The Donington-on-Bain School

The Donington-on-Bain School Main Road, Donington-on-Bain, Louth, LN11 9TJ

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 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

 Teaching does not enable all pupils to make enough progress, especially the more-able pupils.  In the less successful lessons, pupils spend too long listening to teachers and completing undemanding tasks and have insufficient opportunities to work on their own.  Pupils’ progress is not even between classes and is adequate rather than good in most year groups.  Standards in English, particularly writing, are not high enough and are below those reached in mathematics. This is because pupils have insufficient opportunities to write by themselves and at length, and the more- able pupils do not make enough progress.  Teachers’ marking does not always show pupils what they need to do to improve.  Leadership and management are not always effective in improving learning in lessons because checks on teaching are not rigorous enough. Leaders have not tackled the underlying weakness in teaching that results in uneven progress, particularly through Key

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

Stage 2. Teachers are not challenged enough about pupils’ progress.  The governing body does not ask enough questions about the school’s performance, particularly the quality of teaching, the accuracy of the school's self evaluation and how the school will measure the impact of the action it takes to bring about improvements.

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The school has the following strengths

 The school is a friendly, happy place that pupils enjoy. They behave well and are safe and well cared for at school.  The appointment of new staff this term has begun to have a positive impact on pupils’ achievement, particularly in Key Stage 2.  Parents are very positive about the school, particularly the care and support they and their children receive.  Leaders provide teachers with good training and support to improve their teaching; this has had positive impact on improvements in mathematics and the teaching of reading.  Additional funding is used effectively to ensure that the pupils for whom it is intended receive the support they need to make good progress.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed nine lessons, six of which were observed jointly with the headteacher. In addition, the inspector made other visits to classes, looked at pupils’ workbooks and listened to a number of children read.  Meetings were held with pupils, the Chair and Vice Chair of the Governing Body, senior and middle managers, the headteacher of the school’s partner school and a representative from the local authority.  In presenting the inspection findings, the inspector took account of the 24 responses on the on- line questionnaire for parents (Parent View) and spoke with four parents during the inspection.  The inspector observed the school’s work and looked at a number of documents, including the school’s own data on pupils’ progress, planning and monitoring documentation, records relating to behaviour and attendance and documents relating to safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Rajinder Harrison, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is a smaller than the average sized primary school. All pupils are of White British heritage.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium, which is additional funding provided by the government for children in local authority care, pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and pupils whose parents are serving in the armed forces, is well below the national average.  The percentage of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs supported at school action is well below average. The percentage supported by school action plus is also well below average. The percentage with a statement of special educational needs is average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  The school has had a high number of staff changes in the last two years.  Following the resignation of the previous headteacher in April 2012, the new headteacher took

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Information about this school

up her position on the day before the inspection started.  The school also recently formalised a leadership and management partnership with a secondary school.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Accelerate the progress of all pupils by improving teaching, so that it is consistently good or better by ensuring that: - teachers use assessment to set work at the right level for all pupils in their classes, but particularly the more-able - teachers give more time to assess pupils’ understanding in lessons by asking probing questions - pupils have more time to discuss their work and share ideas so that they extend their skills - teachers in every class deploy teaching assistants to maximum effect throughout the entire lesson - pupils, particularly the more-able, have more opportunities to apply their knowledge and understanding by working independently - all teachers provide clear guidance to pupils on what they need to do to improve their work.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise achievement in writing, throughout the school by ensuring that: - pupils have more opportunities to write independently and at length in literacy and other subjects - teachers have higher expectations of all pupils, but particularly the more-able.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the leadership and management by ensuring that: - teaching is checked rigorously and checks focus sufficiently well on the impact of teaching on pupils’ progress - teachers and teaching assistants make effective use of the training and support they receive, particularly through partner schools, to improve their practice - leaders hold teachers to account sufficiently robustly for the progress of pupils in their classes - the governing body is fully informed about the school’s performance and asks questions about the accuracy of the school’s self-evaluation and the impact of actions on outcomes for pupils.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Children start in the Early Years Foundation Stage at levels that are at least typical for their age. There is variation from year-to-year because year group numbers are relatively small. Children make expected progress but are beginning to make good progress in their early reading because teaching of letters and the sounds they make has improved recently. All children achieve the levels expected at the end of the Reception year and an increasing number exceed these expectations particularly in their personal, social and emotional development and number skills.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils make steady progress in Years 1 and 2; pupils’ progress is more uneven, in Key Stage 2, because a legacy of weak teaching in Years 3 to 6 in the past that resulted in significant gaps in pupils’ learning in Years 5 and 6. Overall standards are broadly average at the end of Year 2 and Year 6.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Standards in mathematics are higher than in English. A focus on developing pupils’ mental mathematics calculations and problem solving skills has started to increase progress. A significant number of pupils achieve above the level expected for their age because number skills are taught well.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Standards in English are broadly average. Recent improvement in the teaching of reading is accelerating progress in reading throughout the school, particularly in Years 1 and 2 where pupils learn to put together the sounds from different letters and use these well to tackle new words.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Standards are not as high in writing because of the lack of challenge for the more-able pupils and insufficient opportunities for pupils to talk, share ideas and write on their own both in literacy lessons and in other subjects. Consequently, too few pupils attain above the expected levels in writing. Pupils, especially the more-able, do not have enough opportunities to apply independently what they are learning.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils who are disabled or have special educational needs receive appropriate support to achieve as well as their classmates generally. Where pupils have specific needs, the school identifies specialist support to ensure that these pupils achieve successfully.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The school uses the pupil premium budget to fund additional teaching assistant time to support these pupils, particularly on a one-to-one basis. As a result, these pupils make good progress good and achieve well compared to similar pupils nationally.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 It is too early to assess any measurable impact of the school’s newly established partnership with the secondary school but there is a common focus on raising standards quickly through teachers sharing good practice and improving the provision for writing across the school.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The overall quality of teaching requires improvement because it is not consistently good. While elements of good practice exist in most lessons, particularly behaviour management and organisation of activities, teaching is not always planned well enough to accelerate progress. Pupils of all abilities often undertake the same tasks and, so, for some the work set is too easy and for others too difficult. Sometimes, introductions are too long for all pupils to sustain concentration and this means that pupils have less time to discuss their work with one another, share ideas and, thus, extend their learning.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers do not check carefully or question pupils sufficiently to ensure that they understand their work. Consequently, a few, while continuing to behave well, do not always understand what to do when working on their own.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Where teaching is good, teachers use assessment information effectively to plan work that extends the learning of the more-able and by providing good support for those who need additional guidance to achieve successfully. Particularly good is the sensitive approach the school takes to support pupils who are at the risk of not doing so well and these pupils make good progress as a result.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In the good lessons, teachers make the purpose of the learning clear and keep introductions brief so pupils remain engaged. Teachers ask probing questions to check that pupils understand their work and provide constructive guidance to help them improve. They encourage pupils to think for themselves and give them good opportunities to work on their own.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In the Early Years Foundation Stage, staff have a sound understanding of the children’s needs. The focus is on enjoyment and practical activity. For example, children were delighted to find real coins buried as ‘treasure’ in the sand and spend real money in the toy shop. However, expectations, particularly of the more-able are not high enough to accelerate overall progress.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In most classes, teachers deploy teaching assistants well to support target pupils so that they achieve successfully. However occasionally, teaching assistants are not always used to maximum effect, especially when teachers lead whole-class presentations.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The teaching of reading is improving rapidly as all staff have received effective training in extending their subject knowledge, particularly the teaching of letters and their sounds. Improvement in writing is not as rapid because teachers do not give pupils enough opportunities to write independently and at length.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers’ marking is inconsistent. Some guidance is very informative and pupils’ subsequent work improves. Elsewhere, marking is minimal in showing pupils how to achieve more.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils make a good contribution to the school’s friendly, welcoming environment. Pupils like their teachers and other staff and this encourages pupils to seek help if they need it. Pupils are polite and considerate and are happy at school.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Typical behaviour is good. Pupils show respect to others, enjoy learning and try their best. Staff manage pupils’ behaviour well. Attendance is in line with the national average.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe. For example, they know about the dangers that social internet sites might pose to children.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils understand the different types of bullying. They say bullying in the school is rare and that staff deal with incidents promptly.  Pupils work together sensibly and play safely outside, so accidents are rare. Older pupils say they would like more opportunities to organise playground activities and improve the school environment.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Most parents are very positive about their children’s behaviour and express positive views about the way the school cares for their children and supports their learning.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Following a period of considerable staff instability that hampered school improvement, the appointment of new staff, including the headteacher, and new leadership arrangements with a nearby secondary school mean that the school is now better placed to move forward. Teamwork is being promoted well.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Checking of the school's work, particularly of teaching and learning, still requires improvement. Continued variations in the quality of teaching mean pupils make uneven progress and more- able pupils, in particular, achieve less than they are capable of.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Staff training has been more effective in reading and mathematics than in writing. Leaders are not rigorous in checking that all staff apply the guidance they receive in this training and adopt, for example, the school’s policies for marking and feedback to pupils.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders follow appropriate procedures for assessing teachers' work and link the targets they set teachers to pupil achievement but are not rigorous enough in holding teachers to account for the progress pupils make in their classes.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school’s self-evaluation is not yet accurate. The school’s own data on pupil progress shows that progress is uneven across the school but this information is not analysed rigorously enough to identify the underlying reasons for this, especially where and how this relates to weaknesses in teaching.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school’s improvement plan is aimed correctly on raising achievement. However, it is not always clear how success is to be measured and how leaders will know that the action they take is effective. Nevertheless, early signs indicate that pupils, particularly in Key Stage 2, are beginning to make good progress.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Curriculum enrichment is good and promotes pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Pupils talk enthusiastically about the many visits, such as to the theatre, which extend their social and cultural experiences. Pupils learn to value cultural and ethnic differences through links with schools in Africa and visits to Leicester.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders value the support the local authority provides, for example, in staff training and the feedback from checks on teaching and learning. The local authority is working with the school to improve teaching.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school:  Members of the governing body are very committed to the school and in securing good outcomes for pupils and their families. They are vigilant in ensuring that policies are up to date and finances are managed well. They ensure that the pupil premium budget is used effectively to support the pupils for whom it is intended. Governors have taken urgent action to strengthen school leadership by establishing close partnership with a secondary school. Although involved in checking teaching through regular visits to lessons and exploring future planning through discussions with senior managers and the local authority, governors do not have a sufficiently accurate picture of the how well pupils are progressing or the quality of teaching to enable them to challenge the school and hold leaders to account. With the high staff turnover in the last two years, the governing body has not been able to establish robust

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The leadership and management requires improvement

arrangements that link pay awards to performance management but with stable staffing, the school is now well placed to remedy this. Governor training is relevant and up to date, for example in ensuring that the school meets all safeguarding reqirements.

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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 120444 Local authority Lincolnshire Inspection number 403437

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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 96 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Steve Tyerman Headteacher Louise Anyan Date of previous school inspection 27 March 2008 Telephone number 01507 343240 Fax number 01507 343240 Email address louise.anyan@donington-on-bain.lincs.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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