Warboys Community Primary SchoolOfsted inspection, 10 Oct 2013

Warboys Community Primary School Humberdale Way, Warboys, Huntingdon, PE28 2RX

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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 Requires improvement 3 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3

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

 Pupils, including those who receive support from the pupil premium, do not make consistently good progress across the school and standards, particularly at Key Stage 1, have not been high enough.  Teachers do not have high enough expectations for pupils’ handwriting and the presentation of their work and basic errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation are not always corrected.  There are too few opportunities for pupils to write at length and to apply their mathematics skills to problem solving. In Key Stage 2, pupils do not read widely enough.  Teachers do not always assess accurately so work is sometimes a little hard for some pupils and too easy for others.  Occasionally the pace of learning is not brisk and teachers do not check pupils’ understanding before or during activities.  Teachers’ questioning does not always involve all pupils and develop their thinking.  Sometimes pupils do not concentrate hard

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

enough and their attitudes to learning do not help them get the most out of lessons and some pupils do not behave positively to others.  Leaders, managers and governors have not improved teaching and achievement sufficiently so that it is good across the school. Subject leaders are not fully involved in developing teaching.  Governors and leaders do not make sure pupils who receive extra support make better progress.

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The school has the following strengths

 The headteacher has an accurate understanding of the strengths and areas for development in the school and recent changes, such as the work on developing early reading skills, have been successful.  Pupils say they feel safe in the school and attendance is broadly average.  The school’s efforts to improve the Early Years Foundation Stage have been successful and this area of the school has improved.  The school has a well thought-out plan for using the new sports funding and getting more pupils involved in sports.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspection team observed 19 lessons or part-lessons, some of which were observed jointly with senior leaders.  Inspectors spoke to pupils about their views of the school, looked at their work in books and listened to them read.  Meetings took place with the Chair of the Governing Body and three other governors, staff and a local authority officer.  Inspectors spoke to parents informally before school, considered correspondence from parents and the 42 responses to the online Parent View survey. The returns from nine staff questionnaires were also reviewed.  The inspection team observed the school’s work and reviewed the school’s own information about how well pupils are doing. A range of documents was scrutinised including the school’s own evaluation of its performance and its plan for improvement, minutes of meetings of the governing body, safeguarding, behaviour and attendance records.

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Inspection team

Susan Williams, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Stephen Matthews Additional Inspector Philip Scull Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is larger than the average-sized primary school.  The very large majority of pupils are White British.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported at school action is above average. The proportion supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is above average.  The proportion of pupils for whom the school receives the pupil premium (additional government funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals, children who are looked after and other groups) is below average.  The school meets the government floor standards, the national expectations for pupils’ attainment in English and mathematics.  A new headteacher was appointed from September 2012 and a new Chair of the Governing Body took up her post in September 2013.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching so that it is good or better by ensuring that:  teachers assess pupils’ progress accurately and use this information to provide work at precisely the right level so it is not too easy for more-able pupils or too hard for less-able pupils  lessons proceed at a brisk pace and teachers check on pupils’ understanding before they start activities and when working independently so that they can pick up any misunderstandings and prompt pupils to extend their thinking  teachers’ questioning involves more pupils and encourages pupils to think more carefully and deeply  the best practice evident in some classrooms is shared more widely across the school.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise achievement by accelerating pupils’ progress so standards rise, particularly at Key Stage 1 and for pupils supported by pupil premium by:  having higher expectations for pupils’ handwriting and the presentation of their work  ensuring basic errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation are corrected  giving pupils more opportunities to write at length in literacy lessons and in other subjects  providing pupils with more opportunities to apply their mathematics skills to problem solving activities  giving pupils more opportunities to develop a joy of reading at Key Stage 2.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Promote positive behaviour more effectively so pupils understand how their behaviour impacts on others in lessons.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management so pupils make better progress by:  developing the roles of subject leaders so they are more actively involved in improving teaching  making sure that the observations of teaching are clear about the difference teaching makes to learning and teachers are given clear next steps about how to improve  governors and senior leaders monitor the progress of different groups of pupils and ensure that any extra help provided makes a difference.  An external review of governance, to include a specific focus on the school’s use of the pupil premium, 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

 Pupils do not make consistently good progress across the school and standards, particularly at Key Stage 1 are too low. There are not high enough expectations for pupils’ work in their books and for their handwriting so pupils do not take care in the presentation of their work. Basic errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation are not always corrected, particularly in Key Stage 1.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Although writing is a focus for the school, there are not enough opportunities in literacy lessons and in other subjects for pupils to develop their writing and to write longer pieces. Pupils learn a wide range of mathematics skills but they do not have enough opportunities to apply these to problem solving activities to show they fully understand what they have learnt.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The school provides a wide range of extra help for pupils known to be eligible for support through the pupil premium funding. This includes sessions working with parents, additional maths groups and help with accessing school clubs and trips. In the national tests in 2012 these pupils were approximately six months behind others in English and around eight months in mathematics. Across the school progress is mixed; although these pupils are not making less progress overall than others, the extra help is not helping them to catch up quickly enough.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The school was disappointed in the results of the Year 1 phonics (letters and their sounds) check in 2012 which were below national levels. This became a focus for the school with a ‘lead teacher’ supporting staff training and working with staff. Results in 2013 were much improved and were above the previous year’s national levels. Younger pupils say they enjoy reading and read a wide variety of books. However, older pupils in Key Stage 2 do not enjoy a love of reading and do not read widely enough.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs get extra support in lessons. Where this is most effective, work is planned specifically for these pupils so they can access it and move forward quickly in their learning. However, on some occasions work is a little hard and does not help these pupils progress as quickly as they could. Across the school progress for these pupils is improving but it is not consistently good.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 More pupils gained higher levels at Key Stage 1 in reading in 2013 and overall in writing and mathematics. However, the progress of pupils currently in Years 1 and 2 is not fast enough for them to reach average standards by the end of Year 2. Over time standards at Key Stage 2 have been broadly average and the dip in English in 2011 was addressed with faster progress in 2012.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Progress is often good in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Children often enter the school with skills and knowledge below those usually expected for their age, although this is slightly different for the current children in Reception whose skills are similar to those usually found. Children take part in a wide range of activities developing their interest in learning and early reading skills are well developed. However, opportunities to develop their writing skills outside writing sessions are less well developed.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching is not consistently good throughout the school. Teachers do not always assess pupils accurately or ensure work stretches the most-able pupils and is not too hard for the least-able pupils. This means they do not always make as much progress as they should. Sometimes, the pace, particularly at the start of lessons, is not fast enough and teachers do not make sure pupils understand activities before they go to work by themselves or in groups. Time is then lost, with pupils waiting for help and this slows down the rate of their learning. On occasions, some pupils do not concentrate on their work as much as they should.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching assistants work closely with teachers and support pupils well in lessons, helping them gain the confidence they need to ‘keep going’ when they find their work difficult.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In the best teaching, for example a Year 5 and 6 literacy lesson, pupils were learning how to make notes from texts. The teacher circulated, checking on the learning of pupils and broke up the activity to keep up the pace of learning with reminders about the key points which pupils enthusiastically chanted before continuing with their work. Pupils had the opportunity to share their work with each other and assess how they had done. The teacher used excellent questioning to get pupils to share what they had found so pupils enjoyed their learning and made good progress. However, questioning is not always this well-developed throughout the school and does not always involve larger numbers of pupils or extend their thinking further.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In the Early Years Foundation Stage a particular strength is the teaching of phonics. In a Reception session, the teacher’s imaginative approach and the checks on understanding throughout the session ensured children made good progress.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils’ attitudes to learning are not always positive in all classes and on occasions this disrupts learning. There are also times outside lessons when pupils sometimes say unkind things or do things which upset others but these are exceptions to the general pattern. Behaviour is more consistently good in large whole-school events, such as assemblies, where pupils have the opportunity to reflect on different aspects of their lives.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils are more positive about bullying and this is not a concern to them. School records show the number of bullying incidents have reduced. The school has worked with pupils to promote ‘anti-bullying’ in lessons and in special events. A group of Year 6 pupils take on the role of ‘bullying ambassadors’ and they model behaviour and can intervene if there is a problem. Pupils know about different kinds of bullying including cyber-bullying and physical bullying. Pupils are confident they can go to staff for help and staff will sort out their concerns. This demonstrates the school is effective in promoting equality of opportunity, promoting good relations and ensuring there is no discrimination.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils also said that they feel safe in school and the vast majority of parents responding to the online survey agree with this view. The school promotes safety and recently held a special safety week with visitors including the police, water safety, fire, road and lorries to help pupils learn about different aspects of safety.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils are punctual to school and lessons and their attendance is broadly average.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leadership and management require improvement because leaders, managers and governors have not ensured the school has improved enough so that it is good. The roles of subject leaders are not well enough developed so they have a role in developing teaching across the school. Observations of teaching are not clear about what difference teaching is making to learning and teachers are not given precise steps to help them improve.  Although the school provides a range of additional help for pupils known to be eligible for pupil premium funding, governors and senior leaders do not check that this support makes a difference so these pupils can quickly catch up with others.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The headteacher has an accurate understanding of the strengths and areas for development in the school and plans for improvement focus on the correct priorities. The recent focus on developing early reading following the disappointing results in the phonics check in 2012, were very successful.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school has established appropriate arrangements, linked to the national teaching standards, for managing the performance of teachers and teachers are increasingly being held to account for the quality of their teaching and their impact on pupils’ progress.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school gives priority to the development of reading, writing and mathematics in the curriculum although the lack of consistency in the teaching of these aspects across the school has meant that pupils do not make consistently good progress. Most subjects are taught through a topic-based approach based around the development of skills. Recent topics have included the pirates, Tudors and Egypt.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted well in assemblies with opportunities for reflection, through the teaching of philosophy, where pupils are encouraged to learn about dealing with others and to think about thought-provoking topics is starting to help pupils develop more positive attitudes to learning. The school encourages pupils’ cultural development by through specific lessons in music.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school has a clear action plan in place for the use of the new sports funding and has increased the number of pupils involved in inter-school competitions since September. There is a coach working alongside staff to train them in a range of sports, commencing with tag-rugby, and there are also plans to develop the teaching of cricket. To promote healthy lifestyles the school has planned a healthy lifestyles week with visitors including a dietician and local rugby players. In addition, as part of the Olympic legacy, pupils are signing up to commit to doing more sport and to trying something new.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The local authority has provided effective support for the new headteacher and for the senior leadership team to help them identify priorities. There has also been support provided for the Early Years Foundation Stage which has led to improvements.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school:  The new Chair of the Governing Body is starting to ask more searching questions of senior leaders, particularly about pupils’ progress and the quality of teaching. Governors have started to visit areas of the school they are linked with so they can talk to staff and see for themselves what differences are being made. Governors are aware of the published data on the school and the results in 2013. They are aware how pupil premium funding is being spent although they are less aware that this is not helping these pupils to make faster progress. Governors receive updates on the quality of teaching in the school and have started to compare this with pupils’ achievement. They also receive updates on how staff performance is managed and they sign off pay awards for staff who meet their targets and teach well. They are aware of where support has been given to tackle underperformance. They receive training and have

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The leadership and management requires improvement

recently attended training with senior leaders on published data on the school which they say helps them to ask more searching questions of senior leaders. They ensure statutory responsibilities are met including safeguarding.

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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 110715 Local authority Cambridgeshire Inspection number 425201

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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 Maintained Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 298 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Lu O’Rourke Headteacher Angela Boxall Date of previous school inspection 5 December 2011 Telephone number 01487 822317 Fax number 01487 824423 Email address office@warboys.cambs.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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