St Peter's CofE Primary and Nursery School

St Peter's CofE Primary School Mill Road, Gringley-on-the-Hill, Doncaster, DN10 4QT

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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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This is a good school

 The headteacher provides excellent leadership that has consolidated and improved teaching. This has led to improvements in pupils’ achievement and rates of attendance, since the previous inspection.  Teaching is consistently good in all classes. Teachers plan exciting activities that motivate pupils and helps them to enjoy their learning and achieve well.  Children make a good start to their education in the Early Years. In the rest of the school, pupils make good progress. Standards are above average in writing and mathematics, and broadly average in reading.  School leaders promote spiritual, moral, social and cultural development throughout the curriculum. As a result, pupils have a good understanding of British values and have good opportunities to take responsibility.  Pupils’ behaviour is good. Pupils take pride in their work and present it neatly. They behave well in lessons because they are keen to do well.

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This is a good school

 Pupils are kept safe. They are courteous and respectful to each other and to adults. Attendance has been consistently in line with or above the national average since the previous inspection.  Governance is effective. Governors provide good support and challenge to the school.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Not all pupils have a good enough understanding of how the letters in words represent different sounds (phonics).  Progress in reading is not as good as in writing and mathematics.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed nine lessons or parts of lessons. All classes were observed at least twice. The inspector also observed pupils working in a smaller group. Four of the lessons were observed jointly with the headteacher.  The inspector heard pupils read and checked their reading records.  Meetings were held with all the staff.  A meeting was held with the Chair of the Governing Body and four other governors.  A telephone conversation was held with the local authority’s link officer.  Many discussions took place with pupils both formally and informally in lessons and in the play areas.  The inspector took account of the views of the 20 parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire (Parent View), and conversations were held with many of the parents at the start and end of the school day. The inspectors also analysed the 13 responses to the questionnaire for staff.  The inspector observed the school’s work and looked at a number of documents, including: the school’s

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Information about this inspection

own data on pupils’ recent and current progress; planning and monitoring documentation; reports on the quality of teaching over time; records relating to behaviour and attendance; the school’s improvement plan; documents relating to safeguarding; and the minutes of various meetings, including those of the governing body.

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Inspection team

Nigel Grimshaw, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school. There are four mixed-age classes.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is about one in six of the school’s population, which is similar to the national average.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils for whom the school receives the pupil premium additional funding is about one in six of the total number of pupils on roll, which is below the national average.  Pupils on roll are almost entirely from White British backgrounds and their first language is English.  Children of Nursery age attend school on a part-time basis but all other pupils attend full-time.  Since the previous inspection the school has opened a new Early Years Foundation Stage unit and there are now four mixed-age classes within the school instead of three.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise achievement in reading by improving and extending the teaching and use of phonics through the school.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher has created a strong team spirit within the school where everyone has a common goal of making sure that the provision for pupils is consistently good or better.

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The leadership and management are good

 All teaching staff have clear roles and responsibilities and carry out appropriate monitoring activities. In such a small school these are often carried out collegiately, such as analysing pupils’ performance data and curriculum planning. The governors have set up very useful links with the school staff and have produced their own monitoring timetable for the year alongside the staff.

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The leadership and management are good

 Checks on pupils’ progress and attainment are undertaken regularly. These checks are used effectively to help teachers plan work at just the right level to help pupils make good progress and in discussions undertaken to check on the performance of individual staff.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school leaders have recently revised the school’s curriculum to make sure it meets the expectations of the new National Curriculum. Teachers have planned the learning activities so that there are good opportunities for the literacy and mathematical skills to be taught alongside and within a range of other subject areas. This makes the subject matter more relevant for the pupils and therefore they find learning fun and enjoyable.

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The leadership and management are good

 The promotion of spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is strong. In School Council assemblies, pupils discuss and share views about how to improve the school and its contribution to the wider community. This way the pupils all have a voice in decision making. An example of how this has worked particularly well has been in the agreement of a new behaviour policy and the popular system of rewards and sanctions that the pupils adhere to very well. The high level of harmony within the school illustrates the tolerance and respect pupils show to each other. The school therefore prepares the pupils very effectively to understand British values and life in modern Britain.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school leaders and governors have made effective use of the pupil premium funding provided for the very small number of pupils eligible. Use of the fund to pay for the training given to teaching assistants, booster sessions for pupils run by staff, teacher training and subsidies for enrichment activities all have been beneficial and, as a result, all those pupils eligible for the funding made expected or better progress.

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The leadership and management are good

 The additional sports funding, provided to all primary schools, has also been used effectively to improve teachers’ skills and provide more opportunities for pupils to participate in sports. This has led to pupils’ improved appreciation of how to lead healthy lifestyles. Consequently, the school has achieved Healthy School Status.

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The leadership and management are good

 Development plans accurately identify priorities. Improvements over the last two years in pupils’ progress in writing and mathematics, and improvements in attendance demonstrate the capacity to bring about further improvement.

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The leadership and management are good

 Links with parents are a strength. Parents who offered a view were unanimously positive in their support and praise for the school. As one parent said, ‘The school is very supportive, especially helping to resolve pupils’ learning difficulties.’ Another said, ‘Staff always listen to any concerns and sort them out quickly and without fuss.’

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The leadership and management are good

 The school has maintained close links with the local authority, which recognises its good quality. Good impact is evident from its support for improving the quality of teaching, the learning environment and the early years provision.

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The leadership and management are good

 Safeguarding procedures have been applied rigorously and fully meet statutory requirements.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders, including subject leaders have focused successfully on maintaining and improving on the good quality of teaching. However, they are fully aware that the teaching of phonics has not produced consistently good results to underpin reading. The school has plans in hand to improve in this area.  The governance of the school:  The recently appointed Chair of the Governing Body and the vice-chair have made a very positive start. They have established close working links with the school and created a rigorous annual plan to check its work. Governors have a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school from their active involvement with the school over time. They have a good understanding of the school’s performance data and the quality of teaching, and the actions being taken by the school leaders to address any areas of weakness. They are well aware of the impact of the spending of pupil premium

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The leadership and management are good

funding and that for sports. They have a very good understanding of the performance management systems in place in the school and how teachers’ pay is linked to their performance.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. An analysis of the school’s behaviour logs and incident records confirm this. Pupils develop positive attitudes to learning. They want to learn and to succeed and are proud of the presentation of their work.

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Behaviour

 Pupils’ behaviour around school is very good and they play together cooperatively at break times, often with the older pupils showing caring attitudes towards the younger pupils and playing with them. As one pupil said, ‘Everything is great about this school because everyone is so caring.’

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Behaviour

 The pupils value the rewards and sanctions given by staff and find them helpful in maintaining their good behaviour. In assemblies, when pupils are presented with awards for their good behaviour, there is an excellent community spirit when pupils show genuine pleasure for others’ successes.

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Behaviour

 The school environment is clean, attractive and stimulating. The pupils maintain this by showing respect for the facilities and for the resources, including the excellent garden area. They keep the school tidy and keep themselves tidy through the consistent wearing of the school uniform.

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Behaviour

 While pupils are motivated and enthusiastic in lessons, very occasionally this enthusiasm bubbles over and causes some minor disruption to learning that is dealt with effectively by the teachers.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils and their parents unanimously agree that the pupils feel safe at school. Pupils all say that if they had any concerns these would be addressed by the adults in school.

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Safety

 Pupils are given guidance about the safe use of the internet. They are clear about how to carry out research for their work safely and sites for working in school are checked carefully. Guidance for parents is given through the school’s website.

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Safety

 The school site is secure. Visitors to the school are checked on arrival and can only enter the school through a release system in the school reception office. Appointments to the school staff comply with ‘safer recruitment’ procedures and all staff are checked thoroughly.

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Safety

 Risk assessments to check safe practices are completed whenever the pupils undertake visits and activities away from the school site. Pupils are also given good advice, often from external agencies, about keeping themselves safe outside school.

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Safety

 Pupils and their parents agree that instances of bullying are very rare indeed and are dealt with promptly and effectively so that they do not re-occur. There have been no instances of permanent or fixed term exclusions over the last two years.

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Safety

 Attendance is never less than average. Pupils arrive at school punctually and eager to start lessons.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Checks on teaching by school leaders and monitoring undertaken by the local authority, show that the quality of teaching has been maintained as good or better in all classes. Some is outstanding.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The work in the pupils’ books shows pride in their presentation of work and confirms their good progress.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils have targets to achieve in order to improve their work in literacy and mathematics. Target sheets are attached to all their books, including their topic books, so that pupils are constantly reminded about their areas to improve. The pupils welcome the challenge that these provide and find them helpful. One child said that she put her targets in her diary so she could check on them at home.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Good quality marking provides very clear explanations about the strengths in the pupils’ work and how the work could be improved and this is an important factor in the consistently good progress being made. Pupils are also given valuable time to correct their work and learn from their errors.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The classroom displays are not only attractive and stimulating but also provide clear support and guidance for learning. Pupils are familiar with using the displays as reference material to help them with their work.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers plan work that links well with the pupils’ abilities and interests and which is relevant to problem solving in real-life. This consequently motivates the pupils and ensures that the pupils are fully engaged in their work, enjoying the tasks, being productive and making good progress. This was particularly true in Year 5 and 6 when pupils were developing their skills of calculating the perimeter and area of a room and linking these with calculating the costs of replacing the skirting boards and fitting new carpets.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The teaching of phonics is not always effective, particularly for the lower ability pupils, and some pupils do not grasp sufficient skills to decode words that are unfamiliar to them. These pupils then require additional support further up the school to meet their needs.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are given good support by well-trained teaching assistants and make good progress in line with their peers.

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The quality of teaching is good

 High expectations are the norm in lessons. The most able pupils are challenged to think very carefully about their work. As a result of this challenge over time the most able pupils leave the school with levels of attainment well above those expected for their age.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The school has a good homework policy and pupils show initiative and use their research skills to prepare for their work, especially in the topics. There are useful reading records / diaries to check on the pupils reading at home. The majority of parents regularly contribute to these and support learning at home.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The majority of children start school in the Early Years Foundation Stage with skills and knowledge that are lower than those typical for their age, although the range of ability is broad. They make good progress, which is consolidated in Key Stage 1.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 By the time they leave school at the end of Year 6 standards are above average in mathematics and writing, and broadly average in reading. The progress pupils make between Years 3 and 6 is good and sometimes outstanding.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The most able pupils achieve well. The percentage of pupils attaining Level 5 is above the national average in reading, writing and mathematics. In 2014, a higher proportion than nationally achieved the highest Level 6 in writing and in the English grammar, punctuation and spelling test. This indicates high quality challenge and support for the most able pupils.  Last year every pupil leaving the school at the end of Year 6 made at least the progress they should in reading and mathematics and almost all did so in writing. The percentages achieving better than expected progress were well above, and sometimes more than double, the national averages in writing and mathematics and were in line with the national average in reading.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The fact that every pupil has consistently made at least expected progress shows the high level of support for the disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs. They make good progress similar to that of their peers.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 This is also true of the small numbers of disadvantaged pupils where all made at least expected progress but none made better than expected progress in reading. However, the numbers of these pupils is very small and any statistical comparisons of their performance would be unreliable.

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The early years provision is good

 Good leadership of the early years and the close links with parents ensure that the children have a good start to their education. Children and their parents are made to feel very welcome. The introduction of new electronic recordings of learning and progress are helping parents to be kept well-informed so that they can help support learning at home and are aware of how well their child is progressing.

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The early years provision is good

 The adults work very effectively as a team and have created a learning environment that is stimulating, attractive and well-resourced. The organisation of the resources is carefully planned to encourage the children to be able to work independently.

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The early years provision is good

 The children make good progress because teaching is good. The percentage of children achieving a good level of development improved again in 2014 and was broadly in line with the national average.

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The early years provision is good

 Teachers’ expectations are high. This enables children to count confidently to 100, undertake additions to 20 and gain a clear understanding of ‘more than’ and ‘less than’. Teachers make sure that learning is fun for the children.

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The early years provision is good

 Good work in writing and art was clearly evident on a display based on ‘The Three Little Pigs’ with very evident progress in children’s writing over time.

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The early years provision is good

 Children behave well. They play and work together cooperatively; show that they care for each other; and develop good attitudes to learning that are then carried with them through the school. In one incident where one child had inadvertently upset another, the staff encouraged them to resolve the issue through an apology and let them conclude that a sanction was not necessary. This ‘thinking through’ assists children to understand right and wrong.

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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 122802 Local authority Nottinghamshire Inspection number 448553

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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 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 92 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Sarah Woodwards Headteacher Andy Pullin Date of previous school inspection 07 December 2009 Telephone number 01777 817330 Fax number 01777 817330 Email address secretary@st-peterscofe.notts.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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