Hopton Church of England Primary School

Hopton Church of England Primary School Coast Road, Hopton-on-Sea, Great Yarmouth, NR31 9BT

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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

 Teaching requires improvement. The quality varies, but too little is good or outstanding and as a result, not enough pupils make good progress as they move through the school.  Lesson activities are not planned consistently well or in a way that makes the most of pupils’ abilities, and encourages them to develop their skills and understanding.  Pupils’ personal targets are not discussed effectively with them or their parents and carers, so they are not clear about how to improve their work.  The meetings staff hold about pupils’ performance do not always focus on how well they have improved their knowledge and skills.  Leadership and management require improvement. The targets set for teachers’ performance are not acted on quickly enough, and good practice is not shared sufficiently to improve their skills.  Leaders do not give the governors enough information in a simple form about how well pupils are doing, so they are not clear about

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

which year groups would benefit from more support.

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The school has the following strengths

 Pupils are polite, courteous and well behaved because staff care for them and guide them well.  The pupils are confident and work effectively in teams as a result of positive comments made by staff.  Pupils study a wide range of topics and discuss moral issues thoughtfully.  Pupils make good progress in learning to read and their skills are above average by Year 6.  Although the school has not improved quickly enough since the last inspection, the headteacher and deputy headteacher have quickly formed a strong leadership team and are clear about what needs to be done.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed 17 lessons or parts of lessons, and seven teachers were observed. Eight of the observations were carried out with the headteacher or the deputy headteacher.  Discussions were held with senior leaders, the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Governing Body and two other governors, parents and carers, school staff, pupils and a representative from the local authority.  The inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour and looked closely at the school’s safeguarding procedures.  The inspectors took account of 43 responses to the online Parent View survey and a school survey completed in May 2012 by 34 parents and carers. The questionnaires of 17 staff were also taken into account.  The inspector observed the work of the school and looked at documentation including teachers’ planning, the school development plan, tracking of pupils’ progress, performance management targets and records of governing body meetings.

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Information about this inspection

 During this inspection, the inspector asked additional questions designed to ascertain the school’s view of the impact and effectiveness of local authority services to support school improvement. This information will contribute to work being carried out by Ofsted to assess the use, quality and impact of those services.

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Inspection team

Jackie Cousins, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Catherine Kiff Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is smaller than most primary schools.  Most pupils are White British. A small number are from minority ethnic backgrounds and/or learning to speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of pupils supported by additional government funding, the pupil premium, is a little below average. In this school it only applies to a small number of pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals.  The proportion of pupils supported at school action plus is above average, and the proportion who have a statement of special educational needs is much higher than average. The proportion supported through school action is below average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for attainment and progress.  The headteacher was in an acting role for 17 months until June 2012, when she was appointed as the permanent headteacher. The deputy headteacher started at the school six months ago.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching, and so pupils’ achievement, by ensuring that:  all teachers take full account of pupils’ ability levels and individual targets when planning lessons, so that the activities are demanding but achievable for all ability groups  pupils have time to develop their independent learning skills  parents and carers understand fully how pupils can meet their personal targets and so can support them in doing so  meetings to discuss pupils’ progress are used effectively to identify any pupils who are making slower progress, so they can be quickly given the help and guidance they need.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by:  using the targets set for teachers’ performance more effectively to improve their skills  giving teachers more opportunities to see each other in action so that the best practice in the school can be shared  summarising pupils’ attainment and progress in a simple way for governors, so they are clear about how well each year group is doing.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Achievement requires improvement because not enough pupils make good progress. The meetings to discuss how well pupils are doing do not always focus in detail on how much progress pupils make every three months. Work in books and results over recent years show that the standards Year 6 pupils reach in English and mathematics are broadly average, but the pupils are capable of more.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Children start in the Reception class with a broad range of skills and knowledge, but normally they are below the levels expected for their age. Good teaching means they make good progress across all areas of learning, and reach average standards by the start of Year 1. Children learn to communicate effectively and spell words accurately because their knowledge of letters and sounds (phonics) is developed successfully.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Boys and girls, including those who speak English as an additional language, make expected progress in learning to write and speak because lesson activities are matched appropriately to each pupil’s ability level. For example, Year 2 pupils learnt to record their ideas suitably when they created a story about a disaster when an imaginary object from space arrived at the school. They learnt to combine vocabulary, speech marks and spelling skills to make an interesting story.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils continue to make good progress in learning to read in Key Stages 1 and 2, and standards are above average by Year 6. Older pupils are keen to read and complete answers about the book they have read because a new system checks on how successfully they understand the story.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils learn to use mathematics suitably because of practical sessions in lessons. For instance, Year 4 pupils learned to use a compass to record directions when they explored the movements of footballers on a pitch. As a result, pupils learned how to use mathematical vocabulary such as ‘anti-clockwise’ and ‘compass’.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The pupils known to be eligible for free school meals make similar progress to the others. The school keeps a close track of their achievement, and provides extra help such as one-to-one tuition and information communication technology equipment to develop their basic skills. Last year, national test results showed that their attainment in Year 6 was two terms behind others in mathematics and three terms behind in English, but this year the gap is reducing and their attainment in rising in both subjects.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are given extra help that is appropriate to their individual needs. These pupils make expected progress from their various starting points.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Although there is some good teaching in the school, the quality is inconsistent and too much requires improvement.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In general, pupils are not given enough time to work on their own in lessons. The best teaching encourages them to think for themselves. For example, Year 5 pupils learned successfully how to find out about the lives of famous people. This was because the teacher developed pupils’ knowledge of how to pose questions thoughtfully.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In a small number of lessons observed, teachers had used detailed information on pupils’ individual ability and progress to plan different tasks that stretched the most able pupils but were not too hard to deter the pupils who find learning more difficult. However, this is not routine practice and in most lessons teachers are not making the most of what they know about pupils to challenge them to aim higher in their work.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Staff are skilled at building positive relationships and so pupils become more self-confident, including those who have additional needs, and are enthusiastic about trying out their own ideas. In a session observed, Year 6 pupils’ knowledge of mathematics was developed well so they learnt how to use shapes and manipulate them on grids. This was because the teacher encouraged pupils to share their thoughts about how they could move shapes using mathematical steps.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Staff plan topics that develop pupils’ basic skills adequately. They select activities to develop more than one skill at a time. For example, when pupils learned about the Second World War and the countries that fought in it, the topic promoted their reading and history skills as well as their knowledge of the world.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Staff note what pupils are able to do. Marking is specific, and often explains how pupils have done well. Staff keep records that suitably track pupils’ attainment. Not all teachers and staff make time on a regular basis to talk about pupils’ personal targets. This means that a few pupils are not totally clear about what they could do to make their work even better.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils attend regularly and arrive punctually at school. They learn to work in groups successfully and are keen to collect house points for their teams. They considerately share equipment and listen to each other thoughtfully when, for instance, they learn to read in groups.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Visitors to the school have written to say how well the pupils behave. One wrote, ‘What polite and pleasant children you have at the school.’ In recent years the numbers of pupils who have been excluded has been very low.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are eager to talk about what they like doing at school and they concentrate well in lessons. For instance, Year 3 pupils thought hard about how to improve their writing because the teacher asked them to add really interesting words to their stories.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils have a good understanding of how to keep themselves and others safe. For example, they learned what to do when they cross the road or cycle to school because inside and outside areas were used to develop safe ways to handle different situations. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe while using the internet because of the careful guidance given by staff.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils say that staff deal successfully with the rare occasions when there is any bullying, and that they have staff to turn to if they have a problem. Pupils understand that different types of bullying can happen. For example, they know about cyber-bullying and inappropriate name- calling.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leadership and management require improvement because the school does not track the performance of staff or pupils in enough detail, or frequently enough. As a result, teachers are not being helped to improve their practice and leaders cannot see quickly which groups of pupils are doing well or help those making slower progress to rapidly catch up.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders have suitable systems to decide what is working well and what is less valuable when they look for ways to develop the school. For instance, many teachers have enhanced their knowledge of phonics and the teaching of reading since the last inspection because of well- chosen training courses and the introduction of a new system to develop reading skills.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Senior leaders check on the quality of teaching and consider ways to improve it, but do not use performance targets effectively to help teachers to sharpen their skills. For example, teachers are not expected to show that they have met their targets every half-term. The best practice in teaching is not often shared with others in the school. This means that teaching is improving, but not rapidly enough.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders and staff plan a wide variety of activities to support pupils’ learning in all subjects, and to ensure that pupils respect others from different backgrounds. Many topics help them to understand the differences between people’s cultures in this country and abroad. For example, the whole school learned about Diwali and what people do to celebrate this festival, and a recent topic helped Year 6 pupils to learn about countries in Africa and some of the musical instruments African people play.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Staff are committed to the care and welfare of pupils, and make sure that all pupils are included in all school activities so they have an equal chance to succeed. All staff said they were proud to work at the school, and that pupils’ behaviour is managed consistently well.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school works appropriately with parents and carers. Some of them would like more information about how they can help their child to reach their personal targets.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The local authority keeps in contact with the school on an annual basis and provides effective support and challenge. It has helped the school to improve the quality of teaching and to appoint permanent senior leaders. Governors and senior leaders have received an adequate range of training courses offered by the local authority, such as keeping children safe, how to judge what is good value for money and how to respect people from different backgrounds.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school:  Governance requires improvement. Some governors do not have a good enough understanding of performance data to easily judge whether progress is good enough for all pupils. They do not have access to a clear summary of pupils’ progress in each year group. Training is beginning to help them hold the school more effectively to account, and to evaluate how strong the quality of teaching is. The governors now have suitable ways to find out whether teachers and staff are being encouraged to improve their skills or rewarded with pay rises. They carefully review targets for the headteacher. The governors ensure that choices about how money is spent are effective, for example whether pupil premium funding gives value for money. The governing body does what it needs to do to ensure that pupils are safe in school, and makes sure that staff are appropriately checked and trained in child

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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 121098 Local authority Norfolk Inspection number 405993

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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 Voluntary controlled Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 190 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Clare Ouddane Headteacher Christabelle Whiteley-Tye Date of previous school inspection 20–21 January 2011 Telephone number 01502 730489 Fax number 01502 732857 Email address office@hopton.norfolk.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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