Cam Hopton Church of England Primary School

Cam Hopton Church of England Primary School Hopton Road, Upper Cam, Dursley, GL11 5PA

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Outstanding 1 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 Good 2

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

 Achievement requires improvement because pupils do not make as much progress in Years 1, 2 and 5 as they do elsewhere in the school and attainment at age seven is not improving fast enough.  Attainment in mathematics is slightly lower than in other subjects at age seven.  Teaching requires improvement because there are inconsistencies across the school, with teaching in Years 1, 2 and 5 being less effective than in other groups.  In some lessons, the pace of learning is too slow.  Information on what pupils already know and can do is not used consistently to plan tasks that meet the needs of all pupils, especially, but not only, in mathematics  Marking is inconsistent and despite some good and outstanding practice, there are too many occasions when it does not make the next steps in learning clear to pupils.  The new electronic system for tracking pupils’ attainment and progress is not fully embedded, which limits its effectiveness in comparing

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

school performance with that of other schools nationally and results in too great a workload for the assessment coordinator.

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The school has the following strengths

 Children make particularly good progress in the Early Years Foundation Stage, Year 4 and, especially, Year 6.  Teaching in Reception and Years 4 and 6 is consistently good and sometimes outstanding.  Behaviour and safety are good. Pupils say that they feel safe in the school and are helped to know how to stay safe.  Links with parents and carers are strong.  Good leadership and management, including that of the very effective governing body, have addressed a dip in achievement through good management of teaching and learning.  Attainment at the end of Year 6 is improving strongly, especially in reading, and attainment in English and mathematics at the end of Year 6 is above average.  The provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed seven teachers in the course of visiting 19 lessons or parts of lessons, some of which were conducted jointly with the headteacher, and including short visits to observe the provision for teaching reading.  Discussions were held with staff, groups of pupils, members of the governing body and a representative of the local authority.  The responses of the 54 parents who filled in the online questionnaire, Parent View, were considered. Parents and carers were spoken to at the beginning of the school day and questionnaires from 10 staff were also analysed.  Documentation studied included the school’s self-evaluation; the school development plan; records on pupils’ attainment and progress; reports on the progress of pupils with special educational needs; reports from the local authority and external consultants; documents relating to safeguarding and child protection; and the minutes of the governing body.

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Information about this inspection

 The work in pupils’ books and folders was examined in partnership with the headteacher.

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Inspection team

Stephen Lake, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Karen Metcalfe Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This school is the same size as most primary schools and serves mainly the surrounding area, although a few pupils come from farther away.  Almost all pupils are White British, with very few from other ethnic groups.  The proportion of pupils eligible for the pupil premium, which provides additional funding for children in local authority care, children of service families and those known to be eligible for free school meals, is below average.  The proportion of pupils with disabilities or with special educational needs supported at school action is below average and fewer pupils than average are supported at school action plus or have statements of special educational needs. The most common areas of need are moderate learning difficulties or behavioural, emotional and social difficulties  The school meets the government’s floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.

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Information about this school

 The substantive headteacher is on secondment for a year and an acting headteacher was in place during the inspection.  In the last 18 months, there have been a number of staff changes and during the inspection Years 2 and 3 were taught by temporary teachers. Permanent teachers have been appointed for September 2013 and will teach Years 1 and 2.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching to ensure that the large majority is good or better, especially in Years 1, 2 and 5, by:  ensuring that information on what pupils already know, can do and understand is used more consistently to plan tasks that meet the needs of all pupils and challenge them to achieve their very best  making sure that all lessons proceed at the brisk pace seen in the best lessons  making sure that marking in all classes matches the best in the school and informs pupils of the next steps in their learning.  Raise attainment and progress, especially in mathematics, by the end of Year 2 by:  making sure that all subjects are taught in a way that enables all pupils to learn effectively  providing more opportunities to link mathematics to other subjects of the curriculum.  Embed fully the new electronic system for analysing and interpreting data on pupils’ attainment and progress so that:

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 all teachers take responsibility for entering and managing their own data  teachers, senior leaders and governors have easy access to good quality information on how well all pupils, including different groups, are performing compared to those in other schools nationally.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Achievement requires improvement because pupils in Years 1, 2 and 5 are not building well enough on their starting points. Children start school with skills at the levels normally expected. They make good progress and begin Year 1 with skills that are above those normally found. However, pupils in Years 1 and 2 are not making enough progress from this good start so their attainment by the end of Year 2 is broadly average.  At end of Year 6, achievement over time is average because in the last few years too few pupils have made rapid enough progress. However, the dip in achievement of the last few years has been reversed through well-focused strategies to improve the quality of teaching and learning, especially in reading and writing. This improvement is not being sustained in Year 5 where progress requires improvement in all subjects.  Observations of pupils’ books and the most recent school data show that pupils in the current

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

Year 6 are on track for above-average attainment, although progress is not as good in mathematics as it is in English. Although pupils apply their English skills well across the curriculum and write at length, pupils are less confident using their mathematical skills across the curriculum, for example to round numbers in measuring weight or length to the nearest hundred or thousand.  Pupils known to be entitled to free school meals and supported through the pupil premium are receiving good quality support. The gap between their attainment and that of other pupils has been successfully closed in English and mathematics  Attainment in reading is above average but there are some inconsistencies. The recent check on pupils’ understanding of letters and sounds (phonics) was above average at age six but the attainment of this group at age seven was average. Pupils entitled to support through the pupil premium are making accelerated progress in reading because the funding has been used to

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

provide additional support for these pupils in small groups and on a one-to-one basis. The most recent assessments of reading show Year 6 pupils on track to be above average at the end of the year.  Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make similar progress to other pupils because of the effective support that they receive.  The large majority of parents and carers who responded to Parent View feel that their children make good progress, and pupils think they are learning well.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Over the last few years, the quality of teaching has not been consistently strong enough to ensure good progress across all year groups. It has also been affected by some staffing changes. The situation is improving for several reasons. Robust management of the performance of individual teachers has identified where improvement is needed and support has been arranged. Senior leaders have provided coaching and mentoring and opportunities have been made for teachers to visit other schools to see best practice.  The impact of this is starting to be seen in the results of national assessments at Year 6. It is less apparent at Year 2 because of the turnover of teachers especially but not only Years 2 has meant some lack of continuity. This has also been addressed by permanent appointments for September 2013.  Although some good and outstanding teaching was observed, the quality of teaching is inconsistent, especially in Years 1, 2 and 5. In the least successful lessons, teachers have lower

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

expectations of what pupils can achieve in a given time. In addition, some introductions are overlong and some teachers stop the whole class to make teaching points relevant to only one group. These factors all slow the pace of learning.  In a significant minority of lessons, tasks set are aimed at the middle of the class. They are too easy for some and too hard for others. This is seen slightly more in mathematics than in English.  The quality of marking is inconsistent. All pupils have targets in line with the school policy but, in too many classes, marking in pupils’ books does not refer to these targets or set clear next steps for pupils’ learning, particularly in mathematics.  The small group of pupils with disabilities or special educational needs receive good quality additional support in classrooms that enables them to be fully included in lessons.  Teachers make good provision in most lessons for the spiritual, moral, social and cultural

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

development of pupils. For example, in a Year 6 English lesson, pupils made outstanding progress writing a newspaper report about events in the past. They not only empathised with the characters but also discussed the moral issues raised.  Talk partners are used in almost all lessons to allow pupils to consolidate thoughts and share ideas before starting a task, but these are not always monitored closely enough by the teacher to ensure that discussion is focused correctly. This inconsistency limits their effectiveness.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are very positive about the way the school looks after them and helps them feel and stay safe. They say that behaviour is usually good and although there are a few pupils who misbehave, it is rare for any disruption to lessons to occur. All parents and carers who responded to Parent View feel their children are safe and, along with staff and governors, feel that behaviour is good.  Behaviour is not outstanding, because of a small group of pupils who do not always concentrate well enough in lessons, which slows learning.  Pupils have a good understanding of the different types of bullying, including cyber bullying and that related to discrimination. They say that a very small amount of bullying, such as name calling, occurs but adults deal with it well.  The school is a very friendly community where pupils work and play together well. Pupils are polite and courteous towards each other and adults. The large majority have positive attitudes to

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

learning.  Teachers and other adults have high expectations of how pupils should behave and all understand and use consistent strategies for managing behaviour. As a result, the small group of pupils who demonstrate challenging behaviour are dealt with effectively and kept engaged in learning.  Attendance is broadly average. The school monitors attendance carefully and works closely with the parent support adviser to improve the attendance of the small group whose attendance is low.

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The leadership and management are good

 The acting headteacher has ensured that, despite staff turnover, all staff and governors share a clear ambition to improve the school. The impact can already be seen in the improvements in pupils’ progress through Key Stage 2. The large majority of parents and carers who responded to Parent View agree the school is led and managed well. Many who spoke to inspectors were extremely pleased with the way that the headteacher dealt with deaths of both a pupil and a member of staff during the year. Many of those spoken to commented upon the positive impact that the acting headteacher is having, and the way that he kept the school community together in a difficult time, ensuring that previous strengths in leadership and management were maintained.  Robust action has been taken to strengthen the quality of teaching. Observations of lessons are used effectively to identify how teaching can be improved, and good quality training is provided.

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The leadership and management are good

Performance management targets set for teachers make good use of data and regular reviews are carried out to show progress towards targets. The headteacher has ensured that salary rises for teachers are linked clearly to improvements in pupils’ progress.  The wide range of subjects and topics studied support pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Visits to places of interest such as Dartmoor Zoo and residential visits provide stimulus for writing. The improvements at the end of Year 6 in reading and writing reflect the increased emphasis upon developing English through other subjects of the curriculum but the use of other subjects to support learning in mathematics is not as well developed.  Detailed assessment procedures enable easy checks on equality of opportunity and possible discrimination, and provide good information to the governing body and senior leaders on school

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The leadership and management are good

performance. However, the system is very dependent upon one person to collate and analyse data and the rest of the teachers and middle managers do not take enough responsibility for this or have easy and rapid access to data. The new electronic system designed to address this is not being implemented rapidly enough to ensure quick and easy access to data that compare the performance of groups and cohorts with all schools nationally.  Safeguarding meets requirements and the training of all staff and governors in this area is up to date. Strong and effective links with parents and carers and with a range of local authority agencies ensure that those pupils whose circumstances make them vulnerable are well cared for.  The governance of the school:  The very effective governing body provides strong direction to the work of the school. It has provided very good support for senior leaders in addressing the dip in achievement created

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The leadership and management are good

mainly by turnover of staff. Governors ask direct and insightful questions about how well pupils are learning and why, and continually challenge the school to improve achievement. On visits to the school, governors check on the impact of spending, especially the pupil premium funding, and hold the headteacher and senior staff to account for raising pupils’ achievement. Governors have ensured good support for the acting headteacher through the local authority, which is supporting the school in addressing the dip in achievement. Governors undertake frequent and regular training, including forthcoming training on the interpretation of data. They ensure that management of the headteacher’s performance includes challenging targets on school performance. Governors are well aware of what is being done to reward good teachers and tackle areas for improvement.

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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 115676 Local authority Gloucestershire Inspection number 412169

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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 aided Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 205 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mary Robinson Headteacher Justin Godding Date of previous school inspection 11 February 2009 Telephone number 01453 542763 Fax number 01453 542763 Email address admin@camhopton.gloucs.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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