Key Stage 1 is not quick enough because teachers do not have high enough expectations of what pupils can learn.  Leaders need to check more closely that teaching in the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 is consistently good.  More-able pupils do not have enough opportunity to progress as quickly or as far as they can.  Work provided for pupils is not always challenging enough.  Pupils are too dependent on the adults around them for direction about what they should do next.  There is a lack of rigour in checking the quality of teaching in order to provide support to bring about improvements.  Until recently, leaders and managers, together with members of the governing body, have not used evidence well enough to come to accurate views about the work of the school. They have been too optimistic in their

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The school has the following strengths

 Members of the governing body are supporting the new senior leaders in bringing about important changes to improve teaching and raise expectations.  Attainment at the end of Year 6 has continued to rise because progress during Key Stage 2 is at least good, especially in writing.  The behaviour of pupils is almost always good.  Teaching in Key Stage 2 is usually good because teachers know the pupils well and make sure that their work pupils is interesting.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress because of the high-quality support they receive.

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Information about this inspection

 Observations included 30 lessons or parts of lessons, which were taught by 15 teaching staff, including sessions and support given by teaching assistants. These observations totalled about 11 hours.  Inspectors listened to pupils reading and discussed with them the work they were doing, as well as hearing their views about their school and their learning.  Meetings were held with senior leaders, teachers, pupils and members of the governing body. Inspectors also spoke informally to pupils during their free time and to parents and carers at the start and end of the day. The 90 responses to the on-line survey, Parent View, were also considered.

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Inspection team

Andrew Saunders, Lead inspector Additional inspector Gill Walley Additional inspector Philip Mann Additional inspector

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Information about this school

 This is an average-sized primary school, although it is in the process of changing from one form of entry to two forms of entry. There are currently two classes in each of Reception, Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3; there is a single class in other year groups.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium (additional funding) is below average.  Almost all pupils are White British; a very few pupils are from a range of other ethnic heritages. Almost all pupils speak English as their first language.  The proportion of pupils supported through school action is below average, as is the proportion of pupils supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs.  The school is part of a federation of schools, the Fearnhamme Partnership.  The school has recently appointed an interim headteacher who is in post for one term; a permanent, full-time headteacher has been appointed to take up post in January 2013. The

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Information about this school

school has also recently appointed a deputy headteacher who took up post in September 2012.  At the time of the inspection, there was a building programme to build a new classroom block; some classes had moved into parts of this building at the beginning of the term. Some parts of the site were inaccessible, such as the new playground area. Some areas, such as the administrative offices, were located in temporary accommodation.  There is a privately run nursery on the school site; this was not part of this inspection.  The school meets current government floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that teaching is consistently good by:  using information about pupils’ progress to plan tasks so that they more closely meet the needs of all groups  providing pupils with more accurate feedback which enables them to know precisely what they need to do to reach the next level of their learning  making greater use of the checking of pupils’ progress to raise expectations during lessons and increase the level of challenge in the tasks pupils are doing.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the rate of progress for pupils in Key Stage 1 and for more-able pupils across the school by:  ensuring all activities in lessons reflect what has been planned  help pupils better develop their basic skills  providing pupils with individual targets and reviewing them more frequently  allowing more-able pupils greater chances to work on their own and check their own progress.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the rigour of monitoring of teaching, especially at Key Stage 1 and in the Early Years Foundation Stage, by:  ensuring leaders at all levels have the confidence to identify and implement plans for improving standards  identifying and sharing the best practice in teaching and learning within the school more widely.  Ensure that members of the governing body: - gain greater understanding of how much progress different groups of pupils make - form an accurate and realistic view of how well the school is doing so they are better able to challenge school leaders on performance management and the quality of teaching.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Children typically join the school in Reception with skills and knowledge which are similar to those expected for their age, although there is wide variation. During the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, progress requires improvement because pupils are not given enough opportunity to develop their potential..

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 More-able pupils work hard at the tasks they are given, but do not have enough opportunity to determine for themselves how much they can achieve, or what they should do next when they finish their work. They enjoy some of the more complex problems they are given but these are not frequent enough to enable them to reach beyond the Level 5, which many of them have already reached.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Where teaching is not as well focused on regularly evaluating the work pupils are doing and making the necessary adjustments, progress slows. This happens more frequently during Key Stage 1.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The rate of progress increases during Key Stage 2. Consequently, attainment has been rising and is now above average by the end of Year 6 in national tests, particularly in English. Development of skills in writing has benefited from well-established strategies so that progress is rapid. While progress in mathematics is good, it is not yet as rapid as in writing.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Progress during lessons observed in Key Stage 2 was almost always strong because teachers provided pupils with work that is interesting, and there were good opportunities to use new skills in a range of different subjects. However, the work does not always stretch pupils as much as it could and pupils are too reliant on teachers to tell them what to do next.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The progress of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is good and they make up ground compared to their peers. They benefit from high levels of support when they need it and participate well in lessons. Leaders are re-evaluating the particular strategies chosen to help these pupils to increase their progress further.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils who are eligible for the pupil premium have additional support from adults, focused on their particular needs. This helps them to cope with the difficult circumstances some of them face and their progress is similar to their peers; it requires improvement at Key Stage 1 and is good at Key Stage 2. The few pupils from a range of heritages other than White British make good progress.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 There has been a strong emphasis on reading and writing, and pupils are confident with both skills by the time they leave the school. The focus on development of mathematical skills is also well embedded across subjects but is more recent and has not yet had as much effect .

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching requires improvement because, across the school, teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve are not always high enough, particularly for more able pupils who find learning easy.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Where teaching is most successful, lessons are well planned and provide different levels of work for pupils of different abilities. Teachers do not check how quickly the pupils are making progress often enough and adapt the task in the light of this.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 An agreed approach to teaching the linking of sounds and letters (phonics) is used to help teach younger pupils to read and spell words when writing. However, the chosen approaches are not always implemented consistently and this holds back the progress of some pupils.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching in the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 is too variable. When teachers are leading the learning, children are keen and attentive, and they often make good progress. However, activities where the children are working on their own do not contribute enough to the planned learning for the session. At times, adults are too intent on making sure children complete the task and opportunities are missed to make the most of children’s interests and to reinforce recently acquired skills such as counting.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Where teaching is effective, teachers make good links between different subjects and give the pupils opportunities to use a range of skills they are developing. In particular, opportunities to write are frequent and often put into realistic contexts which engage the pupils. For example, pupils in Year 6 enjoyed using their mathematical knowledge to design a poster promoting the features of different three-dimensional shapes.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Marking of books has been a recent focus for the school and is becoming more effective in reinforcing what pupils have learnt. In the best examples, pupils reflect on their own successes, and have some opportunities to respond to what the adults have written. However, this is not consistent and too many comments recognise what the pupil has learnt, but do not give a clear indication of what they need to do next.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Behaviour is almost always good. Low-level disruption is infrequent. Behaviour is not outstanding because adults remind pupils too frequently about what they should be learning and doing,, sometimes unnecessarily, rather than encouraging pupils to think for themselves about what behaviour is expected.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 During the inspection, pupils and staff coped admirably with the building works and the inevitable disruption and noise around them. Staff have worked well to minimise the impact of this development on the learning of pupils.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are kind to each other. They say that no kind of bullying happens at their school, but that if it did, it would be sorted out quickly. They are considerate of pupils who have a disability or injury and take care in moving around the site or the classrooms. Pupils said that they feel well cared for because there are good systems to keep them safe and to help them if they are hurt or feeling unwell.  Attendance is above average. The school has worked hard to support a few pupils who have medical issues and has ensured it liaises with other partners to provide ongoing, appropriate learning opportunities.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils know some of the ways they can help to keep themselves safe, such as when travelling to and from school. Their understanding about internet safety is developing. However, there are times when adults direct their safety too much, without using the opportunities to get pupils to think about it for themselves and develop independence.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are well informed about safety concerning the parts of the site which are fenced off and take this in their stride. They have had good opportunities to see the exciting developments as the building progresses, along with learning about safety around building sites.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Records of monitoring of teaching over time do not demonstrate how well leaders have identified key weaknesses, or how these have been followed up. The new senior leadership team is developing systematic and realistic assessments, helping to focus the efforts of staff. Sharing of best practice is becoming more common and focused on specific areas, such as teachers’ use of probing questions.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Middle leaders have focused on ensuring there is consistent planning for lessons and this is now evident. However, this means that some teachers are not flexible enough to change what they are doing during the lesson, in the light of feedback from pupils about how well they have understood or the progress they have made.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 The interim headteacher, working with new senior leaders, has an accurate view of the performance of the school, and is introducing appropriate strategies to bring about improvements, with the support of the local authority.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Strategies to improve performance at Key Stage 2 have been successful, particularly in writing. Teachers have been trained how to encourage all pupils, particularly boys, to enjoy writing, and the agreed approaches are carried out consistently.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Appropriate professional training is in place to help teachers raise their expectations and understand the implications of the information the school has about how well pupils are doing. The frequency of when teachers check how well pupils are doing has been increased. Teachers are being held to account for the progress pupils make each half term through better performance management.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 The curriculum is well planned to ensure pupils develop their skills in reading, writing, communication and information technology and mathematics, through interesting topics. As the new building and outdoor areas become available, the school is reviewing how different subjects are covered. Strong links with the church and other groups in the community, as well as through raising money for charities, help pupils to develop a wider view of the world.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Support from the local authority has changed recently and is becoming more closely focused on the key areas that need to improve. In particular, the local authority has helped members of the governing body to improve their understanding of pupil achievement information and how to challenge the school, as well as offer their support.  The governance of the school: - Members of the governing body have not developed a sufficiently robust level of challenge to the school, relying too readily on positive statements, about the qualiy of teaching without checking that the evidence fully supports this; governance requires improvement. Governors have sought training and are now better equipped to provide the levels of probing questioning that are needed to improve performance management. The governing body ensure that the financial resources of the school are used appropriately, and particularly that money allocated to support pupils known to be eligible

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The leadership and management require improvement

for the pupil premium provides additional adult support for these pupils, and improves their achievement. - Together with governors and members of the school community, the school ensures that procedures and arrangements for keeping pupils safe meet requirements. The school ensures that pupils have appropriate opportunities to learn about how to keep safe and prevent different types of bullying. Parents said that they feel the school is well led and managed, and that recent changes have been very positive.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 2 Good A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 3 Requires improvement A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school is

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Grade Judgement Description

failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

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School details

Unique reference number 125182 Local authority Surrey Inspection number 402319

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Voluntary aided Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Pat Frost Headteacher Wendy Todd Date of previous school inspection 15–16 July 2010 Telephone number 01252 714115 Fax number 01252 721215 Email address info@stpeters-farnham.surrey.sch.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', 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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School details

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 and as part of the inspection.

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School details

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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School details

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. 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

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School details

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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School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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