Wigan St Andrew's CofE Junior and Infant School

Wigan St Andrew’s CE Junior and Infant School Mort Street, Springfield, Wigan, Lancashire, WN6 7AU

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  Good teaching ensures that pupils make good progress helping them to achieve above average standards in Year 6 from starting off at an average level in Reception.  By the time they leave the school, pupils are confident and articulate and well prepared for high school.  Pupils’ enjoyment of school, above average attendance and their good behaviour make a strong contribution to their progress. Pupils say they feel very safe in school and parents strongly agree with this.  Pupils are well cared for, particularly pupils who find it difficult in managing their own behaviour. They receive very good support.  Without exception, all the staff support the headteacher’s drive to ensure that all pupils do as well as they can. The leadership has focused effectively on improving teaching and pupils’ achievement.  Last year standards in mathematics fell in national tests, the school took action and

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

introduced new initiatives which are beginning to put this right.  The governing body knows the school well. It provides a good level of challenge and support to school leaders.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Not enough teaching is outstanding to further improve pupils’ levels of achievement.  In a few lessons, more-able pupils are not always challenged and teachers do not move them on to more demanding work soon enough.  Pupils are not always sure about the next steps to improve their work.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors had meetings with staff, groups of pupils, the Chair and vice-chair of the Governing Body, and held a telephone conversation with a representative from the local authority.  The inspectors looked at a range of evidence including: the school’s improvement plan; the school’s data for tracking pupils’ progress; monitoring reports; the work pupils were doing in their books; the school’s documentation relating to safeguarding and financial records regarding the spend on pupil premium funding.  Teaching and learning were observed in 10 lessons and discussions were held with pupils about their reading.  The headteacher and deputy headteacher conducted joint observations with the inspectors. The inspector also observed senior managers reporting back to teachers on the quality of learning and pupils’ achievement in lessons.  The inspectors met some parents informally at the start of the school day and took into account

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Information about this inspection

the responses to the school’s own survey of parents’ views. There were also 13 responses from parents to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) which were reviewed by inspectors.

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Inspection team

Gordon Alston, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Julie Webster Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This school is an average sized primary school.  The majority of pupils are from a White British background. A small number are from minority ethnic backgrounds.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium is below average.  The proportions of pupils supported at school action and at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs are below the national average.  The school meets the current floor standards, which set the government’s minimum expectations for attainment and progress.  The school is part of a Consortium of 20 schools, which is a group of schools who work together to support one another.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure teaching is consistently good and raise the quality of teaching from good to outstanding by:  ensuring work always challenges and fully stretches more-able pupils  carefully assessing pupils as they work and allowing pupils to move on to more challenging activities sooner in lessons  giving pupils time to respond to teachers’ marking and reflect on their own targets and check their work against them  making best use of the time given by adults who support the teaching, particularly at the start of lessons.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children enter the Reception class with skills in line with those expected for their age. They make good progress, especially in their personal and social development.  Pupils are well prepared to enter Year 1 and continue to make good progress from their starting points as they move through Key Stage 1. As a result, they recently achieved well above average attainment as against the national average in national tests in reading, writing and mathematics in Year 2.  High quality teaching of links between letters and sounds and regular reading sessions, in groups or individually, help pupils make rapid progress in reading. Pupils develop a love of reading, reading widely and often. One pupil explained why he could ‘lose’ himself as he read ‘The Hobbit’ going into a different world. Pupils tackle demanding books and show a mature understanding of moral and ethical issues.  Last year, the school gave a high priority to improving standards in writing. The impact of this

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The achievement of pupils is good

can be seen in pupils’ books which show good progress and indicate how well pupils can express their ideas with words in a variety of ways.  Attainment currently at the end of Key Stage 2 is above the national average, although results of national tests in 2012 showed attainment was average in mathematics. Rigorous scrutiny of pupils’ performance successfully identified where there were weaknesses in pupils’ learning. New initiatives have been introduced which are impacting positively on pupils’ progress in mathematics.  The school’s most recent assessments show that pupils’ performance in mathematics is improving and pupils are now on track to achieve above average standards in national tests.  Overall, achievement is good because of the favourable proportions of pupils making expected, and better than expected progress when compared to the national average. This leads to more pupils achieving the higher Level 5.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Learning throughout the school is good. For example, in a Year 6 mathematics lesson, pupils’ learning was rapid as they found out for themselves how to find the perimeter of irregular shapes. Excellent links were made to everyday life and pupils discussed how they could use this knowledge outside school.  Pupils, including those who are disabled, those with special educational needs, those from minority ethnic backgrounds and pupils supported by the pupil premium make and sustain good progress throughout the school. Effective intervention programmes ensure their learning needs are met and that they are given equal opportunities to succeed.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Parents are very pleased with the good teaching and excellent relationships between children, teachers and support staff. In the vast majority of lessons teaching is good, but there is not enough outstanding teaching to ensure pupils make even more rapid progress.  When teaching is at its best, teachers create an excellent learning environment and have high expectations of what pupils of all levels of ability can achieve. They use accurate assessment of pupils’ work to set tasks that fully engage and challenge all pupils. Teachers expect good behaviour and pupils respond well by trying really hard to improve their work and do well.  Well targeted adult support for disabled pupils and those with special educational needs and the small number who are known to be eligible for pupil premium funding ensure these pupils make progress in line with their peers. It also makes sure they can take a full part in all aspects of the

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The quality of teaching is good

curriculum and activities that take place out of school. However, at times, teachers do not always make the best use of adult support, particularly at the start of the lesson.  Where teaching falls short, work is not always well matched to pupils’ abilities, especially for the more-able pupils. Occasionally, more-able pupils spend too long listening to the teacher when they could be better challenged finding out for themselves.  Marking and feedback are generally good. Marking informs pupils what they have done well so that they can check their progress against what they were expected to learn in the lesson. It also provides clear guidance on what they need to do to improve or sets an activity to extend or consolidate their learning. However, not all marking comes up to this high standard.  Pupils say they do not always get time to respond to pointers made by teachers in their marking and this limits its impact on their progress. Pupils have targets in writing and mathematics but

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The quality of teaching is good

have little involvement in checking which targets they have achieved or which ones they should be focusing on in order to improve their work.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils have extremely positive views about school and talk enthusiastically about the many exciting clubs, visits, sporting and musical opportunities and things they do in lessons. Their enthusiasm for school contributes significantly to the progress they make in lessons.  Pupils have good attitudes to learning. They work hard in lessons whether discussing ideas with a partner or when completing individual pieces of written work.  The care pupils receive is excellent and central to the school’s ethos. Thorough highly personalised programmes support those pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties helping them to learn how to control their behaviour. The ‘Nurture Room’ and opportunities to receive counselling are very effective facilities the school provides.  Pupils have a good awareness of how to stay safe, for example when using the internet. They say they feel very safe in school and say bullying rarely happens and have confidence in their

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

teachers making sure it would be dealt with quickly. Parents support this view and responses to a recent school questionnaire and to Parent View indicate that parents believe pupils are very well looked after and extremely safe at school.  Through a well planned programme of activities and assemblies pupils develop respect and empathy for the culture and beliefs of others and an astute understanding of their rights and responsibilities. They accept responsibility well whether helping in the dining room or as play leaders.  Pupils glow with pride when they talk about their school or their teachers or reflect back on the good times they have had at school. They say, ‘we just love being here’, and above average levels of attendance reflect this.  Pupils respond positively when given opportunities to be independent but opportunities to manage and assess their own targets are limited.

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The leadership and management are good

 The combination of a passionate headteacher and a very competent deputy headteacher is the catalyst that provides the impetus to raise standards and improve provision over a sustained period. They have successfully built up a ‘team’ culture, well supported by teaching and non- teaching staff.  Senior leaders and governors have a clear picture of where the strengths in the school lie and where improvements can be made. Regular monitoring of teaching, linked to effective performance management systems, is raising the quality of teaching. Teachers comment positively on the feedback and support they receive in order to improve their teaching, including opportunities for training.  Senior leaders have accurately identified the need to improve pupils’ understanding of, and confidence in dealing with, mathematical problems. A new initiative which focuses on pupils visualising number processes in their heads is proving to be successful. In a Year 2 lesson, pupils

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The leadership and management are good

were able to use this method in mentally solving simple problems.  Pupil progress is rigorously tracked ensuring underachievement is quickly spotted and interventions set up to help pupils through this dip in their performance. The pupil premium funding is used well in providing support for these pupils’ academic and social development. As a result, their rate of progress has now caught up to that of pupils in similar circumstances nationally. A strength is the provision the school provides for pupils who have difficulty managing their own behaviour.  The curriculum captures pupils’ imagination because subjects and themes are made relevant to pupils and take account of their interests. There are good opportunities for pupils to use and further extend their literacy and numeracy skills across a range of subjects.  Alongside the curriculum, residential visits, sporting events, opportunities to take part in musical

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The leadership and management are good

and drama productions and clubs outside school make a strong contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  The local authority has a light touch approach but has set up consortiums of schools that provide support to one another. The school is part of a consortium of 20 schools and has found this helpful in supporting school improvement planning.  The governance of the school:  Several governors are new but good plans are in place to receive necessary training . They understand data and use this analysis to monitor school performance. With external support the governors appraise the headteacher’s performance and set annual targets aimed at school improvement. They provide a good level of challenge and monitor school spending including how pupil premium money is used to support these pupils and its impact on their progress. They ensure safeguarding procedures meet statutory requirements.

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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 106449 Local authority Wigan Inspection number 403017

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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 Voluntary aided Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 206 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Colin Hurst Headteacher Wendy Massey Date of previous school inspection 3 March 2008 Telephone number 01942 244354 Fax number - Email address enquiries@admin.saintandrews.wigan.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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