Packington Church of England Primary School

Packington Church of England Primary School Mill Street, Packington, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, LE65 1WL

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Overall effectiveness Previous inspection: Good 2 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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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  The school provides a caring, safe environment for its pupils, in which they are nurtured as individuals.  Pupils achieve well. Most make good progress. Some, who need additional help to learn, make outstanding progress.  Reading standards are high. By Year 6, most pupils can read a range of different fiction and non-fiction books fluently.  Teaching is good. It is particularly strong in making effective use of the local environment to enrich pupils’ learning.  Pupils are well-behaved. They are confident and articulate and develop good social skills.  Pupils say they feel safe in school. Attendance is above average.  The headteacher knows what needs to be done to improve the school further. She has built up a cohesive staff team who work together effectively to make improvements.  Leaders and managers, including governors, evaluate the school’s work closely. They have ensured good teaching and achievement have

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 A small amount of teaching requires improvement and not enough is outstanding to lead pupils to outstanding progress.  There are some gaps in older pupils’ understanding in mathematics.  Teachers’ questions are not always phrased in a way that extends learning.  Work set for the more-able pupils does not always get the best out of them, and there are too few opportunities for pupils of all abilities to find things out for themselves.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed 13 lessons or parts of lessons, all of which were joint observations with the headteacher. Further short visits were also undertaken jointly.  The inspector listened to pupils read. She also met with two groups of pupils to find out their views of the school, and chatted informally to some during playtimes.  The inspector looked at pupils’ work in their books as well as during their lessons.  Meetings were held between the inspector and members of the governing body, and a telephone conversation was held with a representative from the local authority.  The inspector also met with the school’s special educational needs coordinator.  The inspector viewed 40 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) and 16 staff questionnaires. In addition, she spoke informally to parents in the playground.  School documentation was examined, including statutory policies and the school’s arrangements

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Information about this inspection

for safeguarding children. The school’s own monitoring records and self-evaluation were examined, as well as attendance records, assessment data showing the progress of all pupils and the latest school improvement plan.

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Inspection team

Ruth McFarlane, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is a much smaller-than-average primary school. Pupils are taught in four mixed-age classes.  Most pupils are of White British heritage.  The proportion of pupils eligible for support through the pupil premium is very small, well below the national average. The pupil premium is funding provided by the government to aid the education of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals, those in the care of the local authority, and other groups.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs, who are supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs, is well-below average.  The proportion of pupils supported through school action is well-below average.  The school is a member of the Forest Way Teaching School Alliance that was formed to support teaching and learning in the local area.  The school is a part of the formally registered school company ‘Unity’, a group of small schools

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Information about this school

that link with the aim to provide staff training and additional activities to enrich pupils’ learning experiences.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum levels expected for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the proportion of outstanding teaching and eliminate any that is less than good, by:  closing the gaps already identified in older pupils’ learning in mathematics and ensuring basic mathematical knowledge and skills are taught very thoroughly throughout the school including in the Early Years Foundation Stage  making sure teachers’ questioning extends learning to the full  ensuring that tasks always offer suitable challenge for the most-able pupils  giving pupils more opportunities to think and learn for themselves.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Starting points when children begin Reception vary, but are generally in line with those typically found at this age. All pupils by Year 6 have made at least average progress, and the majority make more than this. Work in books and in lessons confirm standards are above average in a range of subjects.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Reading is particularly strong and is based on the effective teaching of phonics (how the sounds in words are represented by different letter combinations). By the time pupils are in Year 6, most can read fluently and with expression, and describe reasons for their reading preferences cogently. Skills in reading have helped pupils do well in writing. Many write imaginatively for a range of purposes, such as diaries and descriptions.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils who are disabled or who have special educational needs make equivalent and sometimes faster progress than others in the class because they receive the attention and support they require through carefully structured individual plans, and this meets their individual needs particularly well.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 There are too few pupils for whom the school received additional funding (the pupil premium) to compare their performance with others without potentially identifying individuals. The income received by the school to support these pupils is spent on tailored interventions, the impact of which is closely monitored by the headteacher and governors. As a result, this small group of pupils achieves well.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 In the Early Years Foundation Stage, the children enjoy a nurturing environment, good teaching and care, and a wide range of activities planned to meet their developmental needs. The majority are well-prepared to enter Year 1 with a good level of development, although, from their starting points, children make the least progress in number work. A few of the younger children do not do as well.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The school is aware that there are a few gaps in mathematical understanding evident among the older pupils, but it ensures that all pupils have equal opportunities to succeed and that discrimination of any type is not tolerated.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils’ learning slows sometimes because they are not given enough opportunities to think things out for themselves. This is exacerbated by pupils’ sometimes passive learning attitudes, so that pupils fail to let the teacher know when they do not understand. More-able pupils and some middle-ability pupils do not all make good progress because tasks they are set are sometimes not challenging enough.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The supportive and engaging teaching has led to pupils’ consistently good achievement. Pupils who are disabled or who have special educational needs are helped to make the same or better progress as their classmates, through nurturing guidance from all the adults.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Excellent use is made of the local village and surrounding environment to give pupils opportunities to connect classroom learning to real-life situations as in recent preservation work when pupils met Princess Anne. This supports pupils’ good personal skills and spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness.  The teaching assistants make generally strong contribution to pupils’ achievements, through supporting individual pupils, as well as groups of pupils in need of extra support.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The best teaching leads to pupils learning well through busy engagement in their activities. For example, the youngest children enjoyed building a Noah’s ark in the outside area and seeing how many pairs of children could fit into it, representing the animals going in two by two.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching links literacy and numeracy well with other subjects. In a typical example, pupils in Key Stage 2 enjoyed a practical scientific investigation, finding out what kind of paper is the most absorbent. They made good progress because they recorded their findings and conclusions in an organised and logical manner. They discussed their charts and read their sentences out to each other. This kind of activity develops pupils’ attitudes to learning and leads to good progress.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Good questioning is evident in some teaching that enables pupils to think things out for themselves. However, sometimes, teachers’ questions are too narrow in scope to encourage and extend learning. On occasions, teachers provide the answer immediately instead of asking the pupils for it. This slows progress.

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The quality of teaching is good

 There is not yet enough outstanding teaching to ensure all pupils make consistently high rates of progress. Teachers provide good support and guidance to pupils. However, the support is so readily given that it encourages pupils to rely too much on the teacher to provide the answer. Occasionally in lessons, tasks are too easy for the majority. Sometimes, when challenging work is set in mathematics, pupils have not understood the basic concepts. These gaps in previous learning, when not picked up quickly enough, slow pupils’ progress and hamper their ability to understand the more complex work.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school provides a caring and supportive environment in which pupils know they are valued as individuals.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils behave well both indoors and outside when at play. The school’s logs of incidents of misbehaviour show very few incidents over time. Older pupils take care of the younger ones, for instance at lunch, with an older pupil sitting at each younger pupils’ table.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Relationships between pupils and staff are highly positive and, because pupils spend more than one year with each of the teachers, their individuality is known and respected. Although they say there is no bullying at school, the pupils have a good understanding of what bullying is, including cyber bullying. They are confident that if they had any problems, they would be listened to by staff. Most parents who responded to the online questionnaire, and all those who talked with the inspector at the school gate, agree, and feel the school keeps their child safe and that behaviour is managed well.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils have a strong sense of community and, through events in the church and the community centre, they make a strong contribution to good multi-generation relationships. Pupils understand how to keep themselves safe in their environment, for example when walking in the narrow village lanes or near water and railways.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils’ above-average attendance confirms what they said in discussions with them: they much enjoy coming to school and all that it offers.  Pupils’ attitudes to learning are often highly conducive to making the good progress evident. They concentrate well, listen attentively and collaborate well. Occasionally, however, some still sit over-long with their hands up when ‘stuck’, not thinking out how they might solve their problems themselves, for instance by recourse to dictionaries or thesaurus.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher shares her strong vision for the future of the school with all members of the school community. She successfully gained their support to link formally and informally with other schools and contribute to a local teaching alliance.

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The leadership and management are good

 These links have brought significant benefits: staff develop their teaching skills and pupils take part in a range of linked activities. This has enabled all those involved to become part of a wider community and is excellent preparation for the future education of the pupils.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school self-evaluation identifies its strengths and weaknesses precisely and development plans are focused accurately. Leaders quickly respond to the training needs they identify through lesson observations or work scrutinies. This confirms that the school has the capacity to improve further.

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The leadership and management are good

 The range of subjects offered engages pupils in learning. It is enriched by a variety of trips and visitors as well as by use of the local environment. There is an array of extra-curricular activities for pupils, especially in music and sport, promoting their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Literacy and numeracy are strong features in the planning across many subjects although, in practice, in teaching, there has not been enough emphasis on making sure all the mathematical concepts taught are fully understood by all the pupils.

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The leadership and management are good

 The funding provided by the government to support the development of physical education in schools is being spent on additional professional coaching for staff and pupils. The impact is already being measured in terms of increased physical health and well-being, and increased staff expertise.

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The leadership and management are good

 Staff with responsibilities contribute well overall to the leadership and management of the school and are fully focused on improving the school. However, monitoring the quality of teaching and learning is not yet robust. There is not enough focus on pupils’ progress as the yardstick for judging teaching quality. Because of this, some of the teaching requires improvement, and little is outstanding. This is the reason that pupils’ achievement is not yet outstanding.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority has confidence in the headteacher and governors to lead the school well and provides the administrative level of support appropriate for this consistently good school.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governors work closely with the headteacher and share her determination to seek constant improvements to benefit the pupils.  Governors ensure their statutory responsibilities are fulfilled in relation to the school’s finances. They ensure all the safeguarding requirements are met. They keep a close eye on the progress of each pupil. They have a good knowledge of data and how the school’s performance sits with other, similar schools, and use this information effectively to hold the school to account for its performance.  Governors are involved in the performance management of the headteacher and understand the performance management of teachers in relation to national standards and salary progression. This gives them a sound understanding of the quality of teaching, and they ensure that good performance is rewarded and any weaknesses tackled effectively. The impact of the pupil premium funding is analysed so that governors can make informed

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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 120151 Local authority Leicestershire Inspection number 429565

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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 102 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Tracey Mitchell Headteacher Carol Price Date of previous school inspection 10 March 2009 Telephone number 01530 412425 Fax number 01530 412425 Email address office@packington.leics.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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