St Peter's Church of England Primary School

School report St Peter’s C of E Primary School

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Minniecroft Road, Burnham, Buckinghamshire, SL1 7DE

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Overall effectiveness

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

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that requires improvement.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Pupils’ achievement requires improvement because progress is not consistently good across the school.  Teachers do not always expect enough of pupils. Work provided for them is sometimes either too hard or too easy.  Children make steady progress in the Early Years Foundation Stage. As elsewhere in the school, work is not always pitched at the right level for all children.  Pupils’ behaviour requires improvement because some are inattentive in lessons and do not work hard enough all of the time.  Most pupils feel safe at school. However, a small number of pupils and some parents feel that the school does not take concerns about very occasional bullying seriously enough.  Leaders at all levels, including middle leaders, do not make enough use of information about pupils’ attainment and progress to check that all are doing well enough.  Development planning does not show how success is to be measured. This makes it difficult to check

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

that initiatives are having the desired effect.  Governors do not challenge other leaders well enough to secure more rapid improvement.  Additional government funding has not been used effectively enough to ensure that the gaps between disadvantaged pupils and others are closing quickly.

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The school has the following strengths

 Pupils make good progress in learning about letters and the sounds they make (phonics) in the Early Years Foundation Stage and in Key Stage 1.  Pupils are friendly, polite and courteous. They thoroughly enjoy school, especially the clubs and visits that help to make learning fun.  Pupils keenly take responsibility and show care and tolerance for the needs of others.  Leaders and governors have a clear understanding of the main priorities for improvement. The pace of change has been slowed by staff turnover but has picked up considerably in the last year.  Teaching has started to improve more quickly. Pupils’ attainment at the end of Year 6 returned to broadly average levels in 2014 after a dip in 2013.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed teaching in 15 lessons, five of these jointly with the headteacher or the deputy headteacher. In addition, the inspectors made some short visits to lessons.  Discussions were held with pupils, staff, members of the governing body and a representative from the Buckinghamshire Learning Trust.  The inspectors took account of the views of 36 parents who responded to the online questionnaire (Parent View). They also analysed the school’s own surveys of parental views and talked to some parents at the start of the school day.  The inspectors observed the school’s work, heard some pupils in Year 1 read, and looked at a number of documents, including: the school’s own information about pupils’ learning and progress; planning and monitoring documents; the school development plan; records relating to behaviour and attendance; safeguarding information; and health and safety documentation.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors analysed 29 questionnaires from staff.

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Inspection team

Mike Capper, Lead inspector Additional inspector

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Information about this school

 This is an average-sized primary school.  The vast majority of pupils come from White British backgrounds but around one in 12 has English as an additional language. The main home languages for these pupils are Polish and Gujarati.  Children in early years provision attend school part-time for mornings only in the Nursery and full-time in the Reception Year. The Nursery opened in October 2014 and at the time of the inspection had only five children.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is around one in nine. This proportion is broadly average when compared with all schools nationally. Around one in 20 pupils is supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs, and this is also broadly average.  At one in five, the proportion of pupils who are supported by the pupil premium is broadly average. The

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Information about this school

pupil premium is additional government funding provided to give extra support to pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and to children who are looked after.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  There has been a very high turnover of staff since the previous inspection.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement in all key stages, by:  ensuring that teachers always have high enough expectations of pupils  ensuring that the work given to pupils is not too hard or too easy for them.  Improve pupils’ behaviour and the extent to which they feel safe by:  ensuring expectations of pupils’ behaviour are consistently strong across the school, and that they are expected to work hard in all classes  improving how the school deals with parents’ or pupils’ concerns about bullying, and by rigorously recording what action has been taken in response.  Improve leadership and management by:  ensuring that all leaders, including middle leaders, make better use of data on pupils’ attainment and progress to identify and respond to underachievement more quickly  ensuring that planning for improvement includes clear measures for checking whether initiatives are working

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 increasing governors’ understanding of school data to help them provide greater challenge  making better use of additional funding to help disadvantaged pupils achieve better.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of the 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 require improvement

 Until recently, the pace of improvement in the school has not been fast enough. Leaders do not make enough use of information on pupils’ achievement to enable them to respond quickly to dips in progress as soon as they arise. Despite recent improvements, they do not ensure equality of opportunity because the progress that pupils make in their learning is unevenly balanced across different groups.  Planning for development identifies the right priorities but the school’s systems for checking the impact of initiatives are not rigorous. Consequently, leaders cannot be certain what is successful and what is not working well enough.  Additional government funding is not used to good effect to help disadvantaged pupils do better, because their progress is not checked regularly enough, and their performance fluctuates. Funding is most effective in Year 6, where it is used to employ additional teachers. Elsewhere, it is effective in supporting

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The leadership and management require improvement

pupils’ personal development, and its use in subsidising the breakfast club has helped to improve attendance.  Many middle leaders (such as teachers who are in charge of subjects) are new to their roles. They are beginning to help in driving improvement and to raise attainment, checking provision by looking at pupils’ books to identify what is going well and what still needs improving. To date they have had too little involvement in looking at progress data to check pupils’ achievement.  Although self-evaluation is accurate, the high turnover of staff has made it difficult for leaders to ensure that developments have been sustained. The school acknowledges that staff turnover has had a negative effect on pupils’ achievement. However, with the right level of support from the local authority, there has been a sharper focus to improvement over the last year. Now that there is a more settled staff, leaders

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The leadership and management require improvement

have established a culture where improvements in teaching and pupils’ behaviour are more rapid than in the past. Monitoring shows that more teaching is now good. Leaders set teachers sharp targets for development. They provide training and support where needed and this is helping to secure the needed improvements.  Leaders successfully foster good relationships and tackle discrimination. They work closely with parents. Most parents are happy with the school, especially the way that leaders provide a secure and happy environment for pupils from many different backgrounds.  The curriculum is used to good effect through the topics and subjects taught to help pupils to make steady progress in developing basic skills. It is enriched well by an exciting range of clubs and visits which help pupils’ learning. For example, Year 5 pupils wrote some interesting historical accounts after visiting a museum to experience what life was like in a Victorian school. Art and music are promoted well, and many

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The leadership and management require improvement

pupils learn to play a musical instrument in school.  Activities both in and out of lessons successfully promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils show concern for the needs of others by, for example, supporting a refuge for the homeless. All leaders, including governors, successfully model respectful attitudes and tolerance for others. Pupils are clear about what being a ‘Rights Respecting School’ means to them. They understand that diversity is a good thing. Consequently, pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain.  The school makes good use of additional funding for physical education to promote healthy lifestyles and pupils’ well-being. The use of specialist coaches, as well as additional training for teachers, is resulting in an increased number of pupils taking part in sporting activities. Governors carefully check that funding is being used to good effect.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 The governance of the school:  Governance requires improvement because governors do not always challenge the school well enough about pupils’ achievement. They have not had recent training in how to use school data to check how well St Peter’s is performing in comparison with others. However, they have a clear picture of current priorities because they are kept well informed by the headteacher.  Governors take part in development planning and have a strong commitment to overseeing improvements in provision. For example, governors have supported the school’s leaders well in their drive to secure an on-site Nursery because they are clear that this will have long-term benefits for the school.  Governors know that the gap between the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and that of others is not closing quickly enough, but they have not ensured that spending has been used to better effect.  Governors have good systems for checking the quality of teaching. They know where it is stronger or

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The leadership and management require improvement

weaker and how it is being improved. They ensure that only good teaching is rewarded through performance management.  Governors ensure that safeguarding arrangements meet statutory requirements.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.  Inspectors found that there are occasions when pupils are inattentive or call out in lessons. When this happens the pace of learning slows. In a small number of classes, pupils do not always work hard enough.  Parents and pupils are clear that while behaviour is good most of the time this is not always the case. Pupils with identified behavioural problems are managed sensitively. Activities in ‘The Lodge’ (a classroom where pupils learn to work and play together) help to improve their social skills but pupils say that their behaviour does still sometimes disturb the learning of others.  Pupils enjoy school and keenly take responsibility through the school council. Since the previous inspection the school has successfully improved rates of attendance to broadly average levels.  Pupils are friendly, polite and courteous. They take good care of the school building and play together

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Behaviour

happily at break times. The school provides a high number of clubs at lunchtime which are greatly enjoyed by pupils and help to ensure that lunchtimes are calm and harmonious.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure requires improvement.  Pupils feel that they are kept safe most of the time but a few say that there is some occasional bullying. This concern is also shared by a small number of parents who feel that the school does not always respond quickly enough when it happens.Inspectors saw no bullying and pupils are clear that it does not happen often. However, an analysis of behaviour/bullying logs shows that the school is not rigorous enough in recording what has been done when a concern has been raised. This does not help to demonstrate to parents that the school has taken the issue seriously.  Pupils are clear about the dangers they may face outside school. They are confident that they are given the information they need to help them make informed choices about how to stay safe. They know that bullying can take many forms and understand how to avoid dangers when using social networking sites on

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers’ expectations in reading, writing and mathematics are not high enough. Consequently, pupils are not always provided with work that gives them the right level of challenge for their differing abilities. Sometimes the work is too easy for the most able pupils or too hard for the less able, including disabled pupils and those with special educational needs.  There are some variances in how well teachers manage pupils’ behaviour. Across the school, teachers get on well with their pupils and this is why most pupils have positive attitudes towards their learning. However, on occasion, when teaching does not fully engage pupils, valuable learning time is wasted.  Although the quality of teaching is not yet consistently good, work in pupils’ books shows that it has benefited from improved teaching over the last year, particularly in the current term. Teachers are becoming more skilled at adapting work to the needs of pupils so that it is more closely matched to need.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

However, this more focused application is not yet applied consistently in all classes.  The teaching of phonics is good. Skills are introduced systematically and pupils improve quickly. All staff, including teaching assistants, have been well trained in teaching phonics, and do so effectively.  The imaginative use of resources helps to bring subjects alive, and visits in particular motivate pupils to do well. Pupils with English as an additional language are fully involved in lessons and are helped to understand new vocabulary quickly.  Most parents are happy with the quality of teaching, especially in Year 6, where there is a high amount of good-quality additional support for pupils who are struggling with their work.

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requires improvement

 Pupils’ achievement requires improvement because progress is not consistently strong across the school.  The gap between the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and that of others is not closing quickly enough. Their progress is uneven and is not sufficiently rapid to help them attain as well as their classmates. In national tests at the end of Year 6 in 2014, disadvantaged pupils were about a year behind their classmates and all pupils nationally in writing and mathematics. In reading they were a term behind their classmates but were working at similar levels to all pupils nationally.  The most able pupils make uneven progress across the school. Not enough attain the higher Level 3 at the end of Key Stage 1 or Level 5 at the end of Key Stage 2. This is because they are not always given work that challenges them fully.  The achievement of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs also requires improvement.

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requires improvement

Their progress is patchy. They make good progress when being given extra help in or out of lessons because at these times work is well matched to needs. At other times, work is sometimes too hard for them.  Some aspects of pupils’ achievement are good and a scrutiny of their current work books shows that progress is already better this year than previously following improvements in the quality of teaching. Children’s knowledge of phonics improves rapidly in the Early Years Foundation Stage and in Years 1 and 2. This is reflected in the above-average percentage of pupils that reached or exceeded the expected level in the national phonics screening checks at the end of Year 1 in 2013 and 2014.  Pupils make rapid progress in Year 6. Additional support helps pupils who have gaps in their knowledge to catch up, and ensures that attainment is broadly average by the end of Year 6 in reading, writing and

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requires improvement

mathematics.  Pupils with English as an additional language reach the same levels of attainment as others by the end of Year 6 in English and mathematics. They make good progress in learning spoken English, even if they have been in school for only a short time.

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requires improvement

 When children start school in the Reception Year the majority are working at a typical level of development for their age. In 2014, attainment at the end of the Reception Year was slightly above average, reflecting achievement from children’s different starting points that requires improvement.  Teaching also requires improvement because in both the Nursery and Reception classes, opportunities are missed to move learning on more quickly, especially for the most able. Teaching is most effective in the Reception Year, where children have their needs met well most of the time, especially when early literacy skills are being taught. Phonics is taught especially well.  Although the school has much data on children’s progress, this has not yet been analysed in enough detail to help inform planning for improvement.  The Nursery classroom, which has only just opened, is still being equipped. This limits opportunities for

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requires improvement

children to develop skills in areas such as how to use computers.  In both the Nursery and Reception classes, children’s personal, social and emotional development is especially strong. Children are prepared well, especially socially, for their move to Year 1.  In both classes, children feel safe and are well behaved. They are given calm and sensitive support by all adults. This helps them to settle quickly. There is a happy atmosphere in both classes. Children are very clear that ‘we are having fun’.  The very new leader of the early years has made a good start to improving the quality of children’s learning so that it will become consistently good. She has already focused on improving the quality of assessments recorded in the children’s learning journals so that they show a clearer picture of a child’s progress.

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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 110450 Local authority Buckinghamshire Inspection number 444033

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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 Voluntary aided Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 213 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Sheila Warburton Headteacher Lesley Blount Date of previous school inspection 21–22 March 2011 Telephone number 01628 602295 Fax number 01628 660726 Email address admin@stpeters.bucks.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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