Great Massingham CofE Primary School

Great Massingham CofE Primary School Weasenham Road, Great Massingham, King's Lynn, PE32 2EY

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Requires improvement 3 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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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The new headteacher leads the school well. She has improved teaching and created a strong, united team. All leaders, including subject leaders and governors, have an accurate view of the school’s strengths and areas for development. They work effectively together to continue to make improvements.  Pupils make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics.  Good teaching is characterised by well-organised, lively and interesting lessons that enable pupils to achieve well.  Provision for children in the early years is good. As a result, they make a good start to their education because they learn quickly.  Pupils’ behaviour is good because of their positive attitude to their work.  Pupils say they feel safe in school. Parents and inspection evidence confirm this.  Leaders have made good use of the appraisal system and training to improve teaching and achievement since the last inspection. The headteacher’s monitoring of teaching and learning

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

is very effective.  The governing body, very well led by the chair, has improved the ways it holds the school to account. The governors are now very effective partners in supporting and challenging the school to improve further.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Pupils are not always sufficiently challenged, when they carry out mathematical activities, to achieve the best they can.  Pupils’ achievement in writing is not as good as in reading and mathematics.  Pupils are not given enough opportunities to respond to their teachers’ written comments in their books.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector visited seven lessons or parts of lessons taught by four different teachers. Four were joint observations with the headteacher.  The inspector listened to pupils read and talked to them about how much they read, as well as looking at their work in class.  Pupils’ workbooks were scrutinised by the inspector.  Discussions took place with members of the governing body, staff, groups of pupils and a representative of the local authority.  Documents were examined, including those relating to safeguarding, the school’s improvement plan, records of the school’s checks on teaching and learning, as well as its own assessment data.  The views of the 15 parents who responded to the online questionnaire (Parent View) were also taken into account as well as comments from parents speaking before the start of school.  Ten members of staff completed inspection questionnaires about their view of the school.

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Inspection team

Richard Blackmore, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is much smaller than the average-sized primary school.  There are two classes. Children in the Reception class are in a mixed class with Year 1 and 2 pupils. The Reception children attend full time. In the other class there are pupils in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6.  All pupils are of White British heritage.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is above average.  The proportion of pupils supported through the pupil premium is above average. (The pupil premium is additional government funding to support pupils known to be eligible for free school meals or those children in the care of the local authority).  The headteacher took up her post in September 2013. She is also the headteacher of a nearby school and there are strong links between the two schools.  A new teacher started at the school in September 2014.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve pupils’ attainment and accelerate progress by ensuring all pupils are:  sufficiently challenged, when they carry out mathematical activities, to achieve very well  given enough opportunities to respond to their teachers’ marking comments in their books  able to use spelling, punctuation and grammar more accurately in their writing.

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The leadership and management are good

 The new headteacher provides strong and focused leadership. She is ably supported by the governing body and leadership team. Together, leaders and staff have successfully created a culture of reflecting on teaching and improving aspects such as questioning. They have also ensured behaviour has remained good.

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The leadership and management are good

 Middle leaders are knowledgeable about their subjects and seek additional training to develop their skills. They, along with the headteacher, lead teaching well because when checking the quality of teaching and learning in classrooms they evaluate closely the pace of learning in lessons and conduct regular checking of pupils’ work.

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The leadership and management are good

 The systems for managing staff performance and addressing weaknesses in teaching are rigorous. Staff have good opportunities to receive support and training to improve their skills so that more pupils attain at the higher levels in all subjects. Only good teaching which ensures good achievement is rewarded financially.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school makes sure that all pupils have an equal opportunity to do well and that any pupil who falls behind receives extra support to help them to catch up. The school is very inclusive and highly aware of each pupils’ needs.

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The leadership and management are good

 The pupil premium funding has been used to fund both smaller group and individual work. This is having a positive impact on the pupils’ achievement. Extra support has been provided for literacy in Key Stages 1 and 2 and daily mathematics support for pupils in Key Stage 2.

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The leadership and management are good

 The range of subjects and activities is well planned and engaging. It provides pupils with rich opportunities to learn in lessons and outside school. Pupils are enthusiastic about the visitors to the school which include the vicar from the village church. This strengthens their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. The work with the partnership school enables pupils to learn two modern foreign languages, French and Spanish.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders strongly promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils who spoke to the inspector said discrimination of any kind was not tolerated. Pupils have a clear sense of right and wrong, appreciate and respect those from different backgrounds and with different beliefs, and understand the principles of democracy. As a result, pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain and have a good understanding of British values.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school has used its primary school sport funding successfully to ensure that pupils learn and take part in a growing range of sports including tennis and ‘Hi Fi’ netball. It has also provided them with more opportunities for competitive sport with other schools. Teachers’ subject knowledge and skills are enhanced by the work they do alongside specialist coaches.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority has provided effective support to monitor the school’s performance and to verify its self-assessment. Visits to the school have been regular and training has been effective in addressing the issues identified at the time of the last inspection.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school’s provision for pupils’ welfare and safeguarding is good. All staff and governors ensure a very safe and secure learning environment. Statutory safeguarding requirements are met.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school: Improved and effective governance has contributed significantly to the school’s improvement. Governors know how well the school is doing and how it performs against other schools; they use data well to rigorously check the achievement of all the different groups of pupils. Governors have a broad range of skills and expertise which they put to good use to challenge school leaders strongly. They monitor closely pupils’ standards and ask challenging questions where dips occur. They have a good understanding of the quality of teaching in the school from spending time in classes and helpful reports from the headteacher. This understanding makes sure that teachers’ performance, as measured by their success in the classroom, allows them to gain appropriate rewards. Governors ensure that finances are spent effectively to benefit pupils. They know how sport funding and pupil premium funding are spent and are aware of

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The leadership and management are good

this spending on pupils’ progress. They ensure that current safeguarding requirements are met fully.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. They display a considerable desire to learn and apply themselves fully to tasks set. They work enthusiastically in all lessons and regularly gauge their own learning. This contributes to their good progress. Very high levels of respect are shown to adults and other pupils.

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Behaviour

 There are valued roles of responsibility taken by pupils. A number of pupils are ‘assembly monitors’. They help to set up equipment, organise resources and read out Bible passages and do so with pride and maturity.

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Behaviour

 Pupils get on well with each other and are particularly good at working together in the mixed-age classes, willingly helping each other when adult support is not immediately available. They are polite and courteous. These high quality relationships and mutual respect provide strong support to pupils’ good spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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Behaviour

 Pupils behave well around the school. They move carefully in the small school building and behave well in the dining hall. They eat quietly and sensibly and demonstrate good table manners.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Parents are confident that their children are safe.

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Safety

 Pupils say that they feel safe and well looked after at school. They say there is no bullying in school although they did acknowledge that sometimes people fall out. They are confident that they always have adults around them who they can turn to if they have a problem.

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Safety

 Risks, for example for school trips, are assessed carefully and the school helps pupils understand how to keep themselves safe outside school. Pupils are clear about whom they would go to if they were unhappy or worried about anything.

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Safety

 The school works hard to encourage regular attendance. Pupils’ attendance is broadly average and is improving. Few pupils arrive late to school.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is good throughout the school and has improved as a result of effective staff training and development and the good links with other local schools. This has been recognised by external evaluations including the monitoring visit by Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI) in April 2014. There is consistency in the quality of teaching that results in all groups of pupils making good progress.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Lessons are planned to capture pupils’ interests, make learning fun and to help pupils to practise their skills in a variety of stimulating ways. For example, in a Year R, 1 and 2 lesson, pupils ‘tracked’ animals that were around the classroom and used this to write words and sentences accurately. This made learning exciting and held the attention of all pupils.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils say ‘teaching is good’ and most parents agree. This was confirmed when the inspector looked at pupils’ work over the past year. This is because of the clear improvements seen in their books in literacy in the improved structure and use of lively and interesting vocabulary in their writing.  Teachers are skilled at promoting the teaching of reading. Children learn their letters and the sounds they make (phonics) effectively in the early years and good practice is maintained through both key stages. Teachers take every opportunity to highlight letter sounds to pupils. For example, when reading the words ‘Taipan snake’ the teacher expertly led the discussion on the sound made by ‘ai’. Pupils say they enjoy reading, especially reading aloud in small groups.

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The quality of teaching is good

 In mathematics, in all year groups, there is a wide range of opportunities for pupils to extend their basic number and calculation skills and to apply this understanding and the skills learnt within problem-solving activities. However, at times, pupils are not sufficiently challenged when they carry out these mathematical activities including problem solving. This means that not all pupils achieve the best they can.

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The quality of teaching is good

 In literacy lessons teachers use good questioning to make pupils think hard and to help pupils generate a wide range of ideas. Pupils regularly consider well-chosen and challenging questions to extend their thinking, such as: ‘What organisational devices are effective in a leaflet promoting a holiday destination and why?’ Pupils, especially the most able, argue their opinions well with their partner in class.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers mark pupils’ work regularly and the quality of the feedback is good. It celebrates success where it occurs. However, it is not always used sufficiently because pupils are not consistently encouraged to study teachers’ comments in enough detail and respond by trying specific aspects of their work again to improve its quality.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers help to develop pupils’ good social development through partner and group work. School assemblies led by staff contribute well to the pupils’ spiritual and cultural development.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 As the result of the swift actions taken by the headteacher since her appointment to improve teaching and raise expectations of pupils, progress is accelerating quickly and an increasing number are now attaining at the higher levels, especially in reading and mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The attainment of pupils in Key Stage 2 is improving strongly. The most recent published data show pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics is still average but quickly improving. In 2014, the overall proportion of pupils making expected and better-than-expected progress was close to the national figure from below-average starting points.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils make good progress across the school and in 2014 reached standards that were at the national average at the end of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. Until recently progress has been at the expected rate and has been particularly slow in writing. It has now accelerated and is consistently good in reading, writing and mathematics. This is evidenced in pupils’ work and the school’s own information.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils’ progress in writing, while good, is not as rapid as it is in reading and mathematics. Scrutiny of pupils’ work in books indicates that pupils do not consistently use capital letters, full stops and correct grammar to add precision to their writing.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils’ progress in mathematics is good overall. Pupils use a developing range of mathematical words to describe their learning, for example, using words such as ‘more than’, ‘balances’ or ‘equals’. Scrutiny of work in pupils’ books indicates that all pupils make good progress but occasionally the tasks in mathematics, particularly when solving problems, are not always challenging enough limiting the progress they make.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Over their time in the school, pupils make good progress in reading. Pupils make good progress including in the early years. There have been very few pupils’ results in the national phonics screening check for Year 1 pupils but reading has improved recently. Pupils in Key Stage 1 tackle new and unfamiliar words well and start to use punctuation well to help put expression into their reading.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The most-able pupils make good progress as a result of the improved training given to teachers who ensure these pupils are sufficiently challenged. An increasing number of pupils are attaining the higher levels.  Disadvantaged pupils make good progress. They attain and make progress similar to their classmates in reading, writing and mathematics because the school provides effective extra help in small groups and for individuals. There were no pupils in the 2014 national test data to be able to make a comparison between the school and national attainment at the end of Key Stage 2.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress and have effective plans in place to support their learning and development. Additional adults provide extra support both inside and outside the classroom to make sure these pupils achieve as well as others in the school.

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The early years provision is good

 From starting points generally below those typically found, children make good progress in the early years. The children are well behaved and polite because the staff in the classroom insist on high standards. They ask the children to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and frequently encourage them to take turns.

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The early years provision is good

 The early years’ environment is a productive, safe and happy place where children develop their curiosity and creativity very effectively. They do well because they are supported effectively. They settle quickly because arrangements to introduce them to school are very effective. Partnerships with parents are established well before children start school and ensure that parents are well informed about and closely involved in their children’s learning.

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The early years provision is good

 Teaching is very good and children learn well both indoors and outdoors. Teaching is well planned and effective. Children are regularly encouraged to learn and practise their early reading, writing, and number skills. Children are taught a correct pencil grip and how to form numbers and letters correctly.

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The early years provision is good

 The early years’ setting is very well managed. The leader has an exceptionally clear vision for further improvement. Records of children’s achievements are shared with parents through their individual learning journals and include photographic evidence and examples of children’s own work. She tracks children’s progress and carries out regular observations to make sure that planning builds on children’s interests and abilities.

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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 121087 Local authority Norfolk Inspection number 453834

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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 controlled Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 32 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Bev Randall Headteacher Ann Beardall Date of previous school inspection 16 July 2013 Telephone number 01485 520362 Fax number 01485 520362 Email address office@greatmassingham.norfolk.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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