Cranham Primary School

Cranham Primary School Tetbury Drive, Warndon, Worcester, WR4 9LS

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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.  The school’s leadership team has successfully improved teaching and learning since the previous inspection. Pupils now achieve well.  Teaching and learning are good. All teachers are skilled at marking pupils’ work and helping them to build upon what they already know when they are learning new skills.  The school makes clear to pupils that they are to be successful learners. They respond well, are eager to learn and behave well  Pupils feel very safe and secure. They know they are well looked after and are encouraged to treat everyone in school with respect.  The whole staff works well together, as a team. They are relentless in their drive for improvement. Leaders frequently question what they do and make sure everyone is well trained so they are highly effective in doing their jobs.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Not enough of the teaching is outstanding.  When senior leaders and coordinators give the staff points to improve their teaching, leaders do not always return soon enough to check on whether the improvements have been made, especially that work set fully matches pupils’ abilities.  Teachers in Key Stage 1 do not always make sure that the pupils use accurately the ‘high frequency’ words they learn and use repeatedly in all aspects of their writing.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 28 lessons. In addition, the inspection team made a number of other short visits to lessons and examined closely a wide range of pupils’ books to check the impact of teaching over time.  Meetings were held with a range of pupils, the Chair of the Governing Body, a representative of the local authority and staff, including senior and middle leaders.  Inspectors met with parents and carers to gain their views, but there were no responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View).  Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a wide range of documents, including: the school’s data on pupils’ current progress, information of the school’s checks on teachers’ and pupils’ performance and the school’s improvement plan. Inspectors also looked at information on pupils’ attendance, records relating to behaviour and documents about safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Sarah Bentley, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Anne Wesley Additional Inspector David Westall Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Cranham is larger than most other primary schools.  The proportion of pupils supported through school action is above average. A well-above average proportion of pupils is supported through school action plus or has a statement of special educational needs. Most of these pupils have speech, language and communication difficulties.  The large majority of pupils are White British.  A well-above average proportion of pupils is known to be eligible for the pupil premium (additional funding for those from families eligible for free school meals, those in care, those from families with parents in the armed services).  The school runs ‘nurture’ provision for pupils with particular behavioural difficulties, and a breakfast club.  The school meets the government’s current 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?

 Increase the frequency of outstanding teaching by:  helping staff improve their teaching by sharing the skills and practice of the best teachers with all staff  making sure that follow-up visits to check on whether teaching has improved make regular use of shorter ‘drop in’ sessions to focus on particular aspects of teaching or learning and always check that tasks are precisely matched to pupils’ abilities in all subjects  making sure that teachers’ questions probe pupils’ thinking deeply enough in all subjects.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Give pupils’ in Key Stage 1 frequent opportunities to learn how to use and spell correctly the words they regularly encounter in order to use them accurately in their writing.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children join the Nursery with skills, knowledge and understanding that are considerably below those typical for their age. They make good progress in most areas of learning, and although they enter Year 1 with higher standards, these are still below average.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Progress in Years 1 to 6 across all subjects is good. Standards across the school have improved since the last inspection and are now average in reading, writing and mathematics. More pupils than ever are making better progress. This represents good achievement from their low starting points.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Progress is improving in writing, which has been a weaker area. The teaching of the full range of subjects in topic work gives pupils lots of opportunities, experiences and inspiration which motivate all of them to write. However, there is too much variation in progress in writing in Key Stage 1 because pupils do not always apply and spell correctly the words they use regularly in their writing.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Attainment by the end of Year 6 has risen, and is now average in English and mathematics. The proportion of pupils achieving the higher Level 5 in both subjects at the end of Key Stage 2 continues to rise steadily. Pupils read widely and fluently and report that class-reading sessions help them to gain new skills and make good progress. They apply and practise their mathematical skills and communication skills well across other subjects.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs receive carefully targeted help with their learning in class and consequently these pupils make good progress.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Those pupils supported through the pupil premium funding achieve well. The school has been successful at narrowing any gaps between their performance and that of other pupils in the school, so they are making progress that is in line with their peers nationally.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils in the ‘nurture’ provision receive timely and well-focused staff help to make sure they make rapid gains in smaller steps in learning. They develop their basic skills in English and mathematics as well as their social skills.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils are well equipped with all the basic skills necessary to do well when they move between classes and go on to secondary school.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching in most subjects, including English and mathematics, is consistently at least good, and helps pupils to achieve well. Examples of outstanding teaching were observed. Teachers expect a lot of pupils, including how every learner can improve their work and this has a positive impact on the good progress they make.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The whole school has been fully committed to improving the quality of teaching over a sustained period of time. Teachers plan work that is well matched to all pupils’ different levels of ability in English and mathematics and focus clearly on what the next steps in learning should be for them. Occasionally, work in other subject areas is not fully matched to all pupils’ levels well enough and some struggle with work that is too difficult while others mark time in lessons.  Teachers and Teaching assistants listen to the pupils carefully and explain concepts well. They make good use of material resources and technology to illustrate important learning points.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers’ marking and feedback are helpful and informative. The school checks this continually to make sure even the youngest pupils know what they have done well and how to improve.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers give pupils the opportunity to reflect on the key questions they put to them. Pupils are often encouraged to work with a partner to give them the chance to think things through before answering teachers’ questions; this is an established feature of most English and mathematics lessons. Occasionally, teacher’s use of questions in other subjects does not probe pupils’ thinking well enough to confirm that pupils fully understand the work, and misunderstandings are not cleared up before class activities move on.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The teaching of reading is good. Teachers make effective use of the sounds that letters make (phonics) in the early stages of pupils learning to read. Consequently, pupils make rapid gains in reading skills. Pupils take part in special (guided reading) sessions which advance their reading skills and their use of books. These lessons are well matched to pupils’ abilities and much enhance each individual’s reading skills. Reading books sent home are also well matched to pupils’ abilities and give parents the opportunity of assisting with their children’s learning.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The teaching is well targeted to intervene when pupils lose momentum in learning and fall behind. For example, appropriate homework is set to reinforce skills learned at school.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils participate enthusiastically in learning in lessons and work well together. Distraction and disruption to learning are rare. No time is wasted in lessons and pupils arrive punctually.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 All pupils, including those in the ‘nurture’ provision, have consistently good attitudes to learning. Changes to the curriculum have improved pupils’ responses to learning since the last inspection. They really enjoy their lessons across all subjects and topics and participate actively in role play. For example, they were enthusiastic participants in a ‘Titanic tea party’.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are invariably thoughtful, considerate and caring towards each others. They are very polite and courteous and display good manners. They thoroughly enjoy and appreciate the school’s reward systems and the reward assemblies, and are generous in recognising others’ contributions to the school community. They have a clear understanding of the school’s code of conduct and what is expected of everyone – and apply the code well.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils feel very safe in school. The school keeps them safe. Pupils are taught to look after each other and they know what to do when using the internet to keep safe. The school is a safe place to be – as the school’s written safety records confirm.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Incidents of bullying seldom occur. Pupils say there is no bullying and any minor disagreements which arise occasionally are dealt with well by all the adults in the school. Pupils have a secure understanding of the different types of bullying, especially cyber bullying.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school helps pupils deepen their spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding. They learn to celebrate differences between peoples and faiths. Consequently, they become more mature and tolerant. Relationships are good throughout the school.  Pupils come to school very regularly. Their attendance has much improved since the last inspection.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school has improved its performance considerably since the last inspection. This has been achieved through the headteacher’s and senior leaders’ dedicated and effective professional partnership and the hard work and commitment of the whole school team. Together, they have developed a whole-school approach, which has the pupils firmly at the heart of the drive for improvement. Weaknesses have been tackled systemically and successfully and staff morale is high.

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The leadership and management are good

 Teaching has improved. All areas identified at the previous inspection have been addressed. Helpful and effective training is provided to raise the quality of teaching of each individual teacher. Leaders use pay remuneration and systems for promotion to reward good practice and improve the quality of teaching.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders closely and accurately track pupils’ progress and attainment. The information recording pupils’ performance is analysed well and presented simply and helpfully for the use of the governing body. The information is generally used effectively by subject coordinators and class teachers in planning learning in lessons.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school’s self-evaluation is accurate. It is shared with the whole-school team, including governors. As a result, all staff are clear about how they can contribute to the school’s improvement priorities.

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The leadership and management are good

 Areas for further development, and the success of actions to improve them, are identified termly, so the school addresses any emerging weakness before its impact on performance becomes marked. Occasionally, the timescale is too long before shorter, ‘drop in’ observations of teaching and learning to check on improvements take place. Consequently, leaders cannot be sure that the areas identified have been fully addressed.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders know that there is outstanding teaching in the school. However, although they recognise these teaching skills need to be shared with other teachers across the school to make sure that more teaching becomes outstanding, too little has been done to exploit this asset.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school has effective policies and procedures that are managed well and implemented consistently. The marking policy has been worked on tirelessly to make sure that pupils are clear about how well they have done and what to do next.

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The leadership and management are good

 Equality of opportunity is promoted extremely well through the full range of subjects. Much effort is given to making sure pupils understand that discrimination is unacceptable. This practice supports and their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development extremely well.

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The leadership and management are good

 Most parents are happy with all that the school gives their children. The school website is informative and the school regularly asks for parents’ and pupils’ views as part of its self- evaluation.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority is an effective and supportive partner. It has helped to increase the pace of improvement. Much of the support has now been withdrawn, as the school has demonstrated that it has good capacity to continue its improvement.  The governance of the school:  The governing body is good. Governors play an effective part in checking for themselves on the quality of teaching. They visit the school regularly to observe those aspects of teaching identified for improvement in the school’s planning. They meet regularly with school leaders to receive their review and analysis of pupils’ current progress and achievement. Governors make sure that the remuneration for all staff is justified and linked to good performance and the impact on pupils’ performance is clear. Governors are well informed about use of the data available on pupils’ progress and what they mean. They understand fully how the school uses

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The leadership and management are good

the pupil premium budget – for example, deploying a range of additional support assistants to help pupils who this funding is targeted to help – and the impact this action has on pupils’ progress. They scrutinise pupils’ attendance information and hold leaders to account for this and for all other priorities. They make sure the polices they adopt are consistently applied. Governors contribute well to the school’s well-focused improvement plan and self-evaluation. They know the school extremely well and are passionate and committed to its further 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 116750 Local authority Worcestershire Inspection number 405663

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School details

The 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 434 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Denise Harvey Headteacher Gareth Morgan Date of previous school inspection 14 September 2010 Telephone number 01905 452437 Fax number 01905 759526 Email address office@cranham.worcs.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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