Uffculme Primary School

Ashley Road, Uffculme, Cullompton, EX15 3AY

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected 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

 Leaders have brought about significant improvement in teaching and pupils’ achievement, following a dip in 2013.  Teaching is consistently good and typically caters well for the needs of pupils.  Effective teaching and positive learning experiences in the early years provide children with a good start to school. Consequently, the great majority are well prepared for Year 1.  Teaching assistants provide good support to pupils which helps to ensure that they achieve well. This is especially the case for disabled pupils and those with special educational needs.  Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 is above average in all subjects. This is also the case for reading and mathematics in Key Stage 2.  Pupils achieve especially well in reading across the academy. The teaching of phonics (letters and sounds they make) is highly effective.  Pupils feel safe and have positive attitudes to learning; they behave well in lessons and at play.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

The academy’s work to keep pupils safe is good.  Every effort is made to help pupils to be prepared for life in modern Britain. The academy strongly promotes spiritual, moral, social and cultural development throughout the curriculum.  The governing body effectively supports the academy. Governors monitor all aspects of the academy’s work well. They are both challenging and supportive of the headteacher.  Parents and staff are very positive about the academy’s work.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 The most able pupils in Key Stage 1 are not always sufficiently challenged in mathematics; not as many pupils attain the highest levels that they may be capable of reaching.  The progress of a minority of pupils in writing, notably boys, is not as rapid as in other subjects. Attainment is not as high in writing as it is in reading by the end of Year 6.  Teachers’ marking does not always give pupils precise enough guidance to improve their work, especially in mathematics, which restricts how well they respond to make even faster progress.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors visited 11 lessons, of which three were visited jointly with the headteacher.  Meetings were held with the executive headteacher, headteacher, other leaders, governors and a group of pupils. Inspectors spoke to other pupils during lessons and at lunch and break times. They also listened to pupils read.  The inspection team took account of 53 parents’ responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) and spoke with parents at the start of the school day.  The views of staff were gathered through discussions and the 19 returns to the Ofsted staff questionnaire.  Inspectors looked at a range of documents, including the academy’s programmes detailing what pupils should learn in each subject. They examined: records of the academy’s arrangements for keeping pupils safe; pupils’ behaviour and attendance records; governing body minutes; records showing the monitoring of the quality of teaching; and the academy’s information on pupils’ current attainment and progress.

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Inspection team

Matt Middlemore, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Uffculme is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  Most pupils are of White British heritage.  The proportion of disabled pupils or those with special educational needs is broadly average.  The proportion of pupils who are supported by the pupil premium (additional government funding for disadvantaged pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and children who are looked after) is in line with the national average.  Children in the Reception class attend full time.  The academy meets the government’s current floor standards which set out the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics.  Uffculme Primary School converted to become an academy and joined Uffculme Academy Trust in July 2013. When its predecessor school, also called Uffculme Primary School, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be good overall.  The current headteacher has been in post since September 2014.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve both teaching and achievement by:  increasing rates of progress and attainment in writing, particularly for boys, so that achievement is of a similar standard to that in reading  raising the attainment of the most able pupils in mathematics by the end of Key Stage 1 by providing greater challenge in lessons  ensuring that marking consistently helps all groups of pupils, including those of lower ability, to know how best to improve their work, especially in mathematics.

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The leadership and management are good

 The trust provides an effective framework that is contributing well to improvements at Uffculme Primary School since its inception in 2013.  The recently appointed headteacher, senior leaders and members of the local governing body share and communicate high expectations to both staff and pupils. They work closely and productively with senior leaders from the trust in monitoring all aspects of the academy’s work.  Subject leaders are becoming increasingly effective in their roles in coordinating and monitoring teachers’ work across the academy. As a result of these effective leadership arrangements, the academy is now improving at a much more consistent rate than in the past.  Leaders have an accurate picture of the academy’s overall effectiveness. Their self-evaluation is based securely upon robust monitoring of all aspects of the academy’s work. The leadership of teaching is consistently strong.

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The leadership and management are good

 Pupils’ progress is tracked carefully. Academy leaders are adept at using this information to target any pupils at risk of underachievement. The additional funding for disadvantaged pupils is used well to provide extra teaching support which is proving effective in closing the attainment gaps between this group and other pupils.  Leaders and governors have made effective use of procedures relating to staff performance to tackle previous weaknesses in teaching. Teachers’ pay is linked directly to the achievement of pupils. Staff are positive about the training and support the academy provides, which helps them to improve the quality of their work.  The academy provides pupils with a broad and stimulating curriculum which supports pupils’ good progress and prepares them well for life in modern Britain. The provision for literacy is well planned overall, but pupils’ writing skills are not as consistently well developed as those in reading.

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The leadership and management are good

 A strong feature of the academy is how well it promotes tolerance and respect throughout all the pupils’ work. This is covered well through weekly assemblies focusing on modern British values and other topics in spiritual, moral, social and cultural education.  The academy promotes equality of opportunity well, making sure that the needs of individual pupils are identified and met; there is no discrimination. The headteacher ensures that she meets with all new families to the school to ensure that they feel welcomed. Relationships at the academy are warm and welcoming.  Pupils’ participation in sport is a strong and is an improving feature of the curriculum. The primary sport funding has had a good impact, being used well to provide specialist physical education teachers from within the trust to lead on the teaching of high quality lessons. Pupils are very proud of their successes in competive sport. They have recently won a local football tournament, were runners-up in a basketball

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The leadership and management are good

event and are now able to compete convincingly at the local swimming gala.  Statutory requirements for safeguarding pupils are met by rigorous systems that are checked and updated regularly. Senior leaders across the trust are well trained and have a secure understanding of their role in the protection of children. This contributes well to pupils being safe and feeling safe.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governance operates at a strategic level across the academy trust and through the local governing body at Uffculme Primary School. Together, these two groups work effectively in providing challenge and support to all aspects of the academy’s work. They have a clear picture of the strengths of the academy and those areas that are in need of further improvement. The local governing body has a growing knowledge about how the performance of Uffculme compares with other primary schools nationally. Governors receive good quality information on school performance. They use this to challenge and support the headteacher, and to conduct regular, focused visits to the academy. They are increasingly involved in a range of monitoring activities, for example, regularly checking on how additional funding is being used to improve pupils’ achievement. Governors are aware of how the headteacher has improved teaching through rigorous monitoring and self-

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The leadership and management are good

evaluation, and how she links performance closely to salary progression. They know that improvements in teaching are leading to pupils making good progress across the academy. Governors ensure that finances are well managed. Through attending regular training, governors are highly skilled in ensuring that safeguarding arrangements meet statutory requirements, so that pupils and staff are safe.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  Pupils typically behave well in lessons. They cooperate well when working with others, for example, by being prepared to listen politely to each other’s opinions during discussions. Throughout the inspection, pupils were eager to talk to the inspectors, to share and explain their work or to discuss recent improvements in behaviour.  Inspectors agree that behaviour has improved over time. One indicator of this is the marked reduction in fixed-term exclusionssince the academy came into existence. Staff and the great majority of parents also believe that behaviour is good and improving.  Pupils conduct themselves very well around the academy. They are mostly polite and respectful to each other and to adults in school. In particular, this is evident when older pupils support the younger pupils in the dining hall.  Although most pupils are very positive about their work, occasionally, a very small minority lose their

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Behaviour

concentration in lessons and do not always work as productively as they might. This is almost exclusively on those rare occasions when learning is not pitched at precisely the right level for all pupils.

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Safety

 The academy’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Procedures for vetting staff and new appointments are thorough and all safeguarding arrangements are met and reviewed regularly. Staff are appropriately trained to a high level, including governors.  Teaching actively promotes safe practices, including teaching pupils how to act if they were to feel unsafe.  The academy promotes, through its computing curriculum, how to stay safe on the internet, including the threat of cyber-bullying. The headteacher regularly delivers assemblies on how pupils can stay safe in the wider community and when accessing social media.  Pupils have a secure understanding of the types of bullying and are adamant that there is very little bullying in the school. They say that occasionally there are minor fallouts, where pupils do call others silly names. However, they express confidence in the staff’s ability to deal with any incidents well.

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Safety

 Pupils increasingly enjoy coming to school and most attend regularly. Rates of attendance are broadly in line with the national average and gradually improving. There are fewer persistent absentees than in the past. Systems to promote regular attendance for all groups are robust and effective.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching across the academy is consistently good, which supports the improving rates of pupils’ progress. Parents state that they believe teaching to be good.  Teachers establish positive relationships with pupils and expect them to achieve their best. Pupils respond well to their teachers’ high expectations and this results in good learning and good behaviour. Classrooms are tidy and well organised, with wall displays that promote pupils’ interest in learning and reaching high standards.  Teachers and teaching assistants work well together to ensure that all groups achieve well. Teaching assistants are skilled in using a wide range of techniques to check on pupils’ progress. For example, in Year 4, inspectors observed several variations of connectives being used, such as ‘however’, ‘furthermore’ and ‘consequently’ to create complex sentences.  Teachers are highly proficient in developing pupils’ reading skills. Children gain a good understanding of

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The quality of teaching is good

phonics in the early years. Good practice is maintained through Key Stage 1 and continued, to a lesser extent, in Key Stage 2. This results in above average achievement in reading by the end of Key Stage 2. Standards of reading across the academy are high.  In mathematics, teachers use clear explanations to deepen pupils’ understanding of calculation and mathematical methods. Pupils are generally provided with useful opportunities to apply their knowledge and skills. However, the most able pupils in Key Stage 1 are not provided with enough challenge to progress as rapidly as they could.  Pupils’ work in books clearly shows that, over time, effective teaching has ensured good progress for all groups of pupils. However, not enough opportunities are provided for pupils to develop their writing skills extensively outside of English lessons.  Teachers assess pupils’ work frequently to plan future activities. In most classes, marking is used

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The quality of teaching is good

successfully by pupils to improve their work, especially in literacy. Some lower ability pupils, however, do not benefit from comments in books as they are sometimes too complex for them to readily understand. The quality of marking in mathematics books is not as consistently strong across the academy as it is for literacy. Marking does not always give pupils precise enough advice about how they can improve their work, which restricts how well they respond to make even faster progress.

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is good

 Leaders and managers have taken swift, effective and rigorous action to raise pupils’ achievement after a dip in 2013. As a result, all through the academy, pupils are making at least good progress across all areas of the curriculum.  Achievement in reading is particularly strong because of the effective teaching of phonics in the early years and in Key Stage 1. In 2014, every Year 1 pupil reached the required level in the Year 1 phonics check.  Inspectors heard pupils reading with confidence, expression, fluency and accuracy. Pupils also confirm that they enjoy reading and practise their skills regularly.  Most pupils left Key Stage 1 in 2014 above typically levels in reading, writing and mathematics. In the present Year 2 class, inspection evidence indicates that pupils areimproving upon this level of attainment in all subjects.  By the end of Year 6 in 2014, pupils’ attainment was above average for reading and mathematics and

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is good

broadly average for writing. In the current Year 6, pupils are attaining improved standards again in all three subjects. Attainment in writing is less strong than other subjects mainly due to differences between boys’ rates of progress in writing when compared with reading.  The achievement of the most able pupils is improving. In 2014, the most able pupils in Year 2 were broadly in line with national averages for reading and writing, but below national levels of attainment for mathematics. The most able pupils in Year 6 in 2014 attained above average proportions for reading and writing, and were broadly in line for mathematics. The most able pupils currently in Year 6 are attaining above national average in all subjects.  The academy uses the additional funding for disadvantaged pupils increasingly successfully. Consequently, they make good progress from their differing starting points, and are closing the gap with

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is good

other pupils. Their performance in Year 6 in 2014 improved significantly by comparison with the previous year. However, small gaps were still evident. In mathematics, they were the equivalent of one term behind both other pupils nationally and in school. In writing, the gap with other pupils nationally was also about a term, but was nearly half a year compared with other pupils in school. In reading, they attained in line with other pupils both nationally and in school, reflecting the relative strength of this aspect for all groups of pupils.  The progress of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs has improved and is in line with that of others in the academy. This is because teachers and leaders carefully assess pupils’ individual needs, tailoring lessons and additional support to meet their needs and help narrow any gaps in their learning.  Work in pupils’ books show that, with only minor variations, pupils make good progress in a range of

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is good

 From starting points below those typical for their age, children make good progress in all areas of learning. At the end of Reception, an above average proportion of children attain a good level of development. The proportion exceeding the expected level of progress is steadily increasing. As a result of this, most children leave Reception well prepared for Year 1.  The leadership and management of the early years provision are good. As a result, the quality of teaching is securely good. Strong emphasis is placed on developing early reading and writing skills. Children make good progress in phonics and are provided with many opportunities to develop speaking and listening. In writing, most children are forming letters correctly and are clearly able to write sentences about their learning.  Well-established routines and the children’s positive relationships with adults ensure that children behave

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is good

well and make a good start to the school day. As a result of this, the children’s emotional and physical well-being allows them to thrive in this safe learning environment.  The refurbished outdoor learning environment ensures that the children are provided with a wide range of opportunities to help them make good progress. Staff keep a close check on children’s learning, building up a detailed and accurate picture of each child’s progress to make sure that they are achieving as well as they can.  Parents who met inspectors spoke favourably about the good provision and high quality welfare their children receive in the early years.

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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 139887 Local authority Devon Inspection number 453405

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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 203 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Sue Brewer Headteacher Jo Dentith Date of previous school inspection 20–21 October 2010 Telephone number 01884840282 Fax number 01884841530 Email address admin@primary.uffculmeschool.net 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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