St Peter's CofE (VC) First School

St Peter's CofE (VC) First School The Square, Marchington, Uttoxeter, ST14 8LH

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Early years provision Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The school has a strong and effective headteacher who is ably supported by senior leaders and governors. Collectively they are sharply focused on raising standards for all pupils.  Governors keep themselves well-informed about pupils’ progress and rigorously hold the school to account for the standards achieved.  Pupils enjoy school and achieve well. Children enter the Nursery with skills and knowledge typical of those expected for their age. They make good progress and by the end of the Reception Year more children than usual have reached a good level of development.  Good progress continues throughout Years 1 to 4 in reading, writing and mathematics. Standards are higher than those typically found by the end of Year 4. Pupils are well prepared for the middle- school stage of their education.  Pupils are polite and well behaved in lessons, around school and at playtimes. They settle quickly to work and are excited by their learning.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Parents support the school and are pleased with the academic progress that their children make. They appreciate the opportunity to be involved in their children’s learning through engaging homework tasks.  Leaders have introduced an exciting curriculum. It is broad and balanced and strongly supports pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural development and their enjoyment of lessons.  Teachers’ assessments are used carefully to identify pupils who are at risk of falling behind and put support programmes in place to move their learning on. As a result, pupils make good progress overall.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Teachers do not always challenge the most able pupils to achieve as highly as they possibly can.  Pupils’ spelling is not as good as it could be and this sometimes hinders the progress some pupils make in writing.  Pupils do not get sufficient opportunities to use and apply their mathematical skills to real-life problem solving.  Although teachers’ marking is very effective in English it does not always accurately identify next steps in pupils’ learning, in mathematics.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector visited all classrooms to observe lessons and talk with the pupils about their work. He also looked through pupil’s work-books. Most of these activities were undertaken jointly with the headteacher.  The inspector heard some pupils read and observed pupils’ behaviour during playtimes, lunchtime and at the beginning and end of the school day.  Meetings were held with members of staff, groups of pupils and with five governors of the federation’s joint governing body. The inspector held a meeting with a representative of the local authority.  The responses of 28 parents to Ofsted's online survey were taken into account alongside comments made to the inspector by parents before school. The inspector also considered the 26 responses to the school’s own parent questionnaire which was conducted during the inspection. The views of staff were also taken into account, including 12 completed staff questionnaire returns.

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Information about this inspection

 A range of documents were examined, including safeguarding policies and procedures, the school’s view of its own performance, school development planning and records of the progress of past and current pupils.

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Inspection team

David Edwards, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 St. Peter’s First School is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  Pupils are mainly from a White-British background.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils eligible for the additional funding known as the pupil premium is below average. In this school this additional funding is allocated for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals or looked after by the local authority.  The school has a before and after school care club, which is managed by an outside provider. It is inspected and reported upon separately.  The school has an executive headteacher. A senior teacher is in charge of the school in her absence.  The school is part of a federation with another local school. They share the same governing body.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Accelerate the progress made by the most able pupils by making sure that tasks set for them challenge them to achieve as highly as they can.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise achievement further in mathematics and writing by:  giving pupils more opportunity to use and apply their mathematical skills to solve problems real-life situations  ensuring that marking in mathematics always informs pupils what they need to do next to make further progress in their work  improving spelling so that pupils’ writing is more accurate.

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The leadership and management are good

 The executive headteacher provides strong, caring and effective leadership which ensures that everyone involved with the school feels that they have a say and that their contribution is appreciated. She has gained the respect and support of staff at all levels and consequently they are keen to do the best for the pupils in their care.

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The leadership and management are good

 Robust systems are in place for checking the impact of the school’s work, and ensuring that governors are well informed. For example, pupil progress meetings are held every term involving teachers, senior leaders and governors in discussions about progress. They also review the impact of additional support groups on pupils’ learning and progress.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority has confidence in the senior leader’s ability to maintain the school’s good performance. As a result, it provides only light touch support. The school has worked collaboratively with other local schools to help it to develop. This is particularly true of the work they have done with their partner school in the federation to check that their assessments of pupils’ work are accurate.

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The leadership and management are good

 Almost all subject leaders manage the drive for improved standards effectively and undertake a good range of activities such as checking the quality of work in pupils’ book and reviewing pupil data to judge the impact of actions they have taken in their subject. However, the leader of mathematics does not have enough opportunities to observe the teaching in her subject at first hand. Consequently, she does not have a complete picture to put effective action plans in place to ensure further development. The school has plans to make more time available to the mathematics leader to address this aspect of school improvement.

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The leadership and management are good

 Staff performance is managed well. All teachers are given clear targets which are closely linked to the whole-school improvement plans. They check the teachers’ performance against the targets they have set and this helps senior leaders and governors to make informed decisions about pay and progression.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school is working with a group of local schools to develop a new system for assessing the progress and attainment of pupils. This assessment system is designed to build on the school’s current effective method of assessing and recording pupils’ progress.

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The leadership and management are good

 The curriculum provides a wide range and good balance of subjects and practical experiences that enable pupils to develop their interests and talents. Reading skills are taught very well and the pupils are successfully encouraged to use them in many activities. Some weaknesses remain in extending pupils’ use of problem solving skills in mathematics and in ensuring weaknesses in spelling do not hinder pupils’ writing. As a result, pupils make good rather than rapid progress in both these subjects. Assemblies strongly promote spiritual and moral values and a sense of community. Religious education lessons teach the pupils about the different religious beliefs and cultural traditions that help to shape people’s lives in modern Britain.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school makes exceptionally good use of its excellent woodland facilities to engage pupils in developing a range of practical life skills, team work, interpersonal skills, speaking and listening skills and to look after the environment.

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The leadership and management are good

 The use of additional funding for the development of physical education activities is increasing pupils’ skills, in and enjoyment of, sporting activities. It has been used to pay for specialist sports coaches, develop teachers’ skills and enhance the curriculum. A range of enrichment activities such as dance lessons, cricket and football are now available to pupils who also have more opportunities to engage in competitive sports with other schools.

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The leadership and management are good

 The funds the school receives to support disadvantaged pupils is used effectively. The school’s assessment information shows that this small group of pupils make good progress.

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The leadership and management are good

 Parents spoken to by the inspector and the overall response the parental questionnaire portrayed a positive view of the school and their child’s education.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Good governance contributes significantly to school improvement. Governors give optimum support to the school while at the same time challenging leaders to continue raising standards. All statutory duties are fulfilled, including ensuring that safeguarding arrangements meet requirements.  Governors are well informed about the progress pupils make in each class and how well the school is doing compared with others nationally. They make sure that the contribution of staff to raising pupils' achievement and improving the management of the school is linked to the pay they receive. They have shown the capacity to take decisive measures when any staff fail to meet the demands placed on them.  Governors keep themselves abreast of developments in the school through regular visits. For example, they participate in pupil progress meetings to gauge pupils’ views of their learning and progress.

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The leadership and management are good

 The budget is managed effectively and governors are aware of how the pupil premium is being spent to support eligible pupils’ progress and raise their attainment. They also carefully monitor school spending of the sport funding, to ensure that it is supporting the development of pupils’ skills in this area.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Their good spiritual, moral, social and cultural development has a marked impact on their good behaviour. Pupils understand the need for rules and follow them conscientiously. Behaviour in lessons is often impeccable and together with their good concentration, helps them to make good progress. Parents, staff, governors and pupils themselves are positive about behaviour in the school. However, a very few parents and a few pupils expressed the view that some children can occasionally be ‘naughty’ but add that staff manage any inappropriate behaviour effectively.

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Behaviour

 Pupils are very keen to learn, work hard in class and persist with a task even if it is difficult. They are interested in their learning and think carefully about their work. They have excellent collaborative skills and, from Reception onwards, are able to discuss their work together sensibly, share materials and reach decisions amicably.

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Behaviour

 Pupils’ positive relationships with each other, as well as with adults, promote a positive ethos in the school. Pupils are thoughtful and mindful of the needs of others. They feel it is their responsibility to look after each other and show concern and care if anyone is upset. As a result the school is a harmonious community. As one parent said, ‘The school is at the heart of the community and is like one big happy family’.

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Behaviour

 Boys and girls from different age-groups play and work together happily. Pupils are tolerant of each other’s differences, like to see that everyone is included in activities and respect each other’s views and feelings.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils feel safe and happy in school, enjoying both their social interactions and their lessons. They have a good understanding of keeping safe in different situations, and discuss safety issues animatedly.

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Safety

 Pupils have a good understanding of bullying, including cyber-bullying for example, and distinguish sensibly between this and other misbehaviour. Pupils said that they were confident that bullying was not an issue in the school. They emphasised the importance of telling an adult if they were worried about things, and were confident that issues would be dealt with quickly.

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Safety

 Although many of the children have limited experience of using the internet outside of school, social networking sites or using mobile phones, the school and their parents teach them to understand the dangers that these communication technologies can pose.

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Safety

 The way the school cares for and looks after the needs of its pupils whose circumstances render them vulnerable is exemplary. The school works very closely with parents and outside agencies to ensure that the personal, social, emotional and academic needs are well met.

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Safety

 Attendance is consistently above average, and pupils value the recognition they receive for their good attendance. Their enjoyment of school means they are keen to be there.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is good because over time there is clear evidence that it has resulted in pupils making good progress. This is because teachers are very skilled in preparing activities that interest and engage pupils, using a range of appropriate resources, and developing pupils’ skills and understanding systematically. As a result, pupils are enthusiastic about learning and keen to succeed.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers develop speaking and listening abilities, very well. They question pupils carefully to make sure that they have understood what is being taught. This also helps them to make accurate assessments of pupils’ attainment.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The use of additional adults and strong teamwork are key features of teaching in the school. In a Year 3 and 4 mathematics lesson, a group of pupils was skilfully supported and challenged by a member of the support staff; her questioning cleverly extended the pupils’ learning.

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The quality of teaching is good

 In the Early Years Foundation Stage, children work very hard because teachers and other adults focus tightly on improving their key literacy and mathematical skills. Adults quickly adjust what they are doing when children require extra support or when their learning needs to be extended.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are supported very effectively in lessons to achieve as well as they can from to their starting points. They are given work that systematically builds on their understanding of what they have been taught previously.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The teaching of reading is highly effective because teachers pay close attention to detail in systematically developing the essential building blocks. Lessons in writing have helped Year 1 pupils, for example, to understand the difference between nouns, verbs and adjectives so that, by Year 2, they can write at length and use their knowledge and understanding to construct quite complex sentences. However, the quality of pupils’ writing is sometimes hampered by weaknesses in spelling.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers provide interesting and varied work for the most-able pupils, but this does not always test them because activities are not always adapted to add more challenge.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Marking is noticeably better in literacy than in mathematics because it gives pupils clear guidance on how to make their work better. However, in mathematics marking does not always point pupils to their next steps so that they can correct or improve their work. In addition, pupils do not always respond to the advice they are given in their work.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Progress is good across Key Stage 1. Most pupils enter Year 1 from Reception with good levels of development. Results in the phonics (the sound letters make) screening check at the end of Year 1 are above average and standards are above average in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 2. The good progress continues throughout Years 3 and 4 and standards are higher than those typically seen in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Year 4.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children enter the Early Years Foundation Stage with skills and abilities that are typical of those expected for their age. They make good progress in acquiring and using key skills because teaching is well planned. Teachers intervene thoughtfully to help them to make good gains in learning when they are undertaking tasks.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Although spelling remains a weakness for some pupils, standards in writing have improved following a period when it has been a focus of school improvement. Pupils achieve particularly well in reading because they are given many opportunities to read widely and often. Pupils undertake guided reading sessions, where the teacher ensures that they understand all aspects of the text they are reading. They learn about different authors and read a good range of fiction and non-fiction texts.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The school has had a strong focus on developing pupils’ phonic ability and this makes a strong contribution to the good progress pupils make in their reading.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The most able pupils achieve well across the school . Their attainment and progress are good and these pupils reach higher levels of attainment at the end of Year 2 than pupils nationally. However, there are occasions when the tasks set for these pupils lack sufficient challenge to ensure that they achieve as highly as they possibly can.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress from their starting points. This is because the school ensures that they receive additional support in lessons, when they need it, to improve their learning. The special educational needs coordinator works closely with staff to make sure that these pupils are given every opportunity to fulfil their potential. This illustrates well the school’s positive commitment to equality of opportunity.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 There are too few disadvantaged pupils in the school to make meaningful comparisons about their performance with others. However, school assessment data shows that the small number of pupils who receive extra help make good progress in line with others in the school.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The school has had a strong focus on raising standards in mathematics. Pupils’ calculation skills and their ability to undertake mental calculations have improved, but they do not get enough opportunities to use and apply the good level of mathematical skills learn to solving real-life problems.

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The early years provision is good

 From their different starting points on entry to the Nursery, children make good progress overall, and particularly rapid progress in their personal, social and emotional development. By the end of the Reception Year most children have reached a good level of development across the areas of learning and are well prepared for Year 1.

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The early years provision is good

 Children settle quickly into the Early Years Foundation Stage because of the well-established routines and inviting environment. The children learn well though self-chosen play activities and those lead by teachers because activities are well-planned to build on what the children were taught previously. A good range of interesting equipment supports play activities in the classroom and the outdoor area. Resources are chosen to relate to current topics and staff skilfully listen to and question children as they play, to assess and support their learning.

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The early years provision is good

 Behaviour is good. Children are self-confident, care for each other and play and work co-operatively. They listen attentively when the teacher is explaining their work to them. They answer questions and talk confidently in teacher-led groups. They show pride in their work.

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The early years provision is good

 Teaching is engaging and captures the children’s interests. This was evident in a phonics lesson, where children were helped to make rapid gains in their learning. The teacher catered well for children’s differing interests and used a varied range of approaches to maintain their concentration.

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The early years provision is good

 Leadership in the early years setting is good. Procedures for keeping children safe are thorough, well established and checked regularly. As a result children feel safe and secure and this adds to their enjoyment in learning.

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The early years provision is good

 Good systems are in place to take into account the views of parents and to inform them about how their children are doing. The information in children ‘learning journal’ workbooks is shared regularly with parents.

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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 failing

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Grade Judgement Description

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 124262 Local authority Staffordshire Inspection number 448538

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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 First School category Voluntary controlled Age range of pupils 3–9 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 63 Appropriate authority Select Chair Robert Neads Headteacher Pauline Livesey Date of previous school inspection 24 September 2009 Telephone number 01283 820252 Fax number 01283 820252 Email address office@st-peters-marchington.staffs.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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