Upton St Leonards Church of England Primary School

School report Upton St Leonards Church of England Primary School Bondend Road, Upton St Leonards, Gloucester, GL4 8ED

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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.  Achievement has risen since the previous inspection and pupils now make good progress throughout the school. Standards in reading, writing and mathematics have improved.  Teaching is good across the school, ensuring pupils’ good progress.  Pupils’ behaviour is good overall, they enjoy coming to school and understand how to keep themselves safe.  The school has successfully improved attendance, reducing the rates of persistent absence.  Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development underpins the whole school ethos. There are many opportunities for pupils to reflect and be inspired by art and music.  Leaders regularly check pupils’ progress and the quality of teaching. This information is used effectively to improve the school.  The school has been actively taking steps to involve parents and carers in school life. Parents and carers told inspectors that communication had improved and they were

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

now much better informed by the school about how well their children were doing.  The governors are determined to ensure the school continues to improve. They have attended many seminars and workshops related to school improvement. As a result they have good understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. The governors ask senior leaders challenging questions and hold them accountable for continued school improvement.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because:

 There is not enough outstanding teaching. Teachers do not always share the ideas of the most effective teaching with each other.  Although the proportion of pupils achieving the higher level is broadly average in mathematics, their books indicate even more could attain those standards.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 23 lessons, some of which were joint observations with senior leaders.  Meetings were held with two groups of pupils, staff, members of the senior leadership team, members of the governing body including the Chair of the Governing Body and a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors took account of 125 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, the views of a few parents and carers attending a parent consultation evening and 40 staff questionnaire responses.  Inspectors examined pupils’ work and listened to pupils read.  The inspectors also looked at a range of evidence which included the school’s data for progress and attainment, records relating to behaviour and safety and the school development plan.

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Inspection team

Shahnaz Maqsood, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Linda Rowley Additional Inspector Philip Scull Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This school is larger than the average-sized primary school.  The majority of pupils are White British.  The proportion of pupils who are known to be eligible for the pupil premium is well below the national average. Pupil premium is additional funding provided by the government to support pupils known to be eligible for school meals, children looked after by the local authority and children of service families.  The proportion of pupils who are disabled or have special educational needs and are supported through school action is average.  The proportion of pupils supported at school action plus or through a statement of special educational needs is below the national average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the proportion of outstanding teaching so that pupils make rapid progress, by sharing the features of effective teaching and learning already in the school.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Further accelerate progress made in mathematics to ensure that a higher percentage of pupils achieve the highest level at the end of Year 6 by ensuring that:  the more able in this subject are always given challenging work, so that they make as much progress as they can.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children’s skills and abilities when they begin the Reception class are slightly below the levels typical for their age. They make good progress in Early Years Foundation Stage and attainment at the end of Reception is average.  The school has improved the way it teaches phonics (relationship between letters and sounds) to all groups of pupils and this has improved pupils’ reading and writing skills.  Progress in Year 1 and 2 is good and rising rapidly. Standards at the end of Key Stage 1 were below average in 2013, weaknesses have been addressed and current data and work in the books indicate that Year 2 pupils are on track to achieve standards above the national average in reading, writing and mathematics. The proportions achieving the highest level in these subjects are also set to be higher than those found nationally.  Progress made by pupils from the end of Year 2 to the end of Year 6 has been rising steadily

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The achievement of pupils is good

and was broadly in line with that of other pupils nationally in 2013. Attainment at the end of Year 6 was also broadly in line with the national average, although it dipped slightly in 2013 from 2012, but this was because pupils’ starting points were lower in 2013 than in 2012. Inspection evidence shows that the current Year 6 pupils are in line to achieve standards above those of their peers in reading, writing and mathematics.  The local authority has provided extensive training for the school’s special educational needs coordinator which has enabled her to improve provision for these pupils. The progress of these pupils is closely monitored and provision is tailored to their individual needs, and as a result, this year this group of pupils are making good progress.  Given the starting points of pupils for whom the school receives the pupil premium, these pupils make good progress and the school’s targeted interventions have ensured that the gap between

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The achievement of pupils is good

them and their classmates is closing rapidly and it now stands at half a term in both English and mathematics.  Overall the more able make good progress because the school has arranged for additional small- group work to encourage and challenge them. Occasionally teachers do not set questions and tasks which are sufficiently challenging in mathematics lessons.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching has improved rapidly and is now good and some is outstanding; weaknesses identified previously have been addressed and this is leading to pupils making good progress in their learning.  Teachers nearly always try to make their lessons interesting and stimulating which helps to engage pupils. For example in Reception class the theme was ‘magic’ so a group of pupils and the teacher were dressed up as wizards and witches during a writing session and they produced sentences using adjectives such as sticky, slimy and slithery.  The ‘pink and green’ marking system is consistently used by teachers throughout the school. Pupils told inspectors that if they see a lot of pink marks on their work it means they have understood the work and need to move on to a more challenging task. Green means they need to work harder and consolidate their learning. This has encouraged pupils to take responsibility

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The quality of teaching is good

for their progress. Books are marked regularly, reference is made to where improvements can be made and pupils are given time to respond to teachers’ comments, all of which has been successful in moving on their learning.  Relationships between pupils and adults are positive and the collaborative work done by children helps them to develop their ideas and social skills. For example in a Year 6 mathematics lesson pupils discussed very sensibly how to work together in a logical way to solve the problem. By doing this they moved very quickly through the steps to the solution.  The teaching assistants make a valuable contribution to the learning of the pupils. They skilfully question pupils, promoting their understanding and ensure that the pupils are making progress.  Although teaching has improved considerably, teachers are missing the opportunity to share the best practice in teaching in school which would accelerate the rates of progress more.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils have positive attitudes to their learning and low-level disruption in lessons is rare. Pupils are courteous and respectful of staff and visitors.  The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Rigorous systems are place for the recruitment of new staff and the premises are impregnable. Pupils say that they feel safe in school and teachers make them aware of how to keep themselves safe when using the internet.  Staff, parents and carers are now positive about the school. A higher number of parents and carers than is usual responded to the online questionnaire, Parent View; the majority of those and the few that inspectors spoke to during the parent consultation evening felt that the school was well run and their children were flourishing academically and socially.  Attendance is improving and is higher than the national average this year. The school has

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

established effective systems for monitoring and tackling absence and thus the proportion of persistent absence is falling.  There are a few incidents of bullying and racism. School records show and pupils say that these are taken very seriously by all the adults and dealt with immediately and effectively. The school has been successful in reducing the number of incidents of bullying and racism through work done in assemblies and in personal, social and health education lessons.

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The leadership and management are good

 The senior leaders work successfully as a team to drive school improvement. Standards particularly in mathematics have risen. Systems for checking the progress and attainment of all pupils are thorough, underperformance is identified and support put in place quickly. Teachers are set challenging targets and as result teaching and pupils’ achievement have improved since the last inspection.  Leaders, including those responsible for English and mathematics, have an accurate view of what constitutes good teaching. They regularly observe teachers and use the information gathered to organise focused support and training for the staff to further raise standards and improve outcomes for pupils. The outstanding practice in the school has not been used to improve teaching and learning in all classes.  The school’s curriculum is interesting and provides pupils with a wide range of experiences which supports their understanding and contributes to their spiritual, moral, social and cultural

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The leadership and management are good

development. Pupils have many opportunities to practise writing across the curriculum, so that the range of writing skills is developed at every opportunity.  The sports fund has been used by the school for developing the expertise of the staff and to provide a wider range of sporting activities and events for the pupils. Parents, carers and pupils spoke enthusiastically about how much they enjoyed the ‘Sports Fair’ arranged by the school.  The local authority has provided good support and guidance to the school, such as helping the headteacher to form links with other schools, holding mathematics workshops and organising training for the governors. This has contributed positively to school improvement.  Safeguarding procedures meet statutory requirements.  The governance of the school:  The governing body has worked tirelessly since the last inspection, accessing support and training from the local authority and other schools. Governors know what the quality of

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The leadership and management are good

teaching is across the school. They have a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school; they understand how well the school is doing compared with the national picture; they attend all pupil progress meetings and are aware of what needs to be done to improve further. Governors manage finances carefully and know how the pupil premium funding is used to raise the achievement of those eligible. They have linked teachers’ pay closely to their performance.

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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 115658 Local authority Gloucestershire Inspection number 431670

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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 410 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Beth Gill Headteacher Cottia Howard Date of previous school inspection 13–14 September 2012 Telephone number 01452 616109 Fax number 01452 614796 Email address head@upton-st-leonards.gloucs.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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