Draycott Community Primary School

Draycott Community Primary School Hopwell Road, Draycott, Derby, DE72 3NH

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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

 Pupils make uneven progress in writing and mathematics throughout Key Stage 2 because there is not enough good and outstanding teaching.  Standards in writing are below average. One reason for this is that when some Key Stage 2 teachers mark pupils’ work, they do not give them good enough advice on how it can be improved.  In mathematics, teachers do not give pupils enough opportunity for problem solving and investigation activities in which they can practise their skills.  School leaders’ plans to improve teaching and learning at Key Stage 2 are not sharply focused. Plans do not show specifically where improvement is needed or how leaders will know when they are successful.  The governing body does not question or challenge the headteacher enough about whether the school improvement plan is having the desired impact on teaching and learning.

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The school has the following strengths

 Because of the good work of senior leaders, teaching has improved in the Early Years Foundation Stage and at Key Stage 1 since the last inspection and as a result these pupils are making good progress.  The teaching of reading is effective throughout the school and standards are above average.  Pupils’ behaviour is good; pupils are kind and considerate to each other. They try hard in lessons. This is because teachers have high expectations of behaviour.  Pupils take part in many interesting and exciting activities such as school visits and clubs that they thoroughly enjoy.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors visited 16 lessons and observed eight teachers.  Inspectors heard pupils read, met with them to discuss their lessons, and scrutinised their work.  Meetings were held with members of the governing body, a local authority representative, staff, and pupils.  Informal discussions were held with some parents.  Inspectors took account of the questionnaire responses from 26 staff, written responses from a few parents and the online questionnaire (Parent View).  School assessment data, self-evaluation information, procedures for the performance management of teachers and the school’s improvement plan were scrutinised.  Policies and procedures for the safeguarding of pupils were examined by inspectors.

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Inspection team

Tim Bristow, Lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Jenny Carpenter Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is a smaller than average-sized primary school.  The very large majority of pupils come from White British backgrounds.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is below average (those supported by school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs). The proportion supported by school action is average.  An above average proportion of the pupils are eligible for the pupil premium, which provides additional government funding for children in local authority care, pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and those whose parents are employed in the armed services.  The school meets the current government floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  Some pupils attend a before and after school club that provides childcare. This is managed by the governing body.  In Key Stage 2 in mathematics lessons, pupils are taught in sets based on their ability.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the teaching and achievement of pupils in mathematics and writing by:  using the prior knowledge of pupils better to provide work that is pitched at the correct level and stretches them  giving pupils better advice when marking their work so that they understand how to improve in order to reach their targets  providing regular opportunities for pupils to use their numeracy skills in problem solving and investigation activities  sharing what the best teachers of writing do so that more pupils make good and outstanding progress  improving the start of lessons so that pupils are better prepared to work on their own rather than just following instructions.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the impact of school leaders on teaching and learning at Key Stage 2 by making sure that:  the improvement plan sets precise targets that identify where teaching needs improving and which pupils need to make better progress  procedures to check the quality of teaching and for the performance management of teachers are closely linked with the priorities in the improvement plan  the headteacher makes her expectations of other leaders very clear and holds them to account for their work  the governing body asks more precise questions about what the intended impact is of planned improvements to teaching and learning.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 When pupils leave Year 6, standards are usually above average in reading, average in mathematics and below average in writing. Improvements in the teaching of writing however are narrowing the gap so that more pupils now achieve average standards.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Children get a good start to their education in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Nearly all of them enter the Nursery with skills and abilities below, and sometimes well below, those typically seen for their age. They then make good progress and most enter Year 1 having reached standards at the expected level for their age in most areas. Their achievement in writing and calculation skills is lower than in the other areas.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils continue to do well in Key Stage 1. By the end of Year 2, standards in reading are above average and in writing and mathematics they are average. This represents an improvement in achievement since the previous inspection. Better teaching means that pupils are making good and sometimes outstanding progress in these subjects.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Progress varies across Key Stage 2. Too few pupils exceed the expected rate of progress because the quality of teaching varies too much. For example, the work is not challenging enough for some pupils, particularly in the middle ability mathematics sets. In the upper-ability mathematics set work is challenging and stimulating and the quality of learning is good.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The weakest readers are learning at a good pace. They benefit from regular opportunities to practise reading both in school and at home and demonstrate that they can successfully link sounds and letters to read words.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The achievement of pupils supported by pupil premium funding is good up to the end of Year 2. It is not good enough in Key Stage 2. Standards are in line with similar groups nationally, but the gap is not yet narrowing sufficiently between their standards and the average overall.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The achievement of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs requires improvement. When they receive extra support outside lessons they make good progress. However, their progress is not good enough when they are working in lessons with other pupils.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In lessons where the teaching requires improvement, particularly in mathematics at Key Stage 2, teachers do not challenge pupils sufficiently. Pupils are told what to do rather than expected to really think for themselves.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Work in mathematics books shows that much of the work is undemanding. A new initiative to provide more opportunities for problem solving is beginning to improve the quality of teaching.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In most lessons teachers use what they know about pupils to set work that builds upon earlier learning. However, too few pupils make rapid progress because teachers’ expectations of what they can achieve are not high enough.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The teaching of writing has improved through initiatives such as ‘Big Write’. However, teachers have paid insufficient attention to identifying which individuals or groups of pupils are making less progress than others over time. This means that standards in writing are not rising as fast as they could.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The proportion of good teaching has grown since the last inspection. Pupils benefit from teaching that is usually good in Key Stage 1. There is also good teaching in Key Stage 2, but weaknesses remain. For example, pupils in some classes benefit from good teaching in lessons, but then are let down by the weaker marking of their work which does not give them good enough advice on how they can make improvements.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The steps that have been taken to interest pupils in learning are a strength of teaching throughout the school. For example, this is seen in the short activities at the start of mathematics lessons where pupils work well in pairs to improve their mental arithmetic skills.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In the Early Years Foundation Stage teaching is good. Children take part in a good range of interesting and stimulating activities carefully planned to meet their needs. For example, in the Nursery, the children enjoyed rolling play dough and using tweezers to pick up small objects. The teacher had expertly tailored this activity to develop their muscles and fine motor skills necessary for writing at the right level for each child. A careful check was then kept on how successful children were so that future activities could be planned with equal care.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers do not share the good practice that exists in the school well enough. There is some very good practice such as the short activities to improve writing in Key Stage 1 that are developing handwriting, punctuation and spelling well. However, once the pupils enter Year 3 these activities stop.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Parents and carers spoken to and all of those who commented on Parent View believe that pupils are well-behaved and safe in school. Most pupils agree with this view. Pupils have high expectations of behaviour. Pupils who spoke to inspectors showed that they are considerate to the one or two who sometimes misbehave and are pleased when they try to do their best.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school teaches pupils how to deal with bullying well through activities such as the anti- bullying week. Older pupils spoken to showed a good understanding of the dangers of cyber- bullying and E-safety. This is preparing them well for the future.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Attendance has risen over the last few years and is now just above average. Office staff are very conscientious and quickly follow up on absences to find the reasons for them.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The governing body and school leaders have ensured that all groups of pupils are kept safe and are well looked after and that effective procedures are in place to support those whose circumstances make them vulnerable.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Behaviour is not yet outstanding. Pupils do not get sufficient opportunities to take responsibility for their own learning because the marking and guidance they receive does not make it clear how they can improve their work. Where teaching requires improvement, pupils are limited in their opportunities to demonstrate that they can use their own initiative when working on their own.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Efforts to improve teaching and learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage and at Key Stage 1 have been effective. At Key Stage 2 teaching requires improvement.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school improvement plan identifies the priority to improve standards in writing in Key Stage 2. The plan does not show in enough detail how or when lessons will be checked to see if teaching and learning have improved.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Performance management targets linked to improving standards in writing are in place. However, improvement planning does not show how teachers will be helped to improve their practice.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 All school leaders are enthusiastic about trying to make teaching and learning better. They have conscientiously taken on the responsibility delegated by the headteacher. They keep a close eye on pupil progress. It is not clear how the headteacher will hold leaders to account for the quality of their work in improving teaching and learning in Key Stage 2 because of the weaknesses in the improvement plan.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The local authority has successfully supported staff in the Early Years Foundation Stage and with the improvements to the teaching of writing. In the past it has not done enough to challenge the school to improve at Key Stage 2. This has recently changed. An accurate evaluation of school performance by the local authority has resulted in an increase in the level of support offered.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Pupils enjoy learning in a good range of different subjects. While literacy skills are practised throughout the school day, for example, by giving pupils the opportunity to write in different styles in science and topic lessons, there are fewer opportunities to practise mathematics skills.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 A good range of exciting additional activities add real enjoyment to learning. Pupils spoke enthusiastically about the residential trips that they look forward to in Years 4 and 6.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is well promoted. Pupils are thoughtful, respectful and work together cooperatively because teachers have high expectations of them. The promotion of different cultures and faiths within the curriculum is improving. In one lesson pupils were really interested in comparing the Lord’s Prayer to the First Surah in the Qur’an and then writing their own prayers using common themes that they had identified in both prayers.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school:  Governors have benefited from training, and have increased their understanding of how well pupils are doing. The headteacher gives termly reports on pupil performance and governors question her about signs of underachievement. For example, governors identified that generally pupils eligible for pupil premium funding were not doing as well as others. They discussed this with the headteacher and the additional funding was used to provide extra teaching. It is too early to measure the impact of this extra teaching.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Governors have a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of teaching and ensure that in most cases teachers are rewarded appropriately for their performance. However, they do not question the headteacher with sufficient precision about how the plans for improvement are intended to improve teaching and learning. For example, governors agree with the school priority to improve standards in writing, but they have not questioned the headteacher well enough to identify precisely how the plans will improve teaching and learning where it is most needed. Finances are well managed, safeguarding is secure and pupils benefit from good quality care at the before and after school clubs.

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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 112538 Local authority Derbyshire Inspection number 401280

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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 Community Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 223 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Val Clare Headteacher Helen Knott Date of previous school inspection 16 June 2010 Telephone number 01332 872261 Fax number 01332 874823 Email address enquiries@draycott.derbyshire.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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