St Thomas and St Anne CofE Primary School

St Thomas and St Anne CofE Primary School Cruckmeole, Hanwood, Shrewsbury, SY5 8JN

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Overall effectiveness

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

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  Pupils achieve well. They make good progress in each year group as they move through the school.  Teaching is good, with some that is outstanding. Pupils enjoy the challenging tasks they are given.  The teaching of reading is particularly good throughout the school. Pupils are fluent readers by the time they leave.  Pupils feel very safe at school. Bullying and other forms of bad behaviour are extremely rare.  The support for pupils with special educational needs related to their behaviour is very effective in helping them learn to control their emotions.  Good leadership from the headteacher and governing body is driving the school forward. The school’s systems for checking and improving the quality of teaching are outstanding.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 There are not enough outstanding lessons for pupils to make consistently rapid progress.  Teachers do not always ensure that all pupils are working as hard as they can or tell off those who do not respond to their instructions quickly enough.  Pupils do not know enough about the lives of people from backgrounds different from their own.  The plans for improving the school are not clear enough for all staff to understand the part they can play and how success can be measured.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed nine lessons, two of which were jointly observed with the headteacher. In addition, the inspector made a number of other short visits to lessons, listened to pupils reading and analysed the work in their books.  Meetings were held with pupils, members of the governing body, a representative of the local authority and staff.  The inspector took account of the 40 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) and a letter sent by a parent. The inspector also considered the views expressed by parents and carers through the school’s own surveys.  The inspector observed the school’s work and looked at a number of documents, including the school’s own data on pupils’ current progress, records relating to behaviour and bullying and documents relating to safeguarding.

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Inspection team

David Driscoll, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is much smaller than most other primary schools.  The proportion of pupils with special educational needs supported through school action is below average.  The proportion of pupils supported through school action plus or who have a statement of special educational needs is below average.  The proportion of pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals or belong to other groups for whom the school receives additional income (the pupil premium) is below average.  The school’s most recent results cannot be compared to the government’s current floor standards because there were not enough pupils to make such comparisons meaningful.  There are three teachers at the school in addition to the headteacher. Two of the teachers joined the school in September 2012, while the other returned to school in a full-time capacity in April 2012 after a long-term illness.  The school shares its site with Hanwood Pre-School. This is not managed by the school’s

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Information about this school

governing body and is subject to separate inspection.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the proportion of outstanding lessons by ensuring that teachers:  check more frequently that all pupils are paying full attention and working as hard as possible  apply the school’s sanctions immediately to any pupils who do not respond to their instructions.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Provide pupils with more opportunities to learn about, and engage with, others who do not live in rural Shropshire.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Make sure that all staff and governors are clear about the part they can play and what they are aiming for in driving the school forward by setting out clearly:  the actions to be taken in the school development plan  how the success of such actions is to be measured.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children make good progress in the Early Years Foundation Stage. They join with the knowledge and experiences expected for their age and start Year 1 with above-average attainment. The progress children make, and the standards they reach, are improving, especially in their reading and writing.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils continue to make good progress as they move through Years 1 to 6. The small numbers of pupils mean that standards on leaving Year 6 vary from year to year, but they are usually above average. The pupils currently in Year 6 are attaining high standards, especially in their reading.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils learn to read at an early age. Teachers make sure that children say accurately the sounds that letters make. They quickly correct errors, such as making the ‘t’ sound when reading a ‘d’. Teachers use a range of different reading schemes flexibly, so books can always be perfectly matched to both a pupil’s ability and interests.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 By the end of Year 6, almost all pupils are fluent readers. They read widely and whenever they have a spare moment. You can hear a pin drop in reading lessons because pupils are totally engrossed in their books.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils’ learning in writing and mathematics is good, but they do not concentrate as well as when they are reading. Pupils have many opportunities to write in a range of styles in the different subjects they study.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils’ progress in mathematics has been slower than in English in recent years. This is no longer the case because lessons are more practical and relevant. Pupils measure large distances in the playground, for example, and solve problems about shopping.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Most groups of pupils, including disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, make good progress, but those who are supported through the extra funds provided through the pupil premium do even better. They catch up quickly and reach similar standards to others.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers have high expectations of what pupils can achieve. They give them difficult tasks, which pupils can complete if they try their hardest. The tasks are different for each group of pupils, so none finds them too hard or too easy.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers question pupils well to find out how much they understand. They then change the work if pupils are not entirely sure about what they are learning.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers make good use of homework to develop pupils’ independence. Those in Year 6, for example, have half-termly projects, such as science investigations, to carry out at home. Pupils use the internet a lot to research topics.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching assistants support small groups of pupils effectively. The teacher gives them clear instructions so they know exactly where the each pupil in the group needs extra help.  Teachers mark work frequently and regularly. They provide helpful comments that tell pupils what they need to do to improve. The quality of pupils’ reading is checked and recorded with great accuracy, so teachers know exactly when to move pupils on to a new, and more demanding, book.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Other checks on pupils are not so successful. Teachers often glance around the room to see if pupils are working but miss individuals who are pretending to work or who are not doing enough.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils enjoy coming to school. Their attendance is consistently high.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are polite, friendly and welcoming to visitors.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils have good attitudes to learning. Most are keen to work hard and do their best.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe, especially on the roads and when using the internet.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils’ behaviour in formal situations is exemplary. In assemblies, for example, they listen with interest to Bible stories and think carefully about the messages they contain and how they relate to their own lives, demonstrating their outstanding spiritual development.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Incidents of bullying and poor behaviour are extremely rare. Such incidents are recorded in detail and acted upon quickly. Parents of the victim are telephoned weekly to check that there have been no further incidents, and there never have been.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Discrimination in any form is not tolerated. The school has a very strong ethos of teaching tolerance of, and respect for, others. Each week a pupil from each class is picked out as a role model for the way they have behaved towards others, so that other pupils can copy them.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Behaviour in lessons is usually good. However, there are individuals who do not pay full attention. There are occasions when pupils in Years 1 to 3 do not do as they are told. In these instances, the teacher sometimes spends too long trying to persuade them rather than telling them off or punishing them.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 A few pupils have special educational needs that are related to their behaviour. Teaching assistants use a wide range of strategies to successfully help them to control their emotions. They take them quietly to one side, for example, to do a different task when they are not coping.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher has improved the performance of the school since the previous inspection. Standards are higher because better teaching has led to pupils making good progress.

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The leadership and management are good

 Staff morale is high and all are keen to improve their performance. They provide good role models for pupils in the way they conduct themselves.

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The leadership and management are good

 Data from tests and assessments are analysed in great detail to provide leaders with a clear and accurate picture of performance across the school.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school has outstanding systems for improving teaching. These have resulted in a high degree of consistency of good teaching across the school, despite teachers only joining recently.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher applies rigorous criteria when visiting lessons and points out exactly how even the best can be improved. These checks on teaching target lessons where the analysis of pupils’ progress shows a weakness. This allows the school’s leaders to determine the cause of slower progress so that it can be quickly rectified.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher set teachers demanding targets, including to improve the performance of pupils and ensure that all achieve equally. If all targets are not met then teachers are not moved up the salary scale. More training is made available to staff where it is needed, including the opportunity to observe best practice elsewhere.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority provides effective support in helping staff to manage the behaviour of pupils with special educational needs.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders know what is most in need of improving and draw up plans to address the weaknesses. However, the actions to address these areas for improvement and how their success is to be measured are too vague. For example, to improve achievement in mathematics one action is to ‘ensure consistency in teaching across the school with 100% of lessons being good or better’. This does not provide enough guidance for teachers and other staff to know exactly what they have to do and how they will know if they have been successful in improving achievement.

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The leadership and management are good

 Pupils study a wide range of subjects. They have many opportunities to attend clubs because the school timetables them at different times. Pupils are also asked what clubs they would like, so the school can meet their interests.

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The leadership and management are good

 While most aspects of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development are at least good, they do not know enough about people from backgrounds different from their own. People visit the school but, other than this, there are no opportunities for pupils to make contact with those from different countries or places outside of Shropshire.

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The leadership and management are good

 Parents and carers hold the school in good regard. They appreciate the opportunities they are given to have their say, through, for example, the parent council. The school successfully encourages parents and carers to read to and with their children at home and to make use of the library service.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Members of the governing body play an excellent part in monitoring its performance. They frequently visit the school to observe lessons, interview staff and talk to pupils.  The governing body provides strong financial management. It has used the pupil premium very well by employing an extended school’s coordinator who is a qualified teacher. She provides individual support for pupils, which enables any that fall behind to quickly catch up.  The governing body provides a good degree of challenge to the headteacher, but has been less effective in drawing up a precise plan of action for school improvement.

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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 123525 Local authority Shropshire Inspection number 406172

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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 Controlled School Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 103 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mike Roughan Headteacher Catherine Budd Date of previous school inspection 20 September 2009 Telephone number 01743 860400 Fax number 01743 860991 Email address admin.hanwood@shropshirelg.net 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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