Nocton Community Primary School

Nocton Community Primary School School Lane, Nocton, Lincoln, LN4 2BJ

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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 headteacher, well supported by governors and all staff, has improved teaching and raised pupils’ achievement.  Leaders and managers celebrate the school’s strengths and tackle weaknesses directly. The school has the right priorities for further improvement and is well placed to achieve them.  Pupils behave well and feel very safe in school. Older pupils are good role models for younger children and are proud to be ambassadors for their school.  Good teaching enables all pupils to achieve well. Carefully planned learning, interesting tasks and clear explanations all contribute to the good progress pupils make.  Children in the Reception Year quickly become confident learners and make good progress.  Good progress continues as pupils move through the school. In national tests in 2014, Year 6 pupils’ attainment was above the latest national averages in reading, writing and mathematics.  The school has a rich curriculum which prepares

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

pupils very well for the next stage of their education and for their responsibilities as citizens in modern British democratic society.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Occasionally, pupils are not moved on to the next task as soon as they are ready because work is sometimes not sufficiently challenging for them to make rapid progress.  Teachers’ marking does not always give pupils clear pointers for improving their work.  Links with parents of children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are not yet sufficiently developed to enable them to fully support their children’s learning.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed eight lessons being taught to full classes and smaller groups of pupils of all ages and in a range of subjects, including mathematics and English. The headteacher and inspector jointly made several shorter visits to classrooms. The inspector listened to pupils read.  Discussions were held with parents, pupils, staff, governors and a representative of the local authority.  The inspector observed the school’s work and looked at pupils’ books, progress data, safeguarding information and other documentation.  Twenty-one responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, were considered as well as those from the school’s own parental survey and 15 responses from school staff.

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Inspection team

Ann Ashdown, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Nocton is much smaller than the average-sized primary school.  Most pupils are White British.  The proportion of pupils eligible for the pupil premium, which provides additional funding for those in care and those known to be eligible for free school meals is about 11%. This is below that found nationally.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs who are supported at school action is about 11%. This is above that found in most schools. The proportion supported at school action plus and with a statement of special educational needs is about 2% which is well-below average.  An above-average proportion of pupils join or leave the school part way through their primary education.  There were too few pupils in Year 6 in 2013 and 2014 to report reliably whether the government’s current floor standards were met.  Pupils are taught in three mixed-age classes. Those in the Early Years Foundation Stage attend school full

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Information about this school

time.  The school works in collaboration with three other local schools.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching so that pupils make more rapid progress by:  setting suitably challenging work for pupils in all lessons, and moving them on to the next task as soon as they are ready  further improving marking so pupils are always given clear pointers on how to improve their work.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase links with parents of children in the Early Years Foundation Stage so they can become more involved in, and better able to support, their children’s learning.

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The leadership and management are good

 Under the very effective and determined leadership of the headteacher, staff and governors work closely together. They create a climate in which the skills and talents of all pupils are valued and good behaviour can flourish.

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The leadership and management are good

 Governors and staff have a realistic view of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. Teaching is carefully monitored and staff have good opportunities to improve their skills through training. The school benefits greatly from working in close collaboration with three other small schools. This collaboration enables staff to share their expertise and gives pupils more opportunities to meet and learn in larger groups.

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The leadership and management are good

 Pupils’ work is assessed regularly and their progress is tracked carefully. The school is quick to intervene in pupils’ learning if they show any sign of struggling with their work.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders below senior level, including in the early years provision, carefully monitor the work of their areas of responsibility. They ensure that changes to the curriculum are implemented and, under the guidance of the headteacher, are currently working towards new methods of assessing pupils’ attainment following the removal of National Curriculum levels.

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The leadership and management are good

 All pupils have equal opportunities to succeed. Discrimination of any kind is not tolerated. Good use of pupil premium funding ensures disadvantaged pupils make the same progress as their classmates.

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The leadership and management are good

 Sports funding is used well to give all pupils access to expert coaching, to train staff and to allow pupils more opportunities to take part in competitive sport. The effect of the funding helps pupils to lead healthier lives and enables them to perform to the highest level of which they are capable.

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The leadership and management are good

 The curriculum prioritises pupils’ basic skills well, successfully promotes their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and prepares them effectively for life in modern Britain. It also provides a wealth of enrichment activities which add greatly to pupils’ enjoyment of learning. Pupils speak enthusiastically of residential stays at an outdoor centre, visits to farms and opportunities to use excellent sporting facilities, such as a large swimming pool.

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The leadership and management are good

 Safeguarding arrangements meet requirements. Staff are fully trained and well aware of, for example, policies and procedures for child protection and risk assessment.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school receives good support from the local authority adviser who visits each half term and assists the headteacher with evaluating the school’s work.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders are strengthening the already good links with parents. However, links with parents of children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are not well enough developed to enable them to better support their children’s learning.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governance is effective. Governors monitor the work of the school carefully and, hence, are well aware of its strengths and weaknesses. They have conducted a recent skills audit and are continually striving to improve their practice even further. Finances are well managed and the school is held to account for spending of extra funds, such as the pupil premium. Governors are increasingly involved in formulating priorities for school improvement and are knowledgeable about the performance data on pupils’ attainment and progress compared to schools nationally. They are well informed about the quality of teaching and manage teachers’ performance well. They ensure teachers are rewarded for their effectiveness in enabling pupils to achieve well and know how any weaknesses in teaching are tackled.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. In this small school, older pupils in mixed-age classes act as good role models for younger children. Pupils behave well around the school, in the playground and in the dining room. They are usually polite and respectful to staff and to each other.

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Behaviour

 Incidents of challenging behaviour, including bullying, are rare and are effectively dealt with by staff.

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Behaviour

 Pupils of all ages have good attitudes to learning in classrooms. They are keen to answer questions and want to succeed in their work.

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Behaviour

 Pupils are proud of their school. They enjoy wearing their uniform and arrive at school punctually and ready to learn. Attendance is above average.

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Behaviour

 Older pupils act as ambassadors for their school and enjoy taking responsibility. They are keen to show adults around, answer the telephone, act as members of the school council and look after younger children.

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Behaviour

 Pupils’ social and moral development is promoted very well through thought-provoking assemblies and through sessions where pupils are encouraged to listen to each other and express their thoughts and feelings.

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Behaviour

 Pupils who join the school part-way through their education say they have felt very welcome and found it easy to settle in and make friends at the school.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Access to the school is secure and staff are carefully checked prior to appointment. Pupils feel very safe in school and their parents are in full agreement that the school keeps their children safe. Inspectors endorse these positive views.

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Safety

 Parents are fulsome in their praise for the school. They are particularly appreciative of the care and support that is given to individual pupils, including those who are disabled and those who have special educational needs.

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Safety

 Pupils have a clear understanding that there are different types of bullying but are confident that should this happen in school it would be dealt with quickly.

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Safety

 Pupils are well informed about how to keep themselves safe. They understand the dangers of, for example, alcohol and drug abuse, and are very clear about how to keep themselves safe when using the internet.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Work in pupils’ books clearly demonstrates the good progress that pupils make as a result of the effective teaching they receive. Teachers assess pupils’ learning continuously and use this information to plan work carefully. Their knowledgeable teaching and clear explanations ensure pupils gain essential skills and achieve well in literacy, reading and mathematics.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Tasks set are varied and interesting so pupils enjoy learning. For example, younger children gained a good understanding of the sequence of events as they acted out the story of Rama and Sita. Older pupils made good progress in developing their literacy skills as they logically built up their ‘story mountain’. In mathematics, pupils developed their skills and worked very effectively to solve a tricky mathematical challenge which involved drawing rectangles on the playground.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils, particularly the most able, respond well to teachers’ perceptive questioning. This both extends their understanding and encourages them to think more deeply about their work.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress in lessons. They receive very skilled and sensitive help from both teachers and teaching assistants when needed.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Occasionally, progress slows slightly when pupils are not moved on quickly enough to the next task. In these situations, work is repetitive and not challenging enough to enable them to make more rapid progress.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils’ work is marked regularly. While there are examples of excellent marking that guides pupils very well to improve their work, this practice is not consistent across the school. Consequently, pupils are not always clear about exactly how to improve their work and take the next steps in their learning.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 From starting points in Reception which are typical for their age, pupils make good progress as they move through the school. Pupils’ attainment in national tests at the end of Year 6 vary widely from year to year as numbers in each year group are very small. In 2014, attainment was above the latest national averages in reading, writing and mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Work in pupils’ books and the school’s detailed and reliable tracking system confirm that current pupils across the school are making good progress. Very occasionally, progress slows slightly when work is less challenging.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The standards of any pupils who join the school during term time are accurately assessed. They quickly begin to make good progress in line with that of their classmates.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The school is quick to identify any slightly weaker areas of learning. Slower progress in writing has been tackled and pupils’ achievement in writing now matches that in other subjects.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils have good literacy skills. Year 1 pupils consistently attain above-average standards in phonics (the sounds letters make) national screening tests. Most pupils read fluently and are proud to read aloud the poems and stories they have written.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupil premium funding is spent effectively on providing extra individual and small-group tuition. As a result, disadvantaged pupils across the school make the same good progress as their classmates. The numbers of disadvantaged pupils who took recent national tests are so small that their attainment cannot be reliably reported in detail without identifying individuals.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The progress of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is monitored very carefully and well-targeted help is given to ensure they achieve well. Pupils who join the school part-way through their education are also given timely and effective help, if this is needed, to ensure they make good progress.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The most-able pupils benefit from being given more challenging work and stimulating extra activities to engage their interest so they make the same good progress as other groups of pupils. They attain the higher levels, particularly in reading. Teachers have been recently trained to help pupils reach the higher levels in mathematics and the impact is assisting the most able to achieve more.

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The early years provision is good

 Children’s work, photographs and detailed assessments in their ‘learning journey’ books clearly show that children make good progress throughout the year. All groups of children, including the disabled, those with special educational needs and the most able, gain the skills needed to ensure they are well prepared for the next stage of their education in Year 1.  Children settle quickly into school routines and follow the good example of older Year 1 pupils with whom they share a classroom. They behave well and quickly learn to take turns, follow simple instructions and use equipment and resources sensibly.

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The early years provision is good

 Staff are well trained and consistently follow the school’s child protection and safeguarding procedures to ensure children are kept very safe.

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The early years provision is good

 Children quickly become confident learners who take full advantage of the varied activities teachers provide, both inside and outside the classroom. Good teaching ensures that children’s physical and emotional needs are met and that they are motivated and interested in the work they are doing. For example, children enthusiastically and successfully searched the outdoor classroom for words containing the ‘ou’ and ‘ow’ sounds they were learning about in their phonics lesson.

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The early years provision is good

 Good leadership of the Early Years Foundation Stage ensures that resources are well deployed. Teachers and teaching assistants work closely together to plan learning effectively. They assess children’s progress accurately.

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The early years provision is good

 A rich curriculum promotes children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness. An ‘Indian Day’ involving singing and dancing greatly helped their understanding of another culture.

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The early years provision is good

 A good start has been made to involving parents more closely in their children’s learning. The school recognises, rightly, that this is an area which is presently underdeveloped. Consequently, parents are not able to support their children’s learning as well as they could.

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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 120383 Local authority Lincolnshire Inspection number 448679

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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 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 55 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mark Cunningham Headteacher Andrew Canadine Date of previous school inspection 17 September 2009 Telephone number 01526 320234 Fax number 01526 320234 Email address enquiries@noctonschool.co.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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