Tarleton Mere Brow Church of England Primary School

Tarleton Mere Brow Church of England Primary School The Gravel, Mere Brow, Tarleton, PR4 6JX

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Satisfactory 3 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.  All groups of pupils achieve well. The best progress is seen in Key Stage 2 and in mathematics across the whole school. Attainment and progress have been rapidly improving over the last two years. Attainment at the end of Year 6 is above average.  Good teaching is helping pupils to make faster progress and to behave well. Teachers are particularly good at making sure that pupils know what they are expected to learn in each lesson.  Behaviour is good. Pupils know how important it is to represent the school and themselves well through developing good social and moral values.  Leadership, management and governance are good. An effective drive for improvement has been strongly focussed on improving teaching and learning. Teachers are being given good guidance and training.  Leaders, managers and governors have a good understanding of what makes the school good and what needs to be done to make it even

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

better. This gives the school a good capacity for further improvement.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 There is not enough outstanding teaching. There are times when teachers do not make it clear enough what pupils need to do to improve their work in order to exceed expectations rather than just meeting them.  Reading results are not as good as those for writing and mathematics. Opportunities are missed to promote reading more strongly in subjects other than English.

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Information about this inspection

 Seven lessons were observed. Four other ‘focus group’ lessons were briefly visited. Three teachers were observed in lesson observations. The headteacher and two teaching assistants were observed during the ‘focus group’ sessions.  A meeting took place with the Chair of the Governing Body and two other governors.  There was a discussion with the school advisor as the representative of the local authority.  The views of parents were taken note of, mainly through their responses to the school’s own questionnaire. There were insufficient responses to Ofsted’s on-line questionnaire, Parent View, for results to be published.  Conversations were held with many pupils during and after lessons.

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Inspection team

Alastair Younger, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is a much smaller than average sized school. Numbers on roll are rising.  The proportion of pupils with disabilities or special educational needs varies widely from year to year. The proportion of pupils currently being supported through school action is higher than average. The proportion of pupils supported through school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is about average.  A smaller than average proportion of pupils is known to be eligible for the pupil premium. The pupil premium is additional funding for those children who are known to be eligible for free school meals, children who are looked after and children from service families. In this school all the pupils attracting this funding are those known to be eligible for free school meals.  All pupils are White British. There are slightly more girls than boys.  In 2013 there were fewer than 11 Year 6 pupils so there is no reporting of the school’s

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Information about this school

performance against floor standards.  Leaders, managers and governors are well advanced in negotiations to make Nursery provision within the school.  In such a small school, there is no formal ‘middle management’ but all staff take on specific responsibilities for subjects and aspects that they lead and manage.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching to make more of it outstanding by:  ensuring greater consistency in the marking and annotation of pupils’ work to give pupils a better understanding of what they need to do to make more rapid gains in their learning  making sure that reading is more widely promoted across all subjects and that a stronger ‘book culture’ is created in classrooms  ensuring that targets for improving teaching are more precisely worded in appraisal documentation.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils achieve well because they are well taught and they want to learn. A strong trend of improvement over the past two years has coincided with improvements in teaching. Pupils are currently making good progress in lessons. Parents are very happy with the progress their children are making.  Most children start school in Reception with abilities slightly below those expected for their age. From their starting points they make good progress and usually enter Year 1 with skills at about the nationally expected level. Standards rise through the rest of the school so that they are above the national average in English and in mathematics by the time pupils leave at the end of Year 6.  Pupils with special educational needs and those known to be eligible for free school meals tend to perform very similarly to all other pupils.  There are some very able pupils coming through the school. Some Year 5 pupils are already

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The achievement of pupils is good

exceeding national expectations for Year 6 pupils. Work for these pupils is being carefully adapted, especially in writing and mathematics, to ensure that they maintain momentum.  Writing is good, especially in Key Stage 2. There are some stunning examples of outstanding writing. Memorably, in the poignant letters pupils wrote as part of their Remembrance Day studies this year. A strength of writing is the way so much of it is based on themes that fire up pupils’ enthusiasm; for instance, when Class 2 pupils write elf-mails rather than e-mails to Santa.  Progress in reading is good but not as good as in writing. Most Year 1 pupils achieve at least the expected standard in national checks relating to their understanding of how letters combine to form different sounds (phonics). By the end of Year 6, pupils are meeting their targets for reading but fewer are exceeding them than in writing.  Progress in mathematics is also good. Judging by pupils’ current work and the results of

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The achievement of pupils is good

assessments at the end of Year 1, Year 2 pupils are well on track to exceed national expectations for the end of Key Stage 1. In 2013, most Year 6 pupils made better than expected progress and overall attainment was above average.  Primary school sports funding is being well used to support progress, enjoyment and participation in physical education and sport. Much is spent on specialised coaching and physical education teaching. A lot of this supports lunchtime and after school clubs, which attract a good turnout. The contract for this coaching includes good opportunities for those physically gifted and talented pupils and those with disabilities or special educational needs to get extra specialist coaching and support.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils learn well and enjoy learning because they are well taught in bright, stimulating classrooms.  Teachers are particularly good at making sure that pupils know, at the start of each lesson, what they are expected to have learned by the end. They talk about this at the start of each lesson, display objectives on whiteboards and refer to them at the end of each lesson when learning is being checked. Teachers set work that is sufficiently varied to enable all pupils to work with as much independence as possible.  English and mathematics are both well taught. The difference between the teaching of reading and writing is that in nearly all subjects pupils are expected to write but expectations in reading are lower. Books, for instance, have a lower profile in classrooms and pupils more frequently and very competently turn to computers for research and information.  Teachers manage their classrooms well. Additional staff are deployed effectively to support

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The quality of teaching is good

different individuals or groups of pupils with their learning and behaviour. This allows pupils with special educational needs and those for whom the pupil premium provides support, to achieve equally with others.  Expectations are appropriate and rising, especially in the case of those more-able pupils who are already exceeding national expectations up to a year earlier than expected for their age. Dividing pupils, by ability, into small focus groups for an hour each morning means that teaching is more precisely tailored to specific needs. The different groups are taught variously by teachers, the headteacher and teaching assistants and all groups are taught well.  Assessment is mainly good. It recognises and quantifies the progress pupils are making. Work is accurately marked and annotation tells pupils what they have learned. Where annotation falls short is that it rarely tells pupils what they need to do to produce even better work.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Subjects other than mathematics and English are also well taught. The creative curriculum, for instance, often combines learning in several interlinked subjects. Teachers plan this well to make sure that no individual subject either dominates or gets neglected.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils behave well. They are proud of their school and enjoy all of the experiences it provides. As a result, attendance is much better than in many primary schools.  Pupils’ attitudes to learning are mainly positive. Lessons usually have a pleasant buzz of productivity, free of any low-level interference or misbehaviour. There is a strong sense of celebration of success. Pupils fully understand the importance of developing strong moral and social values and, over the past year, there has been a good programme of activities to help them to understand how people from other communities and faiths conduct their lives.  Records show that occasionally a small minority of pupils tend to vary their attitudes and behaviour according to what is being taught and who is teaching it. These records also show that, as teaching has improved, these instances have declined.  Parents are happy with the standard of behaviour in the school and the way their children are

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

kept safe and well looked after. Pupils express no concerns. They say that everyone knows who to go to or what to do if they are worried about anything. There is no evidence of bullying of any kind.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher and governors share with staff a very strong desire to keep making this school better. They have a very clear vision of what needs to be done to achieve this aim.  Improving teaching and learning is at the centre of the headteacher’s plans. All staff contribute well, for instance through their roles in improving subject areas or aspects such as the Early Years Foundation Stage. As a result, teaching is improving strongly and, with it, pupils’ progress and behaviour. These improvements in progress and behaviour apply equally to pupils supported by the pupil premium as they do to all other pupils.  Regular and accurate monitoring of teaching and learning is contributing well. After any lesson observation, teachers are given good feedback about what they are doing well and what they need to do to improve.  There are good systems for appraising the performance of staff. Teachers are set clear targets

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The leadership and management are good

for development that are usually suitably challenging but not always sufficiently precisely worded to enable accurate judgement of success. Staff are helped to meet their targets with support from a good programme of continuing professional development.  The school’s arrangements for safeguarding meet statutory requirements.  The curriculum is good. It focuses strongly on promoting numeracy and literacy while still including a wide range of other subjects that pupils particularly enjoy.  The local authority has provided invaluable support in helping to develop Early Years Foundation Stage provision. It is also supporting the school’s efforts to extend into Nursery provision. It has also brokered arrangements for staff to visit other schools where outstanding provision has been identified.  The governance of the school:  Governors support the school strongly and well. They expect to see continuous development

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The leadership and management are good

and improvement, and frequently challenge the headteacher to explain to them what is being done and to what effect. They are also regular visitors to the school to see for themselves what is going on and how they can contribute to improvement. Many governors take on specific responsibilities, such as monitoring safeguarding, provision in different subjects and provision for pupils with special educational needs. Finances are carefully managed, with special attention being paid to how additional funding through the pupil premium or sport funding for primary schools is being spent, and to what effect. Governors are good at focussing attention on the quality of teaching and learning and the individual performance of different members of staff, as well as improving the school environment.

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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 119574 Local authority Lancashire Inspection number 428873

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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 61 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair The Reverend Nicholas Davis Headteacher Sandra Livesey Date of previous school inspection 13 March 2012 Telephone number 01772 812689 Fax number 01772 815697 Email address head@merebrow.lancs.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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