Woodgate Primary School

Warninglid Primary School Slaugham Lane, Warninglid, Haywards Heath RH17 5TJ

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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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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that requires improvement.  Pupils’ progress throughout the school is not rapid enough to ensure that they achieve well in English.  Some younger pupils do not quickly develop confidence in reading.  Pupils in Year 2 are not always challenged enough within the mixed-age class.  Improvements in teaching are recent and have not had time to make a full impact on accelerating pupils’ progress.  When working independently, some pupils do not have a clear idea of how quickly they should work and spend too long on the early stages of the task.  Pupils are not given enough opportunity in English to respond to the teacher’s useful guidance by revising work, or showing how they have learned by applying it in their subsequent work.  Leadership and management have not yet secured the full impact of planned improvements to ensure good teaching, learning and progress.

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The school has the following strengths

 Teachers use assessment more effectively since the previous inspection to enable pupils to make better progress from their starting points.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, as well as pupils supported though the pupil premium, make good progress. By the end of Year 6, the gap between them and other pupils is smaller than is found nationally.  In mathematics, the range of interesting tasks and the way pupils are required to explain their thinking are improving progress.  Pupils’ positive attitudes to learning and consistently good behaviour make a strong contribution to the school’s drive for improvement.  The headteacher and governing body actively seek contact with good practice beyond the school.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed parts of six lessons, four of which were seen jointly with the headteacher, as well as a small-group session with more-able pupils.  A sample of pupils’ books and other work were looked at to gather evidence of their progress and teachers’ marking.  A meeting was held with the headteacher to discuss progress, particularly of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, and pupils receiving support through the pupil premium.  A small group of pupils were heard to read.  Meetings were held with pupils, staff, the Chair and other members of the Governing Body, a representative from the local authority and the consultant headteacher deployed to work with the school.  The views of parents were gathered through the online Parent View survey. Responses to a recent survey of parents’ views, conducted by the governing body, were also considered, as were the views of some parents spoken to before the start of school.

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Information about this inspection

 Questionnaires completed by 14 staff were taken into account.  School documentation, including policies, self-evaluation and improvement plans, were reviewed.

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Inspection team

Anthony Byrne, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is much smaller than the average-sized primary school.  The school is organised in three mixed-age classes (Reception, Year 1 and Year 2; Year 3 and Year 4; Year 5 and Year 6).  The proportion of pupils supported through the pupil premium, which is additional funding for pupils eligible for free school meals, looked after children and children of service families, is lower than average. There are no looked after children or children of services families currently at the school.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is below average, but is above average for pupils supported through school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise the quality of teaching so that it is consistently good by:  making sure tasks fully challenge all age and ability groups in the class  giving pupils clear guidance when they work on their own on how much work they are expected to complete and checking their progress regularly  giving pupils more time to think and reflect on their work and their responses.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise achievement, especially in reading and writing, by:  developing younger pupils’ confidence in using letters and their sounds when reading unfamiliar words  providing pupils in Year 2 with more challenging and interesting work  helping pupils to understand fully the teacher’s comments on their English work, giving them more opportunity to apply them in revising their work and commenting on how well they have used them in subsequent work.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve leadership and management by:  implementing robustly the strategic plans to improve progress and teaching developed as a result of working with the governing body and external advice.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Achievement requires improvement because pupils’ progress across the school is not good enough, especially in reading and writing, to raise standards significantly.  Children in the Reception Year enter with typical skills for their age and by the time they join Year 1 have mainly developed the skills expected for their age group, but some are slow to develop their reading. Their personal and social skills develop well, with older pupils acting as role models. They enjoy creative play outdoors, alongside more formal learning.  Both in Reception and Year 1, pupils develop familiarity with phonics (letters and the sounds they make). The structured programme that the school follows is not yet having enough impact because pupils who find reading difficult do not readily and confidently sound out unfamiliar words. In the Year 1 screening check last year in reading, pupils overall did less well than pupils

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

nationally. The school is working with external advice to improve the teaching of phonics.  By the end of Year 2, skills in literacy and numeracy are broadly average for most pupils. When working independently, the curricular themes, which have to appeal to a wide age range in the class, do not always lead to tasks that challenge the older Year 2 pupils as much as the younger pupils. As a result, they do not make the progress necessary to raise standards further. Their progress is more rapid when they work more intensively with adults.  Since the previous inspection, the school has intensified its use of assessment to check pupils’ progress. This shows that the majority of pupils are beginning to make faster progress in Years 3 to 6 than in previous years when, by the end of Year 6, their attainment was broadly average in English and mathematics.  Higher-ability pupils are responding well to the demands now being made to write interestingly

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

at more sustained length, as, for instance, when some Year 6 pupils captured the contrast between a relaxing holiday and a ‘nightmare’ journey home. However, over time, their writing has not consistently shown such interest and variety. There is evidence of a lack of development of sentence structure and grammar in the past work of some middle- and lower-ability pupils, but current work has improved because of a greater emphasis on these in lessons. For the first time, the school is entering pupils for the higher-level tests in both English and mathematics.  In mathematics, pupils are responding well to interesting problems, such as measuring, then theorising about different depths on snow when it fell on the school field. Pupils undertake a good range of work in problem solving, mental and written calculation. A particularly good feature of mathematics work is when pupils write to explain to the teacher their methods and

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

thinking. This reinforces learning well.  The use of assessment is also leading to effective support to help disabled pupils and those with special educational needs, and pupils supported through the pupil premium. In 2012, disabled pupils and those with special educational needs in Year 6 either reached or came very close to reaching the expected levels in English and mathematics. These pupils make good progress from their starting points and there was little difference in performance between them and other pupils. There were no pupils supported by pupil premium funding in Year 6 last year.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching is not good because the new approach adopted by the school is still being developed and refined, and in some lessons not all groups make good progress.  The school has implemented a different approach to teaching last term to accelerate pupils’ progress. As a result, teachers and teaching assistants work intensively with groups on a rotation basis, while other groups work on independent tasks. Some aspects of this new approach need refining for it to be fully effective.  When groups work independently, the tasks set are usually suitable and well structured, with ‘steps to success’ included in the instructions. However, teachers do not make it sufficiently clear to pupils how much work they are expected to do and what will constitute good progress. Pupils are not always aware of time slipping by and spend too long on one part of the task, so the pace of learning and progress is not fast enough.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Sometimes when working with a small group, the teacher does not allow enough thinking time to consider the material. When a higher-ability group were assessing why a piece of writing would gain a high level, they needed more time to read and think it through for themselves.  The new approach works well when adults challenge the groups they work with in appropriate ways. For example, a higher-ability group were inspired by discussing poems with the teacher. In another lesson, with gentle encouragement from the teaching assistant, all the pupils in an average-ability group managed to write stories of sustained length, with varied vocabulary and sentence structure.  Another positive feature is that pupils generally work well together without direct adult supervision and these groups keep to themselves and do not interrupt the learning of others.  The use of assessment has moved forward considerably since the previous inspection. Marking is

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

regular and detailed, with extensive and helpful comments from the teacher. The idea of pupils explaining their thinking in mathematics books involves them in a dialogue with the teacher and helps the teacher to guide them. This is less developed in English where the comments are helpful, but pupils are not required to give an explicit response to show understanding and application as next steps to improve future work.  Small group and individual teaching is succeeding well in helping pupils who are falling behind. Pupils who are aiming for the higher levels in the Year 6 national tests receive specialised tuition. In a small group session in mathematics, two pupils were offering advanced ideas, which developed their understanding of representing equations in graphs.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Behaviour and safety are good because pupils are always ready to respond to a challenge, but not outstanding because sometimes the learning tasks do not engage them deeply enough and their engagement slows down. They do not, however, become restless or disturb others.  Pupils’ attitudes to learning make a strong contribution to the school’s drive to improve achievement. They take responsibility when working independently not to distract each other, or interrupt adults working with the focus groups. They make a very conscientious effort to follow instructions and willingly help each other.  Pupils know each other well and mix together in ways that support their social development. One parent commented that this small school allows pupils to become confident about themselves, about learning and making friends, preparing them well for the next stage of education in larger schools.  Through the regular assembly programme and work in class, pupils learn to think about others

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

and to respect equality. They show themselves to be capable of discussing ideas seriously about people and issues in the world. They understand what bullying is, that it can involve leaving people out as well as being aggressive, and how it is morally wrong, but have no fear of it happening within their school. They are well prepared by the school to recognise and deal with risks and dangers in the world outside, including being safe in using the internet.  Attendance is maintained steadily at an average level, even though the absence of just a few pupils can have a big effect on the figures in a small school. The school works to develop supportive relationships with a few families who have difficulty in maintaining regular attendance.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Although the headteacher has set out clear plans for improvement, they are not sufficiently far advanced for teaching and achievement to be securely good.  Ambitious for more than gradual improvement, the headteacher, with the full support of the governing body, has actively sought external advice and a mutually confident relationship has developed with the local authority and a consultant headteacher. This partnership working is leading to clear improvement since the previous inspection.  Teaching is reviewed regularly by the headteacher. She discusses with teachers what improvements are needed and ensures they have opportunities to improve through contact with the consultant headteacher and to visit good practice in schools operating similar approaches to teaching. Performance management goals for teachers are firmly based on lesson observations and outcomes for pupils.  Subject coordinators are allocated management time to monitor developments through visiting

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The leadership and management require improvement

lessons and checking books and planning. As an outcome, clear development plans exist at all levels, with realistic goals and timescales for completion.  Staff at all levels are highly supportive of the headteacher’s leadership, as shown in the questionnaires they returned.  A range of trips and experiences, such as sporting events and residential visits, support pupils’ personal spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well and extend their horizons beyond school. In these activities, as well as in formal learning, the school is strongly motivated to provide equal opportunities for all pupils.  Safeguarding and child protection are managed well and meet requirements in terms of policy, procedures and training.  Parents who gave their views online in Parent View and some spoken to in the playground at the beginning of school are generally positive about the school. A few have concerns about

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The leadership and management require improvement

proposed rearrangements of age groups in classes but the governing body plans to explain these and allay any fears at a meeting which was scheduled, but postponed due to the inspection.  Support from the local authority is well directed at identified needs and supportive of the headteacher’s leadership. The local authority has confidence that the school is making good headway in managing change.  The governance of the school:  The governing body maintains a strong presence in the school and has regular contact with pupils and parents. In addition to their own meetings, governors attend school reviews of pupils’ progress and visit lessons. They are strongly commited to ensuring equal opportunity for all pupils and in particular keep an eye on how effectively pupil premium funding is boosting the achievement of eligible pupils. They take a close interest in all information about the school’s performance, including the quality of teaching. Governors carefully compare the

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The leadership and management require improvement

headteacher’s reports with national information about pupils’ achievement to keep a perspective on how well pupils at the school are doing. Information from performance management is clearly reported to the governing body, so that it has a secure basis on which to take decisions about staff’s salary progression. They are exploring possible developments for the school’s future in both local partnerships and national initiatives. They play an important role in regular dialogue with the headteacher, giving her time and opportunity to share her evaluation of how well things are moving forward. On a strategic and a day-to-day basis, they fully share in the leadership of the school.

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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 125936 Local authority West Sussex Inspection number 406334

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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 66 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Ken Turnbull Headteacher Verena Powell Date of previous school inspection 16–17 February 2011 Telephone number 01444 461329 Fax number 01444 461696 Email address head@warninglid.w-sussex.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

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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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