Lugwardine Primary Academy

Lugwardine Primary Academy Barneby Avenue, Bartestree, Hereford, HR1 4DH

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected as an academy 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 academy managers, strongly led by the headteacher, have quickly brought about rapid improvements in pupils’ achievement by raising the quality of teaching.  Pupils throughout the academy, including those who join after Reception, achieve well.  Disabled pupils, those who have special educational needs and disadvantaged pupils achieve as well as other groups.  Leaders check pupils’ progress regularly. They provide them with extra support where necessary.  The governing body challenges the academy well about pupils’ achievement.  There is a strong sense of community. Pupils’ behaviour is often exemplary and older pupils help younger ones. Pupils rightly feel safe and secure in the academy.  Teachers have respectful and supportive relationships with pupils.  The curriculum is varied, covers different subjects well and promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well.  Teachers’ marking helps pupils to improve.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Children settle happily and make good progress during the Reception Year.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Teachers do not always use information about pupils’ different abilities to prepare suitably demanding work for them. Some leaders have not provided their colleagues with enough help to enable them to do this.  The most-able pupils’ progress is seldom outstanding because not enough teaching excites and enthuses them.  Weaknesses in the quality of the information the academy holds and uses about the skills and aptitudes of children in Reception slow their progress.  Teaching assistants sometimes do not work well enough with the pupils they support.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 10 lessons, including some jointly with the headteacher. They observed breakfast club, breaks and lunchtimes, and an assembly.  Members of the inspection team heard pupils read and looked closely at samples of their work with senior leaders.  Inspectors looked at a wide range of academy documents, including development plans, the academy’s own self-evaluation reports, monitoring files, minutes of meetings, information on performance management, finance and safeguarding documentation and policies.  Meetings were held with two different groups of pupils chosen to reflect all groups represented in the academy. Inspectors also spoke informally to pupils during lesson observations.  Discussions were held with senior leaders, subject leaders, the inclusion manager, and the teacher in charge of the Early Years Foundation Stage. The Chair of the Governing Body, the Vice Chair, a parent

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Information about this inspection

governor and the community governor were also interviewed. A further meeting was held with the governor responsible for safeguarding.  Inspectors took account of 38 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View. They talked to parents in the playground, and examined evidence from the academy’s own parent and pupil questionnaires.  Inspectors considered the 24 staff responses that were submitted to the staff questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Kathy Hooper, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is an average-sized primary academy.  Lugwardine Primary Academy converted to become an academy on 1 April 2012. When its predecessor school, Lugwardine Primary School, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be good.  Most pupils are White British. Only a very small number of pupils are learning English as an additional language.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is above average. The proportion who are supported through school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs, or the new education, health and care plan, is below average.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium, which is additional funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and those in local authority care, is below average.  More pupils than is commonly the case join or leave the academy before the end of Year 6.

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Information about this school

 In 2013, the academy met the government’s floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.  Children joining the academy in Reception are mainly from a local nursery school.  A new headteacher joined the academy in September 2013.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that teachers in charge of subjects and different groups help colleagues to make better use of the information they hold about pupils to set suitably demanding work for them.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching and learning by ensuring that:  teachers provide the most able with work that makes them think hard and learn as quickly as they can  teaching assistants work equally well with all pupils they are supporting in lessons.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Help children make faster progress in Reception by ensuring that the information about children’s ability and achievement is obtained from their pre-schools and used to plan teaching.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher’s strong and determined leadership of teaching and learning has led to higher achievement for pupils and better behaviour in all key stages.

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The leadership and management are good

 A strong focus on mathematics last year has improved pupils’ achievement in Key Stage 2. Consistent teaching of sounds and letters has improved reading in Key Stage 1. Senior leaders have brought about improvements in marking and checking pupils’ progress, giving pupils a clearer understanding of how to improve.

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The leadership and management are good

 Pupils’ progress and teachers’ work are carefully checked. Detailed analyses of pupils’ progress are shared with staff and governors, and there is a healthy debate about pupils’ achievement across the academy.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders with particular responsibilities, such as the oversight of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, and those in charge of subjects and year groups, evaluate pupils’ learning regularly. They visit lessons, check pupils’ work in their books, and provide colleagues with useful tips to improve their teaching. This accurate checking of the work of the academy by leaders ensures that the academy continues to move forward. Leaders do not, however, always focus teachers sharply enough on ways to use the analysis of assessment information to plan lessons to ensure the best progress for pupils of all abilities.

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The leadership and management are good

 Systems for managing the work of teachers are robust but supportive. Leaders regularly check teachers’ work against the Teachers’ Standards. Close working partnerships at all levels ensure that morale is high.

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The leadership and management are good

 There is little difference between the achievement of pupils who are entitled to funding from the pupil premium and others. Extra staff are employed to support pupils’ basic skills; for example, reinforcing their understanding of number using a computer program.

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The leadership and management are good

 The wide and well-balanced curriculum serves pupils well. It is amended each year in response to the needs of different groups of pupils in the academy. Over the last year, there have been good improvements in the way the academy teaches pupils to read in Key Stage 1. There are good links with the local community and further afield with schools in Europe and Africa.

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The leadership and management are good

 There is a strong emphasis on reading, writing, and mathematics. Staff are currently trying to make better links across the curriculum to provide more writing opportunities. The academy has made a good start in implementing the new National Curriculum while making learning more interesting by increasing the emphasis on the arts. Themed weeks help pupils to make connections between subjects.

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The leadership and management are good

 The academy uses its partnerships with several other schools to share good practice. Although the academy continues to work with the levels formerly used in the old curriculum, staff are sharing thoughts on new ways of assessing pupils’ progress. There are good opportunities to compare standards of pupils’ work to make sure that levels are accurate. Partnership with the local nursery is not sufficiently strong to support the rapid progress of children who join the academy in Reception.

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The leadership and management are good

 Provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. There are many opportunities for pupils to develop the skills and knowledge needed to live in modern Britain.

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The leadership and management are good

 The academy’s ‘values curriculum’ promotes pupils’ awareness of British values whilst encouraging a tolerance for different perspectives. Personal, social and health education lessons provide useful opportunities for pupils to consider alternative lifestyles and individual rights and responsibilities. Pupils can raise their concerns during circle time.

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The leadership and management are good

 Primary sports funding has been used successfully to improve the skills and expertise of staff and to extend the range of opportunities for pupils to be involved in physical activities. Pupils are now more enthusiastic about sport, and participation rates in different sporting activities have risen.

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The leadership and management are good

 Good relationships with parents, and with outside agencies where necessary, help to promote pupils’ well-being and achievement. Parents are generally very happy with the academy.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders ensure that safeguarding of pupils has a high priority and procedures are robust. Staff training is regular and well targeted according to responsibilities. Staff are well informed about the academy’s policy and procedures regarding child protection. Pupils understand about risks, such as those related to the internet. There are careful checks on visitors coming into the academy.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  There is an experienced and knowledgeable governing body that challenges and supports the academy. Governors have good financial oversight. They question the headteacher closely on pupils’ achievement and have a good understanding of data. They receive and discuss reports from teachers with subject and other responsibilities. They are well aware of the progress of different groups of pupils, such as those receiving help from pupil premium funding. They understand the impact of their spending of these monies, and of the extra funding for sports. They are clear about their responsibilities regarding rewards for good teaching and do not automatically promote teachers up the pay scale. They have ensured that there are robust procedures for safeguarding, and they understand and fulfil their legal responsibilities.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils thoroughly enjoy academy life. There are warm and supportive relationships at all levels. As a result, the academy is a close-knit community where pupils respect each other and work hard.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Behaviour in lessons is good and often exemplary. In a few lessons, where the work is less challenging, pupils do not learn so well because they lose concentration and become restless.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils’ behaviour is also good outside lessons. During breaks, pupils play well together, often in mixed- age groups. Older pupils help younger ones; for example, at lunchtimes, by being ‘reading buddies’ or as members of the School Sports Organising Crew.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils have taken part in recent discussions about behaviour. They have helped to define the rules and they understand and accept the rewards and sanctions. As a result, pupils and staff report improved behaviour and more consistent management of pupils. Assemblies provide good opportunities for pupils to reflect on values and they appreciate the weekly achievement assembly.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The academy’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils are consulted often and are encouraged to make suggestions for improving the academy. They learn to keep themselves safe, within the academy and beyond. They are confident about how to protect themselves; for example, when using the computer.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils have little doubt that adults will listen to them. They know that they can talk to any adult, including the learning mentor, about issues or worries they might have. Pupils and staff say there is very little hurtful behaviour such as bullying, racism, discrimination or extremism. Pupils feel very safe in the academy and look out for each other.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The environment is attractive and well maintained. Pupils are very cooperative, sociable and polite. For example, they hold doors open for others and help each other to clear up efficiently at the end of activities.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The attendance rate is above average and there is little persistent absence. Strategies for encouraging full attendance have been successful.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers have worked hard this year to improve the quality of teaching and learning. As a result, pupils’ achievement has improved throughout the academy.

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The quality of teaching is good

 There are high levels of respect between pupils and between adults and pupils. Discussion about learning is lively and pupils listen well to each other, their teachers and other adults.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers check regularly on pupils’ progress. Time is given in lessons for pupils to act on suggestions and comments. This helps pupils to reinforce their learning well. Teachers’ assessments of how well pupils are doing are checked, both within and beyond the academy, to ensure that they are accurate and consistent.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils find teachers’ marking helpful. Many pupils, especially the older ones, respond thoughtfully to comments and suggestions. Teachers identify targets, strengths and areas for development when marking. Pupils are expected to assess their own work and that of others. Some pupils make good use of ‘purple polishers’ to correct and to improve their work.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, those supported through the pupil premium, and those who join the school partway through the year, are well supported to achieve, often through the use of different resources and a range of adult support. As a result, they make good progress.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils’ workbooks demonstrate the great pride they take in their work. Their books are beautifully presented and clearly show what has been learned and the good quality of their progress. The writing of more-able pupils shows a good range of styles and good vocabulary.

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The quality of teaching is good

 In most lessons, pupils are engaged in tasks that are demanding but manageable. As a result, they are well engaged and work without needing undue assistance from other adults. In a few lessons, the pace of learning slows when the work pupils are given lacks sufficient challenge.

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The quality of teaching is good

 While teachers mainly use questioning carefully to assess learning, they do not always frame different kinds of questions to challenge pupils of different abilities. This is particularly the case for the more able, who are not, for example, pressed to analyse and interpret information in reading lessons. The activities which teachers plan for the more able are not always sufficiently enticing to ensure they always try their best.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching assistants work closely with pupils in a variety of ways and help them to understand and learn new skills. They question pupils well but, occasionally, the pace of learning is slower than it could be because they spend too much time with an individual pupil while others wait to be helped.

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The achievement of pupils

 Provisional results show that every pupil achieved the nationally expected Level 4 in reading, writing and mathematics in tests at the end of Year 6 this year. Achievement in mathematics in Key Stage 2 has risen as a result of a successful focus on the subject across the academy. In mathematics, all of the pupils who achieved Level 3 in Key Stage 1 achieved at least Level 5 by the end of Key Stage 2.

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The achievement of pupils

 More-able Key Stage 2 pupils make particularly good progress in mathematics. This year, about a quarter of these pupils achieved Level 6. More-able pupils make good progress in reading and writing but their books do not always show enough difference in challenge between their tasks and those for middle-attaining pupils. The proportion of pupils making better progress than predicted from Key Stage 1 in reading and writing by the end of Year 6 is a little lower than it is in mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils

 Achievement in the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 has also improved this year, particularly for the less-able and middle-attaining pupils. More than three quarters of pupils passed the national screening test for measuring Year 1 pupils’ understanding of using sounds and letters to help them to read. Pupils make good progress throughout Key Stage 1 but do a little better in reading and writing than in mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils

 Good oversight of pupils’ achievement and a well-focused programme of support help those pupils who join the academy at times other than the usual ones. As a result, they often make accelerated progress from their starting points on entry. Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress and benefit from extra help when they have difficulties understanding.

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The achievement of pupils

 The achievement of pupils eligible for pupil premium funding is similar to that of others. There were too few such pupils in Year 6 in 2013 to compare their attainment with that of others without risk of identifying individuals. Pupils who speak English as an additional language make good progress and are well integrated.

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The early years provision

 Four out of five children reach a good level of development by the end of the Reception Year. This is a higher proportion than found nationally. Less-able and middle-attaining children make better progress than the more able because, on occasions, the more able are not so well challenged. Children achieve equally well in literacy and mathematics.

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The early years provision

 The progress of disabled children and those who have special educational needs is broadly similar to that of the others. There are regular checks on the progress of individual children.

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The early years provision

 Children learn appropriate routines. They quickly learn to wait their turn and to put their hands up to answer questions. They hold a felt pen to write letters and circles. The more-able children draw their letters and shapes accurately and neatly.

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The early years provision

 Leaders have ensured improved outcomes for children at the end of the Reception Year. The range of activities is good. Staff provide a careful mix of self-selected and teacher-directed activities that are designed to appeal to children.

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The early years provision

 There are good links with parents. Home visits provide valuable opportunities to learn about the individual needs of new children.

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The early years provision

 Although children make good progress over time, the academy does not obtain sufficient information from the children’s pre-schools, including the main feeder nursery school, regarding children’s achievement and abilities before they start Reception. Consequently, there is an unnecessary delay in identifying individual needs and abilities which slows the progress of some children, including the more able, at the beginning of the year.

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The early years provision

 Good links with staff in Year 1 ensure that children get off to a good start in Key Stage 1.

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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 138035 Local authority Herefordshire Inspection number 448884

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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 Academy converter Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 193 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Sam Hughes Headteacher Lindsey Taylor Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected as an academy Telephone number 01432 850449 Fax number 01432 850449 Email address jhancock@lugwardine.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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