Kirk Langley CofE Primary School

Kirk Langley CofE Primary School Moor Lane, Kirk Langley, Ashbourne, DE6 4LQ

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Early years provision Good 2

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This is a good school

 The headteacher provides very effective leadership. He plays a key role in moving the school forwards by accurately identifying what works well and where improvements can be made.  Everyone is valued for their individual talents and characteristics in this happy and caring school. Staff, pupils and parents get on very well together.  Pupils make good progress and achieve well in reading, writing and mathematics.  Pupils across the school have good attitudes to learning. Their behaviour in and around school is consistently good and sometimes outstanding.  Pupils have a good understanding of how to keep themselves and their friends safe. They become confident and mature young learners who have a strong understanding of their responsibilities within the school and local community.  The quality of teaching is good. Teachers and support staff have very good working relationships with the pupils and encourage them to try hard with

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This is a good school

their work.  All pupils, including disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, are looked after well. Very effective support enables them to grow in confidence and do well.  Children in the early years make good progress in all areas of their learning. This is because teaching enables them to settle happily and develop a range of basic skills well.  Governors have a good grasp of their role and responsibilities. They challenge and support the headteacher to ensure the school continues to move forwards.  Parents are very pleased with the quality of education and care provided. Several choose to bring their children to this school because of the high-quality support they receive.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Pupils do not always make all the progress they are capable of. Not as many pupils reach the higher levels in writing and mathematics as they do in other areas of learning.  Pupils’ work is not always well presented. Some work lacks dates or titles, which makes it hard for teachers to check their progress.  Marking does not clearly identify what pupils need to do to improve their work.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed learning in part of eight lessons or group tasks and in a range of other activities. Several of the lesson observations were carried out jointly with the headteacher. The inspector also looked in detail at the work in pupils’ books and heard several pupils read.  The inspector held planned and informal discussions with pupils throughout the inspection.  The inspector had discussions with the headteacher and staff members including those responsible for the early years. She also spoke to members of the governing body and a representative of the local authority.  There were 18 responses to the online questionnaire for parents (Parent View). The inspector also spoke to several parents at the start of the inspection and received a small number of written communications from parents. She also took account of 10 responses to the staff questionnaire.  The inspector scrutinised a range of documents, including the school’s own information about pupils’

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Information about this inspection

progress. She also took account of records relating to behaviour, attendance and safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Sue Hall, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is a much-smaller-than-average-sized primary school.  There are three mixed-age classes in school. Children attend the Reception group on a full-time basis and work alongside pupils in Year 1.  The large majority of pupils are of White British heritage and speak English as their first language.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils who are supported by additional funding (the pupil premium) is well below the national average. This includes pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals. There are currently no pupils looked after by the local authority.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is above the national average.  The headteacher took up post in January 2013 and has a part-time teaching commitment. Two of the three classes are taught by part-time staff. There have been several changes to staffing in the last year, including this term.

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Information about this school

 The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise attainment further and ensure that more pupils exceed nationally expected progress by:  improving pupils’ writing skills, including their spelling, punctuation and grammar, and enabling them to write neatly, at greater length and in depth  enabling pupils to use what they already know to carry out calculations and solve mathematical problems speedily and accurately.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching and the rate of pupils’ progress by:  ensuring that activities consistently challenge pupils of different abilities, especially the most able  checking that teachers apply the school’s marking system in a consistent manner, so staff can assess the progress made and pupils are clear about what they have to do to improve their work.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher provides a strong and successful steer to school improvement. Currently, with all other teaching staff in part time or temporary roles or newly qualified he carries many responsibilities. Nevertheless, he has a clear vision for further improvement based on more permanent staffing arrangements.

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The leadership and management are good

 Staff have created a culture in the school and wider community where good behaviour and progress are expected and communicated clearly to pupils, staff and parents. All of the parents spoken to during the inspection were unanimous in their appreciation of the quality of care and education provided for their children. They made numerous comments about ‘the family feel’ that they rightly see as a strength of the school.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher has an accurate grasp of what works well in teaching and what needs to improve. Observations during the inspection show that the headteacher correctly identifies strengths and weaknesses in a range of activities. This information is then linked to teachers’ performance targets and training.

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The leadership and management are good

 Staff in a range of roles say they like working in the school. Those who are newly qualified work closely with others, including some able and experienced teaching assistants, to share good practice and review the strategies used to boost pupils’ achievement. Those with subject responsibilities are occasionally involved in reviewing work in pupils’ books.

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The leadership and management are good

 Teachers focus effectively on developing pupils’ basic skills in reading, writing and mathematics and this helps prepare them successfully for the next stage of learning. The school effectively reviews the subjects taught to ensure they are interesting and relevant. For example, pupils in Years 2 and 3 are particularly keen on their new topic focused on chocolate. They therefore improve their understanding of comparisons and superlatives when describing which were sweet, sweeter or sweetest.

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The leadership and management are good

 Staff carefully consider the teaching of British values and provide a good range of activities to help pupils understand about democracy, appropriate to their age and stage of development. Pupils are involved in developing the school’s vision statement and are extending links with schools in different localities. Chalked pictures on the playground and photographic displays show very recent work resulting in Rangoli and Vaisakhi patterns.

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The leadership and management are good

 As a long-established part of the community, the school is involved in traditional celebrations including a local tea party and community events. Work with the local university includes demonstrations to other schools of computer software. This successfully encourages pupils’ development of a sense of responsibility when representing their school.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Pupils enjoy whole- school assemblies. During the inspection these included unaccompanied singing of a very good quality. Every child joined in with a clear sense of pride and enjoyment.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders carry out careful checks of those who work in school. They check that staff training is up-to-date and that the school’s effective procedures to safeguard everyone are known to and followed by all.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school uses additional pupil premium funding well to support the academic progress and personal development of eligible pupils. The work of support staff is of high quality and provides help and challenge for individuals and small groups of pupils. The school purchases resources such as reading materials for individual pupils. This illustrates the school’s commitment to ensuring equality of opportunity for all and countering discrimination of any kind.

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The leadership and management are good

 The primary school physical education and sport funding is used effectively to support a range of activities. These include joining a local school sports partnership which has extended the range of activities and competitions the pupils now take part in.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority has provided good support to the school, which it rightly identifies as successful. Advisers have worked with the headteacher to check the quality of teaching and learning. This helps to ensure that the school has the capacity to continue to improve.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governance is good. Governors have undertaken training and are well informed about the work of the school. Governors have a good grasp of their roles and hold leaders effectively to account for what the school provides. They understand what performance data tell them about the progress pupils have made. Records of meetings show that they challenge staff about why progress, for example in mathematics, has not been even better.  Governors are suitably informed about the quality of teaching and learning and use such information when making decisions about teachers’ pay awards. They are familiar with performance management procedures and how underperformance is tackled. Through a developing programme of focused visits they are gaining first-hand information about the life and work of the school. They recognise the need to avoid relying only on information from staff.  Governors check that procedures to safeguard the pupils are kept up to date and meet statutory

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. At times behaviour is excellent and is best outside lessons, including playtimes where pupils clearly get on very well together. For example, when playing on the school field older and younger ones, without prompting, play very happily together. In assemblies they listen very carefully to others and clearly enjoy joining in singing. Pupils are consistently polite to each other and the adults they work with.

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Behaviour

 All of the parents spoken to emphasised how pleased they are with the ‘family feel’ and the strong working relationships between the different groups of pupils and with staff. Some commented with warmth and appreciation about how the school looks after their children, including disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs. Parents are very confident that the staff have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour, value their children and prepare them well for their future.

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Behaviour

 Pupils have positive attitudes to learning and most, especially the older ones, say they like coming to school. Several pupils of different ages indicated that mathematics is their favourite subject. Observations in lessons show that the majority join in discussions and offer their ideas, although a few throughout the school offer little and wait for others to come up with ideas. The sample of pupils’ work also shows that some try much harder than others to produce work that is clearly presented.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils have a clear understanding of how to keep themselves and others safe, including when playing outdoors. The school works with external groups to help pupils understand the dangers they could face and how to respond to these.

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Safety

 Pupils have a good understanding of what bullying is. They know this is a deliberate and repeated action. They identify the different types of bullying that could occur including cyber bullying. They recognise the dangers of social media. They are confident that little or no bullying occurs in school. The older pupils often show high levels of care for the younger ones. Pupils say they feel safe in school and are confident that the adults around them will listen if they have any worries.

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Safety

 Pupils’ attendance is above the national average and their punctuality is good.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is good in all subject areas including literacy, reading and numeracy, as shown in the pupils’ books and records of the progress. It promotes pupils’ learning and personal development well. The observations of learning during the inspection confirmed the school’s own evaluation of the effectiveness of teaching over time.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Staff create a happy and secure environment where pupils are able to thrive. Teachers and support staff have very strong working relationships with pupils. They offer them lots of praise and support which helps raise their self-esteem. Pupils often try hard to please the adults around them.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Staff are enthusiastic in their teaching and try to make activities interesting for all. Tasks often contain a practical element, for example when older pupils worked out the ratios of what items to use to make mixtures that attract different types of birds. Because the pupils were interested in using the information they had about what different birds liked, they were successful in working out the ratios to use. They then weighed the bird food to make their own different mixtures.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Staff recognise that cross-curricular work interests the pupils and use imaginative ideas to engage them. For example, when older pupils considered how to represent historical information about the Mayan people in a pyramid form, they were interested to see this represented by a tiered cake. They were later pleased to sample the different layers representing what they were finding out about the origins of such civilizations and the development of chocolate.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Both teachers and experienced support staff provide good support for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs. This is evident in classroom activities and when pupils work in separate groups. Staff have a good understanding of what to do to help pupils without doing too much for them.

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The quality of teaching is good

 While teaching is good overall, there is some inconsistency. Learning is generally most effective for the youngest and oldest pupils. Staff plan activities for different groups of pupils based on their abilities. While this provides a good level of challenge overall sometimes this is not as high as it could be, particularly for the most-able pupils in the middle years of the school. The tasks set do not consistently challenge them to produce their best work, for example by extending the length and depth of their writing.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils’ books show different expectations for the organisation and setting out of work by different staff. For example, several pieces of work have weaknesses in presentation, particularly in Years 2 and 3 where they are undated and untitled. This makes it difficult for other staff to use such information for subsequent planning and follow up work or to assess the progress pupils make.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The school has developed a system for marking pupils’ work. However, their books show that this system is not consistently applied, with the result that marking does not always identify well enough what pupils need to do to improve their work. Even when marking is completed, comments are not revisited by staff or pupils to ensure misunderstandings are addressed.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 As year groups are sometimes very small, standards vary quite widely from year to year. However, good teaching ensures that pupils of all backgrounds and abilities achieve well as they move through the school.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children enter the Reception group with skills and understanding that are broadly typical overall for their age. They achieve well in the different areas of their learning and development. In 2014 a much higher proportion achieved a good level of development than seen nationally.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 In the Year 1 national checks in 2014, pupils’ understanding of phonics (letters and the sounds they make) was above the national average. During the inspection, pupils of mixed ages were observed working together in groups to extend their understanding of how to blend sounds together to help work out unfamiliar words.  In the Year 2 assessments in 2014, standards rose from the previous year and were above the national average. Girls did quite a lot better than boys in all areas and especially in writing. Discussions with staff and scrutiny of performance data show that most of the pupils with additional needs within this group were boys and most had made good progress.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 In the Year 6 national tests in 2014, standards rose to above the national average from below average the previous year. Girls did slightly better than boys overall. Currently, pupils of all abilities make good progress as they move through the school. Boys and girls achieve equally well.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils read well and with enjoyment. Data show that over time this has often been the most successful subject area, and it was much stronger in 2014 in Year 6 than writing or mathematics. The inspector noted that most pupils are able to work out unfamiliar words by using their understanding of letters and the sounds they make. Reading records show that many pupils read regularly at home and are well supported in reading by their families.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The 2014 national tests showed that pupils’ grammar, punctuation and spelling were below other areas. The sample of recent work shows that while pupils write reasonably well for a range of purposes, spelling is not always secure and pupils do not often produce writing in much depth and detail.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The school has focused on improving pupils’ calculation skills and tried to make mathematical activities more interesting by ensuring a practical element of problem solving. However, some pupils do not have a speedy recall of mental mathematics and do not solve problems quickly and accurately.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The number of disadvantaged pupils in the school is too small to comment on their attainment without risk of identifying individuals. However, these pupils receive effective support from teachers and support staff, and make good progress. There are very few disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs in some year groups. They too make good overall progress and with effective support they achieve well from their different starting points.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The most-able pupils are also making good overall progress. A greater number are on track to achieve the higher levels in reading and mathematics than in previous years.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 While most pupils make good progress and achieve the expected two levels of progress in their work during Key Stage 2, fewer pupils than seen nationally make three levels of progress. The school has rightly identified this as its first priority in school improvement planning. Leaders are aware that teaching is not always strong enough, particularly in the middle years of the school, to ensure that pupils make all the progress they can.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils develop healthy lifestyles through a range of physical education activities, including a growing range of out-of-school activities.

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The early years provision is good

 Children’s skills and experiences on entry to the Reception group are broadly typical for their age. Many demonstrate good levels of confidence and speaking skills. They settle well and make good progress, so they are well prepared for Year 1. Some more-able children use quite a wide range of words to describe their ideas and happily try to write words that the wolf might use in speech bubbles illustrating parts of the story of The Three Little Pigs.

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The early years provision is good

 Children develop good attitudes to learning. They behave well and, for their age, have a good understanding of how to keep themselves and their friends safe. They enjoy playing on the school field with the older pupils and look forwards to such activities. Several have good social skills and work happily with a partner, for example when putting a series of pictures in order to illustrate a story. Children’s records and the use of digital media illustrate the range of activities they enjoy and the progress they make.

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The early years provision is good

 Teaching is good. Staff have strong working relationships with the children and offer them lots of praise for their efforts. Staff show good subject knowledge of teaching children more about letters and the sounds they make. Teaching assistants make a valuable contribution to teaching by often working separately with the Reception group to ensure that activities are well matched to their age and abilities.

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The early years provision is good

 The classroom and outdoor areas provide lots of interesting things for the children to learn about and do. Children enjoy outdoor physical education activities and make good progress in learning how to move using different parts of their bodies.

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The early years provision is good

 Leadership of the early years is good. The provision is currently led by a newly qualified teacher. The headteacher mentors staff and closely monitors their work. Because the staff team work closely together and share ideas well, this results in good provision for the children. Parents are pleased with how happy and secure their children feel and the good rate of progress that they make.

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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 112833 Local authority Derbyshire Inspection number 449601

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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 75 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair James Stewart Headteacher David Brown Date of previous school inspection 20 October 2009 Telephone number 01332 824264 Fax number 01332 824264 Email address info@kirklangley.derbyshire.sch.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . 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.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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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.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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