Wilburton CofE Primary School

Wilburton CofE Primary School Carpond Lane, Wilburton, Ely, CB6 3RJ

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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.  Pupils achieve well and many are now making rapid progress. Standards are rising and attainment in Years 2 and 6 is above average.  Improved achievement has come about because teaching is good, and some is outstanding in Key Stages 1 and 2. Improvements in teaching since September 2013 have enabled pupils to make up for past gaps in their learning.  The school pays careful attention to the needs of different groups of pupils. More-able pupils produce high-quality work and those who need extra help with their learning make good progress.  Pupils’ behaviour is good; their attitudes and behaviour are outstanding in some lessons. Pupils feel safe in school and have a good awareness of how to stay safe.  The outstanding leadership of the interim headteacher and deputy headteacher is resulting in rapid school improvement. Consequently, pupils’ achievement and the quality of teaching have both improved since

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

the previous inspection.  Other teachers with leadership responsibilities support senior leaders well, and teamwork among the staff is strong.  The effectiveness of the governing body is much improved and governors are making a good contribution to the school’s development.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Pupils do not always make exceptional progress because there is not yet enough outstanding teaching.  At times, teachers concentrate too closely on the group of pupils they are working with and do not check how well the rest of the class is doing. The progress of some pupils slows when this happens.  Occasionally, work is too easy for more-able pupils when the whole class works with the teacher for part of the lesson. There are also instances when teachers’ explanations are too fast for pupils who find learning difficult.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector visited 14 lessons. Nearly all the observations were done jointly with the headteacher. The inspector also observed an assembly, looked at playground and lunchtime arrangements and listened to pupils reading.  Meetings were held with the interim headteacher, the deputy headteacher, leaders of reading, writing and mathematics, and the Early Years Foundation Stage teacher. The inspector met with the Chair and Vice Chair of the Governing Body and held a telephone discussion with a representative of the local authority.  The inspector took into account the 38 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) and 11 completed staff questionnaires.  The inspector looked at the school’s work and at documentation, including leaders’ evaluation of the school’s effectiveness, the school development plan, information relating to safeguarding, records of pupils’ attainment and progress, and at pupils’ books and learning journals (which

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Information about this inspection

contain samples of children’s work in the Early Years Foundation Stage).

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Inspection team

Margaret Goodchild, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is a smaller than average-sized primary school. Pupils are taught in four mixed-aged classes.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported at school action is below average. The proportion of pupils supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is also below average.  Nearly all the pupils are White British. A number of pupils come from Showman Travelling families who live near the school for part of the year and spend the rest of their time travelling. Some of these pupils are dual-registered with another school for part of the year.  The proportion of pupils for whom the school receives the pupil premium is below average. (This is additional funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals, for looked after children or those who have a parent in the forces.)  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations

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Information about this school

for pupils’ attainment and progress.  Since the previous inspection, there have been major changes in staffing and leadership. In September 2013, the school entered into a soft federation with Little Thetford C of E Primary School. The headteacher of Little Thetford became interim headteacher at Wilburton and a new deputy headteacher also took up post. The teachers in the Year 1/2 class and the Year 5/6 class joined the school at the same time.  At the beginning of next term, the interim headteacher will become executive headteacher at Wilburton and Little Thetford and the deputy headteacher will take on the role of head of school at Wilburton.  The breakfast and after-school clubs are managed by the governing body. A pre-school on the school site is subject to separate inspection arrangements.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Move teaching and pupils’ achievement from good to outstanding by:  making sure that when teachers concentrate on helping a particular group of pupils, they also check on how well other pupils are getting on with their work  always providing enough challenge for more-able pupils  taking the needs of pupils who find learning difficult more fully into account when explaining new work to the whole class.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children join the Early Years Foundation Stage with skills that are similar to those expected among children of their age. Records of children’s progress and the work in their learning journals show that they make good progress, particularly in literacy and mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 was average in 2013, which marked a decline on previous years. The attainment of pupils who are currently in Year 2 is already ahead of results of last year’s pupils at the end of Key Stage 1 in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils at Key Stage 1 are making good progress in all subjects and achieve exceptionally well in some lessons.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 was average in 2013. Published data suggest that while pupils made good progress in mathematics, some made less progress than they should have done in reading and writing. However, past inaccuracy in assessments at the end of Key Stage 1 means that it is difficult to judge how much progress these pupils actually made during their time in Key Stage 2.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Rigorous checks on attainment in September 2013 showed that pupils currently in the school had some gaps in their learning. Staff have been concentrating on filling gaps in pupils’ skills and knowledge. The rapid progress pupils have made in recent months means that the attainment of pupils, not only in Year 2 but also in Year 6, is now already ahead of the latest national results.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils nearly always make at least good progress in lessons and their positive attitudes to learning contribute to this. Pupils’ books and work on display show that many pupils have made outstanding progress since September 2013. They have covered a good deal of work in mathematics, greatly improved their handwriting and developed the way they organise and express their ideas in writing.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Throughout the school, more-able pupils make at least good, and often outstanding, progress. In the Reception class, the work of more-able children is of high quality, for example, with children using counting to add in tens and units. Older pupils confidently use algebra to convert measurements between metric and imperial units and solve tricky word problems.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 In English, more-able pupils produce high-quality work. For example, in Year 1, a pupil wrote, ‘They landed in a spooky forest. In the forest was a magical wizard barbecuing slugs with a dragon. The dragon was sad.’ A Year 6 pupil wrote, ‘All the life had been extracted from the once-green trees by the impending shimmery heat that warped the horizon into a wavy line, distorting everything in sight.’

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress and some have made outstanding progress in recent months. Pupils’ books show that some who were struggling to form their letters in September are now writing fluently with a joined script and producing a good amount of written work.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The school provides a wide range of support programmes for the pupils for whom it receives pupil premium funding. In 2013, there were too few pupils eligible for the pupil premium to compare their attainment with that of their classmates without identifying individuals. However, these pupils made slightly better progress than the rest of the class. Eligible pupils are currently making good progress so that gaps between their attainment and that of their classmates are narrowing.  The very few pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds make good progress. Those from Showman Traveller families make good progress during the time they spend at the school.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching has improved since the previous inspection. It is nearly always at least good, including in English and mathematics. An increasing amount of teaching is outstanding, especially in Years 1 and 2 and in Years 5 and 6.

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The quality of teaching is good

 There are two main reasons why pupils have made such good progress since September. The first is that teachers’ marking is exemplary throughout the school. It provides pupils with a great deal of detailed advice about how well they are doing and how they could improve their work. The second is that teachers effectively introduce pupils to new skills and knowledge. Pupils then produce detailed pieces of written work in their ‘progress books’ which draw on what they have learned.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The work in pupils’ books provides a very clear record of how much each pupil is learning from one week to the next, and this helps teachers and senior leaders to check pupils’ achievement. When pupils’ work in this way, teaching and learning are highly focused on enabling pupils to improve.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils’ learning was seen to be outstanding as they worked in their English books in the Year 1/2 class and in their mathematics books in the Year 5/6 class. In both classes, pupils were totally absorbed in their work while teachers and teaching assistants spent their time checking pupils’ understanding. Staff had detailed conversations with pupils about how they were approaching the tasks they had been set and provided helpful guidance on anything that was not entirely clear to them. In both lessons, pupils produced high-quality work.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Throughout the school, teachers have good subject knowledge and make learning interesting. They have high expectations and encourage pupils to try hard and achieve as much as they can. This encourages pupils to take a pride in their work.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Classrooms are attractive and include many displays that provide pupils with valuable information to help with their learning. Displays give them ideas about how to make their writing more imaginative and include questions they have posed about a given topic.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching in the Early Years Foundation Stage is good. Expectations are high and staff place strong emphasis on teaching the basic skills of literacy and mathematics. Learning is usually successful because it is challenging for both children in the Reception Year and for the few Year 1 pupils in this class.

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The quality of teaching is good

 A teaching assistant is employed specifically to support the children of Showman Traveller families and she puts together learning packs that they take with them when they are travelling. Their completed work is marked so that pupils know how well they have done. On their return to school, their class teachers develop catch-up programmes to help make up for work that they have missed. This helps them to make good progress when they are in school.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The school quickly identifies disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs and puts in place effective support programmes tailored to their needs. These pupils receive good- quality support in lessons and when working in small groups with teaching assistants.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Homework has been completely reorganised since September 2013 so that tasks provide pupils with regular opportunities to practise new skills that they have learned in school. As a result, it is now making a stronger contribution to their progress.

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The quality of teaching is good

 At times, teachers focus too much on working with a particular group of pupils and do not check on the learning of the rest of the class. When this happens, a few pupils are unclear about how to get on with their work and their progress slows.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers usually pay careful attention to ensuring work is not too easy or too difficult for pupils. On occasion, however, when they introduce new work to the whole class, they do not provide enough challenge for more-able pupils so that they are not pushed to think as deeply as they could. There are also instances when explaining work that they do not consider the level of challenge for those who find learning difficult. Very occasionally, this affects the progress of a few pupils in the rest of the lesson as they are not entirely clear about how to move forward with their learning.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The behaviour of the pupils is good and where teaching is outstanding, pupils behave exceptionally well. Pupils say that, ‘There are clear rules and most people follow them.’ The school is a calm and orderly community. School records indicate that inappropriate behaviour is rare.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils’ positive attitudes to learning are evident in their books, which are neat and well presented. The substantial amount of work they have produced shows their willingness to work hard and apply themselves. In lessons, pupils concentrate and pay careful attention. They quickly put up their hands to answer questions and have well-developed listening skills.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils feel safe in school and know how to keep themselves safe. They say that lessons on e-safety were ‘very good and informative’. They are able to talk about road safety and realise why the school’s own security systems are important. In this small school, pupils are known as individuals and say, ‘The teachers always look after us.’

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils know about different types of bullying, including cyber-bullying. They say that there was some bullying last year but it is now very rare. School records confirm this and pupils are confident that any difficulties between them would be quickly dealt with. Relationships throughout the school are good.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 There is no evidence of disruption to learning even on those occasions when teachers do not keep a close enough check on the progress of the whole class. In these situations, there are instances of some pupils not doing as much as they could to help themselves with their learning and of waiting for help rather than requesting it.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school’s overall attendance rate is below average, although the vast majority of pupils attend regularly. The school does all it can to make sure that all pupils attend school as much as possible. It has been involved in developing alternative provision for the children of Showman Traveller families during times spent away from the area and is working to extend this.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school has made good overall improvement since the previous inspection and rapid progress since September 2013. The transformational leadership of the interim headteacher, ably supported by the deputy headteacher, has had an outstanding effect on all aspects of the school’s work. Teamwork among the staff is strong and senior leaders are now working towards making the school outstanding.

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The leadership and management are good

 The interim headteacher was quick to identify what action needed to be taken to bring about school improvement. He clearly communicated his expectation to all the staff that, ‘Every child should make clear progress every week and that every lesson should contribute to that progress.’ Senior leaders acted swiftly to bring about improvements and the impact of their action is already evident in the rapid progress pupils are making, in the improved quality of teaching and improvements in pupils’ behaviour.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders have strengthened the accuracy of assessment and make thorough use of data to identify what is working well and what needs to be improved. Regular meetings focusing on pupils’ progress ensure that teachers are held to account. Close checks by leaders on the progress of different groups of pupils make sure that they all have equal opportunity and that there is no discrimination.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher and deputy headteacher are rigorous in monitoring the quality of teaching through observing lessons, talking with pupils and looking at their work. Teachers receive detailed guidance about how to improve their practice and benefit from observing one another’s lessons. Targets that are set as part of the management of teachers’ performance reflect leaders’ high expectations for the amount of progress pupils should make.

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The leadership and management are good

 Subject leaders and others with particular responsibilities make a good contribution to school improvement. They have brought about a number of important changes since taking over their roles. They have a detailed knowledge of how much progress pupils are making and they are taking appropriate action to raise achievement.

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The leadership and management are good

 Learning in subjects and topics is precisely planned so that all lessons contribute to the development of pupils’ literacy and numeracy skills. Pupils express the effect of this by saying that the school ‘makes learning as easy as possible because it picks topics that appeal to us and works around what we need to learn’. This approach is speeding up pupils’ progress and increasing their motivation and enthusiasm for learning.

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The leadership and management are good

 Educational visits and growing links with Little Thetford C of E Primary School contribute to pupils’ academic and personal development. The school provides a good level of care for its pupils and promotes their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school is making good use of its sport premium funding to improve pupils’ health and well- being and to develop their sporting skills. It has employed a physical education specialist to improve the quality of teaching and employs sports coaches to increase pupils’ participation in after-school clubs. The school is training a number of pupils as sports and playground leaders, bronze sports ambassadors and sports crews. Leaders have clear procedures to check the impact of this spending.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority has provided good support to the school and has an accurate view of its effectiveness. The authority has supported the school particularly in developing governance and in forging the link between this school and Little Thetford. A number of subject advisers have supported the school in improving teaching and raising achievement.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  The governing body makes a much greater contribution to the school’s work than it did at the time of the previous inspection. A review of governance highlighted areas where governors could play a more active part and they attended training to develop their role. They visit the school regularly and produce detailed reports on their findings. They have a good grasp of data on pupils’ attainment and progress and challenge senior leaders, asking to see pupils’ books to support information about their progress. They receive detailed information about the spending of pupil premium funding and keep a check on the effect this is having on eligible pupils’ progress. They know what the quality of teaching is across the school and make sure that teachers’ salaries reflect the quality of their teaching. Governors make sure that statutory requirements are met, including those for the safeguarding of pupils. The governing body has

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The leadership and management are good

a clear vision for the school’s further improvement and is ready to make full use of the soft federation with Little Thetford.

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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 110804 Local authority Cambridgeshire Inspection number 432096

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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 124 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Imogen Axton Headteacher (Interim) Rob Litten Date of previous school inspection 5 February 2013 Telephone number 01353 740269 Fax number 01353 740269 Email address office@wilburton.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

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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