Furzeham Primary School

Furzeham Primary School Higher Furzeham Road, Brixham, TQ5 8BL

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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.  Pupils achieve well in all subjects. They enjoy coming to school, are keen to learn and the good teaching ensures that they make good progress.  Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage benefit from outstanding provision and achieve exceptionally well. This ensures that they have a fantastic start to their school life.  The headteacher and her dedicated team have provided the school with strong and highly effective leadership. They have successfully established a culture where high expectations and a shared desire to continue to improve is the accepted norm.  Since the previous inspection teaching has improved, is now consistently good, and has led to securing and sustaining rapid improvements in pupils’ achievement in their reading, writing and mathematics.  Teachers are skilled and ensure that lessons are well planned to include, and challenge, all pupils. This has ensured that they all, including

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

those with a disability or special educational needs, make good progress. Teachers are supported well by effective teaching assistants.  Pupils’ behaviour is good and is reflected in the pupils’ positive attitudes to learning in lessons. Pupils are proud of their school, happy to take a full part in all activities and are highly respectful.  Governors are challenging to the school leaders and have supported them fully in their endeavours to refocus and improve since the previous inspection. The governing body has been further strengthened by the recruitment of some new governors with specfic skills to support their work.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Teachers do not always reshape tasks for pupils in lessons in the light of their responses to teachers’ questions or other ways of checking progress.  Pupils are not always clear about what they have to achieve to be successful by the end of the lesson.  Teachers sometimes miss opportunities to make the best use of topic work to extend pupils’ understanding, and use, of the basic skills.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspection was carried out with half a day’s notice and took place over two days.  Inspectors visited 18 lessons and observed 10 teachers. The headteacher and senior staff joined the inspectors for a number of observations. In addition, one inspector made a number of short visits to lessons and small group work to look at how pupils with a disability or special educational needs were learning.  Discussions were held with the headteacher, staff, pupils, governors and a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a range of documents, including the school improvement plans, priorities for development, achievement data and documents relating to safeguarding children.  Inspectors took account of the 28 responses to the on-line Parent View survey and the 28 responses to the staff questionnaire during the inspection.  A breakfast and after-school club is managed by the governors and was part of this inspection.

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Inspection team

John Cavill, Lead inspector Additional inspector Fiona Allen Additional inspector Fran Ashworth Additional inspector

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Information about this school

 Furzeham is a larger-than-average-sized primary school.  Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are taught in Nursery and Reception classes.  Almost all pupils are from White British backgrounds. Very few have English as an additional language.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is average.  The proportion of pupils supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is average.  The proportion of pupils who are known to be eligible for the pupil premium, which provides additional funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and for children in the care of the local authority, is average.  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 proportion of outstanding teaching and so increase pupils’ achievement by:  ensuring teachers use information about the progress of individual pupils in lessons to reshape tasks and improve learning  helping pupils to understand how and what they can achieve in lessons with a more personalised use of success criteria  maximising the opportunities for pupils to develop their basic skills across all of their subjects.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 When children join the school in the Nursery class their skills and abilities are often well below what would normally be expected for their age. This is especially the case for their communication, language and literacy skills as an increasing proportion are arriving with speech and language needs.  Provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage is outstanding and all children achieve exceptionally well. This enables them to enter Key Stage 1 with skills and abilities that are at least as would normally be expected for their age and often above. Some outstanding teaching and highly effective support mean that children’s weaknesses in their literacy skills are largely eliminated by the time the children leave the Reception class.  All pupils, including those with a disability or have special educational needs, make good progress throughout the school. This is also the case for pupils who have English as an

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The achievement of pupils is good

additional language. Expertly targeted additional support is designed to build on the work being done in lessons, ensuring these pupils are fully included, and promotes equality of opportunity.  The school has been successful in redressing some previous slower progress in Key Stage 2, resulting in average attainment to date. However, this rapidly improved progress continues and the school’s data on current pupils’ performance indicate that the upward trend is continuing and the current Year 6 pupils are working at above expected levels.  The proportion of pupils who make and exceed their expected progress compares favourably with national averages.  Pupils who are known to be eligible for the pupil premium make good progress. Additional funding to the breakfast and after-school club; and the purchase of computer software supporting pupils’ opportunities to learn by themselves have helped close the gap and improve

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The achievement of pupils is good

their attainment. Pupils in receipt of free school meals attained a Key Stage 2 average point score of 27.5, well above the group national average and similar to 28.2 for other pupils in 2012.  A strong focus on developing pupils’ basic skills is accelerating their progress in reading, writing and mathematics. Learning the sounds and names of letters is helping pupils read and write. They are able to blend letters well as they read, using this knowledge to write. Pupils in a Year 1/2 class were observed learning a new sound and then being able to recognise this sound within simple words, writing them confidently by listening to them. Reading is above average at the end of both Key Stages 1 and 2.  In a Year 5/6 numeracy lesson, learning was good because pupils were using their prior learning of positive and negative numbers to solve problems with angles using protractors.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching has improved because school leaders have high expectations of the teachers and check their performance regularly.  Some outstanding teaching in the Early Years Foundation Stage ensures that children start school with a zest for learning. In a superb Nursery class lesson, children playing in a boat continued to make up their own poems long after the teacher had left them and they went on to have an imaginative conversation with another group of children ‘on a beach’, making fantastic strides in their creative development.  Teachers’ good subject knowledge and accurate planning of lessons make sure that pupils of all abilities are fully involved. In all classes, pupils are keen to learn and do well, showing obvious enjoyment in their learning. However, on occasion, teachers are not making full use of work in other subjects to support pupils’ literacy and numeracy skills and consequently miss

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The quality of teaching is good

opportunities to extend their learning further.  In the best lessons, learning is good or better because teachers are skilled and able to personalise the learning well. In the Year 4/5 numeracy lesson, pupils had to use their investigative skills to find out how many ways three numbers on a simple dartboard could be added together in a simple formula. The teacher used challenging questioning to monitor pupils’ understanding and moved those who had already understood onto more difficult work as they were showing obvious signs of success. However, in some other lessons, teachers are not always reshaping pupils’ learning quickly enough and recognising that the work may be either too easy or too hard.  The majority of parents who responded to the questionnaire said they are happy with the way their children are taught at school and that they make good progress. Pupils thought that the lessons were fun and their teachers were good.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers’ marking of pupils’ work provides clear next step advice and ways to improve further. Pupils say that they use this to make changes before they move on to the next task. Pupils understand how to interpret the learning objectives their teachers give them and the success ladders so they can check what they have to do. However, these are often too long term and pupils are not always encouraged to think about what they should be able to achieve during the lesson so they can set personal goals and manage their own learning.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Behaviour in lessons is good. Pupils work well together and are respectful of each other and of their teachers. Very infrequently, there is some silly or inappropriate behaviour, such as chatting to each other, but this is rare and is quickly and effectively managed by the teachers.  Pupils move around the school calmly and play outside together well. A small minority of parents indicated that pupils’ behaviour was not good. However, the pupils report that sometimes it can get a little boisterous, but is quickly calmed by the adults and they say that they are very happy at the school. All pupils, including those in the Early Years Foundation Stage, say they feel safe and secure, a view also shared by parents.  Attendance has steadily improved and is now average, mainly due to the improved efforts to work more closely with parents. The school is continuing to monitor closely the few pupils who do not attend regularly enough to improve their opportunities to do well at school. Pupils are

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

punctual to school and getting into lessons.  Behaviour in the breakfast and after-school club is good and the club provides a good range of activities for the pupils to participate in together. Pupils who attend are encouraged to complete homework and this is helping them to progress well.  A few parents who responded to the on-line questionnaire raised some concerns regarding bullying at the school. In discussions with the pupils, they said that bullying was not a problem at the school and they showed a good understanding of the different forms of bullying, including physical, emotional and cyber bullying. They also said that they knew that the teachers would listen to them and resolve any problems that they may have.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher provides the school with focused and inspirational leadership. Supported by a very determined and highly effective team of leaders and governors, rapid improvements have been brought about and secured in the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement.  The performance of teachers has been managed well and leaders ensure there is a good match between how well teachers are paid and how well pupils learn. Staff share a common vision to continually strive to be better and this drives the school to seek continual improvement. Ongoing training for staff is identified to meet both the needs of the individual and those of the school to maximise the effect.  The curriculum is broad and balanced. Topic based work is designed well and responsive to the changing needs of the school and the wider issues within society such as the school focus on the Paralympics last year. Assemblies, visits, and topic work, such as the Year 5/6 Second World

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The leadership and management are good

War project, provide a wide range of experiences to promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  Leaders check the progress of pupils regularly. Termly pupil progress meetings are used to target where additional support is required and this is secured, if necessary, with the help of external agencies to have the best impact on pupils’ outcomes. All provision is carefully monitored to ensure it is effective and fit for purpose. This reflects the ethos at this school that everyone matters and is valued.  The introduction of a focus on basic skills along with the successful literacy programmes, including phonics in the younger years, has improved outcomes in reading and writing, closing the achievement gap in writing.  Leaders robustly manage all statutory requirements relating to safeguarding.  The local authority is now providing light touch support to this good school.  The governance of the school:

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The leadership and management are good

 The governing body understands the school well and has been focused in supporting the leaders to secure improvements. Governors understand the data well and can explain how well the pupils are doing in relation to all pupils nationally. There is a range of experience within the governing body but the governors are committed to becoming even more effective with some focused recent governor appointments. They ensure that they are up to date with current developments. They effectively identify areas to improve, using school self-evaluation well and monitoring improvement planning to judge its impact on pupils’ achievement. Governors have challenged teachers to improve their teaching and have helped to secure good teaching and eradicating any inadequate. Teachers’ salary progression is only rewarded to reflect their quality of teaching and any leadership responsibilities the teachers demonstrate. Governors monitor funding to the school effectively, especially funds received for specific

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The leadership and management are good

needs such as the pupil premium. They require leaders to justify how spending impacts directly on the outcomes for pupils, for example the improving achievement for pupils in receipt of free school meals following some focused spending on this group.

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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 113190 Local authority Torbay Inspection number 405454

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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 292 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Phillip King Headteacher Amanda Timbrell Date of previous school inspection 16–17 February 2011 Telephone number 01803 853347 Fax number 01803 853347 Email address admin@furzeham-primary.torbay.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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