Wolverton Primary School

Wolverton Primary School Wolverton Fields, Norton Lindsey, Warwick, CV35 8JN

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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.  The headteacher’s good leadership of teaching and learning together with effective management of teachers’ performance have raised the quality of teaching, so that it is at least good and some is outstanding.  Consistently good teaching over the last four years has sustained standards at the end of Year 6, which are above average, nationally.  All groups of pupils eligible for extra funding (pupil premium) make consistently good progress in reading, writing and mathematics.  Parents appreciate the school’s caring ethos, which ensures that everyone is included, pupils feel safe and behaviour is consistently good.  Members of the governing body play a significant part in making important decisions which drive the school forward.  Senior leaders and members of the governing body have an accurate view of the school’s strengths and priorities for improvement.  Information and communication technology

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

(ICT) is used well across all subject areas. It raises the confidence of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs and makes them keen to learn, within the school’s safe environment.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 The proportion of teaching which is outstanding is not high enough to ensure all pupils learn exceptionally well.  There are a few occasions when the main purpose of pupils’ learning is not made clear to them and teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve are not high enough.  Learning does not always motivate pupils or provide them with opportunities to develop the skills for independent learning.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed teaching and learning in 10 lessons, taught by five teachers.  Meetings were held with the headteacher, senior leaders, members of the governing body, the local authority, staff and groups of pupils.  Five joint observations of teaching and learning were conducted with the headteacher.  The inspector listened to pupils reading.  The inspector spoke to parents and took account of 27 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) as well as one letter addressed to the inspector.  The inspector observed the school’s work, scrutinised pupils’ workbooks, and looked at school policies, including those relating to safeguarding and equality, minutes of governing body meetings and school development planning documents.  The inspector took account of the 10 questionnaires returned by staff.

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Inspection team

Barbara Atcheson, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Wolverton Primary School is a smaller-than-average primary school.  Most pupils are from a White British background.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for extra funding (pupil premium) is well below the national average. (The pupil premium provides extra funding for pupils eligible for free school meals, those in care and those with a parent in the armed services.)  The proportions of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs who are supported through school action, school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs are all below average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  The school runs a breakfast and after-school club for its pupils.  There are four classes. There is one Reception class for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Years 1 and 2, Years 3 and 4 and Years 5 and 6 are taught in mixed-aged classes.

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Information about this school

 The school works with and has the support of a group of local schools.  The headteacher took up post in February 2012.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise the quality of teaching to outstanding by ensuring that all teachers:  always make the main purpose of learning clear to all pupils  have consistently high expectations of what pupils can achieve  provide pupils with the necessary skills and strategies to work independently  inspire pupils’ interest so that all learn exceptionally well.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 As this is a small school, children’s attainment on entry to the Reception class varies from year to year. Therefore, although all groups of pupils make good progress, standards at the end of Year 6 vary. However, over the last four years, as a result of improvements in teaching, standards in reading, writing and mathematics have been above the national average.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children started the current Reception class with typical skills, knowledge and understanding for their age. They make good progress because activities are well planned and interesting. For example, a walk round the village and pictures from the past helped them to recognise similarities and differences between the village today and long ago.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils in Years 1 and 2 make good and, sometimes, better progress. They have an excellent understanding of how to use their letters and sounds because the teacher and learning support assistants use their knowledge and understanding of the age group to good effect to ensure that pupils are taught at the right level and build on their success.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils in Years 3 and 4 also make good progress because teachers make sure that work is at the right level. In a mathematics lesson to solve problems using addition and subtraction, pupils showed confidence in the way that they used a clearly explained method to guide them through each step of the problem.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Inspirational teaching in Years 5 and 6 helps pupils to make exceptional progress. All pupils have understanding of their learning and say, ‘Work is challenging, but fun.’ They find that making predictions of how to run a profitable theme park and recording them on a spreadsheet is a better way of learning than ‘doing sums’.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Accurate identification and an appropriate range of extra support, in the form of skilled learning support assistants, enable disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs to make the same good rate of progress as that of other pupils. Effective use of ICT gives those who find writing difficult a way to record their work and achieve success.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 All pupils eligible for the pupil premium benefit from one-to-one and small group tuition which helps them to make good progress. In 2012, at the end of Year 6, the very few pupils known to be eligible for extra funding attained as well as other pupils in the school and better than all pupils nationally in English and mathematics.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is good overall, and much is outstanding. In Years 5 and 6, teaching inspires pupils to learn very successfully. Consequently, pupils are highly motivated. They learn very well independently from a secure base of knowledge and understanding and have the confidence to try different methods, experiment and question.

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The quality of teaching is good

 In Years 5 and 6, the teaching of literacy is often outstanding. For example, pupils explored the features of science fiction writing, discussing the text in a highly informed, animated way. The teacher’s own excellent knowledge and understanding enthused and motivated them to reflect on their work and use impressive reading and writing skills to analyse the author’s use of punctuation, vocabulary and characterisation.  Learning below Years 5 and 6 is not always as interesting and as inspiring as in the upper years. In the younger age groups, teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve are not always as high as they should be and pupils lack the skills and strategies to work on their own without close direction from the teacher. Consequently, they cannot always take their learning forward for themselves.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers do not always make the main purpose of pupils’ learning clear and pupils concentrate on the method rather than the purpose of their learning. For example, in a Year 3 and 4 lesson to choose effective words, pupils were so carried away by writing a poem as a word puzzle, looking for words that began with the same initial letter sound, that most stopped considering whether the words chosen were effective in conveying meaning.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Consistently good teaching ensures that pupils are secure in their learning and can talk knowledgably about what they are doing. They are confident to apply newly acquired learning in a variety of ways. However, when they enjoy the experience of inspirational teaching, it brings their learning alive and creates a thirst for knowledge.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Improvements to teaching mathematics since the last inspection have ensured that all groups of pupils make good progress. This is because there is now a consistent approach to numeracy, particularly solving problems, across the school.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils benefit from the effective way in which teachers correct their work. They say that it helps them to understand where they went wrong and say writing out spellings helps them to remember words for future use.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils work and play harmoniously. They are polite and are keen to learn. Where their teachers have given them the necessary skills and strategies, they are confident to undertake independent learning.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Good provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development gives them a clear set of personal values. These help to ensure that behaviour is good. However, behaviour is not exemplary when teaching does not fully enthuse the whole class.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are proud of their ‘Three Strikes’ policy for the playground and say it has improved behaviour.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils know and understand different types of bullying and what to do should it occur. However, they are adamant that it does not happen. School records and inspection evidence endorse the views of all pupils that bullying is very rare. Pupils in Years 5 and 6 say they have never seen any cases of bullying.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils say they feel safe in school and know that there will always be someone who will listen to them if they have any concerns. They are knowledgeable about how to stay safe on the internet, in school and at home.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Parents recognise that the school works hard to help their children achieve well. They appreciate the benefits of the school’s breakfast and after-school club and pupils enjoy the companionship and games.  Most of those parents who responded to Parent View said that they would recommend the school to another parent. Inspection evidence endorses the view that the school deals effectively with bullying, pupils are happy, feel safe and behave well.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher has quickly got to grips with what needs to be done to take teaching and achievement even further forward. She has an accurate picture of school. Staff, senior leaders, and members of the governing body share her aspiration to make the school outstanding.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority, rightly, provides ‘light touch’ support for this good school. Staff and headteacher have benefited from helpful professional development and the support of a group of local schools.

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The leadership and management are good

 There is a growing proportion of outstanding teaching as a result of leaders’ effective checks on teaching and learning, which identify key areas for teachers to improve their practice. Teachers can point to opportunities for professional development, which have helped improve their teaching and raise pupils’ achievement.

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The leadership and management are good

 Each teacher manages a subject. The results of checks that they make on teaching and learning in that subject are fed back to staff and, where necessary, a plan for improvement is drawn up. All staff check regularly on pupils’ learning and record the progress each pupil makes. This good practice leads to open dialogue for school improvement among all staff, and is influential in driving up standards.

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The leadership and management are good

 Teachers’ performance is managed effectively. Following local authority training in the current national standards expected of teachers, school and personal targets were set for all staff and any support needed was identified and provided. Reviews of staff performance tackle weaknesses and recognise and reward improvements in teaching.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school places the promotion of equality of opportunity at the heart of all its work. There is no discrimination. All teachers are held to account and pupils’ progress is checked at regular meetings. If any pupil is seen to underperform, extra help is quickly arranged.

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The leadership and management are good

 Partnerships with parents are good and parents say that they find the school very approachable. Parents’ confidence in the school helps them to become partners in their children’s learning.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Members of the governing body play an active part in the strategic direction of the school. They have an accurate view of the school’s performance, including the quality of teaching and how pupils’ test results compare nationally and to those of other similar schools. Helpful local authority training and governors’ own observations are helping them to understand where weaknesses in teaching lie and to realise that more work has to be done to increase the proportion of outstanding teaching. They fulfil their responsibility in rewarding teachers’ performance only when justified by pupils’ achievement. Governors are fully involved with setting targets for the school and hold it to account. Recent questions raised by governors have formed an important part of the learning-improvement plan related to vulnerable pupils. Governors ensure that statutory duties such as safeguarding are met and that financial

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The leadership and management are good

resources, are managed well. For example, they know how many pupils are eligible for extra funding through the pupil premium, their levels of attainment and the impact of the extra help provided by the money allocated.

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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 125760 Local authority Warwickshire Inspection number 403583

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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 Foundation Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 99 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair David Stone Headteacher Marjorie Dean Date of previous school inspection 10 September 2007 Telephone number 01926 842214 Fax number 01926 843789 Email address head5201@welearn365.com 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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