Boughton Primary School

Boughton Primary School Moulton Lane, Boughton, Northampton, NN2 8RG

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 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 make good progress across the school. By Year 6, Pupils’ attainment is well-above average in reading, writing and mathematics.  Reading is a strength because letters and their sounds are taught very well in children’s early years in the school, and these skills are built on effectively through the rest of the school. Pupils regularly use the school’s well- stocked library and enjoy reading.  Relationships are strong and pupils are treated as individuals. Teachers manage classes well and learning in lessons is calm and purposeful. Pupils answer teachers’ questions keenly and discuss their ideas together with a great deal of confidence.  Pupils’ behaviour in and around school is never less than good and often outstanding. They are polite and courteous. They are keen to learn and proud of their school. They say they feel safe in school and free from bullying.  Leaders have made sure teaching is good in all

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

years through regular lesson observations and feedback to teachers. Training and visits to other schools have helped the teachers to sharpen their skills.  Governors make sure the school does well and hold leaders accountable for pupils’ achievement and the quality of teaching. They are a key influence on mapping the future direction of the school, having planning successful conversion to academy status.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Leaders have not focused closely enough on moving the good teaching to outstanding teaching.  Pupils’ independent learning is not always promoted well enough. They do not work enough in small groups without close direction from staff, and the use of targets for them to aim for to improve their work is not effective enough.

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Information about this inspection

 Nine lessons were observed, of which two were joint observations with the headteacher. The inspector also observed playtimes and an assembly.  Meetings were held with staff, members of the governing body and groups of pupils.  The inspector analysed questionnaires from 12 staff.  The inspector took account of the 22 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) and information from the school’s recent survey of parents’ and carers’ opinions. Parents’ and carers’ views were sought at the start of the school day.  He observed the school’s work and looked at documents, including: the school improvement plan, monitoring documentation, records relating to attendance, the school’s information on pupils’ progress and samples of pupils’ work .

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Inspection team

Peter Clifton, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is a smaller-than-average primary school. The pupils are taught in five classes.  Most pupils are of White British heritage.  The proportion of pupils who are disabled and those who have special educational needs supported by school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is below average. The proportion supported through school action is below average.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium (extra funding for some pupils) is well below the national average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  The school became an academy in September 2012 .

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching so that it and learning are outstanding in a higher proportion of lessons by:  checking even more closely on teaching and learning and focusing the setting of targets for teachers to improve their work more closely on moving the teaching from good to outstanding  providing more opportunities for pupils to work in small groups, including activities where they can direct their own learning  giving pupils better information about targets to aim for to improve their work so that they can be more involved in identifying for themselves what they can improve and judge how well they have done  promoting a brisk pace of learning at all times, for example, by making sure that teachers do not talk too much in lessons.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Learning and achievement observed in different subjects during the inspection were good but not yet outstanding.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children start school with knowledge, skills and understanding that are typical for their age. They make good progress in their language, communication and number skills and are well prepared for Year 1. For example, they confidently identify the sounds in the middle of words such as ‘storm’ and ‘fork’. In the outside area, the children constructed ‘churches’ following a visit and named some of the different parts of the building. They know you should be respectful when inside.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils’ progress and attainment are improving. In 2011, Year 6 pupils made better progress in mathematics and reading than in writing. However, in 2012, pupils made good progress in all three areas and a considerable proportion made better progress than is usually found nationally. The school’s targets for Year 6 in 2013 show more improvement with a higher proportion of pupils on track to reach the higher Level 5 in both English and mathematics. The samples of work seen confirm that pupils are on track to meet these higher targets. Work is well presented and pupils pay close attention to spelling and the correct use of English.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Attainment by the end of Year 2 is above average and achievement is good. In lessons, pupils in Years 2 and 3 applied their understanding of length to work out the number of metres in half a kilometre. They are exceptionally confident and adept at using their mental mathematical skills.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils’ reading skills in Key Stage 1 are well advanced. Less able readers in Year 1 use their knowledge of the sounds of letters securely to help them to read simple words. They are supported regularly by reading with adults and books are chosen carefully to be at the right level of difficulty. By Year 2, these skills are well established and pupils read a range of books fluently and accurately.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Literacy skills are further consolidated in Key Stage 2. For example, during the inspection, Years 4 and 5 pupils learned successfully how to join sentences together in different ways to improve their writing and enjoyed retelling the story of Romulus and Remus with their new skills. In Years 5 and 6, pupils made inferences from a text based on Great Expectations and learned that the text could be interpreted in different ways. Pupils greatly enjoyed discussing their different ideas and points of view. Year 6 pupils competently read books on a wide range of subjects and value the school’s library.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils’ numerical skills develop well through Key Stage 2. Year 6 pupils have secure number skills and apply these confidently – for example, to investigate how to make ‘target’ numbers using different algorithms.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils who are supported by additional funding (the pupil premium) reach standards in subjects similar to those of most other pupils. Extra funds are used to boost these pupils’ basic skills in both literacy and numeracy, mainly by giving them additional tuition outside of school hours. As a result, these pupils have all at least met and many have exceeded their literacy and numeracy targets and achieve well.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress. They are given additional support to help them with their work. For example, pupils in Year 4 were given a few sentences as a starting point for their writing to help them concentrate on how they could use lots of different ways to join them together.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is typically good and some is outstanding. As a result, pupils’ learning and progress have continued to be good since the previous inspection.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Relationships between staff and pupils are strong. Teachers and support staff motivate the pupils to do their best and, consequently, older pupils in particular, work with a great deal of confidence.

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The quality of teaching is good

 In most lessons, talk is used well to help pupils to express their ideas. Questioning by teachers frequently probes pupils’ understanding. All groups of pupils, including those who are disabled and those who have special educational needs, are expected to respond at length to explain their thinking. In Years 2 and 3, for example, pupils explained the relationship between kilometres, metres, centimetres and millimetres. Well-directed questions in this lesson also developed the pupils’ understanding of place value, including the use of decimals.

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The quality of teaching is good

 While learning typically moves at a brisk pace because lessons are well planned and delivered, there are times when learning slows. For example, when pupils are being taught as a single group for too long, and when teachers talk unnecessarily for too long. These situations restrict pupils from working independently or in small groups where they can learn without close supervision from staff. When this happens, the pupils are not actively involved enough in their learning and they noticeably lose concentration and become a little restless.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Homework gives pupils the opportunity to work independently and they often use it well. Year 6 pupils successfully used a homework task, which involved the use of the school’s learning platform, to find out about the life of ‘Boudicca’, as a starting point for their writing.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils have information about how to improve their work. In their ‘progress books’, for example, they have targets for literacy and numeracy as well as the current level of their work. However, the pupils are not using this information to improve their writing enough outside of literacy lessons, and there is not sufficient information for them to clearly identify for themselves what they need to do to reach the next level. Consequently, they cannot judge how well they have done for themselves.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching assistants provide valuable support to different groups of pupils, including pupils who are disabled and those who have special educational needs and those supported by additional funding. For example, in literacy, additional support was seen to help younger pupils write accurate sentences and, in music, Reception children were prompted well to use vocabulary to describe different sounds.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils’ good manners and friendly welcoming smiles reflect their excellent behaviour in and around school. They enjoy playing together at break times. Older pupils take on responsibility as play leaders as well as being ‘chums’ with Reception children.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 In lessons, pupils are keen to learn and quickly respond to any request made by the teacher. Most groups of pupils work well together, particularly the older ones. However, in some classes pupils do not settle quickly enough, especially when starting to work in small groups where they have to decide for themselves what to do. This is the main reason why behaviour and safety are not yet outstanding.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Parents, carers and staff express the view that pupils’ behaviour is a strength of the school. Discussions with pupils and the school’s logs, confirm that there is very little evidence of any serious misbehaviour or bullying and all feel safe. Pupils confirm that staff deal well with any incidents that occur.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils have a good understanding of the possible misuse of the internet. They have been made acutely aware that they might, for example, receive unfriendly messages. They know how to deal with these should they occur by ‘blowing the whistle’ on the screen.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school helps pupils to attend regularly, and they do so, as they did at the time of the previous inspection.

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The leadership and management are good

 Teamwork is a strong feature of the school. Teachers value the work of the senior leadership team and say, for example, they have been strongly supported. This positive approach to teamwork makes a major contribution to the school’s success. It is also influenced by the headteacher’s enthusiasm and ‘can do’ attitude.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school’s plans for improvement are based on an accurate evaluation of how well pupils are achieving. They contain challenging targets which relate to pupils’ progress and achievement. The issues identified in the previous inspection report have been tackled successfully. For example, there is now a rigorous system for measuring the progress of individual pupils as they move through the school so that any potential underachievement gets quick response.

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The leadership and management are good

 Training has been provided according to the needs of individual staff and included visits to other schools to observe practice as well as attending courses. This has meant that staff taking on new responsibilities in the school are well prepared and confident – for example, training for staff taking on responsibility for the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders have kept a close watch on the quality of teaching in classes to ensure that it is consistently good. These findings have been linked closely to information on pupils’ progress to confirm that teaching is helping the pupils to learn well. Visits to lessons to observe the quality of teaching gauge its strengths and weaknesses. However, what teachers need to do to improve their teaching and make it outstanding is not always made clear enough.

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The leadership and management are good

 Learning in the subjects taught is well planned and there are links between the different subjects. Days that focus learning on topics – such as ‘pirates’ and ‘bubbles’ – give pupils memorable experiences. The school helps pupils to deepen their spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding well. There is an established moral code which is understood and practised by the pupils. All pupils, irrespective of their social and ethnic backgrounds, have equal opportunity to do well and discrimination is not tolerated.

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The leadership and management are good

 External help for the school’s move to academy status has been supportive of the change.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governors have an exceptionally clear understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses because they are well informed about teaching quality and pupils’ progress. Consequently, they are able to ask searching questions of the headteacher and other leaders. They keep a very close watch on pupils’ progress through the reports they require regularly from the headteacher.  Governors have checked carefully on how the pupil premium funding is spent to make sure that it is helping the pupils to improve their reading, writing and number skills.  Governors bring a broad range of expertise to the school, which has been beneficial in planning for the conversion to academy status. There are impressive plans for further development which have been carefully thought out.  The governing body and headteacher have a clear procedure and good information which they carefully apply to make well-informed decisions about teachers rising up the salary scale.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governing body regularly seeks the views of parents and pupils and takes direct action when it considers necessary.  The budget is very closely monitored and spending decisions evaluated.  The governing body ensures that safeguarding requirements are met. All staff are trained to identify any child protection concerns. Procedures are rigorously applied to recruit staff so that pupils are safe.

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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 138760 Local authority Northamptonshire Inspection number 409368

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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 Academy converter School category Non-maintained Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 139 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Greg Quine Headteacher Paul Archer Date of previous school inspection 14 May 2008 Telephone number 01604 842322 Fax number 01604 821156 Email address head@boughton.northants-ecl.gov.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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