Portesham Church of England Primary School

Portesham Church of England Primary School Winters Close, Portesham, Weymouth, DT3 4HP

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Outstanding 1 Achievement of pupils Outstanding 1 Quality of teaching Outstanding 1 Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1 Leadership and management Outstanding 1

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is an outstanding school.  This is a school where every child really matters. Pupils make outstanding progress and achieve very well in both their academic and personal development in all year groups.  Teaching is outstanding and meets the needs of pupils of all ages and abilities exceptionally well.  Children enter the Early Years Foundation Stage with skill levels appropriate for their age, although their language skills are often less well developed. By Year 6 pupils’ attainment is well above average.  The school’s topic-based curriculum provides pupils with a wide range of stimulating activities which captures and maintains their interest very effectively.  The quality of leadership and management is outstanding at all levels. The headteacher, staff and governors have worked very successfully to ensure the school has improved since the previous inspection.  Pupils have excellent attitudes to learning and

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

their behaviour is outstanding. They are polite and display a high level of respect for others.  The overwhelming majority of parents and carers correctly believe that their children are well looked after, happy and very safe in school at all times. All the parents and carers who discussed their views with the inspector are very pleased with the school and believe that their children are making excellent progress.

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Information about this inspection

 This inspection was carried out with half a day’s notice and took place over two days.  The inspector spent a total of 255 minutes observing nine lessons taught by four teachers. One was a joint observation with the headteacher.  Discussions were held with members of the governing body, a representative of the local authority, the headteacher, deputy headteacher, staff, parents and carers and pupils.  The inspector took account of the 36 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) in planning and carrying out the inspection. He also sought the views of 23 parents and carers through individual discussions in the school playground as they waited to collect their children from school.  The inspector heard pupils from Year 2 and Year 6 read and made short observations of sessions on the teaching of phonics (pupils learning letter patterns and the sounds they represent).  The inspector observed the work of the school and looked at documentation including the

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Information about this inspection

school’s self-evaluation, teachers’ planning, school development planning, tracking documentation of individual pupils’ progress, performance management documentation, local authority reports and school policy documents.  The inspector observed pupils’ behaviour and scrutinised the school’s safeguarding procedures.  The inspector analysed 13 completed questionnaires from staff regarding their views of the school.

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Inspection team

Michael Barron, Lead inspector Additional inspector

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Information about this school

 This is a much smaller than average-sized primary school set in a rural village.  The school is part of the Chesil Education Partnership, a federation of schools in the local area. Each school has its own headteacher and governing body.  A majority of pupils attending the school do not live in the village.  Pupils are taught in four mixed-age group classes.  The school has recently extended provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage to cater for children of nursery age.  Nearly all pupils attending the school come from White British backgrounds.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium is well below the national average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs supported at school action is well below the national average. However, the proportion of pupils supported at school action plus or with statements of special educational needs is well above the national average.

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Information about this school

These needs include communication and learning difficulties.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards which set the minimum expectation for pupils’ attainment and progress.  The school has received several recent awards including the Eco School Silver award.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the outdoor environment so that it is of the same high quality as in the rest of the school by: – ensuring that, by April 2013, the Early Years Foundation Stage outdoor area provides pupils with a stimulating and suitable environment in which to build up the skills associated with outdoor learning.  Provide pupils with more frequent opportunities to develop and apply their basic mathematical skills in other subject areas.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Taking into account pupils’ different starting points, the proportion of pupils in the school exceeding the expected rate of progress is high compared to national figures.  Children often enter the school with the skill levels expected for their age although this can vary from year to year because of the relatively small number of children in each year group. They make outstanding progress in both their personal and academic development in the Early Years Foundation Stage because teaching caters exceptionally well for their needs. A strong focus on teaching phonics, coupled with a range of interesting and exciting activities, enables children to make rapid progress building up their early reading skills.  Outstanding provision in both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 ensures that all pupils, including more-able pupils, disabled pupils and those with special educational needs and also those entitled to the pupil premium, build on this very solid start to their learning exceptionally well

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

and make outstanding progress and achievement in all year groups.  There is a strong focus throughout the school on the teaching of literacy and mathematics and this is always evident in lessons. Pupils’ attainment in the Year 6 national assessments has been well above average in almost every year since the previous inspection. The attainment of pupils presently in Year 6 is also well above average in not only mathematics, reading and writing but also in subjects such as information and communication technology (ICT). This was evident from a scrutiny of pupils’ work and from the school’s well-developed systems to track the progress of individual pupils in a range of different subjects.  Opportunities for pupils in all year groups to apply their mathematical skills and knowledge in other subject areas are currently too limited.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Outstanding teaching over time ensures pupils make excellent progress in all year groups and is reflected in the rise in pupils’ progress and achievement since the previous inspection. Much of the teaching observed during the inspection was outstanding and never less than good and this was also reflected in the results of recent internal and external monitoring of the quality of teaching.  Outstanding teaching in the Early Years Foundation Stage ensures that children really enjoy their first experiences of school and this was evident in observed lessons. Activities are very well matched to children’s different ages and abilities and there is a strong focus on teaching communication and language skills through exciting activities.  The Reception Year and Nursery Year children’s shared classroom provides a stimulating environment. It is bright, colourful and well resourced and conducive to learning. Adults ensure

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

children have frequent opportunities to develop their curiosity about the world around them. However, the Early Years Foundation Stage outdoor area is very drab in comparison and does not provide children with a suitable environment in which to build up the skills associated with outdoor learning. The adjacent school playground is also dull and uninteresting and pupils agree that it is in need of improvement.  Teachers display very effective class management skills and have excellent relationships with pupils. The quality of teachers’ marking of pupils’ work is consistently of a very high standard and teachers’ written comments always help pupils understand the next steps in learning.  Lesson planning in all subjects is very thorough and always takes account of the different experiences and abilities of pupils in the school’s mixed-age range classes. Lessons are briskly paced and the work set for pupils usually offers them just the right amount of challenge.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 The school deploys teaching assistants very well in order to ensure that pupils requiring extra help with learning, including disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, achieve as well as all other pupils.  The school also ensures that the funding it receives for pupils entitled to the pupil premium is used well to provide extra support for this group of pupils and this helps them to make similar progress to all other pupils.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils is outstanding

 The school offers an extremely welcoming and caring environment for pupils and has high expectations of their behaviour, which pupils respond to very well. Incidents of misbehaviour rarely happen. However, older pupils realise that a few of their fellow pupils find behaving well at all times difficult but say that teachers cope very effectively if any minor disruptions occur either in lessons or at break times.  Pupils say they are always made to feel welcome at school and are confident they will always be very well looked after. They have an outstanding regard for the safety and welfare of others and older pupils say that they really enjoy looking after the youngest children at playtimes.  Attitudes to learning are exemplary and this is reflected in pupils’ consistently above average rates of attendance and their excellent punctuality to school each morning.  Pupils have a very good understanding of the many different forms of bullying, including physical

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The behaviour and safety of pupils is outstanding

bullying, cyber bullying and emotional bullying. However, during discussions with the inspector, it quickly became evident that pupils believe that no bullying of any kind occurs in the school. They are also confident that, should bullying of any sort ever occur, adults would deal with it quickly and very effectively.  The vast majority of parents and carers who completed the online questionnaire or who talked to the inspector correctly believe that their children are very happy and safe in school and are very well looked after. During discussions several parents and carers commented very favourably about how well pupils behave and how well mannered and polite they are.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The quality of leadership and management is outstanding, including the leadership of teaching. This is reflected in the very good quality of the school’s regular self-evaluation which consistently scrutinises the school’s academic performance rigorously. It provides the headteacher and her dedicated staff with an excellent ongoing breakdown of the school’s strengths and aspects in need of improvement and this is a key factor in ensuring that the school continues to provide an outstanding education for pupils.  Staff share a common purpose of ensuring that the school provides the best education it can for pupils. All teachers have several leadership and management responsibilities and fulfil their roles very effectively.  A scrutiny of pupils’ work confirmed that the school has successfully developed and implemented a topic-based curriculum which integrates different subjects, such as art, history, geography and

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The leadership and management are outstanding

information and communication technology, in a cross curricular theme-based approach to learning; this meets pupils’ needs exceptionally well. It is designed to provide in-depth opportunities for pupils to improve their human, social and environmental understanding and help them to become successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens.  Provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is of a very high standard and this is reflected in pupils’ excellent behaviour and in their respect for others. Pupils say that they enjoy meeting interesting visitors to the school and taking part in regular visits to places of interest, including big cities such as London, which help to broaden their view of the wider world.  The school receives light touch support from the local authority. However, it uses its links with the Chesil Education Partnership, a learning community of schools and colleges in the Weymouth

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The leadership and management are outstanding

and Portland area, very well to enhance the effectiveness of the school, for example, by providing school staff with opportunities to meet teachers from other primary schools in an informal setting to discuss and share ideas about best practice in teaching and learning.  The governance of the school: – provides the school with a consistently well-focused level of support and holds the school to account for its actions very effectively when the need arises. – ensures that pupils of all ages and abilities have equal opportunities to succeed and that any type of discrimination is not tolerated – contributes very well to the regular monitoring of the school’s performance and progress towards the agreed objectives in the school development plan – ensures that all the relevant legal requirements are met and that arrangements for the safeguarding of pupils are implemented rigorously – ensures that the performance management of all staff, including teaching assistants, is linked

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The leadership and management are outstanding

very effectively to improving the quality of pupils’ learning .

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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 113833 Local authority Dorset Inspection number 403214

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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 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Susan Blackwell Headteacher Vicky Prior Date of previous school inspection 25 June 2008 Telephone number 01305 871283 Fax number 01305 871283 Email address office@portesham.dorset.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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