Lindale CofE Primary School

Lindale CofE Primary School School Hill, Lindale, Grange-Over-Sands, Cumbria, LA11 6LE

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Requires improvement 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.  There has been a marked improvement in pupils’ progress since the previous inspection, especially in writing. Over the last few terms, pupils have made better progress than is normally expected.  Results for Year 6 in 2013 were slightly below those found nationally. Mathematics was the strongest element and the results were the best for three years. Current work in Year 6 shows above average standards. Impressive headway has been made with writing.  Teaching is good and occasionally outstanding. In some lessons, teachers’ enthusiasm makes pupils exceptionally keen to learn. The marking of pupils’ work is very detailed. Teachers establish a dialogue with pupils about how to improve.  Pupils enjoy school, behave well and sometimes make impressive effort with their work. They feel safe and looked after well.  The headteacher has been highly perceptive in identifying necessary changes to secure

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

improvement. She has established high expectations, raised achievement and the quality of teaching. Since her appointment, she has led improvement with vigour and determination.  Governors have been decisive in making improvements to bring about higher achievement and to improve learning.  Improvement in the school has been well supported by the local authority.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Some teaching is not as effective as it could be. Occasionally, the pace of learning in lessons is slack, pupils become bored or distractions in the room detract from learning.  Sometimes pupils are not allowed to move on to more challenging work when they are ready to do so.  Marking of writing does not always pinpoint the most sensible next-steps that a pupil should take to secure immediate improvement from the standard at which they are working. Not enough is done to reinforce such improvement points.  Occasionally, pupils become restless at the end of lunchtime and playground activities are sometimes too boisterous and repetitive.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed seven lessons for a substantial time; three lessons had shared observations with the headteacher. In addition, short sessions were observed in lessons for computing, and physical education and there were brief observations of sessions where letters and their sounds or pupils’ understanding of reading were being developed. An assembly was observed.  Meetings were held with four members of the governing body and with a representative of the local authority. The inspector had an email exchange with the inspector who had monitored the school since it was found to require improvement at the previous full inspection. He also held meetings with the headteacher, middle leaders and a group of pupils.  The inspector observed the school’s work and looked at a number of documents. These included pupils’ work in the current year, the school’s recent and previous national assessment results,

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Information about this inspection

information on pupils’ progress, the school’s evaluation of its own performance and improvement plans. Records on safeguarding procedures, behaviour and attendance were also examined. The inspector listened to some pupils reading.  The inspector took account of 23 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) and spoke with about eight parents at the school gate. There were 14 questionnaires completed by staff.

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Inspection team

Jim Bennetts, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This primary school is smaller in size than average.  The great majority of pupils are of White British heritage. None are learning to speak English as an additional language.  Very few pupils are eligible for the pupil premium. The pupil premium is additional funding for those pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals, children from service families and those children who are looked after by the local authority.  The proportion of pupils whose learning needs are supported at the level known as school action is above average. The proportion of pupils supported at school action plus, or with a statement of special educational needs, is average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics by the end of Year 6.  There are generally three classes: Nursery, Reception, Year 1; Years 2 and 3; Years 4, 5 and 6.

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Information about this school

However, Year 6 pupils are sometimes taught separately.  The school’s nursery functions part time: afternoons only. The school has close links with the adjoining privately run nursery; some children attend both that and the school’s nursery. The private nursery is subject to separate inspection and has separate inspection reports.  Some pupils arrive early to school and are looked after by school staff.  The headteacher took up her post in September 2012. There is no deputy headteacher. The headteacher takes the lead with the organisation of English and with that provided for those with special educational needs. One teacher leads on mathematics and another leads on that provided for young children.  The previous inspection in January 2013, found that the school required improvement. Since then one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors has made monitoring visits to the school, with an interim letter assessing the progress being made.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching further in order to raise achievement to outstanding by:  ensuring that learning proceeds at the right pace, without losing momentum and without distraction, so that pupils give full attention to the work in hand  planning lessons effectively, and modifying plans as necessary when underway, in order to move pupils on to more challenging work and to avoid repeating work that they can already do  sharpening the good quality marking of pupils’ writing by paying greater attention to improving pupils’ spelling ability and uses of language, and by doing more to help pupils to learn from their mistakes.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Enhance pupils’ social development during play times by encouraging a greater range of playground and recreational activity.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children joining the school at Nursery or Reception age generally have social skills and a capacity for concentration that are at least as good as is usual for that age. Their skills in talking and counting are usually as well developed as is normal. With small numbers in each year’s intake, standards vary considerably. They make quite good progress and by the time they start Year 1 they are well placed to get underway with National Curriculum work.  Standards by the end of Year 2 have been improving for several years. In 2013, they were above average, whereas a few years ago they were significantly below average. Pupils in Year 1 do well in checks on letters and the sounds they make. At present, Year 2 pupils are making good progress in writing; over the last term, there has been a noticeable improvement in the work in their books and results at the end of this year are likely to be higher than last year.

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The achievement of pupils is good

Marking is diligent and pupils respond well to the comments that teachers make. Detailed marking corrects words such as’ xsplod’ (explode) and ‘difrant’ (different), but simple common words such as ‘sed’ (said) and ‘fiy’ (fire) are not picked up well enough to result in immediate improvement.  Progress is now good as pupils move through Key Stage 2. There has been acceleration recently, particularly for Year 6 pupils. The new scheme for linking letters and sounds and for developing fluency and understanding with reading is boosting pupils’ confidence and enthusiasm for reading. Year 6 pupils are making good headway in mathematics as they consolidate skills by working through examples at the higher level (Level 5). Present standards in Year 6 are considerably higher than last year.  Year 6 pupils’ writing, when compared with what they did in the autumn of 2012, shows markedly better progress than is usual. Pupils have opportunity to write in a variety of styles, for

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The achievement of pupils is good

example, evaluating a film and writing letters to the local MP or to a Spartan lad (‘I like play fighting, but hurling people isn’t my thing’). Marking is detailed and addresses features such as ‘pejorative language’ or ‘sentence openers’. However, for some, there is not enough emphasis on more basic points about spelling or use of language. For instance, some struggle with spellings such as ‘conclusion’ or choose ‘rapidly’ rather than ‘quickly’ in a context such as ‘I shut my bag rapidly’.  Pupils relish lessons in physical education (PE) and with computers and learn well. There is impressive science work in pupils’ books throughout the age range. For instance, they carry out investigations of how far ‘balloon rockets’ can go, and learn about volcanoes.  On the limited evidence available, the very small number of pupils known to be entitled to pupil premium funding do very well in relation to others in the school and nationally (there were no

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The achievement of pupils is good

such pupils in the data for Year 6 in 2013).  A few pupils are disabled or have special educational needs. For some, this affects behaviour, especially if they become anxious or frustrated. Discussions about what the school does to help such pupils were held and observations confirmed that, allowing for their circumstances, these pupils do as well as others in the school.  There are opportunities for pupils of all backgrounds and abilities to make good progress. Data for national tests at age 11 in 2013 gives no information on higher ability pupils. However, the most able pupils are now making good headway in all subjects and year groups.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is good overall. It ranges from outstanding to requiring improvement. It is much better than at the previous inspection.  In some lessons, the atmosphere is electric; pupils are thrilled with what is going on, respond with exuberance and make impressive headway. Younger pupils readily grasped the sense of words that capture emotions as the teacher spontaneously mimed feelings that pupils gave name to: curious, grumpy and frustrated. Pupils promptly made their own similes such as ‘shy as a lamb’. Enthusiastic learning, well orchestrated by the teacher, was highly effective. Meanwhile in Year 6, pupils earnestly grappled with challenging pie charts and percentage bar graphs, mindful of the importance of mastering higher skills. They valued a helpful steer from the teacher as she checked their progress.  Occasionally, a lesson does not enthuse pupils to want to learn and, as a result, their interest

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The quality of teaching is good

wanes; teachers do not always inject enough impetus. In a couple of lessons with pupils working in groups, work tailed off because it had been a while since an adult checked progress and pupils were getting bored, or felt they had ‘done it’. Serious work on early reading with younger children was sometimes disturbed by other activities and noise in the vicinity.  Occasionally, teachers do not make sure that pupils fully understand what they are meant to be learning. For example in one lesson, pupils did not grasp immediately how to inject meaning and expression into a spoken phrase or question. Eventually, a quick demonstration by the teacher clinched understanding and intentions far more quickly than letting all pupils in the class have a go without any guidance. However, with the same teacher, moving on from ratio in mathematics to colouring in art by shading using, for instance, a 2:1 ratio of red and yellow, was a successful

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The quality of teaching is good

way of reinforcing learning.  In some lessons, the pupils work for too long at the same task when some are ready to move on. For example, in a mathematics lesson, a teacher explained crisply how to do sums such as 83-19 (83-20+1) and, bar a few slips, pupils mastered the method. Though further related work such as 123+ 21 had been planned, the teacher hesitated to go further and pupils mostly did more of the same for another 15 minutes. This slowed down progress in the lesson.  Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs are usually very willing to engage in their learning. They are taught and looked after well and by staff to ensure that they get on as well as possible.  The new scheme to develop aspects of literacy, with pupils in groups of similar ability but widely varying age, is well organised and underpins good learning.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The behaviour of pupils is good. The new behaviour management system is effective and well regarded by pupils: Friday is reward day. Behaviour has improved. Pupils enjoy school and attend well, though there are a few stragglers at the start of each day. In lessons, pupils are often very enthusiastic learners and can exercise initiative.  There is great eagerness to participate in physical education activities after hours and pupils value greatly opportunities to take part in sport in the locality.  The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils say that everyone is considerate and kindly. They are quite emphatic in saying that there is nothing that amounts to bullying and understand that friends can fall-out and then get on good terms again.  Pupils feel secure and well looked after. They get on well and have generally good social skills for their age. Those who arrive early in the morning are engaged by staff in interesting activities,

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

such as assembling models. On occasion, a few pupils who have eaten their packed lunch and await dismissal from the dining room become a little restive.  Most older pupils enjoy the rough and tumble of lively playground activity, though pupils can be a little overexcited and boisterous games do take place sometimes. There is not as much variety in older pupils’ playground activities as is found in some schools. Supervisors often miss the chance to interact and converse with pupils and so opportunities are missed to extend pupils’ social skills.  Pupils have a good understanding of how well they are doing and how to improve. They appreciate the helpful guidance they receive. Older pupils say they are learning more now than in the past. They feel well prepared for the move to secondary school and can give convincing explanations for their choice of a particular school.

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The leadership and management are good

 During the four terms since her appointment, the headteacher has turned the school around. From requiring improvement on all fronts, the school is now resoundingly good, with convincing capacity for further improvement. Shrewd analysis of how things stood has followed through to decisive action to streamline staffing arrangements, require effective teaching, and monitor closely pupils’ progress and the quality of the work staff do. The areas for improvement from the previous inspection have been addressed with determination and with success. The performance management of staff is detailed and skilful. The headteacher, and governors, have a clear impression of where improvement could still be made.  The new commercial scheme brings consistency and clarity to work to develop skills in early reading and subsequent mastery of the basics of literacy. Behaviour management is now robust and well received by parents and pupils. The headteacher has left no doubt about her high

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The leadership and management are good

expectations; in turn, staff have high expectations of pupils, and of themselves. Those with middle-leadership responsibilities are conscientious and effective in their duties.  The headteacher is very well supported by the great majority of staff and parents. A tiny minority have some sense of resentment on particular points regarding new systems and expectations, and the headteacher is addressing such matters in a proper professional way.  The curriculum has due regard to the development of a full range of personal skills and subject knowledge. Expert teachers are engaged for PE and computer work. Funding for sport is used well to cultivate the skills of staff as well as in ensuring that what is on offer for current pupils is of high quality. An assembly presented by a member of the clergy gave pupils some sense of the mysteries of religion; they listened with rapt attention. Pupils are discerning in their notions of

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The leadership and management are good

right and wrong: no scorn of a fellow pupils’ misbehaviour if that pupil cannot help it. Their social skills and confidence in interaction with a visitor are impeccable. They have a reasonable feel for the cultures of the wider world.  The local authority has given stalwart support to every aspect of the innovation and improvement agenda that the school has embarked upon. The practical and moral support given to the headteacher has been of immense value.  The governance of the school:  Governors support the school with a range of pertinent expertise and with a determination to force improvement. Their sharpness and commitment have ensured that teaching has improved, achievement has improved, and that the headteacher can be confident of full backing for the initiatives that have been taken. They attend conscientiously to their responsibilities regarding safeguarding of pupils, application of proper criteria to staff’s salary

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The leadership and management are good

progression and the effectiveness of allocation of earmarked funding (including pupil premium funding and that for sport). There is ample training for new and established governors. Sub- committee devolvement is appropriate, individual governors’ specialist responsibilities are well aligned with their expertise. Minutes of the governing body meetings and its committees leave no doubt that thoroughness is the hallmark of governors’ work. The school is exceptionally well served by its governors; they will tolerate nothing but the best.

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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 112286 Local authority Cumbria Inspection number 432114

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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 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 66 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Paul Bond Headteacher Sarah Coleman Date of previous school inspection 15 January 2013 Telephone number 01539 533480 Fax number 01539 533480 Email address admin@lindale.cumbria.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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