Engaines Primary School and Nursery

Engaines Primary School St Osyth Road East, Little Clacton, Clacton-on-Sea, CO16 9PH

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Overall effectiveness

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

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

 Not all subject leaders have the skills to monitor teaching and contribute effectively to school improvement.  The actions taken by the headteacher and senior leaders to improve pupils’ achievement are not fully embedded in all classes. This means that progress varies and requires improvement.  Not all teachers make the most-able pupils think hard enough and give them challenging enough work. As a result, few pupils reach higher levels in English and mathematics.  Teachers’ marking and other feedback do not always help pupils identify the steps to take to improve their work and reach their targets.  Progress in writing is not rapid enough, particularly for boys and those who should be reaching higher levels, because tasks are not always interesting. Pupils do not have enough opportunities to practise their writing in other subjects.  The work the children do in Reception does not enable them to move quickly to the next stage

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

in their development, especially in writing.

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The school has the following strengths

 The headteacher is determined to drive forward improvements to the school and in pupils’ achievement. Action taken since the school’s last inspection is beginning to have an impact.  Teaching is improving. This is leading to improved progress and rising attainment. Gaps in the pupils’ learning are starting to close.  Governors have reviewed the way they operate and are now supporting the school well by asking more challenging questions of the headteacher and senior leaders.  The vast majority of pupils conduct themselves well at all times, showing courtesy and respect. They generally try hard and want to be successful. Pupils feel safe in school. Their attendance is rising.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 14 lessons. In each of these lessons, inspectors examined the work in pupils’ books. Seven lessons were seen together with the headteacher or other senior leaders.  Meetings were held with groups of pupils, school staff, the Chair of the Governing Body and other governors, and a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors took account of the 39 responses to Ofsted’s online parent questionnaire, Parent View, and held informal discussions with parents and carers at the start of the school day.  Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a number of documents including the school’s own information on the pupils’ current progress, planning and monitoring documentation, records relating to behaviour and attendance, and documents relating to safeguarding.  Inspectors also took account of the 49 responses to the staff questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Martin Beale, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Claire Worrall Additional Inspector Helen Jones Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is larger than most primary schools.  Most pupils are from White British backgrounds.  The school receives pupil premium funding for a below-average proportion of the pupils. This is additional government funding which, in this school, supports pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals or who are in the care of the local authority.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is below average and falling. The proportion supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is above average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  The school has experienced considerable staff changes since its last inspection. Many teachers are new to the school as are several subject and year group leaders.

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Information about this school

 The school will become an academy at the start of September 2014, as part of the group led by Powers Hall Junior School in Witham.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching by ensuring that:  the most-able pupils are made to think deeply and are always given work that challenges them in English and mathematics and enables them to make the best possible progress  the work children undertake in Reception is better planned so that it enables them to quickly reach the next stage in their development, particularly in writing  marking and other feedback enable pupils to be clear about how to improve their work and teachers check that their guidance is acted on by the pupils themselves.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise achievement in writing by:  making sure that tasks have a clear purpose and interest pupils, boys in particular  providing more opportunity for pupils to develop their writing across other subjects.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure the actions taken by leaders to improve teaching are wholly effective in all classes by:  providing training for subject leaders, particularly in monitoring teaching in their subjects  making sure they provide guidance and support more effectively for their colleagues  taking swift action to address any instances where teachers depart from the school’s agreed policies.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Children enter Reception with skills that are typical for their age. Pupils’ rates of progress across the school are increasing but are not yet consistently good enough to make up for slower progress in the past. Consequently, pupils’ attainment is only average by the end of Year 6. The most-able pupils are not making sufficient progress in either English or mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Year 6 test results have varied in recent years. They were broadly average overall in 2013 but below average in writing. This was because few pupils reached the higher Level 5. Results were also well below average in the grammar, punctuation and spelling test.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The attainment of boys is consistently lower in writing than girls. Boys, in particular, do not always find the topics and themes they are given interesting and there are too few opportunities for pupils to develop and apply writing skills across other subjects.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The children’s progress in Reception requires improvement because teaching is not consistently good. While the classroom and outside area are full of resources for children to explore, there are too few opportunities for them to develop their writing.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The pupils’ understanding of phonics (the sounds that letters in words represent) has improved considerably since the very low results in the screening check in 2012. This is largely because of additional training provided for staff and a change in the teaching programme. A new spelling programme and a sharper focus on teaching grammar and punctuation are leading to higher achievement in these areas.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The progress of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs has risen now that teachers are being held much more responsible for these pupils’ achievement. This has improved the way teachers plan to support these pupils’ learning. Thoughtful and sensitive support for disabled pupils is enabling them to be integrated well into almost all lessons and progress at least as well as others in their class.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The use of the pupil premium is also starting to improve the progress of eligible pupils. Funding is largely spent on additional phonics support, a homework club and additional teaching by trained support staff. In the Year 6 test results in 2013, eligible pupils were just over one term behind others in the year group in mathematics and writing, but over four terms behind in reading. The attainment gap has narrowed in current year groups.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In spite of improvements over the course of the year, teaching is not yet consistently good enough for all pupils to make good progress over time. Questioning is not always sharp enough to make the most-able pupils think deeply about new ideas or apply their skills to new problems. Work set in both English and mathematics is often too easy for the more-able pupils and teachers do not always make clear how pupils can extend themselves more in their work.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching in Reception requires improvement. Teaching and the activities available are not always closely matched to children’s individual needs. Adults do not always interact effectively with the children to push their learning forward or rectify errors.  Pupils know their targets in English and mathematics but guidance through teachers’ marking and verbal feedback do not always help them to see how they can be achieved. Teachers do not always check that pupils follow up on any advice they give. As a result, misconceptions are not eliminated swiftly and errors persist.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching is improving as the staff team becomes more experienced and the headteacher’s expectations are more consistently met. The pupils’ books show that the work teachers give them is better planned and structured so that it builds effectively on their earlier learning. Teachers’ careful use of practical and problem-solving activities is helping pupils to deepen their mathematical understanding, though still not yet consistently in the case of the most able. For example, Year 5 pupils recapped their understanding of measures of capacity before undertaking an investigation into the most effective container to use to provide drinks for a number of children.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers are aware of, and make good use of, the specific targets set for disabled pupils and those with special educational needs in their classes. They plan to meet their individual needs increasingly well. For example, in a Year 3 and 4 mathematics lesson, the teacher provided different types of clock face to meet the pupils’ varying physical needs. This supported their solving of problems involving time well.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Parents and their children agree. They say this is because of the calm and caring attitude shown by all adults and the consistent way that they generally apply agreed procedures. This ensures that behaviour in and around the school is good. Only on rare occasions do pupils lose concentration in lessons or fall below the school’s high expectations.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils take pride in their work and its presentation. They support each other well when working on tasks together or sharing ideas about how work can be improved. They enjoy school and learning. Their attendance has risen to the point where it is now above average because the headteacher and governors have made clear they will not tolerate casual absence or holidays during the school term.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Parents agree that the school looks after their children with great care. Safeguarding procedures are secure and rigorously implemented. Pupils learn how to take care of themselves through road safety and cycling training and how to stay safe in and around water. Developing pupils’ understanding of how to stay safe when using the internet is also given a high priority by the school and teachers receive good training in this area.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are quite aware what constitutes bullying. They say it simply does not occur and that if it did they are confident that it would be dealt with quickly by staff. Any minor incidents that do occur are usually little more than friends falling out. Pupils are keen to help them resolve their differences and get back together again quickly.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Subject leaders do not have a sufficiently effective role in checking the work of their colleagues and helping them to improve their teaching. At present, they are not able to provide enough guidance and training based on their knowledge of the subject they lead. These shortcomings limit the school’s ability to sustain and build on rapidly recent improvements.  The headteacher has high expectations for staff and pupils alike, as shown by the challenging targets she sets both groups. The actions she has put in place have been based on a careful evaluation of the school’s performance. However, they are only starting to have an impact, particularly in improving teaching and are not yet embedded in all classes.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The headteacher has identified that any recent improvements in writing are patchy and that too few pupils are writing at higher levels. Further training to improve writing for staff has been planned for next term, using support from the local authority. This is one example of how the close engagement between school and local authority has helped the headteacher to begin to tackle identified areas for improvement. The school also works in close partnership with a network of schools and is already supported well by its academy lead school.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The headteacher is tenacious in seeking improvements. She keeps all teachers firmly focused on improving their teaching. By carefully checking each teacher’s performance she is able to link targets set to individual training. She makes sure only good classroom practice leads to salary progression.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The curriculum is being adapted to meet the changes required from September 2014 while building on what is already in place. Teachers are increasingly linking learning between subjects and use events such as ‘China Day’ and ‘World Cup mathematics’ to stimulate the pupils’ imagination.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Pupils have good opportunities to develop their understanding of local and national issues. They learn to respect the customs of others and readily explore moral questions through discussions on topics such as, ‘Should a footballer be paid more than a fireman?’

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school makes effective use of new sports funding. Additional expert coaching has broadened considerably the range of sports offered by the school. This now includes expert coaching in golf, cricket and volleyball. This, and the increased participation of pupils in school clubs, gives good support to the school’s aim that pupils should develop their skills in sport and adopt healthy lifestyles.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school:  The governing body has improved its effectiveness considerably following the review of its work required by the previous inspection. Governors are now much more aware of the school’s performance because they monitor closely and now analyse assessment data more rigorously. This has enabled them to ask searching questions of the headteacher, such as about the action that is being taken to improve boys’ writing. They are much clearer about the quality of teaching, the action being taken by the headteacher and how this links to salary enhancement. Their expertise as a group has been broadened by appointing new members with specific skills and undertaking regular training. Governors manage the school’s finances well. This has enabled them to appoint an additional Reception teacher so that some of the children do not have to be in a mixed-age class with Year 1 pupils as had previously been the

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The leadership and management requires improvement

case. They ensure all safeguarding requirements are met in full.

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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 115314 Local authority Essex Inspection number 442011

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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 Foundation Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 277 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Hazel Funnell Headteacher Jackie Irwin Date of previous school inspection 27 February 2013 Telephone number 01255 860210 Fax number 01255 861838 Email address admin@engaines.essex.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

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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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