Kyson Primary School

Kyson Primary School Peterhouse Crescent, Woodbridge, IP12 4HX

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1 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

 This is a good school that is led and managed well. The headteacher’s strong leadership of teaching ensures that the school continues to improve and that standards are good.  The school knows its own strengths and weaknesses well. School leaders take swift action to address areas that require development.  The school prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain. They are taught to appreciate diversity and to value other people.  Pupils achieve well in reading, writing and mathematics and reach standards above the national average at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.  Music is taught very well and a third of pupils in Key Stage 2 are learning to play an instrument. The school’s orchestra is particularly impressive and something that the school is rightly proud of.  The quality of teaching is at least good throughout the school. Teachers use marking and feedback well and, as a result, pupils understand fully how to

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

improve their work.  The school’s curriculum is lively and interesting. Teachers plan stimulating lessons that capture pupils’ interest and encourage them to work hard.  Pupils’ behaviour is outstanding because expectations are high and the school’s policy is followed consistently by all staff.  Pupils feel very safe at school and are taught how to keep themselves safe in a range of situations.  Early years provision is good and children make good progress. The early years team is well led and staff work effectively together. Pupils are prepared well for Year 1.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Performance management procedures are not rigorous enough. Teacher performance targets are not linked closely enough to the school development plan and some targets are not sufficiently aspirational.  The proportion of the most able disadvantaged pupils who reach the higher levels in reading, writing and mathematics is too low.  The resources available and the activities offered in the early years outdoor area are not as good as those provided indoors.

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Information about this inspection

 This inspection took place in response to a concern being raised about the thoroughness of safeguarding practices around recruitment of staff. The inspection investigated safeguarding issues thoroughly, with inspectors scrutinising the school’s single central register, sampling staff references and holding discussions with the headteacher and other members of staff.  Inspectors gathered a range of evidence to judge the quality of teaching and learning. They observed parts of 27 lessons drawn from across the school, some jointly with the headteacher or deputy headteacher.  Inspectors looked at the work in pupils’ exercise books, listened to pupils read and talked to them about their work.  The views of parents were taken into account, including: 102 responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire; informal conversations in the playground; and those of the 20 parents who attended a meeting with the lead inspector. Inspectors also listened to the views of staff and took account of the 45

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Information about this inspection

staff questionnaires that were received.  Meetings were held with pupils, staff, parents, a governor and a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors looked at a range of school documents, including information about safeguarding, the school’s self-evaluation and attendance and behaviour records.

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Inspection team

Wendy Varney, Lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Information about this school

 This primary school is much larger than average. It has two classes in each year group, from Reception to Year 6. Children in the Reception Year attend full-time and there is part-time provision for nursery-aged children.  About 18% of pupils are disabled or have special educational needs. This is below the national average.  The proportion of pupils who are eligible for the pupil premium (22%) is similar to the national average. The pupil premium provides additional government funding for those who are known to be eligible for free school meals and children in the care of the local authority.  Most pupils are ‘White British’ and very few pupils speak English as an additional language.  The headteacher is a local authority ‘Challenge Partner’ and provides support to another primary school in this role.  The school meets current floor standards; these are the minimum expectations, set by the government,

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Information about this school

for pupils’ attainment and progress by the end of Year 6.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the rigour and effectiveness of performance management procedures by ensuring that:  there is a close link between the priorities identified in the school development plan and the targets set for individual teachers  targets set for staff are always aspirational and focused on raising standards.  Increase the proportion of disadvantaged pupils who achieve the higher levels in reading, writing and mathematics by ensuring that:  the potential in the most able disadvantaged pupils is identified earlier  better focused support and more timely interventions are provided for this group of pupils so that they achieve as well as they can.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the resources and use of the early years outdoor area so that provision here matches the standard provided indoors.

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The leadership and management are good

 This is a good and improving school. A continual cycle of self-evaluation means that the school knows its own strengths and weaknesses well and puts appropriate plans in place to address the issues identified. For example, following the disappointing results in the Phonics Screening Check last year, additional targeted teaching and support were immediately put in place to help identified pupils to catch up quickly. The Phonics Screening Check is a statutory assessment, carried out towards the end of Year 1, to measure pupils’ knowledge of the sounds that letters make.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher is an experienced and committed leader who is valued and admired by the whole school community. Parents describe a ‘brilliant’ and ‘inspirational’ headteacher who knows every pupil by name. They say that ‘it feels like she’s on your side’ and that the school feels like ‘a family’. The 102 responses to Parent View were overwhelmingly positive and 96% of parents would recommend the school to others.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher and deputy headteacher work very well together and are a strong team. Although the deputy headteacher has been in post for less than a year, he is already having a strong impact on raising standards in English. Phase leaders, who monitor pupils’ progress closely and lead their teams well, strengthen the school’s leadership further.

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The leadership and management are good

 Subjects are led well and leaders continually look for ways that their subjects could be improved further. The headteacher gives teachers the authority to lead and to make decisions about their subjects. As a result, subject leaders are effective in ensuring that there is continual improvement and that standards remain high.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school’s leaders have created an environment where pupils behave exceptionally well, feel that they can succeed and want to do their best. They know that ‘getting it wrong’ is part of learning and are not afraid to try. All pupils’ achievements and successes are celebrated, however small, and one parent commented that, ‘It doesn’t matter whether they’ve swum one metre or a thousand metres, it’s still celebrated’.

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The leadership and management are good

 The pupil premium grant is being spent well and is used for a variety of purposes including providing 1:1 tuition by qualified teachers and to pay for instrumental lessons for pupils. The impact of the grant can be seen very clearly in the good quality of pupils’ work in their half-termly ‘best writing’ books. However, the potential of the most able disadvantaged pupils is not always identified early enough and too few go on to reach the higher levels.

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The leadership and management are good

 Safeguarding arrangements are sound and statutory requirements are met. The school has reviewed its recruitment practices and two references are requested for all staff appointments. A new proforma is now used to ensure that referees are always asked specific questions about safeguarding when references are requested.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain. They are taught to be tolerant, to value other people’s differences and that all people are equal. In a meeting with a randomly-selected group of Year 5 and Year 6 pupils, the lead inspector was impressed by the maturity with which they discussed issues such as racism. The pupils held strong views on the importance of equality and stated firmly that ‘everyone is the same’.

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The leadership and management are good

 Pupils enjoy the curriculum provided by the school. It offers good opportunities across the full range of National Curriculum subjects. Assemblies are used well to teach pupils about the beliefs of others, about values and about their own responsibilities. Pupils learn about democracy through the election of the School Council and the Eco-council. They learn about the rule of law through the consistent application of the school rules and the very clear consequences of not following them. Pupils understand the importance of helping others and raise money for a variety of charities.  The primary physical education and sport premium is being used effectively to raise standards and increase the range of sports clubs on offer. The school has used some of the funding to join the local school sports partnership and this has increased the range of opportunities available to pupils across most of the school. However, the opportunities for stimulating learning that are available to children in the early

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The leadership and management are good

 Performance management processes are well-established and thorough, linking well to observations of teaching, scrutiny of pupils’ work and how well pupils achieve. However, teachers’ performance targets are not linked closely enough to the school development plan and some targets are not aspirational. This means that the performance management system is not yet sufficiently rigorous and could be more effective as a tool to raise standards.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority recognises the school’s strengths, particularly those of the headteacher, and has commissioned her to support the leadership of another school.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  The governing body is effective and minutes of meetings show that governors hold the school’s leaders to account well. Governors have a good range of skills and knowledge.  Governors have a good understanding of the quality of teaching in the school. The headteacher provides them with regular information from the observations that have been carried out and governors employ an external consultant to assure themselves that this information is accurate.  The headteacher provides governors with regular information on how well pupils are doing. Governors understand this information and also know about and make good use of other sources of information to evaluate the school’s impact.  Minutes of committee meetings show that governors have a good understanding of performance management and how it is linked to pay. The headteacher provides them with clear information to

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The leadership and management are good

enable them to make appropriate decisions to reward good teaching and to tackle any underperformance.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Pupils behave extremely well, both in lessons and during other parts of the day. Inspectors saw no bad behaviour during the inspection and the school’s records, together with conversations with pupils and parents, show that this is typical.

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Behaviour

 The school’s behaviour policy is clear and is followed very consistently by all members of staff. Pupils behave extremely well because expectations are high and they understand the consequences of not following the rules. Parents say that they use the school’s behaviour management systems to help them manage behaviour at home.

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Behaviour

 Pupils are taught to be kind to each other and they say that ‘everybody gets along’. A group of pupils talked positively about other people laughing when their group’s video was shown to the class. When the lead inspector asked why they did not mind pupils laughing, one pupil said, ‘because it was a friendly laugh, not a mocking laugh’. Pupils know the school’s expectations of their behaviour very well and they act accordingly.

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Behaviour

 Pupils are polite and friendly and display excellent manners because these are constantly modelled for them by staff. Pupils listen well and cooperate with each other both during lessons and whilst they are playing. Excellent relationships – both between pupils and between pupils and staff – are a very strong feature of the school.

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Behaviour

 Pupils show excellent attitudes to learning. They enjoy their work and are keen to improve. Pupils are keen to talk about the things that they have done and what they have learned.

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Behaviour

 Attendance is above the national average because the school works hard to promote attendance and in following-up absences.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding. Pupils are taught about a range of safety issues including road safety, ‘stranger danger’ and internet safety. The local police community support officers visit the school regularly to reinforce safety teaching, and visits from groups such as the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children further enhance provision.

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Safety

 Pupils have very good understanding of what bullying is and what it is not. They say that bullying hardly ever happens and, when it does, it is dealt with very quickly and efficiently. They have been taught about different types of bullying, such as cyber-bullying, and speak confidently about what they would do if they had any concerns. Posters around the school display a photo of the key member of staff with responsibility in this area and pupils say that ‘there has been much less bullying since she’s been in charge’.

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Safety

 The school meets the needs of individual pupils very well. They ensure that staff are properly trained and that suitable plans are in place to ensure pupils’ safety, both physically and emotionally.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers plan exciting work for pupils that captures their interest and makes them want to learn in all subjects, including literacy and mathematics. Pupils say that ‘teachers make it really fun’ and that ‘something big always happens’. For example, pupils enthusiastically described acting out the Battle of Hastings, and others talked eagerly about their Darwin versus Wallace debate when learning about evolution.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils know what their targets are and are motivated to work towards them. Pupils receive good quality feedback on their work, both verbally and in writing. Teachers mark pupils’ work thoroughly across the range of subjects. They routinely give pupils ‘next steps’ when marking and pupils respond to these comments. Pupils know how to improve their work and the impact of this is clear in the quality of work in their exercise books.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers ask probing questioning to challenge pupils and to encourage them to think more deeply. In the best lessons, teachers check pupils’ understanding frequently and adapt their teaching in response.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Following improvements in the teaching of phonics, support for pupils’ reading is now good. Pupils are encouraged to read widely and for pleasure across the school.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Provision for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is good. The SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) is an effective leader and her influence is evident in the good progress that pupils make. Teaching assistants provide good support for this group of pupils specifically as well as for other individual pupils in the classroom.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Qualified teachers are used to provide 1:1 tuition for identified pupils, on specific issues, over short periods of time. The school’s data, and pupils’ work seen on inspection, show that pupils are making good progress as a result of this intervention. However, the potential of some of the most able disadvantaged pupils, who have the ability to achieve really well, is not always identified quickly enough.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers and teaching assistants work closely together and form effective teams. In many lessons seen on inspection, teaching assistants made a marked contribution to the lesson and pupils made better progress as a result of their support.

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is good

 Pupils make good progress throughout the school. Standards at the end of Key Stage 1 have risen over the last three years and are now well above the national average, particularly in writing and mathematics. At the end of Key Stage 2, pupils achieve levels that are above the national average in all areas, and well above average in reading, mathematics and spelling and grammar.

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is good

 Pupils make good progress in phonics (the sounds that letters make) because teaching is good and improving. The results of the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check were below the national average in 2014 but strategies are in place to ensure that results improve this year. Inspectors’ observations during the inspection show that standards are at least as high as those typically found in other schools.

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is good

 Music is taught very well and pupils achieve high standards. Approximately a third of the pupils in Key Stage 2 are learning to play an instrument at school, taught by peripatetic teachers. The school uses the pupil premium grant to ensure that music tuition is also available to all eligible pupils so that they, too, can access all parts of the school’s exciting curriculum. The school has a competent and impressive orchestra that rehearses weekly during curriculum time, taught by a specialist music teacher. During the inspection, the orchestra was heard to play a very competent rendition of Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’ during their weekly practice.

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is good

 Pupils use their knowledge of phonics to read and to spell accurately. Pupils read fluently and competently and show enjoyment of the texts they read.

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is good

 The most able pupils achieve well and make good progress. With the exception of a dip in writing in 2014, the proportion of pupils who reach the higher levels at the end of Key Stage 1 is consistently above average. Similarly, with the exception of a dip in mathematics in 2013, the proportion of pupils who attain the higher levels at the end of Key Stage 2 is consistently above the national average.

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is good

 Published data show that disadvantaged pupils achieve less well than others and that the gap in attainment was much wider in 2014 than previously. Overall, disadvantaged pupils were approximately a year behind other pupils nationally in reading, writing and mathematics, and also a year and a half behind their peers in school. However, school data and the work seen on inspection shows that this does not give an accurate picture of the good progress that disadvantaged pupils are making overall. The pupil premium grant is spent well and is having a strong impact on raising standards for this group of pupils. However, the school now needs to do more to identify the most able pupils in this group and then to ensure that they are provided with the right support to help them to reach the higher levels.

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is good

 Most children enter the Reception Year with skills and abilities typical for their age. However, some pupils start school at a level below that typically found, particularly in terms of their communication, language and personal and social development. Children make good progress in the early years and the proportion of children that reached a good level of development by the end of the Reception Year was slightly above the national average in 2014.

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is good

 Many children join the Nursery class below the level typical for their age. Provision meets their needs well and children make good progress so that they are ready for Reception by the end of the year.

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is good

 The early years provision is led and managed well. The leader is experienced and knowledgeable and is supported by an enthusiastic team. Teaching is good and teachers and teaching assistants work effectively together. The teaching of phonics has been strengthened by the appointment of an additional qualified teacher to work with groups of children in the afternoons.

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is good

 Good transition arrangements are in place to ensure that children are well prepared when they enter Nursery and Reception. Similarly, children are prepared well for the move into Year 1 and staff ensure that the transition from the Early Years Foundation Stage to the National Curriculum is a smooth one.

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is good

 The children’s individual learning journals are detailed and thorough. They show the continual assessment that takes place and are used to inform teachers’ planning. The children’s learning journals show contributions from their parents and the partnership between home and school is clear.  The classrooms are attractive and well-presented. Well-planned activities are provided at all times, both when led by adults and when the children choose activities for themselves, across all areas of learning. The outdoor area, however, is underdeveloped and does not provide the same good opportunities as the indoor environment.

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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 124628 Local authority Suffolk Inspection number 455557

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 3-11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 409 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Doreen Bartlett Headteacher Elizabeth Brown Date of previous school inspection 21 November 2012 Telephone number 01394 384481 Fax number 01394 388469 Email address Head.kyson@talk21.com 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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