Stapeley Broad Lane CofE Primary School

Stapeley Broad Lane CofE Primary School Broad Lane, Nantwich, Cheshire, CW5 7QL

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected as an academy This inspection: Outstanding 1 Leadership and management Outstanding 1 Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1 Quality of teaching Outstanding 1 Achievement of pupils Outstanding 1 Early years provision Outstanding 1

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Very strong leadership and management from the headteacher are the keys to the school’s success.  Pupils’ attainment is above average and they make at least good and often rapid progress.  There is excellent provision in the early years. As a result, children have a good start to their formal education.  Outstanding teaching inspires pupils not only to do very well, but also to really enjoy their learning.  Teaching assistants provide excellent support for pupils.  Strengths in subjects such as music, physical education and French enhance the quality and breadth of the curriculum. However, not enough opportunities are provided for pupils to write at length in topic work and in other subjects.  Pupils’ behaviour is outstanding. Pupils show great care and consideration for others and for those less fortunate than themselves. They say they feel very safe in school.  Pupils enjoy school and parents are highly

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

appreciative of all the school provides. Pupils’ attendance is above average.  Senior and middle leaders carry out their duties very well. They make very good use of information about pupils’ progress to ensure all pupils achieve equally well.  The governing body is highly effective in both supporting and challenging school leaders. Governors have a wide range of professional expertise.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed teaching in all year groups, including one observation carried out jointly with the headteacher. The inspectors also observed group work and listened to pupils reading. They observed pupils as they arrived for school and at break and lunchtimes.  The inspectors carried out a scrutiny of pupils’ work.  Discussions were held with the headteacher, staff and members of the governing body.  A wide range of documentation was considered, including systems for tracking pupils’ progress, safeguarding arrangements, policies, a record of the leaders’ and managers’ lesson observations and pupils’ work in their books.  Pupils’ views of the school were gathered through informal discussions with individual pupils in lessons and at break and lunchtimes. Discussions were also held with representative groups of pupils in Key Stages 1 and 2 and with parents.  Inspectors considered 78 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) and responses to the staff

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Inspection team

Geoffrey Yates, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is slightly smaller than most primary schools.  The majority of pupils are of White British heritage.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is well below average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is below the national average.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils, those supported through the pupil premium, is well below the national average. The pupil premium is additional funding for pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals and children who are looked after by the local authority.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics by the end of Year 6.  The Reception class provides full time early years education.  Stapeley Broad Lane School converted to become an academy on 1 April 2013. When its predecessor

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Information about this school

school of the same name was last inspected by Ofsted it was judged to be good overall.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Build on the successful steps already taken to improve pupils’ writing skills by providing more opportunities for them to write at length in subjects across the curriculum.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 What has not been forgotten in setting up the school as an academy is the importance of promoting good relations, having a culture within school where only pupils’ best behaviour is acceptable, the importance of pupils enjoying their learning as well as being challenged by it and the importance of pupils and staff feeling highly valued.  The pupils have a strong sense of community and show pride in their school as well as pride in their wider community. Staff work hard to develop pupils’ good understanding of life in modern Britain.  The leadership team and governors have the skills to not only sustain what has been achieved as an academy but also to improve it even further. Leaders have an accurate view of the school’s performance.  Outstanding leadership by the headteacher and other leaders has resulted in decisive and successful action being taken to address gaps in pupils’ skills in spelling and writing.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Middle leaders are highly effective in their monitoring of pupils’ progress in the different subjects and in ensuring that all pupils are achieving well.  The provision for pupils with disabilities and special educational needs and for those supported with additional funding (the pupil premium) is managed exceptionally well to the benefit of those pupils.  The management of staff performance has been a key factor in the improvements made to the quality of teaching.  Arrangements for safeguarding pupils meet statutory requirements. Every pupil is provided with an equal opportunity. Good relationships are fostered and discrimination of any kind is not tolerated.  Pupils benefit from a well-planned curriculum with topics chosen carefully to specially interest them. For example, a Year 2 topic linked to the events connected with the Great Fire of London included every child in the age group taking part tunefully and enthusiastically in playing ‘London’s Burning’ on ocarinas.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The primary school sports funding is used effectively enabling more pupils to take part in sport and to help them benefit from a wider range of sports. A sports specialist teacher is working effectively with pupils to develop their skills.  Pupil’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is very strong. Every opportunity is taken to teach pupils how to value and respect each other and there are well-established links with a school in Africa and also with local schools.  As an academy, the school buys in external support when needed.  The governance of the school:  Governors have an excellent understanding of the performance of the school. They are uncompromising in the way in which they carry out their duties in challenging and supporting the school. Their monitoring of the school is highly effective. Within the governing body, there are governors with high levels of professional expertise. For example, some governors expertise in finance or legal matters

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The leadership and management are outstanding

ensure any issues that the school has to address with regard to its academy status are dealt with promptly and effectively. Governors have a very good overview of the quality of teaching in the school. They make sure that the school’s finances are used well for the purposes intended. They ensure that the pupil premium and primary sports funding are used effectively. Governors ensure the systems to check on the performance of teachers are thorough. They reward good teaching by sanctioning pay increases and are fully aware of what steps they could take to tackle any identified underperformance by teachers.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.  In lessons, pupils behave exceptionally well and show highly positive attitudes to learning. Pupils say that, ‘this school is amazing’. Pupils are proud to play the ukulele or penny whistle in the folk group or of being a member of the school choir. They enjoy earning points towards the various awards they can achieve.  Pupils are very polite and friendly and are willing to share their experiences about school. For example, pupils talked about being privileged to be chosen as a school council member. Other pupils take their roles very seriously as sports council members, house captains or as recycling officers.  Parents who completed the school’s own questionnaire and those who completed the online questionnaire were confident that pupils enjoy school and behave very well.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding.  Security systems are well established to ensure pupils are kept safe.  Pupils feel very safe in the school and trust teachers and teaching assistants to help them if they are worried about anything. Those who spoke with inspectors believe there is no bullying in the school. Pupils are clear about all forms of bullying, including cyber-bullying. They know how to keep themselves safe when using modern technology.  Pupils are made aware of how to keep safe outside school by talks given by visitors, including the police.  R ecord keeping and any follow-up with parents about safety issues are effective.  Pupils take great care of one another and try to ensure everyone is included at play.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Pupils are very appreciative of the quality of teaching they receive. They identified that, ’Teachers push you to do better and the comments they write in our books help us get better.’  Staff work well together and have very good subject knowledge. The skills of teachers in subjects such as music and physical education are used well, as are the skills of a visiting French teacher. All staff develop excellent relationships with pupils, which lead to pupils having very good attitudes to learning.  Good and often outstanding teaching over time means that pupils make rapid progress across the school. Teachers have high expectations and pupils respond very well to them. For example, the teaching of mathematics in Year 6 ensures no learning time is wasted with highly motivated pupils using their knowledge and understanding to apply their numeracy skills exceedingly well.  Teaching assistants are highly competent and provide excellent support.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teachers assess pupils’ work accurately and use the information to provide challenging work for pupils to do. For example, improvements in the teaching of spelling and writing skills resulting from an analysis of assessment data has brought about improvements in these areas for all pupils.  Well-planned activities that capture pupils’ imagination are very much part of school life. Younger pupils, for example, are keen to learn about traditional stories with the teacher making effective use of characters from fiction including ‘Dr Nefario’ to maintain the pupils’ interest.  There are examples of pupils using their writing skills well in subjects across the curriculum, for example in part of a project about life in Italy. However, opportunities are sometimes missed for pupils to use these skills consistently well especially with regard to opportunities to write at length.  Disabled pupils, pupils with special educational needs and disadvantaged pupils, who require extra support

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

for particular aspects of their work, receive excellent support from teaching assistants.  Across the school mathematics is taught very well, pupils are routinely asked to apply their skills to problem solving and in other areas of the curriculum. For example, pupils in Year 2 say they look forward to answering a wide range of challenging mathematical problems every lesson. They know their targets, which are easy to follow, such as to learn the nine times table.  Pupils say they enjoy reading. All teachers place a high emphasis on the importance of reading. As a result, standards in reading are high. If there are any signs of pupils falling behind, additional help is put in place.  Teachers’ written comments when marking pupils’ work provide very good guidance and excellent opportunities for pupils to reflect and respond to the advice provided.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Inspection evidence points to attainment at the end of Year 6 being above average both at the expected levels and at the higher levels in reading, writing and mathematics.  From their starting points, pupils make outstanding progress. They also make rapid progress in a wide range of subjects, including music and French.  Younger pupils’ learning about letters and sounds is good. As a result, by the end of Year 1 an above average proportion of pupils reach the standard expected for their age in the national screening for phonics (the sounds that letters make). By the end of Year 2, standards in reading, writing and mathematics are above average.  Progress continues to be rapid through Key Stage 2. Well-organised tracking data and the work in pupils’ books show that currently pupils’ progress is rapid and they are on track to achieve very well. This shows an improvement on the previous year where progress in writing and spelling was not as strong as that in

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

reading and mathematics.  The school’s clear focus on developing pupils’ reading, writing and basic number skills is ensuring they are more than ready for the next stage of their learning at secondary school. However, opportunities are sometimes missed for pupils to write at length in subjects across the curriculum.  Pupils with special educational needs and disabled pupils receive effective extra support. This ensures they make the same outstanding progress as other pupils from their individual starting points.  The most able pupils achieve well especially in reading and mathematics. Their reading skills are used to very good effect and they talk with enthusiasm about what they like to read. They have excellent number skills and mathematical understanding. During the inspection, some Year 5 pupils with excellent mathematical knowledge responded well to the challenging problems set.  The very small numbers of disadvantaged pupils who are supported through the pupil premium make the

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

same rapid progress as their classmates. Teachers are very aware of their needs and track their progress carefully. The extra support they are given is effective and, as a result, they achieve as well as other pupils. It is not possible to make reliable statistical comparisons between this group and other pupils in the school, or with other pupils nationally, because there are so few pupils in this group in the school.  Additional sports funding is used well. Pupils now enjoy a wider range of sporting opportunities and uptake is high. Pupils are achieving success in local competitions.

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The early years provision is outstanding

 Leadership of the early years provision is outstanding and this leads to children receiving an excellent start to school life. All members of staff support children very well and teaching is of a high standard. Careful and meticulous records of children’s progress are made and the best possible use of this information is made in order to plan exciting and challenging activities for children to take part in. For example, children love the challenge of deciding how to best melt blocks of ice to ‘free’ the toy dinosaurs trapped inside.  Children start school with skills and knowledge typically found at their age with some exceeding that. They make good and often rapid progress and a higher number than found nationally achieved a good level of development in 2014.  Children enter Year 1 ready to learn and with the skills they need.  Good procedures are in place to ensure that children are safe. The staff manage children’s behaviour very

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The early years provision is outstanding

well and the behaviour and care shown by children are both excellent. Children need little encouragement to work and play cooperatively. For example, in the outside area they are keen to make the building of an igloo ‘perfect’. Inside the classroom they enjoy work linked to the story of Mr Stick.  Work in children’s books shows children have moved from mark making to forming recognisable letters, with some writing simple sentences. When questioned they show a good understanding of simple addition. Children are keen to demonstrate their good understanding of early letters and sounds and benefit from excellent teaching that allows them to make rapid progress.  Parents receive plenty of information about their children’s progress and are very happy with what the school does for their children.

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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 139539 Local authority Cheshire East Inspection number 449977

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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 Academy converter Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 210 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Tim Marsden Headteacher Ian Shackleton Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 01270 685020 Fax number 01270 624186 Email address admin@stapeleybl.cheshire.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

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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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