Swanwick Primary School

Swanwick Primary School South Street, Swanwick, Alfreton, DE55 1BZ

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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.  Senior leaders direct the school’s work well. They have tackled previous weaknesses very successfully.  Pupils’ attainment has risen across the school and is now above average in Year 6. Big improvements have been made to pupils’ writing skills. Pupils achieve well.  Teaching has improved. Nearly all teaching is good and some lessons are outstanding.  Relationships between staff and pupils are strong. Pupils know they are valued and cooperate with staff readily.  Pupils are very friendly and considerate of each other. They feel very happy and safe in school. Their behaviour and attitudes to learning are never less than good and in some lessons they are excellent.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Although teaching has some outstanding features, these are not yet fully shared across the school. A few minor weaknesses remain and hold back pupils’ achievement.  Pupils do not reach the higher levels in reading and mathematics as often as they do in writing.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited 21 lessons or parts of lessons, taught by 17 teachers and/or teaching assistants. Two of these lessons were joint observations with the headteacher and deputy headteacher. Samples of pupils’ written work were analysed. An inspector, with the headteacher, listened to some Year 2 pupils reading.  Meetings were held with school staff, a group of pupils, members of the governing body and a senior advisor for school improvement from the local authority.  Inspectors took account of the 28 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View), parents’ responses to the school’s own recent survey and the 17 questionnaires completed by staff. An inspector also spoke to several parents informally at the start of the school day.  Inspectors looked at a range of evidence including: the work in pupils’ books; monitoring records; the school’s own data on pupils’ progress; minutes of the governing body meetings;

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Information about this inspection

and policies, procedures and records relating to safeguarding, behaviour and attendance.

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Inspection team

Derek Aitken, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Christopher Webb Additional Inspector Pamela Hemphill Additional Inspector Chris Young Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Swanwick is larger than the average primary school and the number of pupils is increasing.  Nearly all pupils are White British. A well below average proportion of pupils are supported by the ‘pupil premium’, which provides extra funding for children in local authority care, the children of members of the Armed Forces serving overseas and pupils known to be eligible for free school meals.  The proportion of pupils supported at ‘school action’ is below average. The proportion of pupils supported at ‘school action plus’ or with a statement of special educational needs is also below average.  The school has two Reception classes for pupils in the Early Years Foundation Stage.  A new headteacher took up post in September 2012.  A daily breakfast club operates on the school site. This club is independently managed and is inspected separately.  The school meets the current government floor standards, which set the minimum expectations

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Information about this school

for pupils’ learning and progress in English and mathematics.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the proportion of outstanding teaching and further raise attainment, especially for more-able pupils, by: – encouraging teachers to give pupils more guidance in lessons so that pupils can assess their own work and understand how to improve it – ensuring teachers allow pupils enough time to respond to the marking and other guidance they receive – making sure that teachers always challenge more-able pupils by regularly setting them work that will stretch them to do better – making sure that all staff have good opportunities to observe and learn from the often excellent practice which already exists in the school.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Most children enter Reception with levels of skills and knowledge similar to, or just below, those typically seen for their age. They go on to make good progress as a result of the interesting and well planned teaching they then receive. Consequently, their attainment on entry to Year 1 has risen in the last two years and is now slightly above average.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Attainment in Year 2 is also improving and was above average this year in reading, writing and mathematics. Boys usually start Reception with lower literacy skills than girls and this gap is not fully closed until Key Stage 2. Attainment in Key Stage 2 has been above average for the last three years.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 These pleasing results stem from improvements in teaching. Pupils nearly always make good progress, particularly in writing, although Year 6 girls achieved less well in mathematics in 2012. However, the above-average levels of achievement shown by girls currently in the school indicate that this was a temporary blip.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The small number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals, who receive the pupil premium, regularly achieve better than their counterparts across the country but do not always reach the highest levels as often as their classmates.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs also make good progress because support is well directed by the teachers, or teaching assistants in small-group work, to meet their needs.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 By the end of Year 2 most pupils have acquired a secure grounding in phonics (the sounds that letters make). Less-able pupils know the correct method for sounding out tricky words and most read them accurately although they do not always pause for full stops and commas.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Nearly all teaching is good and lessons for both older and younger pupils are sometimes excellent. Outstanding teaching is marked by the teachers’ high expectations of pupils’ progress and their use of well chosen, exciting resources and stimulating methods of presentation. In these highly enjoyable lessons pupils are fully involved and work at a fast pace.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Throughout the school teachers plan lessons purposefully by taking close account of pupils’ previous levels of work and prior learning. Reception staff carefully record children’s achievements to decide what children need to learn next.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers practise new ideas and methods carefully with the whole class so that pupils know clearly what they are expected to do in their independent work. Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are taught well. This was shown in lesson where close questioning helped these pupils to analyse an eye-witness account to explore the causes and effects of an incident.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers’ careful and consistent use of praise and rewards promotes pupils’ self-esteem, encourages them to work enthusiastically and complete tasks quickly, and keeps them fully focused on their learning. Pupils understand the importance of listening carefully so that very little time is wasted.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching makes a strong contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils enjoy exploring different religious faiths, as was evident in a Year 3 lesson where pupils were fascinated by a scene depicting a Hindu worship ceremony.

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The quality of teaching is good

 While teaching is usually well matched to pupils’ different abilities, there are occasions when all pupils do the same tasks, which means more able pupils are not always challenged sufficiently by appropriately demanding work. In the few instances where teaching is less than good, this is due to relative weaknesses in planning, questioning and expectations, which slow the pace of learning.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils’ targets are generally used well in lessons to support pupils in their work and teachers mark pupils work regularly. However, pupils are not given enough good opportunities, either in the lessons themselves or in teachers’ marking, to help them improve their work.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The youngest children settle quickly into Reception because staff are very patient and caring, and they are deployed very effectively to support children who need extra help. They readily develop good relationships with each other, participate confidently in classroom activities and concentrate well, and work independently and safely both indoors and outdoors.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils’ behaviour in lessons is never less than good and, on a few occasions, it is exceptional in lessons where pupils are highly motivated by outstanding teaching. Attendance is above average and pupils’ eagerness to come to school is a further reason for their good achievement.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are very happy and are proud of their school. They are well mannered and welcoming towards visitors. They are self-reliant and very friendly towards each other. Older pupils show great consideration for younger pupils by including them in their games and boys and girls mix well with each other both in lessons and during play.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils feel very safe both in the playground and indoors. They understand well how to stay safe in other potentially dangerous situations such as near busy roads.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils say that bullying hardly ever happens and that it is dealt with immediately. There are no recent instances of racist incidents, cyber-bullying or discriminatory comments. This is confirmed by the very few incidents recorded in the school’s behaviour log for this term. There have been no exclusions for several years.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school encourages good behaviour and pupils’ understanding of right and wrong very effectively through assemblies and its rewards and sanctions system. Pupils value commendation stickers, praise postcards, ‘Golden Time’ activities and celebration assemblies.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Case studies show that the school’s work with individual pupils, for example through ‘positive play’ activities, supports their social and academic development well. The school works effectively with external agencies in the event that it has any concerns about children’s welfare.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders have been especially successful in tackling the key issues from the previous inspection. A complete overhaul of teaching in Reception and throughout the school, and better organisation of assessment systems have ensured good gains in pupils’ achievement. This is most striking in writing, where Year 6 pupils’ attainment now exceeds national averages.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders keep careful checks on the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress, and have worked very purposefully to improve both. They are ambitious for pupils’ achievement and constantly seek out new ways to raise it further. For example, they are adapting the way mathematics is taught to include more practical activities. Pupil premium funding is generally spent wisely and used specifically to redirect the work of teaching assistants for small group work and one-to-one support, to help any of these pupils who are at risk on falling behind. This has generally helped these pupils to narrow the gap with their peers, though not enough for them to go on to gain the highest standards. Otherwise, the school is successful in promoting equal opportunities for all its pupils.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school benefits from stable, experienced staff. Salary progression is clearly linked to the quality of teaching and the management responsibilities of individual staff. Swift action has been taken to tackle underperformance. Staff targets are linked closely to the priorities sharply outlined in the school development plan and staff’s individual responsibilities for ensuring pupils’ progress. Training has been used well to develop their expertise, for example in teaching writing skills and in maximising the use of the outdoor area for Reception children.

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The leadership and management are good

 Senior leaders understand how to promote pupils’ good progress and all play a full and effective role in checking the impact of the teachers’ work. There are not enough opportunities for other staff to improve their teaching by observing the excellent practice of their colleagues.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority has provided immediate, highly focused and very effective support to tackle the main weaknesses identified at the last inspection. As the school has shown it is increasingly able to direct its own improvement, the local authority’s role has been reduced to ‘light-touch monitoring.

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The leadership and management are good

 All statutory requirements for safeguarding are met.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governance has improved since the previous inspection and is now good. Members of the governing body have been well-trained in their responsibilities, including financial oversight. They now hold senior leaders more effectively to account and ensure the school links salary progression and promotion for teachers to their performance. Governors maintain a sharp overview of the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement through taking part in regular subject reviews, reviewing data on pupils’ performance and working closely with staff. They have accurately evaluated, the impact of external support and the school’s use of the additional funding for specific groups of pupils, including those receiving the pupil premium, and know how this money is being spent. They are fully involved in checking how well the school improvement plan is being implemented and understand how well the school is doing

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The leadership and management are good

compared to similar schools. They have very recently established a new committee to help them plan more strategically for the future.

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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 112500 Local authority Derbyshire Inspection number 401274

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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 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 406 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Bethan Davies Headteacher Meryl Hannant Date of previous school inspection 9 March 2010 Telephone number 01773 602268 Fax number 01773 528305 Email address info@swanwick.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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