St Peter's Community Primary School

School report St Peter’s Community Primary School

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St Peter’s Road, Portslade-by-Sea, Brighton, BN41 1LS

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Outstanding 1 This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Requires improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Early years provision Good 2

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

 This school requires improvement because too many pupils do not make good progress and because school leaders have not identified this. The school’s expectations of pupils’ progress are not consistently high enough.  Pupils, including the most able and those who have disabilities or special educational needs, do not make enough progress in some classes.  The proportions of most-able pupils achieving results in reading and, especially, writing at the higher levels at the end of Key Stage 1 are too low.  Teachers do not consistently offer pupils, including the most able, enough challenge to enable them to make good progress.  Not all teachers give pupils sufficient advice about how to improve their work or the presentation of their work. As a result, the quality and presentation of pupils’ work are sometimes too poor.  Pupils’ otherwise positive attitudes to learning suffer when teaching is less effective. Some pupils lose

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

focus and stop concentrating on learning when the work is too easy.  The headteacher, governors, and other key leaders, with the exception of the early years leader, do not have a secure understanding of what constitutes enough progress. As a consequence, they have not rigorously checked the progress made by groups of pupils or ensured that enough pupils make good progress across the school.

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The school has the following strengths

 The school’s early years provision is good. Children make good progress and are well prepared for learning in Year 1.  The proportion of pupils reaching the expected levels in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Key Stage 1 are above national figures. The proportion reaching the higher levels in mathematics is also above that found in most other schools.  The school keeps pupils safe and manages their behaviour effectively. Pupils are courteous and behave well towards one another.  The school promotes pupils’ moral development and understanding of democracy well. Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed teaching in every class. They observed one assembly, 10 lessons and pupils’ behaviour in the playground and at lunchtime. Nine lessons were observed jointly with the headteacher or deputy headteacher.  Discussions were held with pupils, three members of the governing body, the headteacher and other members of staff.  The inspectors observed many aspects of the school’s work, including support for pupils who need extra help. They heard pupils read and examined pupils’ work in their exercise books and on classroom and corridor wall displays.  The inspectors looked at a number of documents, including plans for what pupils will learn in each subject and plans for the school’s future development. They also scrutinised the school’s use of sport premium and pupil premium funding, the school’s arrangements for keeping pupils safe, pupils’ attendance records, minutes of governing body meetings, records of how pupils’ learning is checked and tracked, and records

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Information about this inspection

of how the quality of teaching is checked.  The views of parents were taken into account through taking note of the 68 responses to the online Parent View survey, four messages that were received and through discussions with several parents.  Staff views were taken into consideration by looking at questionnaires completed by 14 staff members and through discussions with several members of staff.

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Inspection team

Steven Popper, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is a smaller-than-average-sized primary school. It converted from a nursery and infant school to a primary school in September 2013, and currently caters for children and pupils from Nursery to Year 4. There were no pupils in Year 4 until September 2014.  The proportion of pupils who are eligible for additional government funding, known as the pupil premium, is lower than the national average. This extra money is provided for children known to be eligible for free school meals.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is above average. The proportion supported by school action plus and those with statements of special educational needs is lower than in most other schools.  A very large majority of pupils are of White British heritage.  Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are in one Nursery class and one Reception class. Some of

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Information about this school

the provision in Nursery and Reception is part time.  The Year 3 and Year 4 teachers both joined the school in September 2014.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure all teaching is at least good by ensuring all teachers:  give pupils, particularly the most able, hard enough work to enable them to make good progress and achieve well  give pupils sufficient advice about how to improve their work and the presentation of their work.  Improve behaviour and safety by ensuring that:  pupils’ work is challenging enough to stimulate pupils and hold their attention  all teachers have high expectations of pupils’ progress and presentation of work.  Ensure that all teachers and leaders have high expectations of pupils’ progress and presentation of work.  Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by:  ensuring that all leaders check the progress made by groups of pupils more rigorously and accurately  setting precise targets for improvements to the progress made by specific groups of pupils, including the most able.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The headteacher and other key leaders, with the exception of the early years leader, have underestimated the amount of progress that pupils need to make during a school year. As a consequence they have not checked the progress made by pupils carefully enough to ensure that all groups of pupils across the school make good progress. Leaders have not, therefore, successfully ensured equality of opportunity for all pupils.  In principle, the headteacher and other leaders want their pupils to do well and have ambition for the school. This is shown by the bold move to convert the school to a primary school. However, in practice, leaders’ flawed understanding of how much progress pupils need to make means that their expectations of pupils are too low.  Leaders’ evaluation of the school’s performance is inaccurate. Leaders have an over-generous understanding of pupils’ achievement, the quality of teaching in the school and its impact on pupils’

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The leadership and management requires improvement

behaviour.  The school improvement plan has not given sufficient attention to the need to improve the progress made by different groups of pupils.  The misjudgement of the amount of progress pupils need to make means that some teaching has been evaluated as stronger than it is. Consequently, teachers have not been set higher targets relating to pupils’ progress.  When poor performance has been identified, action has been taken swiftly and effectively. This shows the school does have the capacity to improve.  The school has planned some improvements to the school effectively. For example, actions taken during the previous year to improve mathematics led to pupils attaining higher results in the subject.  Middle leaders have brought about improvements, notably to pupils’ results in mathematics and, to some extent, in writing. They have helped prepare the school for the implementation of the new National

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The leadership and management requires improvement

Curriculum and have trained other staff and modelled methods of teaching that the school has wanted to introduce. However, the effectiveness of middle leaders has been limited by the school’s misunderstanding of how much progress is required from pupils during a school year.  The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Daily engagement in philosophy and the international dimension of subjects pupils learn help develop pupils’ moral reflection and consideration for others. The school prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain through visits to see local democratic institutions at work and through the use of the school council.  The school promotes the importance of pupils having equal opportunities to join in activities and works well against discrimination. For example, staff have had training on how to prevent and respond to homophobic bullying and language use, and take such aspects of work seriously.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Sport premium funding is spent effectively on increasing pupils’ engagement in various sports. It is also spent effectively on improving teachers’ expertise in aspects of physical education, including how to assess pupils’ performance. Pupils’ skills in physical education and sport have developed as a result.  Other additional funding is spent effectively on supporting eligible pupils’ academic performance and attendance. Inspectors saw evidence of how some pupils’ attendance and progress had improved as a result of such support.  The school’s safeguarding arrangements meet statutory requirements. Staff and governors regularly receive up-to-date training that helps them ensure the effectiveness of the school’s work in this area.  The local authority has supported the school during its conversion from a nursery and infant school to a primary school. However, it has not helped to ensure that leaders have an accurate understanding of how

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The leadership and management requires improvement

much progress pupils need to make.  The school works and communicates very well with parents, notably, but not exclusively, in the early years. Parents are kept well informed about the school’s work with their children.  The governance of the school:  The governing body’s overall effectiveness is limited because members have not spotted that school leaders’ expectations of pupils’ progress are too low. However, the governors are developing their skills and demanding better information about progress. The governing body is well organised and checks the school’s provision for pupils systematically. It has offered appropriate challenge to leaders about the achievement of pupils, but has not always been given accurate information. Governors have challenged senior leaders when they have not been provided with information about the progress of some cohorts of pupils. Some governors, including one of the co-chairs, have received training that has developed

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The leadership and management requires improvement

their understanding of official records of pupils’ achievement in the school at the end of Key Stage 1.  Governors undertake visits to the school to see the quality of teaching for themselves. They also receive information about the effectiveness of teaching from the headteacher. However, because the school’s evaluation of the quality of teaching is over generous, governors have not always realised that some teaching is not as strong as it has been represented to be. They are, however, kept properly informed about performance management actions taken to reduce poor teaching performance. Governors carefully consider actions that should be taken to reward good performance, such as whether any proposed pay awards are justified.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.  Pupils typically demonstrate positive attitudes to learning. However, there are a few times when pupils can go off task and fiddle or make faces at each other when teaching is not challenging enough to stimulate them or hold their attention.  Pupils do not always demonstrate sufficient pride or care in the presentation of their work. This is because teachers do not consistently communicate high expectations in this regard.  Pupils behave sensibly and cooperatively in the playground, during lunchtime and when travelling around the school. They are courteous, friendly and kind towards each other.  The school manages pupils’ behaviour well. It promotes positive attitudes towards learning through the effective use of cartoon characters that symbolise productive forms of behaviour and learning. School records show no incidents of bullying and very few incidents of poor behaviour over time. Any incidents

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Behaviour

that have occurred have been responded to well by the school.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good.  Pupils are well supervised in the playground and at all times. Pupils are taught about risk assessment and keeping safe in different situations, such as when using the internet. The school teaches pupils how to guard against bullying, including cyber bullying and verbal bullying. Pupils who talked to the inspectors said they felt safe in the school and that there was no bullying.  Attendance has improved over time and is now in line with most other schools. This is because of the school’s clear expectations of good attendance and policy of following up any absence very quickly.  An overwhelming majority of parents who offered an opinion thought that the school kept their children safe and managed pupils’ behaviour well.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching in the school has not enabled enough pupils to make sufficient progress overall. The effectiveness of teaching is variable across different classes.  Not all teachers give pupils, especially the most able, work that is hard enough to enable them to achieve well. As a consequence, too few of the most-able pupils make sufficient progress to attain results in reading and writing at the higher levels at the end of Key Stage 1 or to have reached high enough standards by the end of Year 3. Teaching in mathematics is more effective, with the effect that pupils’ results in mathematics at the higher levels at the end of Key Stage 1 are above average. Several pupils who talked to the inspectors said that the work they were given was too easy.  Pupils are given much praise which helps to develop their confidence. However, they are not always given enough advice about how to improve their work or its presentation. For example, too many English books

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

seen featured work that contained spelling and punctuation errors and handwriting of poor quality, none of which were pointed out to the pupils concerned. As a result, these pupils’ writing skills were not developed as much as possible.  The teaching of phonics (linking letters to the sounds they make), whilst effective in the early years, has not enabled all groups of pupils, particularly girls, to meet expected standards in the Year 1 phonic screening check.  Teachers, teaching assistants and pupils have good working relationships. Pupils feel well supported and valued, if not always challenged enough.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Too few pupils make enough progress in the school overall. The amount of progress made by pupils varies across different classes and subjects, with progress in writing being particularly slow for some groups. With the exception of staff in the early years, teachers’ and leaders’ expectations of the amount of progress that pupils need to make are too low overall.  The most-able pupils do not make enough progress in reading and writing overall. Not enough of them attain results in reading and, particularly, writing at the higher levels at the end of Key Stage 1. The progress they make in reading, writing and mathematics varies between different classes. This is because of the inconsistent levels of challenge that pupils receive across the school.  The attainment of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is lower than that of other pupils, both nationally and in the school. While several of these pupils make good progress from

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

their starting points, large proportions do not make enough progress in reading, writing or mathematics in some areas of the school. Their needs are not consistently met well.  The results of pupils eligible for additional funding in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Key Stage 1 are lower than those of other pupils, both nationally and in the school. The gaps in attainment in English and mathematics at the end of Key Stage 1 have widened since the previous year. However, the progress from starting points made by eligible pupils by the time they reach the end of Key Stage 1 is generally good, although it is variable across the school overall. It is not possible to compare eligible pupils’ achievement at the end of Key Stage 2 with that of other pupils since the school only extends to Year 4 at present.  The proportions of pupils reaching expected levels in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Key

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

Stage 1 are better than those found in most other schools. The proportion reaching the higher levels in mathematics at the end of Key Stage 1 is also above national figures.

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The early years provision is good

 Most children enter the Early Years Foundation Stage with skills typical for their age, with some beginning with a lower level of skills. Children make good progress from their starting points and end the year well prepared for Year 1. The percentage of children finishing the Reception year with a good level of development is high. However, children’s achievement in creative development is not as strong as in other areas of learning. This is why the early years provision is not outstanding.  Relationships between staff and children are warm, considerate and nurturing. This enables children to settle into Nursery and Reception very quickly and feel safe and secure.  Teachers and teaching assistants swiftly establish children’s good attitudes to learning. Children listen and follow instructions well. They work and play cooperatively and in a happy and friendly manner.  Teaching across the early years is effective, well planned and of high quality. Staff ensure that all child-led

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The early years provision is good

and adult-led activities are purposeful and challenging. Staff engage children in high-quality and thoughtful dialogue that develops their skills and understanding well, including in literacy and mathematics.  The indoor and outdoor classrooms, especially in the Nursery, are attractively presented, safe, and well utilised. Resources are used well to promote children’s learning. Children show consistently high levels of concentration and engagement.  Staff monitor children’s achievements and needs constantly and accurately from the time the children enter the early years. They involve parents in assessment and keep them well informed about their children’s learning.  The Early Years Foundation Stage leader keeps a careful eye on the quality of the early years provision. She ensures that all early years staff have high expectations of children and teach them well.

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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 114411 Local authority Brighton and Hove Inspection number 447752

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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 203 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Daphne Geal & Ann Gilham Headteacher Michele Lawrie Date of previous school inspection 29–30 September 2010 Telephone number 01273 296712 Fax number 01273 296713 Email address office@stpeters.brighton-hove.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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