Kincraig Primary School

Kincraig Primary School Kincraig Road, Blackpool, Lancashire, FY2 0HN

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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.  From very low starting points in the Early Years Foundation Stage, pupils make good progress in English and mathematics so that by the end of Year 6 they reach broadly average standards and generally above average in mathematics.  Teaching is good with some that is outstanding. Teachers question pupils well helping them to extend their vocabulary and to check that they have understood what they are learning.  Pupils are polite and courteous, behaving well in lessons and around school. They have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe.  The many exciting clubs, visits and activities provided capture pupils’ imagination and take them beyond their local environment.  Pupils say they enjoy school, this is shown in their attendance which has improved greatly and is now above average.  The headteacher, senior leaders and governing body provide good leadership and work well as

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

a team. Staff are very committed and say they are proud to work at the school. Systems to check how well the school is doing are good.  The headteacher is ambitious and has high expectations for the school. She has an accurate and sharply focused awareness of its strengths and any weaknesses.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 There are some lessons when work is not hard enough for pupils.  Pupils do not get enough time to write long pieces of work nor do they always use their best handwriting and keep their work tidy.  Pupils work is not displayed enough throughout the school for everyone to see.  Teachers do not get enough opportunities to share things they do best when they are teaching.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed nine teachers and two teaching assistants and visited 14 lessons which included a joint lesson observation with the headteacher.  Discussions were held with the headteacher, members of the leadership team, English and mathematics subject leaders, the special educational needs coordinators, pupils, members of the governing body and a representative of the local authority.  The inspectors observed pupils’ work and listened to pupils read.  A range of the school’s documentation was examined, including the school’s analysis of how well it is doing, documents relating to monitoring and evaluation, systems for tracking children’s progress, documents regarding safeguarding and key policies.  Inspectors took account of responses of the school’s most recent questionnaire for parents and three responses from the on-line questionnaire (Parent View).  Inspectors analysed 23 questionnaires completed by staff.

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Inspection team

Sue Sharkey, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Christine Addison Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Kincraig Primary School is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  The majority of children are of White British heritage. A few children are from minority ethnic backgrounds and speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of pupils supported through school action is below the national average. The proportion of pupils supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is above the national average.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium is above average.  The headteacher and three teachers joined the school in September 2012 and the deputy headteacher in January 2013.  The school meets the government floor standard, which sets the minimum expectations for attainment and progress in English and mathematics.  The school shares the site with a children’s centre which is inspected separately and its report is available on the Ofsted website.

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Information about this school

 The school has Healthy School status and holds the Basic Skills award.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching to consistently outstanding by:  ensuring that teachers always have high expectations and consistently use pupils’ assessment information to make sure that work is always hard enough, particularly for more -able pupils  ensure that pupils’ handwriting is always of the highest quality and their work is well presented  making sure that pupils have plenty of opportunities to carry out longer pieces of writing  sharing and celebrating pupils’ work more widely across the school and in classrooms  extending the opportunities staff have to share good practice.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 When children join the school in the Early Years Foundation Stage their skills are well below that typical for their age particularly in speaking and listening, reading, writing and calculation. Through the wide range of activities available to them they settle quickly to new routines and gain in confidence as they learn new skills well.  Through good teaching, aimed accurately at their individual needs, children make good progress in the Early Years Foundation Stage and this continues throughout the rest of the school. Pupils do slightly less well in writing than in reading and mathematics. Some pupils do not have a smooth writing style or join letters well so that their writing is not always neat or their work well presented.  Support staff provide valuable assistance to all groups of pupils in the classroom and this helps all pupils make progress at a similar rate.  Pupils who are eligible for pupil premium funding as well as disabled pupils and those who have

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The achievement of pupils is good

special educational needs achieve well. Their needs are identified swiftly and accurately and they receive good guidance in and out of lessons.  Since the beginning of the school year class sizes have been smaller as children of the same age have been taught in the same class. This has had positive results on the progress that pupils are making. As a result pupils who are eligible for free school meals and those who are not make good progress reaching broadly average standards, although mathematics is often above average.  The needs of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds and the few who speak English as an additional language are also well met, so they also make good progress. This demonstrates that the school values the equality of all pupils.  Reading, writing and mathematics are used well across different subjects. There is a good range of different styles of writing but pupils’ books show that there are few opportunities for pupils to

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The achievement of pupils is good

carry out longer pieces of writing in order to fully develop their writing skills  Regular teaching of spelling, through the teaching of letters and sounds is helping to improve pupils’ writing skills. During a Year 2 lesson children listened carefully as the teacher reinforced the addition of ‘ed’ at the end of words reminding them of the spelling rule. Pupils used the rule as they each quickly wrote words on their white boards. This helped to boost their progress in both reading and writing.  Pupils have developed good reading skills. This starts in the Early Years Foundation Stage where children enjoy curling up in the book corner. They respond well to listening to a story, eager to join in, interpreting pictures and laughing at funny moments in their favourite stories. As they continue through school pupils’ reading develops and they learn to use punctuation successfully so that stories come to life, particularly when reading aloud. Pupils are enthusiastic readers and

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The achievement of pupils is good

by the end of Year 6 their reading is average. They say they enjoy reading and are keen to talk about their choice of books.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Typically teaching is good and there are examples of outstanding teaching. Teachers’ explanations are clear. They make good use of information technology and other resources to clarify meaning, capture interest and extend learning so that pupils are excited and want to learn. Lessons move along at a brisk pace.  Pupils are confident that their teachers care about them and will help them learn successfully. For example, in a Year 6 mathematics lesson pupils were working in three groups, each with an adult. The activities varied for each group and pupils concentrated well because they were keen to learn and enjoyed the work they were doing. Careful attention was given to each child to make sure that they fully understood their work and were able to link, for example fractions, decimals and percentages, successfully.  Teachers know their pupils well but they do not always use the information they collect on

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The quality of teaching is good

pupils’ progress well enough to set work that closely matches pupils’ individual needs. As a result, there are lessons when work is not hard enough for pupils, particularly the more-able.  Well trained support staff make a strong contribution to learning during lessons, particularly for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs and pupils who are eligible for premium funding.  Classrooms are bright, spacious and well-resourced. However, there are lost opportunities throughout the school to display and show-off pupils’ work, particularly in writing and mathematics, not only to enable pupils to be proud of their work, but also for others to see what can be achieved.  Teachers plan lessons so that there is plenty of opportunity for talk and discussion. Pupils work well together, particularly in pairs, as well as independently. For example in a Year 5 lesson, pupils working in pairs were given a message in an envelope. They had to read and discuss the

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The quality of teaching is good

message using the information to help them write about the character of Bear Grylls. Pupils shared thoughts, talking about similes and the use of clauses in their written work through testing and questioning each other’s opinions.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school has an orderly atmosphere enabling teachers to teach effectively and pupils to learn well. Pupils have good attitudes to learning. They enjoy lessons and say that teachers are fantastic at their job, planning activities that are great.  Behaviour is good and pupils care for each other. Members of the School Council say that there had been bullying in school at one time. The school had an anti-bullying week which the School Council supported. It was a success and bullying is now rare. If it does occur, it is dealt with quickly. Pupils say they have been made aware of different kinds of bullying, for example cyber bullying and the use of mobile phones through lessons.  Pupils say they feel safe in school. The Play Council helps to ensure that playtimes work well. For example it makes sure that pupils are not left alone unless they want to be in the quiet area which the Play Council helped to develop.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school works closely with parents and as a result, over the last year, attendance has improved so that it is now above average. There has also been an improvement in punctuality so that there are now few lessons disturbed in the morning.  All parents who responded to Parent View and the school’s most recent parent questionnaire are happy that their children are safe in school.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher has high expectations and is beginning to drive school improvement by moving aspects of its work towards outstanding. She is already ably supported by the deputy headteacher and, along with other senior leaders; the leadership team ‘have their eye’ on improving the school.  Teaching is managed well; as a result, teaching in the school is at least good with evidence of outstanding teaching. Staff benefit from senior leaders regular checking of the quality of lessons and from the good range of training provided. To help improve teaching, staff share good practice but this could be done more frequently to ensure specific skills are passed on.  The staff are extremely committed to their work. The staff questionnaires reflect high morale and a strong team spirit.  Leaders know the school well. This is evident in plans that the school has to improve teaching as well as pupils’ progress. Since the headteacher arrived changes have already been made to class

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The leadership and management are good

sizes so that classes are smaller and pupils in each class are the same age. This is already having a very good effect on pupils’ learning. Equal opportunities are promoted well, for example, by making sure that all groups of pupils make good progress.  Over recent years the local authority has provided a ‘light touch’ to the school. More recently though it has worked closely with the governors as they have appointed a head and deputy head teacher as well as new teaching staff and is now supporting the school in improving teaching.  Changes to the curriculum are being made so that, as pupils move through the school, they securely improve their skills, such as writing, gathering evidence and using information and communication technology. Pupils enjoy taking part in a wide range of activities that enrich their experience, for example local visits or those further afield where children stay overnight and

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The leadership and management are good

explore outdoor activities. Funds are raised for charities and pupils support their local community, such as singing at the local hospital.  In such ways the curriculum makes a positive contribution towards pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and continues to improve pupils’ academic and personal development.  The governance of the school :  The governing body knows the school well and provides a good level of challenge and support. It makes sure all safeguarding arrangements are in place and that the school is safe and secure. It makes informal visits during the school day which involve visiting lessons, talking to staff and pupils. In working closely with the headteacher the governing body is fully informed of how well the school is performing. It has an accurate view of the quality of teaching and checks the way staff move up the salary scale. The governing body has a good

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The leadership and management are good

grasp of the school budget, including pupil premium funding, making sure it is used to support pupils in order to promote good achievement.

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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 131414 Local authority Blackpool Inspection number 403631

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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 174 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Rev John Dennett Headteacher Mrs Karen Appleby Date of previous school inspection 18 October 2007 Telephone number 01253 354059 Fax number 01253 354072 Email address admin@kincraig.blackpool.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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