Coads Green Primary School

School report Coads Green Primary School

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Coads Green, Launceston, Cornwall, PL15 7LY

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 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

 Over time, especially through Years 1 and 2, the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement has not been good enough and requires improvement.  Pupils’ learning and progress are inconsistent across the school. This is because teachers do not always set high expectations for the pupils or challenge them with work at the right level.  Mathematics has, over time, been the weakest subject. Although improvements are now coming through, pupils’ numeracy skills are still not emphasised well enough.  Teachers do not ensure that some pupils work hard enough; consequently, behaviour in relation to learning requires improvement.  Leaders, including governors, do not always check with sufficient rigour to ensure that teaching is improving and pupils’ achievements are raised as quickly as possible. As a result, leadership requires improvement.  Middle leaders are not playing a strong enough role in improving the quality of teaching and pupils’

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

learning.  Additional government funding is not used to improve pupils’ mathematical skills.

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The school has the following strengths

 Leaders, including governors, are taking positive steps to bring about improvements.  This a very inclusive school where a supportive sense of community and caring staff work diligently to keep pupils safe.  Pupils with complex special educational needs learn well because of the warm, relevant and effective support they receive.  Children progress well in the Nursery and Reception class because of good teaching and stimulating learning.  Pupils enjoy school and attend well. They develop good speaking and listening skills through sharing ideas.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector visited 12 lessons and learning activities. Some of these observations were with the headteacher.  The inspector observed morning and lunch breaks, attended two assemblies and also visited the breakfast club.  Meetings were held with a representative group of pupils. Other pupils were spoken to informally during lessons and breaktimes.  The inspector met with governors and held a telephone conversation with a representative of the local authority.  The inspector took account of 18 parents’ responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) in planning and undertaking the inspection. He spoke informally with a number of parents as they brought and collected their children from school. The inspector also met with two other parents and considered two letters from parents.  Meetings were held with school staff, including senior leaders. Nine staff inspection questionnaires were received and considered.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed the school’s work and looked at a number of documents. These included the school’s information on pupils’ progress and leaders’ monitoring of the quality of teaching and learning.  The inspector examined records relating to behaviour and attendance, the safeguarding policy, procedures and practice. The school’s sport premium action plan was also considered.

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Inspection team

Alex Baxter, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is much smaller than the average-sized primary school. Most pupils are of White British heritage.  The proportion of disabled pupils or those with special educational needs supported at school action is above average. The proportion supported at school action plus or with a statement is also above average.  Only a very small number of pupils are supported by the pupil premium. This is additional government funding provided to give extra support to those pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and to children who are looked after. The number of eligible pupils is so small within the differing year groups that it is not possible to compare performance with other groups.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set out the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics.  Since 1 January 2012, this school has been a member of the Caradon Co-operative Trust, which includes

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Information about this school

five other primary schools. Each school retains its own governing body.  The school has four mixed-age classes. Children in the early years provision attend full time. They are included in a combined Nursery and Reception class.  There is an above average, and increasing, proportion of pupils joining the school at other than the usual times.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Establish consistently good teaching and support in order to strengthen pupils’ learning across the school, especially through Key Stage 1, by:  ensuring all teachers set consistently high expectations, for the quality and amount of work pupils complete.  ensuring that pupils, especially the most able, are provided with the right level of challenge to match their abilities   Raise pupils’ attainment and quicken their progress, particularly in mathematics, by:  improving the teaching of basic numeracy skills  ensuring leaders make more effective use of additional government funding.  Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by:  carrying out more rigorous checks on the school’s performance so as to bring about the intended improvements as quickly as possible  developing and train middle leaders so they can play a more effective role in improving the quality of teaching and pupils’ learning across the school

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 ensuring the regular appraisal of staff performance results in a speedier impact on improving pupils’ progress and achievement

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leadership and management require improvement. Over time, leaders’ ability to bring improvement has been impeded by insufficient rigour in checking that actions taken successfully raise pupils’ skills and progress.  The leaders' promotion of a caring community atmosphere encourages pupils' good behaviour and respect toward other people. However, leaders have not ensured high expectations of pupils’ effort and good behaviour in lessons are consistently emphasised.  The roles of middle leaders has not been fully developed. This limits their ability to monitor and evaluate robustly the impact of school improvement initiatives.  The headteacher checks the quality of teaching and considers staff pay and progression alongside the extent of improvements in teaching and pupils’ learning. However, over time, this process has not been applied effectively enough to sustain consistently good teaching. As a result, the most able pupils are not

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The leadership and management requires improvement

always stretched enough to reach the higher levels they are capable of making.  Leaders ensure that additional government funding is used effectively to provide adult support to improve pupils’ reading and writing skills. However, leaders have not used these funds well enough to raise pupils’ skills in mathematics.  Over the past year, senior leaders have refined the way they check the progress of individuals and groups of pupils. Teachers have increasingly used this information to set targets for pupils and involve them in better understanding how to improve their work. As a result, more pupils are making at least expected progress and beginning to make stronger progress, especially in reading and writing.  Good leadership, teaching and learning have been established in the Early Years Foundation Stage over the past year. The school has also raised pupils’ attendance to an above average level.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Senior leaders and staff engage effectively with parents and other agencies to safeguard pupils and to ensure that their personal needs are met well. One parent’s comment reflected the views of many, ‘I am greatly comforted that my child is treated as a valued individual.’  Staff provide high levels of care for disabled pupils, those with special educational needs and especially for pupils with very complex needs. This was greatly appreciated by another parent who praised the warmth and friendliness shared by everyone at the school.  Pupils’ basic literacy and numeracy skills are now improving, but over time they have not always been promoted well enough. The school provides a good range of learning experiences in other subjects. For example, pupils make increasingly good use of hand-held computers to research topics in history and geography.  Staff promote the pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development effectively. For example through

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The leadership and management requires improvement

assemblies where themes such as tolerance are explored. School links with pupils in a culturally more diverse part of London also help to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain. Staff do not tolerate discrimination and strive to treat pupils equally. The primary sport funding is used effectively to employ a specialist in physical education to visit the school each week to coach staff and teach pupils. Weather permitting, team sports, such as tag rugby, take place outdoors. During inclement weather, regular physical education in the form of multi-skills is continued indoors in the village hall. Staff have developed a programme of competitive sporting opportunities across the cooperative trust to encourage pupils’ participation further and to enrich their skills and fitness.  The local authority has aided the school in identifying key priorities for development and this is now helping the school to improve teaching and bring about a quicker rate of improvement.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school’s safeguarding procedures are fulfilled and checks on staff meet statutory requirements.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school:  The governing body is evolving as it inducts new members, seeks to fill vacancies and embeds newly introduced ways of working. Governors have undertaken training to strengthen their ability to hold senior staff to account. Over the past year, governors have supported improvements in reading provision and for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Governors make regular visits to the school and receive detailed reports from the headteacher. They understand that inconsistent teaching has constrained pupils’ progress and that their standards do not compare well with other schools. As a result, governors are now questioning the headteacher more closely. They accept that additional government funding has not been used well enough, particularly to improve the standard of pupils’ numeracy skills. Governors work with the headteacher in linking teachers’ pay and progression to

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The leadership and management requires improvement

priorities in the school development plan. However, governors recognise that staff targets for improvement have not always resulted quickly enough in bringing about improvements in pupils’ achievement.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.  Most pupils, especially the very youngest, try hard to please and learn. However, teachers do not ensure that some pupils work hard enough and so they too easily settle for a relatively small amount of work.  At times, even a few of the most able pupils lose interest when learning activities fail to challenge or interest them enough, and their progress slows.  Behaviour is good during break and lunch times especially when pupils sing in assembly, use hand-held computers or when rhyming ‘We are going on a Bear Hunt’ in the Nursery and Reception class.  Pupils’ above average attendance reflects the school’s effective engagement with pupils and the good links it fosters with parents.  Pupils interviewed all agreed that they enjoy school, with one stating that it is ‘because everyone is nice here and this is what we like best about our school’.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good.  Teachers promoteand develop very supportive relationships with the pupils. They make sure pupils are safe at all times..  Pupils know how to keep themselves safe. They say that they feel safe at school and know about the different types of bullying, for example, racial abuse, cyber and physical bullying. They readily share any concerns during school council discussions.  Pupils report that there is no bullying at school and that any misbehaviour is quickly resolved by the teachers.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching requires improvement. This is because it has not been challenging enough over time, especially in Key Stage 1, to secure pupils’ good achievement.  Teachers are now planning learning activities more purposefully to develop pupils’ skills. Work is increasingly more relevant to pupils’ levels of understanding. However, teachers’ expectations of what pupils should achieve, especially in mathematics and for the more able, are not always set high enough.  Pupils make better progress in reading and writing and are particularly well served by strengthened additional support from teachers and teaching assistants.  Improved teaching is having a positive impact in strengthening pupils’ interest and skills development in mathematics. However, additional adult support, funded by the pupil premium, is not yet given with equal effectiveness in mathematics to rectify gaps in pupils’ previous learning.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Pupils’ recorded work in books shows that pupils are responding better to the teachers’ l marking and the targets set to help them improve.  Observations of pupils’ responses to teachers’ thought-provoking questions in lessons show that the range of vocabulary used by the pupils and their understanding are improving. For example, pupils in Years 5 and 6 made words from the letters within the word ‘multiplier’ and excitedly discussed finding a ‘new word’, ‘mariculture’.  Handwriting, spelling and phonics (the sounds that letters make) are taught with increasing effectiveness through the school. However, not enough emphasis is given to secure pupils’ basic number skills. Teachers do not expect pupils to persevere enough when learning basic number facts. This restricts their ability to make better progress in mathematics when solving problems.  Teaching assistants provide typically good personal support, especially for pupils with complex special

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

educational needs. Although improving, the teaching and support provided for other pupils with special educational needs are not as consistent in challenging pupils to make good progress.  Following significant improvement over the past year, children learn well in the Nursery and Reception class. This is because adults adapt their teaching and set a variety of activities to challenge the children and sustain their interest.

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The achievement of pupils

 Pupils’ achievement requires improvement. The small and fluctuating numbers of pupils in each year group mean that care must be taken when considering their performance in national tests. Over time, pupils’ progress has varied due to inconsistent teaching. Past national test results at the end of Years 2 and 6 show that the progress of some pupils had not increased quickly enough.  Although there has been some improvement at the end of Year 6, initially in writing in 2013, and this year in reading, too few pupils are working at the level expected for their age.  Children begin school in the Nursery and Reception class with skills that are below those typically expected for their age, especially in communication and social skills. The children are taught well and make good progress in the Early Years Foundation Stage with the use of a stimulating range of learning activities.  Improved teaching and additional adult support within the school over the past year is now strengthening

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The achievement of pupils

especially pupils’ reading, spelling and handwriting skills. However, leaders have still to rectify previous under achievement. This is especially the case in Years 1 and 2 where pupils’ skills are not being developed quickly enough.  Pupils’ knowledge of basic number facts is still a weakness that undermines their confidence to solve mathematical problems without adult support.  The most able pupils are now making better progress than in other years in reading and writing. They are also more skilled at finding things out for themselves. Over time, as with other pupils, teachers' expectations of what the most able pupils are capable of achieving, particularly in developing their basic numeracy skills, have not been set high enough.  Pupils in receipt of additional government funding receive extra adult help in reading and writing. This enables them to make similar progress as other pupils. However, additional funding has not been used

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The achievement of pupils

well enough to develop the numeracy skills of the most able and they have not always made their expected progress in mathematics.  Pupils with very complex special educational needs are well supported and do well, given their individual difficulties. Other disabled pupils, those with special educational needs, and those pupils who join the school later than at the usual times have made inconsistent progress when compared with their peers. This is because the additional support necessary for these pupilshas not always been timely or rigorous enough to bring about the desired improvements.  Pupils’ reading skills are being developed more purposefully now in response to earlier and better teaching of phonics. Supportive links with parents are also aiding pupils' progress through reading at home.

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The early years provision

 Children achieve well during the Early Years Foundation Stage in the Nursery and Reception class.  Leadership and management are good and have ensured that the necessary improvements to the outside learning area outlined in the previous inspection report have been completed.  Good leadership and the teacher’s effective planning of children’s learning now make sure that the well- equipped facilities are used effectively to stimulate children’s interest and promote learning.  Children begin school with lower than expected skills for their age. They are taught well and make good progress in the seven areas of learning. By the time children enter Year 1 they are demonstrating the expected skill levels and knowledge to begin the next stage of their education.  Children enjoy being together and behave well. Their positive attitudes enrich their learning as they play and work supportively together.

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The early years provision

 Children’s writing and number skills have not always been taught well enough. Over the course of the year teaching has improved and strengthened the way these skills are developed so that children are now making better progress.  The teacher checks children's responses in class and in their recorded work to evaluate their progress accurately. Adults frequently adjust learning activities to ensure that children remain interested and to challenge them to build on previous learning and experiences.  Staff play an effective role in developing and supporting a lively mixture of adult-led and child-chosen activities. For example, adults are quick to climb into a dark, torch-lit tent to promote children’s social development and extend their speaking and listening. Much of the learning is fun and successfully enriches the children’s creativity, self-confidence and enjoyment.  All staff promote supportive links with parents and work closely with them to secure and sustain good

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The early years provision

care and effective safeguard arrangements.

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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 111934 Local authority Cornwall Inspection number 444086

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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 62 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair William Olsson Headteacher Claire Tomkies Date of previous school inspection 11–12 January 2011 Telephone number 01566 782303 Fax number 01566 782303 Email address secretary@coads-green.cornwall.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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