Misson Primary School

Misson Primary School Dame Lane, Misson, Doncaster, DN10 6EB

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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.  Most pupils make at least good progress in reading, writing and mathematics, including children in the Early Years Foundation Stage.  Pupils have strong speaking and listening skills and their written work is neat.  Pupils quickly learn the sounds that letters make, and develop a love of reading.  Teaching is good because teachers make sure pupils are well engaged in their work. Adults have high expectations. Teachers have strong subject knowledge and make effective use of other adults to support pupils’ learning.  Behaviour is good and pupils’ safety awareness is excellent. Pupils have positive attitudes to their learning and they feel very safe. Parents and carers and staff agree that behaviour is typically good.  The headteacher and staff are committed to improving the school, and have done so successfully. The governing body and the local authority support and challenge the school

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Progress in mathematics is not as fast as in English, especially at Key Stage 2.  Parents feel that school does not respond consistently well to concerns they raise.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed teaching and learning in seven lessons. One observation was made jointly with the headteacher. The inspector made a number of shorter visits to other lessons and scrutinised pupils’ work in books. He also listened to and observed pupils reading.  Meetings were held with the Chair of the Governing Body and other governors, a local authority representative and senior leaders.  The inspector looked at documents relating to safeguarding, the arrangements for checking how well staff perform, the tracking and assessment of pupils’ achievement, records on attendance, behaviour and safety and the monitoring of the quality of teaching and learning.  The inspector took note of the 30 views of parents registered on Ofsted’s online questionnaire ‘Parent View’ and two written responses. Seven questionnaires completed by staff were scrutinised.

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Inspection team

Zahid Aziz, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Misson Primary School is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is below average. The proportion supported by school action plus or through a statement of special educational needs is also below average.  The proportion of pupils for whom the school receives the pupil premium funding is well below average. In this school, the pupil premium is additional funding for those pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals and those pupils who are looked after by the local authority.  The vast majority of pupils are of White British heritage and only a small number are from a range of different minority ethnic backgrounds.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress by the end of Year 6 in English and mathematics.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the progress made in mathematics so it is as good as that in English in Key Stage 2, by making sure that:  the most able pupils are sufficiently challenged by their work  teachers’ marking gives pupils more consistently good guidance on how to improve.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Strengthen leadership and management by making sure that the school responds consistently well to any concerns raised by parents.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Most children enter the Early Years Foundation Stage with skills and knowledge that are broadly expected for their age. Children learn well as a result of good teaching and learning. More than three-quarters of the children secured a good level of development by time they entered Year 1 last year.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 A strong focus on promoting personal, social and emotional development, along with number, writing and language skills, from an early age helps pupils to become confident learners. As a result, they develop good literacy and numeracy skills.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Most pupils build well on their earlier learning at Key Stage 1 and are making good progress across Key Stage 2 from their different starting points. Year 6 pupils reached standards in 2012 and 2013 that were well above average. However, last year mathematics results were not as high as reading and writing. Progress in mathematics, whilst good overall, is still not as rapid as in literacy.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The results of Year 1 checks on how well pupils know the sounds that letters make (phonics) were better in 2013 than in the previous year. This was due to further improvement in the quality of teaching of phonics and improved adult support. Consequently, pupils’ skills and progress in reading are good, including those pupils who find learning to read difficult.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Writing standards are also improving. Pupils practice writing frequently and workbooks show they can use correct grammar and good presentation to write for different purposes, for example, in subjects other than English.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The school is very inclusive. It actively promotes equal opportunities and tackles discrimination. Pupils from different ethnic groups all make good progress. It ensures that pupils who are not making fast enough progress or who may need extra help to achieve well receive it. Pupils who are disabled, those with special educational needs, and those pupils for whom English is an additional language, make good progress.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The pupil premium funding has been well spent on providing extra adult support to accelerate progress in reading, writing and mathematics. Eligible pupils are making good progress and the gap is much narrowed between pupils supported by the pupil premium funding and other pupils. As there were very few eligible pupils in Year 6 last year, no comment is made on the overall level of attainment.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers and other adults promote good relationships and high expectations for pupils’ behaviour and achievement. Pupils have good presentation skills as a result of teachers’ insistence on careful work. There are effective systems to ensure everyone follows the school rules and, as a result, most pupils are well engaged in their learning.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Good teaching has brought about the recent acceleration of pupils’ achievement in reading, writing and mathematics throughout the school, especially in Key Stage 2. Teachers are setting more challenging targets for most pupils than previous years, and pupils are reaching them, although for the most able pupils in mathematics lessons the tasks set are not always expecting enough of the pupils so they make relatively slower progress compared with reading and writing  In the Early Years Foundation Stage, the teacher provides a stimulating and caring learning environment, where children quickly become confident learners and make good progress. They enjoy the selection of activities designed to extend their personal, social, language and numbers skills. They are appropriately supported to read, write and use numbers to add. Pupils are well prepared for Year 1.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils generally read well and they read often. They have a real love for books; one pupil said, ‘I like reading because you sound out letters and learn what the story is about’. Pupils have regular access to reading and books through the ‘reading corner’ in their classrooms.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The teachers’ subject knowledge is strong and they check regularly that learning is going well. For example, pupils learnt well in a Year 1 English lesson where they were asked to make up sentences about minibeasts using ‘and’ or ‘because’. The teacher insisted throughout that pupils checked if the sentence made any sense. As a result, each pupil was engaged in the learning, and the speaking and writing that resulted was of high quality. Pupils explained with enthusiasm how the session was linked with the previous day’s work, pointing out displays of the tasks they had already completed.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils make swift gains in their mathematical knowledge and understanding when they apply what they have learned to real-life situations, sometimes through homework. For example, they were determined to learn and apply their new skills of measuring the perimeter of a shape. However, more-able pupils are not always sufficiently challenged by the work they do. As a result, their progress is not always as rapid as that of other pupils.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers’ marking and assessment of pupils’ work are regular and accurate. Teachers frequently provide good guidance about how pupils can improve their work, especially in writing. However, this is not consistently applied across the school and pupils are not always given good advice about how to improve, especially in mathematics.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils are polite, courteous and respectful to adults and their classmates, both in class and around school. They are able to talk with high confidence. They have positive attitudes to learning and work well on their own or in groups.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are well prepared for their lessons. They are keen and ready to learn. Pupils take pride in their work and like to look smart in their school uniform because they are proud of their school.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Good systems and strategies are in place to record and analyse any incidents of poor behaviour, and to reward good behaviour and improve it. As a result, over time, misbehaviour has reduced, especially at Key Stage 2.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school council has been proactive in improving the school and their advice, such as making suggestions for buying sports equipment, is having a positive impact. Pupils also help in other ways, such as being playground leaders. These roles prepare them well for their next stage of education.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils’ attendance was below average last year. Since last September the situation has improved and attendance figures are now above those seen nationally because the school’s systems for encouraging good attendance have been tightened.  The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils feel very safe. They are very well aware of different forms of bullying including homophobic, but say bullying is not a problem in the school. They learn about internet safety. They have an excellent knowledge about how to keep themselves safe from dangers of abuse of drugs and alcohol.

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The leadership and management are good

 The strong leadership of the headteacher, senior leadership team and new ambitious governing body means the school is constantly trying to secure more improvements. The corner stone to this is the school’s honest self-reflection on its own strengths and areas for improvement. As a result, improvements are clearly identified, planned well and followed through effectively.    Leaders strive to develop high quality teaching and they support teachers through strong professional training, using links with a local outstanding school. As a result, staff are quick to follow and adopt the school’s high expectations.    The school’s success is based on the rigour of its systems for managing staff performance and the thorough monitoring system used to check the termly progress of all pupils.    Subject leaders, some of whom are comparatively new to the role, have provided valuable guidance to teachers about how best to teach different subjects. This has led to improvements

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The leadership and management are good

in the way teachers provide for a range of abilities. Nevertheless, there are some shortcomings in the way teachers plan work in mathematics lessons for the most able pupils.

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The leadership and management are good

 The subjects that are taught are well planned and teachers provide interesting experiences with rich opportunities for learning. Learning is broadened by a variety of after-school clubs including residential trips for Key Stage 2, sports, art and opportunities to learn to play musical instruments.

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The leadership and management are good

 Pupils have many opportunities to participate in activities that promote their social, moral, cultural and spiritual development. The school has moved forward in the way it helps pupils to learn about the wider world by making links with schools in various countries in different parts of the world.

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The leadership and management are good

 Parents make a strong contribution through fund raising and developing links with local businesses. They feel the school is helping to give their child a positive start to education. However, a few parents feel that sometimes concerns raised are not always followed up well by teachers or leaders.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school makes good use of the additional funding for sports by giving opportunities for older pupils to have experience of swimming and for pupils to learn and practice new games through coaches or trainers. These things are contributing towards pupils’ better fitness. Pupils have acquired skills such as teamwork, which are well used around the school.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority has made a positive contribution to the school’s development by providing valuable advice to teachers and leaders. This has helped the school to increase rates of pupils’ progress.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  The governing body makes a strong contribution to the quality of education the school provides as they have a wide range of experience and skills and challenge the school to improve. Governors know how the school performs against national standards and pay close attention to the school’s assessment information. They know how the pupil premium funding is allocated and point out that the achievement gap has narrowed as a result.  Governors have had relevant training about keeping the school under review and rigorously follow up on areas where the school could be doing better. The governors hold the headteacher to account for the school’s performance and the management of its finances, which are sound. Governors know about the quality of teaching and make sure that the system for managing the performance of staff is robust and linked closely to pay for teachers and senior leaders.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governing body ensures that safeguarding arrangements meet statutory requirements and seeks out parents’ views on important issues.

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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 122656 Local authority Nottinghamshire Inspection number 431231

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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 Community Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 91 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Duncan Robertshaw Headteacher John Birch Date of previous school inspection 15 May 2009 Telephone number 01302 710580 Fax number 01302 638702 Email address office@misson.notts.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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