Fatfield Primary SchoolOfsted inspection, 14 Feb 2013

Fatfield Primary School Southcroft, Washington, Tyne and Wear, NE38 8RB

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Satisfactory 3 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 Good 2

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

 Pupils’ achievement across the school is too variable. In Key Stage 2, it is not as high as Key Stage 1.  Pupils’ targets are not high enough so that they are not encouraged to make better progress than normally expected.  The quality of teaching is not consistently good over time. Teachers do not always set work at the correct level for pupils, especially for the more able.  Pupils do not always have practical and relevant activities especially in English and in topic work to stimulate their interest.

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The school has the following strengths

 The Early Years Foundation Stage has been strengthened and children make good progress.  Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted effectively. Music, for example, is encouraged and nearly half the pupils play musical instruments ranging from the violin to the harp.  Pupils behave well in class and generally work hard in lessons. They feel safe in school and are helpful and considerate to others.  Effective leadership and support enable disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs to make good progress across all year groups.  Leaders and governors have a very accurate view of the school’s strengths as well as areas for development. Effective actions, including relevant training, are improving the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited 11 lessons or parts of lessons taught by eight different teachers. Two were joint observations with the headteacher.  Inspectors listened to pupils read and talked to them about how much reading they do as well as looking at their work in class.  Discussions took place with members of the governing body, staff, groups of pupils and a representative of the local authority.  Documents were examined, including those relating to safeguarding, the school’s improvement plan and records which show the school’s procedures for gaining an accurate view of its own performance, as well as the school’s own assessment data.  The views of 25 parents who responded to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) were also taken into account, as well the school’s own Parental Questionnaire, which surveyed 79 parents.  Twenty two staff also completed questionnaires about their views of the school.

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Inspection team

Frank Cain, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Sue Smith Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Fatfield is an average sized primary school.  The proportion of pupils supported through school action is below average. The proportion at school action plus, or with a statement of special educational needs is around average.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium (additional funding provided for children in local authority care, those from services families and those known to be eligible for free school meals) is average.  Most pupils are of White British heritage.  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?

 Improve teaching so that its quality is consistently good or better by:  sharing more effectively the best practice in teaching and learning in the school  checking that all lessons include practical and relevant activities  ensuring the targets given to pupils challenge them to make consistently at least good progress, especially for the more able pupils  teachers setting work at the correct level for all pupils.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Accelerate pupils’ progress and attainment in English and mathematics by:  providing more interesting and practical activities that capture pupils’ enthusiasm for learning  giving pupils more time to practise their writing skills  enabling pupils to achieve as well in their work on shape and measure as they do in problem solving.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 When children enter the school they have skills that are below those typically expected for their age. Effective leadership of the Early Years Foundation Stage has improved children’s experiences. The focus on numeracy and literacy has been especially good so that children are quickly able to count and know the sounds that letters make.  Although there are signs of improvement in progress from Year 1 to Year 6, achievement overall requires improvement. Pupils’ attainment by the end of Year 6 is below average but is rising. In 2012, the results in national tests were much closer to the national average than in previous years.  Progress in Key Stage 2 is variable across classes. Although more are making the progress expected of them, not enough pupils make more than might normally be expected. However, the monitoring of pupils’ progress is improving and recent information from teachers’ assessments show that progress is improving well across year groups.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 While the school uses the monitoring of pupils’ progress well to check on how they are achieving, and to set them individual targets, these targets are not always challenging enough to help to raise all pupils’ performance. As a result, too few pupils make more than expected progress, especially the more able pupils.  Leaders have correctly given improving reading as a high priority. As a result, by Year 6, most pupils read confidently and they have strategies to help them to blend sounds together to pronounce difficult words. Teaching of the sounds that letters make is most effective, and results in pupils achieving above average standards in the Year 1 reading test.  Pupils’ attainment in writing is less strong than in reading. In mathematics, pupils solve problems effectively but are less secure in their understanding of shape and in measuring.  Leaders have used pupil premium funding well to enable those pupils eligible for that funding to

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

accelerate their progress over the last year to the same level as other pupils. This group includes the pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and their attainment is improving strongly. It is now close to that of the attainment of pupils not eligible for free school meals.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress. The support for them is managed effectively. Work is carefully monitored and they are well supported in class by skilful teaching assistants.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 There is evidence from the inspection and from school records that the quality of teaching is improving in response to support and training, which is contributing well to pupils’ improving achievement. However, the quality varies across the school which means that overall, teaching requires improvement.  When teaching is less effective teachers do not always adapt work sufficiently so that it is at the appropriate level for pupils of all abilities. On the other hand, in the best lessons, teachers use information about pupils attainment as a starting point for planning the lesson and set work that is matched well to pupils’ needs, including for the more able. For example, in an English lesson in Year 1, pupils were encouraged to think of additional rhyming words to match those in a poem, which challenged all of them to make good progress.  Assessment information is used well to set pupils targets and to help them to improve. However,

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

these are not always challenging enough, especially for the more able pupils.  In lessons where the subject matter captures pupils’ imaginations pupils learn particularly well. This was seen in a Year 6 lesson on disasters, which built on the topic of the Titanic. Good questioning and paired work meant that the pupils made good progress. In a number of other lessons, work was less stimulating and pupils became more easily distracted.  Effective teaching in the Early Years Foundation Stage ensures children’s good progress. In one lesson, a group of children were making cakes and measuring out the ingredients using scales. The teacher skilfully made sure that the children understood how much was being weighed by getting them to see when the scales were balanced.  Teaching assistants are generally deployed effectively and their impact can be seen on the good progress of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils’ attitude towards their work is good and they quickly settle down in lessons. They share equipment and help each other. In an English lesson, a pupil announced after helping another pupil ‘it’s nice to help other people’. In the Early Years Foundation Stage, children take turns using the computer and when making models out of cardboard boxes.  While a small number of parents expressed concerns about behaviour, over time this has improved, as shown by the school’s records and pupils’ good conduct during the inspection. Exclusions and racist incidents are now rare. Most pupils say there are no serious incidents of bullying, although there is some name calling. They agree there are always adults around to turn to. Almost all pupils say they are safe in school. Pupils understand the dangers associated with using computers and know about how to stay safe on roads.  Older pupils are given responsibilities as ‘play leaders’ and encourage other pupils to join in

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

games at break times. At play, pupils are generally considerate and when they move around school they are courteous and often hold the door open for others.  Pupils enjoy school and mathematics is particularly popular because teachers ‘make learning fun’.  Pupils work well with both teachers and teaching assistants. Pupils understand the slogan ‘it's good to be green’ which is based on a traffic light system, with red indicating unacceptable behaviour. The school’s ‘nurture room’ is used well to help pupils who have behavioural difficulties.  Attendance is around the national average. Strong management has reduced the number of pupils who have extended periods of absence.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders and managers have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour and as a result, this has improved well since the previous inspection. Senior leaders have successfully eliminated weak teaching and raised pupils’ attainment. Teaching has improved. This is particularly evident in the Early Years Foundation Stage, which has shown major improvements since the previous inspection.  The monitoring of pupils’ progress is much more secure, which helps the school to promote equality of opportunity and to tackle discrimination well. Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs now make good progress and gaps in the performance of those pupils known to be eligible for pupil premium funding have reduced considerably when compared to other pupils.  To accelerate this improvement the school has extended links with two other local primary schools. This has helped the school to share ideas and allowed most teachers to learn good

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The leadership and management are good

practice from others.  Leaders’ guidance to teachers on the marking of pupils’ work means that pupils now get more specific advice on how to improve their work. The school’s records show that teaching has improved over the past two years. Subject leaders, in English and mathematics, are helping to improve teaching with joint lesson observations and regular scrutiny of pupils’ work. Nevertheless, leaders acknowledge that there is still more to do to ensure that the quality of teaching is consistently at least good.  Staff are now set challenging targets linked to the school’s priorities and the progress pupils make. The school links teachers’ salary increases to the achievement of these targets.  Parental links are good. Recently many parents visited the school to celebrate with their children the end of their topic on pirates. These good links forged by the school’s leaders have contributed well to pupils’ improving attainment and progress.

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The leadership and management are good

 The curriculum is made more exciting by topics, such as the Titanic, which are stimulating pupils’ interest. Art has a high priority in the school, which includes looking at art from different cultures, such as African. There is also a flourishing interest in playing musical instruments. These opportunities promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development very well.  Safeguarding meets statutory requirements.  The support from the local authority has been very good and they have been extremely supportive of the school. This has particularly helped to improve provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage.  The governance of the school:  The governing body has set up a ‘performance review group’ so that they know about the quality of teaching and appreciate that teachers have challenging targets to achieve before any salary awards are made. They have supported the headteacher to improve the quality of

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The leadership and management are good

teaching and been challenging enough to eliminate inadequate performance. They review the data on pupils’ progress and use this, and their check on the school’s budget, to see how well pupils are doing, including those known to be eligible for the pupil premium.

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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 108810 Local authority Sunderland Inspection number 401015

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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 229 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Alison Tombs Headteacher Teresa Quinn Date of previous school inspection 7 July 2010 Telephone number 0191 2193710 Fax number 0191 2193713 Email address fatfield.primary@schools.sunderland.gov.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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