Ludham Primary School and Nursery

Ludham Primary School and Nursery School Road, Ludham, Great Yarmouth, NR29 5QN

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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 teachers plan interesting lessons that engage and motivate the pupils.  Pupils make good progress in a range of subjects. They do well in reading and mathematics, and make particularly good progress in science.  Pupils concentrate in lessons, behave well in the playground, and say they feel safe at school.  The classrooms are stimulating places for pupils, who have easy access to a broad range of resources that help them to learn.  The pupils are taught an interesting range of subjects and themes, including modern languages.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress because the extra teaching and support they receive is well managed and effective.  The headteacher keeps a careful check on the quality of teaching and the progress that the pupils make.  Governors challenge the school to perform as well as it can. They frequently visit the school

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Not as many pupils are making faster than expected progress in writing as they are in reading and mathematics.  Although marking is detailed and helpful, it is not as effective as it could be because pupils are not always given the chance to respond to their teacher’s comments.  The targets set for teachers’ performance are not sharp enough.  Similarly, plans for improvement are not sufficiently focused to ensure that pupils’ progress accelerates rapidly.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed 10 lessons and, in addition, made a few short visits to lessons. He spoke to pupils in lessons and at lunchtime, and met with a group of Year 5 and 6 pupils.  The inspector scrutinised a range of documents, including the school’s plans for improvement and policies about keeping pupils safe. He also examined the work in some pupils’ books and a range of data about their progress.  The inspector held discussions with teachers, the headteacher and seven members of the governing body. He also spoke by telephone to a representative of the local authority.  The views of 20 parents were analysed through the Parent View website. The inspector also considered the views expressed in questionnaires returned by members of staff.

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Inspection team

Christopher Parker, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school population is smaller than that of most primary schools. However, it has grown in size by over a third in the last three years.  Almost all of the pupils are White British. The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups and the proportion who speak English as an additional language are both below the national average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs at school action (pupils who need extra support with their learning) is above average. The proportion at school action plus, or who have a statement of special educational needs, is broadly average.  The proportion of pupils supported through the pupil premium is below the national average. This funding supports those pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and those children who are ‘looked after’.  The school meets the government’s floor standard, which sets the minimum expectations for

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the focus on pupils’ writing, so that more of them make faster than expected progress and reach higher standards by:  making sure that pupils are always given the opportunity to respond to their teacher’s comments on their work, so that they can correct and improve it  using every opportunity to write for a range of purposes across all subjects.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the leadership and management of the school by making full use of the information that the teachers collect about pupils’ progress, to:  add measurable targets for pupils’ progress for each teacher in their annual appraisal  set, wherever possible, measurable targets in the school development plan against which success can be evaluated.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Fewer children than usual start school with the skills expected of that age. They make good progress in both the Nursery and Reception years so that last year, for example, most reached the goals set for them nationally. The children are making good progress because a high priority is given to early reading, writing and mathematics in both teacher-led activities and those they choose themselves.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 In Key Stages 1 and 2 pupils are making good progress in lessons. This is evident in their work books and in the work on display. The school tracks each pupil’s progress as they move through the school, and this shows that it is good in a range of subjects. However, not as many pupils are making faster than expected progress in writing as they are in reading and mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The growth in the school’s population means that, in most year groups, several pupils have joined the school at different times, bringing a broad range of skills and abilities. The school adapts well to provide learning at the right level for these pupils, who say they are warmly welcomed and are given help to catch up, should they need it.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The good progress in lessons, and evident in the school’s own data, is not reflected in the recent national test results for pupils at the end of Year 6. This is because a few pupils, in a relatively small cohort, faced difficult circumstances that affected their progress. Analysis of each pupil’s progress shows that all of the others made and exceeded the progress expected nationally.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Overall, standards are broadly average, although they fluctuate from year to year because the number of pupils in Year 6 in recent years has been small. The most-able pupils – those who did well in tests at the end of Year 2 – reached higher levels of attainment at the end of Year 6. Over half of the pupils reached Level 5 in reading and in spelling, grammar and punctuation.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils achieve well in a range of subjects. The pupils do particularly well in science because the emphasis is placed on pupils finding out for themselves. Some opportunities for writing in other subjects are used well, but others are not. For example, some of the activities undertaken by older pupils about Ancient Greece have not challenged them to write at length.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The one-to-one and small-group teaching provided for pupils supported by the pupil premium, and for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, help most of them to make good progress. Their progress is frequently reviewed so that extra support can be withdrawn as soon as it is no longer required or additional support planned. The number of pupils supported by the pupil premium is too small for comparisons of their attainment levels with their classmates to be made without identifying individuals.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Like the rest of the school, classrooms are well organised so that the pupils have easy access to resources. This promotes an increasing independence and a very positive climate for learning. The teachers plan lessons that engage and interest pupils, such as a science investigation in the Year 3 and 4 class where pupils were testing the absorbency of different types of paper.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Early reading is particularly well taught in the Reception class. The teacher uses a wide range of strategies – such as rhymes, songs and creative activities – to successfully promote the children’s knowledge of the sounds that letters make. Good learning is promoted both in the classroom and the very well-resourced outdoor area.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Efforts to improve the teaching of writing are bearing fruit. For example, in the Year 1 and 2 class, the teacher demonstrated to the pupils how to write a description of a pirate before going on to set them the tasks of writing a description of a character. A good range of resources and additional support were on hand to help all groups of pupils to make good progress.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching in mathematics makes the pupils of all abilities think hard. This was the case when pupils in the Year 3 and 4 class were solving problems about angles and direction. Some of the less-able pupils were set a series of shapes to draw by giving instructions in a simple computer graphics programming language.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The teachers are working to improve marking. Where it is successful in accelerating progress, in the Year 5 and 6 class, the teacher uses her comments on the pupils’ previous work as a focus for the next lesson. This results in much-improved writing. However, the impact of marking is inconsistent and is sometimes lost because pupils are not given the opportunity to respond to it.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The adults who work alongside the teachers are well briefed, and usually well deployed. However, very occasionally their support is not used to the full. They are effective when working with individuals and small groups – for example, leading focused small group learning of the sounds that letters make.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils have positive attitudes to learning and are very appreciative of the help they receive from their teachers. They find their teacher’s comments on their work very useful in helping them to improve. Older pupils were particularly pleased about how much their letters to persuade Scrooge to enjoy Christmas improved when they responded to their teacher’s guidance.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 In lessons, pupils concentrate well. They are confident to use the readily available resources that are well organised and accessible to them. For example, more-able pupils in Years 1 and 2 made good use of a thesaurus for finding interesting words to improve their writing. Most pupils present their work neatly and carefully, as a result of the emphasis placed on handwriting.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school has made pupils very aware of bullying. Pupils say that bullying is not tolerated. Following a text-messaging incident, which occurred outside of school, pupils were given further guidance about how to stay safe when using mobile phones and the internet. An information evening was also organised to provide further advice for parents on e-safety.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils enjoy school and are particularly proud of their uniform with ‘proper ties’. Pupils welcome the opportunities they are given to, for example, learn to play a keyboard or brass instrument. They also enjoy the sports clubs that are organised for them, and the clubs – such as the art club – which they run themselves.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The very few pupils who have special educational needs relating to their behaviour are very well supported in lessons. This helps them to concentrate and persevere in their work. The school’s comprehensive records illustrate the wide range of support that they offer to these pupils and their families, and the positive impact that this has on their overall progress.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school, including the Early Years Foundation Stage, is highly organised and effectively managed. Displays of the pupils’ writing, and photographs of them at work, create a climate in which high quality is valued and expected. The work on display reflects the broad and interesting curriculum which the school provides for the pupils.

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The leadership and management are good

 Pupil premium funds are used thoughtfully to buy additional one-to-one and small-group teaching. The funding to support primary school sports is also being used well to allow sports coaches to work alongside teachers and teaching assistants to train them to teach physical education (PE) well. This was the case in the Year 5 and 6 class PE lesson where pupils successfully practised passing, moving and finding space to receive a ball.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher regularly checks the quality of teaching. These observations identify what teachers are doing well and where improvements can be made. Subsequent observations check that improvements have actually been made. Regular reviews of the pupils’ workbooks also keep teachers who lead subjects informed of improvements – for example, in marking.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher leads half-termly meetings with each teacher to review the progress of every pupil. If a pupil is falling behind, additional support is promptly allocated. The special needs coordinator also closely monitors the progress of those pupils who have particular needs, and manages the support which they receive from within the school, and that provided by external agencies, very effectively.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders have been successful in their determination to ensure that all pupils have equal opportunities and that there is no discrimination within the school.

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The leadership and management are good

 The appraisal of each teacher’s performance is carried out systematically. The headteacher sets the teachers appropriate targets to help them to improve, but does not include a challenging and measurable target for pupils’ progress. Any additional pay awards are approved by governors and are related to improvements in performance.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school development plan is well focused on appropriate areas for improvement, and contains a manageable range of priorities. However, the criteria against which success can be measured are not precise enough, and there is insufficient detail about when actions will be completed and evaluations carried out.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school has received ‘light touch’ support from the local authority in the recent past, but does attend a good range of local authority training courses for governors, teachers and teaching assistants. Local authority advisers also provide support in the school – for example, to improve teaching in the Early Years Foundation Stage and to further develop pupils’ learning through investigations in science lessons.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Several members of the governing body are frequent visitors to the school. Consequently, they have a good knowledge of its work and performance. All of their visits are recorded, and these records illustrate the wide variety of checks that they carry out.  Through a range of groups, governors focus sharply on key areas of the school’s work – for example, pupils’ progress. Each governor has a responsibility that links them to a member of staff. This allows them to keep in touch with developments in many aspects of the school’s work.  Governors have undertaken a lot of training and recently received further training in how to make more effective use of data about the performance of pupils.  Governors set the headteacher targets for improvement and know that all of the staff have been appraised; they will only agree to pay awards where it is warranted.  Governors have been involved in the decisions taken about the spending of the pupil premium

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The leadership and management are good

and the funding to support primary school sport. They receive reports from the headteacher about the impact which the pupil premium has had on the progress of those pupils it is allocated to support.  Governors make frequent checks to make sure arrangements to keep children safe, which currently meet requirements, are maintained.

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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 120830 Local authority Norfolk Inspection number 433158

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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 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 109 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Carol Willoughby Headteacher Heather Delf Date of previous school inspection 5 October 2010 Telephone number 01692 678293 Fax number 01692 678153 Email address office@ludham.norfolk.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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