Denbury Primary School

Denbury Primary School West Street, Denbury, Newton Abbot, TQ12 6DP

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Outstanding 1 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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This is a good school

 Pupils are achieving well. Attainment is rising in both key stages as a result of pupils’ more rapid progress in all subjects.  Effective steps are being taken by senior leaders to improve the quality of teaching. These have ensured that teachers have high expectations of all groups of pupils at all times.  Teaching is good across the school with some outstanding aspects, such as the way teachers match the work carefully to pupils’ interest and abilities to develop their understanding and extend their thinking.  Pupils have very positive attitudes to school and behave well. Typically they are friendly, well mannered and enthusiastic about their learning.  The leadership and management of the school, including governance, are good. The ambitious new headteacher has motivated the staff to continually make improvements to their practice and embrace new initiatives.  The school’s provision for pupils with disabilities and those with special educational

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This is a good school

needs is outstanding. This has helped the school to gain the overwhelming support and confidence of the parent community.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Teachers’ marking does not always give pupils points for improving their work. Also on occasions, pupils do not have enough opportunities to respond to marking.  Teachers’ targets for improving their performance are not always focused carefully enough on raising pupils’ achievement and do not link closely enough to the school’s improvement plans.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed seven lessons of which two were joint observations with the headteacher. In addition, the inspector made some short visits to lessons.  Meetings were held with pupils, the Chair of the Governing Body, the headteacher, and the school’s senior staff. The lead inspector spoke with a representative of the local authority.  The inspector took account of the 33 responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) as well as consulting informally with parents and carers before school.  She observed the school’s work, and looked at a range of documents including the school’s improvement plans, information on pupils’ current progress, planning, minutes of the governing body meetings and records relating to special educational needs, behaviour, attendance and safeguarding.  The inspector heard pupils read, talked to them in lessons and evaluated samples of their work.

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Inspection team

Sandra Woodman, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This school is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium, which provides additional government funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals, children in local authority care and children from service families, is below average. Currently, there are very few children from service families and very few in local authority care.  The proportion of pupils with special educational needs supported at school action is around the national average. The proportion supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is above average.  The very large majority of pupils are White British.  The current headteacher took up his substantive post in September 2011 after a period of turbulence in the leadership of the school.  The school is a member of the Newton Abbot partnership of schools.  The school meets the government’s current floor standard which sets the minimum expectations

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching so that more is outstanding by:  ensuring that teachers’ marking always gives pupils clear points for improvement  ensuring pupils have sufficient opportunities to respond to teachers’ marking.  Strengthen the effectiveness of leadership and management by:  making sure that teachers’ targets for improving their performance are always sharply focused on raising pupils’ achievement  linking teachers’ targets for their professional development more closely to the school’s improvement plans.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children join the school in the Reception class with skills that are in line with those expected for their age, although this fluctuates according to the numbers of children identified with special educational needs. All children make good progress across the Early Years Foundation Stage, especially in their personal, social and emotional development and their communication and language skills.  After a decline in attainment following the last inspection, progress has accelerated over the last two years in all subjects, particularly in mathematics. At both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 there is a rising trend in attainment so that it is above average by the time pupils leave in Year 6, especially in reading.  Progress is more rapid because of the higher levels of thinking that are demanded of pupils. They enjoy working independently to find things out for themselves. Sometimes teachers’ marking does not show pupils how to make improvements to their work so they can make even

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The achievement of pupils is good

more progress.  Thorough procedures for checking progress ensure that any pupil who falls behind is identified quickly and then helped to catch up. Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs are very well supported so that they make exceptional progress and attain well, particularly in their personal and social development, reading and mathematics.  At the end of Year 6 in 2012 the pupils who benefited from the pupil premium, including those eligible for free school meals, exceeded the attainment of other pupils in the school by two- thirds of a National Curriculum level in both English and mathematics. This is much better than the national trend.  Reading is taught well and pupils become confident readers quickly, with a good understanding of what they have read. However, the school did not perform as well as the national average in the Year 1 phonics (letters and the sounds that they make) screening check last year.

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The achievement of pupils is good

Consequently, the school has taken swift action to remedy this and pupils are targeted more carefully to develop their phonics skills. Inspection evidence shows that pupils know, use and apply their phonics knowledge well to read unknown words.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The quality of teaching over time is good with some that is outstanding. The robust checks undertaken by leaders followed by training and support have helped teachers to improve their practice and embrace new initiatives.  In the best lessons teachers use dialogue and discussion effectively to promote greater understanding. For example, in one successful mathematics lesson in Key Stage 2, groups of pupils were devising questions to a variety of answers. The effective checking and prompting of the teacher ensured pupils extended their thinking and made good gains in their learning.  Good assessment procedures enable teachers to track progress precisely and increase the expectations of pupils’ achievement. Teachers’ marking lets pupils know how well they are doing and the ‘marking ladders’ used by older pupils are helping them to assess their own work. However, teachers do not always give pupils clear steps for improving their work in their

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The quality of teaching is good

marking or provide sufficient opportunities for them to respond.  Reading, writing, communication and mathematics are taught effectively. Pupils have good opportunities to apply their skills across other subjects and the curriculum provides interesting activities that engage pupils. The outdoor learning environment is used very successfully in this respect, such as the animal ‘safari hunt’ undertaken by Reception pupils where they had to find the ‘animals’ and write their names on their clipboards using their phonic knowledge.  The pupil premium funding has been used to provide targeted teaching for those pupils needing additional support with their basic skills. In addition, the counselling sessions provided for those who are more emotionally fragile have had a beneficial impact on personal development and improved pupils’ confidence as learners.  The provision for those pupils with disabilities and those with special educational needs is an

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The quality of teaching is good

outstanding aspect of the school’s work. Very skilled teaching assistants, under the direction of class teachers, tailor the learning programmes carefully to ensure the precise needs of individual pupils are met and that they make the best possible progress.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils’ behaviour in and around the school is typically good because of the effective relationships that exist between adults and pupils. In most lessons pupils sustain their concentration and are motivated to succeed. Behaviour is not yet outstanding because in some lessons pupils lose their concentration as the planning means their thinking is not extended to the full at all times.  Pupils, their parents and the staff are positive about the standards of behaviour at the school. Pupils say that bullying is rare but when it does occur prompt action is taken by adults to sort it out. They have a clear understanding of what constitutes bullying and are aware of some of the different forms this can take, such as cyber bullying and homophobic bullying.  Pupils report that they feel very safe in school and this gives them the confidence try out new experiences, for example new sports in extra-curricular activities. They are developing the

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

strategies that will help keep themselves safe in outside situations, such as cycle training for road safety.  The emotional well-being of pupils whose circumstances may mean they are vulnerable is very well provided for, and staff demonstrate exceptional care and patience with both very young children and older pupils with particular needs. This consideration is mirrored by pupils who extend the same care for their classmates with specific difficulties or needs.  Every parent who responded to the on-line questionnaire and all the parents who wrote and spoke to the inspector said their children were happy at the school and well looked after.  Attendance is above average and punctuality is good as pupils enjoy school and appreciate what it has to offer.

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The leadership and management are good

 After a period of turbulence in the school’s leadership following the last inspection, the new headteacher has brought a keen sense of ambition to the school and this has accelerated the necessary pace of improvement. Based on an accurate self-evaluation, he has implemented effective strategies for improving teaching and learning with the help of local authority support and through links with the local partnership of schools.  The school’s leaders have a strong commitment to raising the achievement of all pupils and to tackling any discrimination by providing equal opportunities for all to flourish and thrive.  Checks on teaching through frequent monitoring and detailed feedback are given to teachers. However, the lack of carefully focused individual targets for teachers’ performance does not always make it clear what teachers need to do next to improve their work and raise achievement or their precise role in driving forward new developments.

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The leadership and management are good

 The improvements to the way pupils’ attainment and progress are assessed and monitored have helped the school’s leaders to judge the effect of new initiatives more easily and raise expectations of pupils’ achievement.  Literacy is well led and managed with the introduction of a whole-school approach to the teaching of writing skills. This is ensuring that achievement is improving quickly in this subject so that progress is as good as in reading and mathematics.  Senior leaders have developed strong relationships with parents and have won their complete confidence. Parents are especially grateful for the way the school ‘goes that extra mile’ to ensure that the provision for their child’s particular needs is tailored carefully.  The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development very well through an engaging curriculum that instils a sense of wonder and appreciation of the natural

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The leadership and management are good

environment as well as providing opportunities to take part in a wide range of enrichment and sporting activities, both in school and further afield.  All statutory requirements for safeguarding are met and managed effectively. Staff training is up to date and there are robust systems for managing the safety of the site.  The local authority takes a light touch approach to this good school. However, school leaders have benefited from effective support and training from the local authority to review data, the quality of teaching and the provision for special educational needs.  The governance of the school:  Governors are very knowledgeable because they receive good quality information about the school’s performance and they monitor its work carefully for themselves. This means that they are able to give senior leaders effective challenge as well as being self-critical about their effectiveness as governors. They keep up to date with their training mostly through local

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The leadership and management are good

authority events. They have a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the teaching and how the pupils’ achievement compares to other schools nationally. They are well informed about the way the performance of staff is being managed and how this is aligned to their pay progression. They manage the budget well in order to secure the best possible provision for pupils, including the use of the pupil premium to ensure there are no adverse gaps in achievement.

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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 113197 Local authority Devon Inspection number 411712

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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 124 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Chris Burford Headteacher Jamie Stone Date of previous school inspection 20 May 2008 Telephone number 01803 812583 Fax number 01803 813560 Email address admin@denbury.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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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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