The Lampard Community School

Lampard Community School St John’s Lane, Barnstaple, Devon, EX32 9DD

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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 Outstanding 1 Leadership and management Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  The headteacher and senior staff have continued to provide the strong leadership that was identified at the previous inspection. They have established a culture of very high expectations, and a clear vision for school development which is shared by staff and governors.  Students achieve well with a large majority making good progress in all subject areas including literacy and numeracy. Outcomes for students are good. In 2012, all Year 11 leavers moved on successfully to further education.  Students’ behaviour is outstanding. They try very hard in lessons, support each other well and participate enthusiastically in all activities. Students say that they feel very safe and enjoy coming to school a great deal. They make excellent progress in developing their self-confidence and self-esteem.  Teaching has improved well and is now good with some outstanding. Teachers and support staff have very good relationships with the

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

students and give them just the right amount of support so that they can succeed while at the same time learning how to work independently. Staff are skilled at teaching students to develop their communication skills through speaking and signing.  Leadership and management are good. All aspects of the school’s performance are rigorously analysed and this supports well- targeted development planning. Procedures to monitor teaching and to measure and track students’ progress are particularly strong. Governors know the school well and are effective in fulfilling their role as ‘critical friends’.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Learning targets which are set in lessons are not always precise enough or well enough matched to the needs of individual learners.  Students who are eligible for free school meals do not always make as good progress in literacy as other students.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed 11 lessons, of which two were joint lesson observations with members of the senior leadership team.  Meetings were held with three members of the governing body, the headteacher and the senior leadership team. Inspectors also met with a group of students. A telephone discussion was conducted with the local authority’s school improvement officer.  The inspectors took account of the ten responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) and also looked at the school’s survey of parents’ and carers’ views.  The inspectors observed the work of the school and looked at a wide range of documentation including that relating to safeguarding practices, improvement planning, students’ records, assessment information on students’ progress and documents related to the performance management of staff (the setting and reviewing of targets to help them to improve their work).  The inspectors analysed the 39 questionnaires which were returned by staff.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors looked at students’ work and heard students read.

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Inspection team

Christine Emerson, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Neil Gillespie Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Lampard Community School is a special school for students with complex needs. The vast majority have difficulties with communication and interaction, including speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) and/or autistic spectrum disorders (ASD).  All students have a statement of special educational needs.  The school receives the pupil premium (additional government funding for students known to be eligible for free school meals, children who are looked after by the local authority and the children of service families) for around half of the total number of students. This is high. Of these students, a few are looked after by the local authority while the rest are known to be eligible for free school meals. There are no children from service families.  Almost all students are of White British heritage and speak English as their first language. A large majority of students are boys.  The school serves a large, mainly rural area in North Devon. A large majority of students travel

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Information about this school

to the school on transport provided by the local authority.  The school holds the Healthy Schools Award and Education Business Enterprise Award (EBEA).  In summer 2012, Lampard, together with the other special schools in the local authority, formed the SENtient Trust. This is a cooperative trust which works to benefit all its members by, for example, appointing a business manager to work across the schools.  The school’s tracking data (to show the progress of different groups) are not referenced in terms of average points scores (APS) and therefore are not referred to in this report.  The school works with alternative providers, such as the North Devon Manufacturers Association, to offer work experience for students in Years 10 and 11.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that learning targets set in lessons are always clear, specific and well matched to the particular needs of individual students by:  providing whole-staff training on setting and reviewing learning targets by July 2013  making the quality, and use of, learning targets a whole-school focus in classroom observations for the 2013/14 performance management cycle.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that students who receive pupil premium funding always achieve as well in literacy as they do in numeracy by:  reviewing the system of targeted interventions for this group, and introducing more specific support tailored to the needs of particular students  ensuring that governors monitor more closely the use and impact of pupil premium funding, in order to ensure that it is used to best effect.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Very good systems are in place to ensure that students’ work is assessed accurately, and that the information gained from assessment is used effectively to give a detailed record of the progress students make.  The school’s records demonstrate clearly that although students’ attainment is low because of their special educational needs and/or disabilities, they make good progress in relation to their starting points. Students in Years 3 to 9 achieve well in literacy, numeracy, information and communication technology (ICT), and personal, social and health education.  Groups of students with different special educational needs and/or disabilities are doing equally well, as are girls and boys.  The school is skilled at identifying any underachievement and quickly putting in place strategies to enable students to make better progress. For example, although progress in science has been weaker than in other subjects, the gap is narrowing because teaching has been

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The achievement of pupils is good

reorganised to enable more teachers to deliver science lessons.  There is a very good and effective focus on developing students’ communication skills in both speaking and signing. An example of this was seen in an English lesson for Years 10 and 11. The students spent the first ten minutes practising their signing skills, with two students confidently demonstrating to the class how to sign simple sentences. As a result of these strategies, all students, including those with severe problems in communicating, are included well and have equal opportunities to learn.  Effective strategies are in place to develop students’ literacy and numeracy skills, including intervention groups and individual programmes. Younger students have daily practice in improving their knowledge of phonics (the sounds made by letters) and all students are heard reading regularly. There is a good focus on using practical activities to develop students’

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The achievement of pupils is good

numeracy skills. As a result students make good progress in developing functional reading skills and learning important life skills such as how to use money and work out change.  Students in Years 10 and 11 access a good variety of accredited courses which enable them to gain a good number of qualifications. In 2012, all Year 11 students achieved an Entry Level qualification in English, mathematics, ICT and personal and social development as well as a range of vocational qualifications such as awards in independent living, preparation for work and healthy living and fitness. The majority of passes are at Entry Level 2 which represents good achievement for these students. Although, the vast majority of students gain accreditation in Year 11, the school does make arrangements for the very few students who are ready to be assessed in Year 10. Strong links with mainstream schools enable the few higher attaining

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The achievement of pupils is good

students to gain passes at GCSE in subjects such as art and design and design and technology.  Opportunities are provided for work-related learning, including work-experience placements, and students make good progress in acquiring skills which will help them to gain employment. In 2012 all Year 11 students successfully moved on to further education.  The school has targeted the pupil premium funds on intervention groups to raise attainment in literacy and numeracy. However, although all students who receive this additional funding are doing better than other students in the school in improving their numeracy skills, they are not always doing as well in literacy.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching has improved well since the previous inspection as a result of very effective monitoring, strong professional development and high-quality individual mentoring for newly qualified teachers. Almost all teaching is now good or better.  Teachers and support staff are skilled in working with disabled students and those with special educational needs. They have very good relationships with the students and provide just the right amount of support for students so that they can succeed in completing work set but also learn to work independently.  Teachers effectively promote the development of key skills in literacy, numeracy and ICT and use ongoing assessment well to check for learning.  In some lessons teachers use individual targets extremely well to focus learning at just the right level for individual students. For example, in an outstanding literacy lesson, students in Years 4 and 6 made excellent progress in recognising rhyming words because they had very precise

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The quality of teaching is good

individual targets. However, on occasions learning targets are too broad and not sufficiently personalised. When this happens, work set is not always sufficiently challenging, and it is harder for students to know exactly what they have to do or whether they have achieved the target.  In most lessons the pace of learning is good with a good variety of activities to engage students. Where teaching is outstanding, lessons move along at a very rapid pace and students are highly motivated by very well-planned activities which are challenging and great fun. This was evident in a lesson for students in Years 6 and 7 where students made outstanding progress in learning how to use gymnastic equipment safely and hugely enjoyed being marked by the class for ‘control, concentration and safety’.  Marking of students’ work is good with praise for effort and clear advice to students to show them how to make their work better.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 The school’s reward schemes and sanctions are very effective and most students make excellent progress in learning to manage their own behaviour. Students and their parents and carers say that behaviour is very good and this is reflected in the low level of exclusions. Although the staff questionnaires indicated that a very small minority of staff believe that behaviour is not good, the inspectors found no evidence to support this view.  Expectations for learning and behaviour in lessons and around the school are very high. Staff are highly skilled at promoting good behaviour and deflecting problematic behaviour at an early stage. As a result, students exhibit excellent attitudes to learning and behave very well. The very small minority of students who exhibit problematic behaviour have detailed individual behaviour plans which are consistently implemented and very effective.  Attendance is good because procedures to raise attendance have been highly effective.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Students, including the small minority of girls, say that there is very little bullying of any kind, and that any bullying is swiftly dealt with. Parents and carers, students and staff all agree that the school is a very safe place.  Students develop a thorough understanding of how to stay safe and healthy through the ‘Life Preparation’ course and very well-planned interventions such as the ‘Streetwise Group’ and the ‘Young Women’s Group’. Students in Years 10 and 11 have useful opportunities to attend sessions to develop their skills to travel independently.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher has successfully created and established a culture of continuous improvement where there are high expectations for staff and students, demonstrating a good capacity to improve further.  Procedures to monitor teaching are particularly strong. A very well-planned and extensive schedule of teaching observations includes unannounced ‘drop-ins’. Comprehensive records demonstrate that this is improving teaching well. Observations are accurate and feedback on lessons seen gives good guidance to teachers on how to improve. Performance management of teachers is very rigorous and there is clear evidence to show that salary progression is linked to performance.  Improvement planning is based on accurate self-evaluation, and both staff and governors are involved well in reviewing performance.  The curriculum is outstanding because it is highly tailored to meet the needs of all students. There is a strong focus on developing students’ functional skills in literacy and numeracy.

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The leadership and management are good

 Students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted well overall. Students benefit from excellent musical opportunities, a highlight of which was the choir’s recent visit to Italy where they performed at a concert with students from the Royal College of Music.  Strong partnerships with parents and carers and a variety of agencies promote students’ achievement well. The school has received good support from the local authority’s human resources department to enable the headteacher to stabilise staffing.  Safeguarding procedures are rigorous and meet all current statutory requirements.  The governance of the school:  Governors know the school well and understand how well students are doing because they visit regularly and are very well briefed by the senior leadership team. Each governor is linked to an area of school development planning as the ‘critical friend’. This enables governors to

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The leadership and management are good

challenge the senior leadership team where necessary.  Governors bring a good variety of relevant expertise to the school and update their skills through attending training provided by the local authority.  They have a good understanding of the quality of teaching in the school and monitor the performance management process effectively. Governors have supported the senior leadership team well in tackling underperforming teachers.  Although governors monitor the budget well and have been very proactive in raising funding issues with the local authority, their monitoring of the use and impact of pupil premium funds is too limited.

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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 113637 Local authority Devon Inspection number 401379

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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 Special School category Community Age range of pupils 7–16 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 88

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Chair

Mr Peter Baglow Headteacher Mrs Karen Rogers Date of previous school inspection 2–3 December 2009 Telephone number 01271 345416 Fax number 01271 345416 Email address head@lampard.devon.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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Chair

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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Chair

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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Chair

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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Chair

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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Chair

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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