Christ Church CofE Primary School

Christ Church CofE Primary School Delph Road, Denshaw, Oldham, Lancashire, OL3 5RY

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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.  Pupils achieve well and make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics.  Teaching is good and engages pupils effectively. Pupils enjoy a wide range of stimulating activities and so develop good attitudes to learning.  Pupils, staff, governors and parents are very proud of their school and its caring family ethos. Parents particularly appreciate the way the school supports pupils most in need.  The high emphasis on promoting pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development results in pupils having high regard for others and taking on responsibilities with confidence.  Pupils are safe and secure in school because care and support arrangements are good. Most pupils behave well in lessons and around school.  Parents and carers express very positive views about the school and say that their children are very safe and happy here.  The headteacher and governors are ambitious

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

for the school and provide strong leadership. Expectations of pupils and staff are high and, as a result, teaching has improved significantly this year and all pupils are making good progress.  Attendance, currently running at nearly 98 per cent, is well-above average.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 The quality of teaching is not yet of a high enough quality to raise pupils’ standards further.  Occasionally, pupils do not understand what they are to learn in lessons because events move too fast for them or the work is too hard for them.  Sometimes, a small minority of pupils fail to act fully on the written advice they receive from teachers as to how to improve their work.  The feedback staff receive about their teaching does not focus sufficiently on what they might do to help more pupils make outstanding progress.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed 12 lessons, six of which were observed jointly with the headteacher. In addition, the inspector made other visits to classes, looked at pupils’ work and listened to a number of pupils read.  Meetings were held with pupils, the Chair of the Governing Body and three other governors, middle managers and subject leaders and a representative from the local authority.  The inspector observed the school’s work and looked at a number of documents, including the school’s evaluation of its own performance, the school’s own data on pupils’ progress, planning and monitoring documentation, the records of how the school uses its funding, especially how the money from pupil premium and sports funding is spent. Records relating to behaviour and attendance and documents relating to safeguarding were also taken into consideration.  There were 18 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View). The inspector took account

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Information about this inspection

of the views of a number of parents spoken to during the inspection and 10 responses from staff that completed Ofsted’s staff questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Rajinder Harrison, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is a well-below-average-sized primary school.  All pupils are of White British heritage.  The proportion of pupils supported through school action and school action plus is above average.  The proportion of pupils with a statement of special educational needs is average.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium is well-below average. 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 who join the school at times other than the Early Years Foundation Stage is above average.  The school has had a very high turnover of staff in the last year.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching and the rates of progress from good to outstanding by ensuring that:  pupils understand their learning fully before being asked to work on tasks on their own  pupils respond to written advice in order to improve their work  the standard of presentation of pupils’ work is improved and that all pupils know to check their work carefully before it is handed in.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that the feedback teachers receive about their teaching clearly identifies what they might do to improve learning so that pupils make outstanding progress.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children start at school with knowledge and skills that are generally typical for their age. As year groups are very small, there is considerable variation from year to year. Children make good progress in the Reception class and while not all reach a good level of development, particularly in their literacy skills, many enter Year 1 above average.  As numbers are small in each year group, published data needs to be interpreted with caution but, generally, progress in Years 1 to 6 is good.  At the end of Key Stage 1, standards for most pupils are above average in reading, writing and mathematics because the teaching of basic skills is good. Standards at the end of Year 6 are also above average in reading, writing and mathematics and all pupils make at least good progress. The most able pupils often make outstanding progress because they are challenged well and are highly motivated.  Overall achievement is not outstanding because teaching has not always been consistently good

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The achievement of pupils is good

in the past and expectations of what pupils could achieve have not always been high enough. However, leaders are tracking individual pupils’ progress more rigorously and, with improvements in teaching this year, progress is accelerating. As a result, the school is targeting more pupils to reach the higher Levels 5 and 6 by the end of Year 6.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs achieve well because planning for them is personalised effectively to meet their needs and support for them is always good and often very good. Some parents select this as their preferred school for this very reason. These pupils make good progress and often attain at least average standards at the end of Year 6.  The school has very few pupils supported through pupil premium funding. The school has robust tracking systems in place to ensure any gaps in their learning are identified early and that pupils

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The achievement of pupils is good

receive the specific support they need to make good progress. These pupils consistently attain at least average standards and are doing better than pupils in similar circumstances nationally.  The considerable proportion of pupils who join the school part way through their schooling are integrated quickly and supported well to make up any gaps in their learning so that they can catch up quickly and achieve as well as their classmates.  In the 2013 Year 1 phonics screening check (linking sounds and letters), pupils attained above- average results. This is because the teaching of phonics, which begins in the Reception class, is good and reading skills continue to be extended effectively through Key Stages 1 and 2. Pupils are eager to read and enjoy learning new vocabulary. Older pupils particularly enjoy the guided reading sessions that help them develop good reading habits and a love for books. A few

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The achievement of pupils is good

sometimes do not apply these well taught skills effectively when writing by themselves and so careless spelling errors detract from the overall quality of their writing.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils enjoy learning and achieve well because teaching is consistently good. Engaging activities challenge and hold pupils’ interest well. Pupils are motivated to learn because pupils’ views are sought in order to identify topics they want to explore. For example, children in the Reception class enjoyed learning about the best conditions to plant seeds and later on some noticed that their herbs were ’sad and floppy’ because they needed a drink of water.  Positive relationships between teachers, teaching assistants and pupils result in a learning environment where pupils are confident to ask for help if they need it and where they are not afraid to make mistakes. Teaching assistants are very skilled in supporting groups and individual pupils on a one-to-one basis and, as a result, all pupils achieve well.  In most lessons, pupils understand what they are learning and activities help them to build

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The quality of teaching is good

successfully on what they have learnt previously. Occasionally, a few less-confident pupils struggle to understand when working alone on their task. For example, some pupils in a Year 5/6 class did not fully grasp the concept of acute and obtuse angles initially and so began to ‘guess’ their answers. Their misconceptions were spotted quickly and addressed well so that, subsequently, pupils made good progress.  Learning activities are organised very well to suit the different abilities of pupils. While the level of challenge is often very good for the most able pupils and for those who have special educational needs, occasionally, work is too hard for some. A few pupils need more time than they are given in order to fully understand new learning and to achieve all that they are capable of.  Pupils’ work is generally marked very well. Most pupils respond very positively to the extensive guidance they receive as to how they might improve their work and meet their targets. Pupils

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The quality of teaching is good

also learn well through checking each other’s work. Occasionally, a few pupils fail to take sufficient note of marking comments or check their work thoroughly. As a result, they continue to make careless errors and hand in work that is badly written and presented.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The behaviour of pupils is good. In lessons and around school generally, pupils conduct themselves well and show high regard for their teachers and other staff. School records show that behaviour has improved markedly this year because pupils are made aware of what is expected of them and behaviour is managed more consistently now.  When pupils are highly motivated by their learning or when they recognise that they need to be extremely well disciplined, for example in whole school assemblies, behaviour is exemplary. A few pupils who have specific behavioural issues are supported well and so lapses in their good behaviour are minimal.  Pupils say there is no bullying in school and are confident that if such incidents did occur staff would deal with them promptly and fairly. They have a very good awareness that bullying includes name calling, cyber bullying and physical threats and know that they should report any

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

incidents to staff immediately.  Pupils love their school and are eager to be there. Their high levels of attendance and good punctuality reflect their positive attitudes to learning. Pupils are polite, kind and caring and form very good relationships with others. Older pupils talk enthusiastically about being ‘reading buddies’ to younger pupils and say this helps them to enjoy reading more themselves. Pupils and parents say that it is the family atmosphere in the school that makes being there so special.  The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Staff know the pupils and their families well and are quick to respond when any concerns are raised. Pupils say that they feel safe and well looked after at school. They have a good understanding of how to stay safe outside school and how to keep healthy. They enjoy physical education and swimming and are very aware of the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. All parents who contributed views in the

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

inspection agree that their children are happy at school and feel safe.  Activities and experiences such as sporting competitions, community events, visits to places of worship, museums, theatres, and residential trips all provide purposeful opportunities that support pupils’ good spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. As mini-governors, pupils are involved in decision making and shaping the work of the school and handle such responsibilities in a very mature and sensible manner.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher and governors have a very accurate view of the school’s strengths and where improvements need to be made to raise achievement further. They have taken effective action to ensure that all teaching is now at least good and that expectations of teachers and pupils are high.  Despite a high turnover of staff in the last year, the headteacher has secured good teamwork among staff and governors and is steering school improvement effectively. She has set out an improvement plan aimed at securing good and better outcomes for all pupils and staff have good opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills to realise these outcomes.  The impact of the good leadership by the headteacher is reflected, for example, in the good progress seen across the school so that more pupils are now working at well-above average levels and pupils’ attendance has risen. This demonstrates the school’s capacity for further

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The leadership and management are good

improvement. However, despite these improvements, leadership and management are not outstanding because achievement and teaching are not yet outstanding.  Subject leaders and other key staff are making a very positive contribution to school improvement, but as all the teachers, other than the headteacher, are new to their roles this year, they have not yet had sufficient time to drive improvements in their subjects quickly enough to secure higher achievement throughout the school.  The school’s curriculum is broad and varied with a good focus on making learning relevant and interesting, through for example, topics that link learning across subjects and extend pupils’ basic literacy, numeracy and information and technology skills effectively. An increased focus on practical investigations in mathematics is helping more pupils understand why mathematics is important in their everyday lives and many say they like mathematics as a result.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school promotes equality of opportunity well because teaching for all pupils is good and pupils of all abilities and backgrounds receive the support they need to achieve well. Pupils learn in a supportive, caring environment where they feel valued. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted well through the curriculum, the school’s values and the strong links to the church and the local community.  The school is using the primary school sport funding to extend the opportunities pupils have to undertake high-quality learning with a specialist physical education teacher, to increase sports events and competitions in partnership with other schools and pay for more swimming classes. Through working alongside specialists, teachers are improving their skills to sustain improvement in the long term and thus support pupils’ health and well-being even more effectively.  The local authority provides ‘light touch’ support to the school because of its good track record.

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The leadership and management are good

However, it does provide staff and governors with support and training to help them in carrying out their roles more effectively.  The governance of the school:  The governing body is very proud of the school and has an accurate understanding of the school’s performance compared with schools nationally. Governors are very ambitious for the school and its pupils and want to ensure that pupils achieve as well as they can. They hold the headteacher in high regard, respect her judgement and work closely with her to drive school improvement. They challenge her and other staff appropriately and check that the actions being taken to make improvements are effective. Governors have undertaken valuable training to understand school performance data better so that they can hold staff to account for the performance of individual pupils and the school’s overall performance. They know that, while teaching is good, it needs to be stronger if pupils are to attain higher standards. Governors

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The leadership and management are good

understand the school’s pay and progression procedures fully and know how to check that staff perform well. They know how the school is using its pupil premium and sport funding and the impact this has on outcomes for pupils.

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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 105693 Local authority Oldham Inspection number 439532

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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 61 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Bob Rodgers Headteacher Susan Callaghan Date of previous school inspection 13 January 2009 Telephone number 01457 874554 Fax number 01457 874554 Email address head@christchurch-pri.oldham.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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