Bocking Church Street Primary School

Bocking Church Street Primary School Church Street, Bocking, Braintree, CM7 5LA

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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 Requires improvement 3

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

 Although progress is improving across the school, pupils have not made sufficient progress from the end of Year 2 to Year 6.  Pupils’ achievement varies too much from year to year, class to class and between subjects.  Pupils do not benefit from the opportunity to read regularly to an adult. Progress and attainment in reading vary across the school.  Teaching in too many classes requires improvement as teachers spend too long talking and activities are not consistently well matched to challenge pupils of all abilities.  Insufficient time is provided for pupils to respond to teachers’ marking.  Although there have been some improvements since the last inspection, the pace of progress has not been fast enough.  Improvement planning is not sharp enough.  Leaders do not use data effectively to gain an accurate picture of the progress and attainment of all groups of pupils or to measure how effective teaching is.

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

 Information is not always accurate and governors do not regularly and rigorously challenge school leaders about pupils’ achievement.

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The school has the following strengths

 There is some good teaching which is having a positive impact on pupils’ progress.  Attendance is good because pupils enjoy coming to school.  Pupils’ behaviour is good. Pupils are respectful, courteous and work well together.  Parents are supportive of the school and say they would recommend it to other parents.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 14 lessons, taught by seven teachers. Four lessons were observed jointly with the headteacher.  Meetings were held with groups of pupils, representatives from the governing body, a representative of the local authority and staff.  Inspectors looked at a range of evidence, including the school’s document on self-evaluation and safeguarding. They observed the school’s work, looked at pupils’ books and the tracking system used to monitor their progress.  Inspectors considered the 23 responses to the questionnaire (Parent View) and conversations with parents during the inspection.  Inspectors considered the 16 responses to the questionnaires returned by staff.

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Inspection team

Ruth Brock, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Graham Gossage Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Bocking Church Street Primary School is a smaller-than-average primary school.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium is below average. Pupil premium is additional funding given to schools for pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals, those who are looked after and those from families in the armed forces.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups and the proportion who speak English as an additional language are below average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs who are supported through school action, school action plus and who have a statement of special educational needs is average.  The school shares the site with the Edith Borthwick Special School.  The school meets the current floor standards, which set the government’s minimum expectations for attainment and progress.  A new deputy headteacher joined the school in January 2013.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching across the school to consistently good or better so that all pupils make good progress by:  ensuring that every teacher has high expectations of what each pupil can achieve and regularly assesses pupils’ ongoing performance  planning activities that accurately match pupils’ abilities and that challenge all groups of pupils, especially the more able, to achieve their full potential  maintaining brisk learning by making sure that teachers do not waste time by talking for too long  ensuring that time is regularly and consistently built into the school day to allow pupils to respond to marking and feedback  sharing the good teaching that exists in the school with all teachers  building in opportunities for all pupils to read regularly to an adult and making more effective use of reading journals to encourage pupils to read at home.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve leadership and management at all levels by:  sharpening the quality of improvement planning so that impact on pupils’ outcomes can be accurately measured  providing training for all leaders on the use and interpretation of pupils’ performance data and how to use the information to hold colleagues to account for the quality of their teaching  ensuring that governors are given accurate information and analyses so that they are able to rigorously challenge senior leaders  closely relating pupils’ achievement to teachers’ performance management targets.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and governance may be improved.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Progress varies within year groups and subjects, and some groups of pupils do not achieve as well as others. For example, boys in Key Stage 1 do not do as well as girls; the more-able pupils in Key Stage 2 do not reach the standards of which they are capable.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Children enter the Early Years Foundation Stage with skills that are broadly in line with national age-related expectations. Progress requires improvement in most areas. Attainment in communication and language, and personal, social and emotional development skills have been below national averages for the last three years.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 In 2012, the school reversed its 2011 decline in attainment. The proportions of pupils who attained expected levels in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Year 2 and those attaining the higher levels are now broadly average. Boys’ attainment is, however, below that of boys nationally, particularly in reading and writing.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 In 2012, the proportion of pupils who attained Level 4 in both English and mathematics at the end of Year 6 was closer to the national average than in 2011. Attainment at Level 5, however, was significantly lower than the national average.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils’ progress across Key Stage 2 has improved. From previously inadequate progress in mathematics, pupils are now making the progress expected of them. Internal data indicate that pupils are on track to achieve higher standards at the end of the year than in 2012.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Attainment in writing is broadly average at the end Key Stage 1 but below average at the end of Key Stage 2. The school’s own data show that the gap between pupils’ attainment in reading and writing is closing. This is because teachers are working hard to stimulate pupils to write at length.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Attainment is broadly average in mathematics at the end of Key Stage 1 but below average at the end of Key Stage 2. The school rightly prioritised this area for development in 2012 and pupils have benefited from receiving targeted work in problem solving and applying those skills across the curriculum. However, improvement is not consistent across all year groups and has not been rapid enough.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils are keen to read and generally make good use of the time that is planned for them to do so. However, attainment in reading in Key Stage 2 lags behind the national average. Reading logs indicate that many pupils are not reading to an adult at home frequently enough.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The progress of pupils for whom the school receives pupil premium funding and the standards they reach vary from year to year. In 2012, these pupils were about a year behind other pupils in English at the end of Year 2, but reached similar standards in mathematics. At the end of Year 6, pupils eligible for free school meals were about half a term ahead of other pupils in reading and mathematics, but almost a year behind in writing.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make similar progress to their peers but achieve lower standards because of their differing starting points. Although the school provides additional help for these pupils, they are not catching up with other pupils rapidly enough.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Although teaching in Key Stage 2 has improved since the last inspection, the quality of teaching still varies. In some classes it is good, and in some it requires improvement.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Where teaching requires improvement, the teacher often spends too much time talking and there is little interaction with the pupils. As a result, the pace of learning is slow, pupils are not encouraged to think for themselves and many opportunities are missed to challenge pupils. Work is not always pitched at the right level for all pupils. Sometimes, more-able pupils find the work too easy and less-able pupils are over-reliant on adult support.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers do not always use questioning well to assess where pupils are and to reshape tasks to suit pupils’ needs. Pupils then become disengaged and learning is not focused enough. When pupils are given the chance to work with a partner or in a group, they are willing and able to support and challenge each other, and pupils’ engagement is considerably enhanced.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Where there is good teaching, lessons move at a brisk pace, skilled questioning is used to good effect to challenge pupils, and teachers model high expectations. Pupils are actively encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning and apply their literacy and numeracy skills in other subjects. However, these features are too thinly spread across the school.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Improvements have been made in marking and feedback since the last inspection. The school’s policy is not yet used consistently by all teachers, but marking is regularly undertaken, there is reference to next steps and pupils have opportunities to self-assess. However, they are not given enough time to respond to marking and to benefit from helpful feedback.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Targets for pupils have been introduced in literacy and numeracy. Most pupils can say what they are learning in lessons but have yet to link this well to their individual targets. Where these are referred to in lessons, pupils speak passionately about what they need to do to improve and how to get there.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The recent addition of relating learning styles to animals is excitedly welcomed by pupils. In one science lesson, a pupil said, ‘I am going to learn like an owl because I want to use different ways to find out the answer.’

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Behaviour is not yet outstanding because pupils’ attitudes to learning require further development.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are generally friendly and cooperative. They respect one another as was the case when one little girl was overheard to say to her friend in the cloakroom, ‘Are you prepared to wait for me to put my coat on?’

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The pupils’ view is that the school is a safe place to be. They have some understanding of the risks of cyber-bullying and the importance of e-safety.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Away from the classroom, the pupils are responsible and sensible about the way they conduct themselves.  Attendance is good and shows an improving trend since 2010 now being slightly above the national average.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 There are no reported incidents of racism or serious behavioural issues including bullying. Pupils say that if there are instances of bullying, teachers deal with them effectively.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 At their most effective, the pupils work together and play together with a sincere and genuine interest for one another’s welfare and progress. However, there are occasions when pupils appear to be lacking in interest and enthusiasm for their learning. While they are compliant and not inclined to disrupt others, from time to time they lose concentration.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leadership and management at all levels require improvement because there is still too much teaching which is not yet good and improvement planning does not take sufficient account of information about pupils’ achievement.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders have addressed the areas of improvement since the last inspection and have worked hard to eliminate inadequate teaching. However, in so doing they have not been proactive enough in mitigating the impact on pupils’ achievement where teaching has previously been inadequate. As a result, some year groups have had, or continue to have, teaching that is not good enough to help them achieve well.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Many of the areas requiring improvement identified during the inspection are ones that the headteacher and deputy headteacher have planned to address. Currently however, improvement planning at all levels is not focused tightly enough. Priorities are not based on a rigorous and robust analysis of internal and external data and lack clarity.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school has worked with the local authority to improve middle leadership. The headteacher and local authority representative report that there has been improvement since the last inspection in that middle leaders are now more aware of their roles and responsibilities. Senior leaders acknowledge that further work is needed to ensure that they and governors have systems in place to be able to hold middle leaders to account for improvement in their areas of responsibility.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leadership of learning is not consistently good across the school. A programme of monitoring the quality of teaching and meetings to discuss pupils’ progress are beginning to identify where pupils are falling behind their peers. However, this is still at an early stage in its development and is not yet having a consistent impact on identified groups and individuals.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Performance management is not linked clearly enough to outcomes for pupils. This has meant that there is not a strong link between staff performance and salary progression. The programmes of continued professional development and staff meetings correctly identify some priority areas for further development.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The curriculum meets statutory requirements but does not consistently meet the needs of all pupils, especially the more able. It is showing signs of being tailored to individual needs which is beginning to benefit some pupils.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is supported well. Pupils are given opportunities to learn about other faiths and benefit from links with five European countries through the Comenius Project. Pupils enjoy frequent trips and visitors to the school and talk animatedly about partnerships with other schools which result in competitions and sporting events.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school:  Governors are actively involved in the school, give their time generously and are committed to ensuring it is a good school. However, although they provide some challenge to senior leaders, the challenge is not often about pupils’ achievement. This is because they have not always had the most incisive and accurate information on which to hold leaders to account for pupils’ achievement and how this relates to other schools. As a result, they are not aware of all of the school’s areas for development and do not hold a complete picture of the school’s performance. Governors have a good understanding of school finances and can account for the spending of pupil premium funding. They do not yet, however, have a clear understanding of the link between the quality of teaching and pay and the targets being set by senior leaders to improve teaching. The school’s safeguarding requirements are fit for

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The leadership and management requires improvement

purpose and governors are involved in annual health and safety audits.

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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 114809 Local authority Essex Inspection number 405539

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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 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 206 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair David Mann Headteacher Rosalind Welch Date of previous school inspection 16 September 2010 Telephone number 01376 322650 Fax number 01376 321337 Email address admin@bockingchurchstreet.essex.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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