Kington Primary School

Kington Primary School Mill Street, Kington, HR5 3AL

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Requires improvement 3 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that requires improvement.  Pupils’ achievement, especially in writing and mathematics in Key Stage 2 is not good enough.  Teachers sometimes provide work that is too easy or too hard because they do not systematically build on pupils’ previous learning.  Teachers do not use questions well enough to check that pupils have understood their work.  In some lessons, there is low-level disruption because activities do not sufficiently challenge all ability groups.  Leaders have not ensured robustly enough that teachers are held to account for the progress pupils make.  Judgements for the quality of teaching are over-generous and are not based on what sort of progress pupils make.  Teachers in charge of subjects and areas of the school do not check the impact of their work on the achievement of pupils.  Governors are not trained well enough and do not gather their own evidence to provide enough independent challenge.

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The school has the following strengths

 Pupils’ current attainment has risen rapidly and most pupils are now working at expected levels for their ages.  Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage make good progress.  There is a strong family atmosphere. The school promotes values that support pupils’ personal development very well.  Pupils really enjoy school and feel very safe.  Leaders check pupils’ progress carefully. They now take decisive action to ensure that pupils do not fall behind.  The school provides lots of exciting extra- curricular and whole school activities. Uptake is good.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed parts of 12 lessons, four of which were seen with the deputy headteacher. They also observed other reading activities, assemblies and extra-curricular activities.  The inspectors talked to two groups of pupils from Key Stages 1 and 2 and spoke to others informally throughout the inspection.  Pupils’ work from each key stage was examined and pupils from Key Stage 1 were heard reading.  A total of 29 responses from parents to the online questionnaire (Parent View) were examined. Additionally, inspectors talked to six parents either in the playground or because they could not access the questionnaire on line. The inspectors also received four emails from parents and examined 25 staff questionnaires.  Meetings were held with three representatives of the governing body, including the governor who is also responsible for safeguarding. The inspector held a telephone conversation with a

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Information about this inspection

representative of the local authority.  Meetings were held with the deputy headteacher, a member of the local federation, other staff, the special educational needs coordinator, and an Early Years Foundation Stage teacher. The inspector evaluated documentation regarding pupils’ current progress and the curriculum, development plans, and procedures and records relating to safeguarding, behaviour and attendance.

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Inspection team

Kathy Hooper, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Juliet Jaggs Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is an average-sized primary school.  Most pupils are of White British heritage.  The number of pupils who are eligible for pupil premium funding (pupils known to be entitled to free school meals, looked after by the local authority) is broadly average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported at school action is lower than average. The proportion who are supported at school action plus or who have a statement of special educational needs is much higher than average.  The school did not meet the government’s current floor standards for 2013, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics.  At the time of the inspection, the headteacher was on sick leave, recovering from a planned routine operation, and the chair of governors was away.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching so that more is good or better, in order to ensure that all pupils achieve what they are capable of especially in writing and mathematics by:  making sure that all teachers use assessments to provide work at the right level of difficulty for all ability groups, including the most able pupils  ensuring that all teachers use questions effectively in lessons so that pupils are encouraged to think carefully about their work and to give clear and complete answers  providing ways for pupils to practice their writing skills by planning and recording work on their own, particularly in science and mathematics.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Strengthen leadership and management by making sure that :  leaders make accurate judgements about the quality of teaching based on the amount of progress pupils make  subject leaders take more direct responsibility for their areas, particularly for improving the quality of teaching and learning and by holding teachers to account for the progress pupils make in their subjects  that governors have the skills, knowledge and understanding to provide independent challenge for the school.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils do not always achieve what they are capable of, particularly in Key Stage 2. There was a considerable dip in achievement at the end of Key Stage 2 in 2013. This was the result of a much lower proportion of pupils making expected progress from the end of Year 2 to the end of Year 6 in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils do not make as much progress in writing and mathematics as they do in reading.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils of different abilities make uneven progress throughout the school because teachers do not always set work that is the right level of challenge for all pupils. In occasional lessons, some of the most able pupils stop trying hard because the work is too easy. Furthermore, those who find learning difficult sometimes struggle to understand the purpose of the activity and give up too quickly.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils’ currently in the school are making better progress from the end of Year 2 to Year 6 in all subjects and achievement in Key Stage 1 has improved. Provisional data for this year shows that the attainment of Year 6 pupils is broadly similar to that of pupils nationally. There has also been a marked increase in the number attaining the higher levels in tests particularly in reading and mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils’ writing has also improvement in some year groups. Opportunities for creative writing have been extended. The writing of many Year 6 pupils is well formed and accurate. Some of the most able pupils write extremely imaginative and sophisticated stories that are beautifully presented. Nevertheless, teachers do not routinely build on previous learning in each lesson. The use of worksheets in some lessons, for example, in mathematics and science can reduce opportunities for pupils to practice their writing skills.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 A recent improvement in the teachers’ mathematical knowledge has helped to improve pupils’ achievement. As a result pupils made expected progress this year. Nevertheless, not all teachers are equally confident about meeting the needs of a wide range of ability in the class. In some lessons, all pupils are engaged in a similar activity despite wide differences in their ability.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Most ability groups make good progress in their reading because they enjoy reading. The most able pupils in Year 6 confidently draw on their knowledge of the books they have read to write some good descriptions in creative writing. The most able Year 2 pupils read their writing to the whole class, using expressions such as ‘a cave of wonders’ when writing about Aladdin.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 From a lower than expected starting point when children enter the Early Years Foundation Stage, children make good and sometimes rapid progress. Records of children’s progress show that, this year, most children will attain a good level of development and reach national expectations in all areas of learning. The most able children write sentences with capital letters and full stops. They add and subtract single digit numbers and understand their numbers up to 20 and sometimes beyond.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The attainment of pupils who are eligible to receive the additional pupil premium funding has also improved this year and is comparable with that of other pupils in most classes. Those pupils in danger of falling behind are given additional support, for example, by attending extra sessions for more practice in reading writing and mathematics. Consequently the gap is reducing throughout the school.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make at least expected progress and often good progress in their learning. This is because they have well targeted extra support, including practice to develop particular skills.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The Primary Sports funding has enabled more pupils, particularly in Key Stage 1, to benefit from sporting activities. Many more pupils throughout the school take part in netball, hockey and rugby activities. Pupils have had considerable success in sporting activities with other schools.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Pupils do not make good progress because teachers do not plan tasks that provide a suitable degree of challenge or support to match the wide range of abilities in their classes. This results in some pupils finding the work too easy or too difficult.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In a mathematics lesson, pupils’ progress was reduced by the length of time spent on paired and whole class discussions about individual examples of equivalent fractions. This was because the teacher did not recognise that some pupils were very confident with the examples used and could have worked on harder activities, while at the same time others were still struggling to understand.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Some teachers are skilful at checking how pupils’ skills are developing. This is not always the case and often, questions are not used as well as they could be by teachers to check and probe pupils’ understanding or to prompt them to fully explain their answers.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Where pupils see the point of the activity, their progress is good. Children in the Reception class wrote sentences with accurate spellings and punctuation when describing animals. They wrote about the feel, colour, habitat of animals and the sounds they make using several adjectives. When some read out their descriptions to the whole class, their classmates were captivated. They sustained their concentration when they were asked to guess which animal they were describing. The activity promoted children’s speaking and listening, and their reading and writing very well.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Relationships are warm and respectful in all lessons. Usually pupils really relish their learning. They frequently work cooperatively together, and discuss their work with learning partners. As a result, they learn from each other as well as their teacher.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers have received recent training and as a consequence their understanding has improved, for example of how to teach mathematics and writing more effectively. This has enabled more pupils to make better progress this year.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching assistants help pupils to learn well when they work with them in small groups or individually. They make the most contribution to pupils’ learning when they are directed by the teachers to focus on specific aspects of learning. They often question pupils well to assess what they understand and have learned.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Pupils have many opportunities to assess their own work and that of others in lessons using identified pointers for success. Teachers help pupils to make progress through regular marking showing what has been done well and what their next steps are. There is evidence in some books of a good dialogue between pupil and teacher about the work.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Behaviour requires improvement. In lessons, most pupils are attentive during sometimes lengthy discussions. However, there are some pupils who do not give their full attention and there is sometimes a lot of shuffling and restlessness.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils are willing learners and they follow instructions well. They are usually well mannered and calm around the school.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 The school council meets regularly and has made good contributions to the school. They have improved provision in the playground and have taken part in interviews for staff.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Inspectors found no evidence of bullying, racist or homophobic behaviour. Pupils are confident about what they should do if they are bullied. They understand different types of bullying including cyber-bullying. Pupils report that most teachers address any thoughtless behaviour.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Attendance has improved and is now broadly average. The school has used a range of effective ways of improving pupils’ attendance, including employing its own education welfare officer in partnership with other schools.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe is good. Pupils feel safe and their parents agree. Procedures for safeguarding are robust.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 There is good provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. This is a strength frequently referred to by parents. Pupils very much enjoy a wide range of interesting visits and receive visitors from other countries such as Uganda which promotes their tolerance and respect of different religions and cultures.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 The school reinforces a good range of values through lessons and extra-curricular activities that support pupils’ achievement and their personal development very well. The whole school production of Aladdin for the end of term encourages pupils to develop a host of social skills as well as strengthening a feeling of belonging to a community. This provides a valuable opportunity to work with other pupils throughout the school on a common task that is enjoyable and much appreciated by both pupils and parents.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 A lack of focus on ensuring that all pupils achieve well has resulted in too many pupils failing to achieve the standards of which they are capable of especially in writing and mathematics at the end of Year 6.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Until this year, senior leaders have done too little to redress the decline in pupils’ achievement or to improve teaching sufficiently. The school has not been active enough in checking on those groups of pupils who could be doing better because their analysis of pupils’ progress has not been sufficiently rigorous.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Some subject leaders and those responsible for groups of pupils are not yet good enough at checking pupil’s achievement and the quality of teaching and learning. They do not provide clear feedback to colleagues about how to better support those pupils that are under- performing. Furthermore they do not check the impact of their work well enough.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Parents and staff appreciate the support they receive from the headteacher. She inspires confidence and sets a clear example to others regarding the school’s values.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school is well placed to improve. This year, senior leaders have provided strong leadership of teaching and have introduced a more robust system for assessing and measuring the progress of pupils. The information has been used to check teachers’ work against the professional standards. Pupils’ work has been reviewed with teachers from other schools to ensure the accuracy of assessments.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders regularly check on the quality of teaching. They provide some good pointers for improvement. However, judgements about lessons focus on teaching activities rather than what pupils have learned. In lessons where pupils make most progress, teachers use information about prior learning to plan activities.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The local authority has maintained an overview of pupils’ achievement by checking test results and pupils progress at the end of the year. It has had limited input into improving provision because of staffing restraints. The school works closely with neighbouring schools to share good practice. Regular training has increased teachers’ subject knowledge as well as their understanding of pupils’ individual needs.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Additional funding has been well deployed to improve the achievement of pupils eligible for the pupil premium funding. Booster groups have improved pupils’ levels of literacy and numeracy skills. More pupils have been able to benefit from residential visits, increasing equality of opportunity.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Primary sports funding has been appropriately used to involve more pupils in physical activities. Staff have improved the quality of physical education lessons through training. Many more Year 1 and 2 pupils are involved in extra-curricular activities, and there is a very large running club. Pupils have been increasingly successful in taking part in local sporting events.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school:  The governing body is very supportive and takes great interest in the activities of the school. Governors have had some training but are not always confident about their own analysis of information showing how well the school is performing  They are regularly informed about pupils’ progress and teachers’ work through detailed reports from the headteacher. They have a good grasp of the budget. They receive reports about the work of the school including how funding for pupil premium, primary sports and special educational needs is used and the impact this has on pupils’ achievement and personal development.  The governing body has helped to improve links with the community. Governors take an active part in all the school’s extra-curricular activities. They question the school well on the deployment of the budget. However they rely too much on the headteacher to tell them about

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The leadership and management requires improvement

the reasons for differences in pupils’ progress and teachers’ performance. They do not have enough information of their own to ask challenging questions.  They understand their responsibilities with respect to rewarding teachers for good work. Arrangements for safeguarding pupils are robust.

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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 116701 Local authority Herefordshire Inspection number 439909

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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 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 233 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Carl Yeomans Headteacher Anne Phillips Date of previous school inspection 21 June 2010 Telephone number 01544 230363 Fax number N/A Email address admin@kington.hereford.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 and 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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