East Hanningfield Church of England Primary School

East Hanningfield Church of England Primary School The Tye, East Hanningfield, Chelmsford, CM3 8AE

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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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This is a good school

 Pupils in all year groups make good progress in reading and mathematics from their differing starting points. Sharply focused teaching, particularly of phonics, is promoting consistently good progress in reading.  The headteacher, ably assisted by senior leaders, other staff and governors, is rapidly improving both teaching and achievement.  Pupils are very safe in the school at all times. They behave well and are very proud of their school.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. This and their good behaviour, and the responsibilities they take on in school, prepare pupils well for life in modern Britain.  The quality of teaching is typically good. Teachers’ marking is effective. As a result, pupils have a clear understanding of how to improve their work.  Governors work very effectively with the leaders to ensure the school is a successful learning community. They hold the leaders robustly to

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This is a good school

account for the school’s performance.  Children make good progress in the Reception class because adults provide exciting and well-planned activities.  The school works closely and effectively with other local schools. Pupils thrive socially as a result of their participation in the activities these links make possible. Staff also benefit from the expertise of other teachers in the partnership.  Parents hold the school in high esteem.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 The most able pupils are not always stretched sufficiently to ensure that they achieve highly.  Pupils’ handwriting and presentation skills require further development across the school.  Pupils’ progress in writing is not as rapid as it is in reading and mathematics. This is because pupils do not develop a varied and rich vocabulary, for example, through writing in subjects other than English.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed seven lessons, three of which were seen together with the headteacher. In addition, the inspector made a number of other short visits to lessons with the headteacher. The inspector also listened to pupils in Years 2 and 6 reading.  Meetings were held with groups of pupils, the headteacher, the Chair of the Governing Body, the vice- chair and four other governors, and a representative of the local authority.  The inspector took account of 25 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View), and 12 responses to the staff questionnaire. The inspector also consulted five parents during the inspection.  The inspector looked at pupils’ books and a range of documents, including the school’s own data on pupils’ current attainment and progress, the school’s evaluation of its performance, school improvement planning, documentation relating to teachers’ performance over time, and records relating to

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Inspection team

Tusha Chakraborti, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 East Hanningfield is a small primary school. There is a full-time Reception class, which forms the early years, and three mixed-age classes.  Almost all pupils are of white British heritage.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium is well below average. This additional funding only applies in this school to a small number of pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is above average.  There were too few pupils in Year 6 in 2014 to compare their results with the government’s current floor standards, (which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics).  The school has experienced significant staffing changes since the previous inspection. All teachers currently in post are relatively new. Two experienced senior leaders joined the school in September 2014.

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Information about this school

 The school works closely with local primary and secondary schools, the adjacent pre-school and the Diocese of Chelmsford.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching to raise achievement further, especially in writing, by making sure that:  the tasks set in lessons are consistently demanding but achievable for all groups of pupils, especially the most able  pupils improve their handwriting and presentation skills across the school  pupils have regular opportunities to write in subjects other than English so that they can develop a richer, more ambitious and interesting vocabulary.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher, effectively supported by the senior leaders, provides an inspiring vision for improvement and high achievement. All leaders encourage good standards of behaviour throughout the school. The school has successfully addressed the areas for improvement identified in the previous inspection. This has led to significant improvement in teaching and pupils’ achievement.

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The leadership and management are good

 Senior and subject leaders, including in the early years, lead their areas well and monitor the quality of teaching very effectively. Arrangements for checking teachers’ performance are rigorous and staff are set challenging targets. These arrangements are linked effectively to the provision of good training, decisions about any pay increases, and pupils’ progress.

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The leadership and management are good

 Systems for checking pupils’ progress are very effective and allow the school to provide good support for pupils in all year groups. Senior leaders use the information they collect about pupils’ progress to good effect in meetings with staff, to identify any individuals who are at the risk of falling behind.

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The leadership and management are good

 The curriculum offers pupils rich and imaginative activities that widen their experience and understanding of their community and the wider world. As a result, pupils learn about key values and concepts that are fundamental to the British way of life, such as democracy and justice, and learn to understand and be tolerant of people whose culture is very different to their own. In this way, the school ensures there is no discrimination and prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain. Discrimination is not tolerated. Pupils participate actively in local community events through the church. They engage in many sporting events and music activities such as district sports and music festivals. Pupils enjoy a range of after-school clubs and sports activities. All these promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development successfully.

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The leadership and management are good

 The primary sports funding has been used effectively to train staff, to introduce new sporting clubs, and to engage more pupils in competitive sports. All pupils participate in and enjoy regular competitions with other local schools.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school ensures that all pupils have an equal opportunity to learn and develop well, whatever their background or ability. The pupil premium funding is used effectively to support disadvantaged pupils; the school ensures that it plans effectively to meet their needs and to give them good support. As a result, these pupils make good progress.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school gives high priority to pupils’ safety and well-being. All safeguarding arrangements are effectively implemented. Staff are trained and regularly updated on safeguarding requirements.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority has provided effective support for the school to bring about improvement in the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress. The headteacher and members of the governing body have worked very well with the local authority and the Diocese of Chelmsford to achieve this.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school has a very effective partnership with parents who regard the school highly. The school website and workshops in literacy, numeracy and the new curriculum and assessment provide very good opportunities for parents to access the extensive range of information available to them, so that they can support their child’s learning.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governance is effective. The governors successfully completed the external review, recommended by the previous inspection. The governing body has been re-constituted and is now operating very efficiently, reviewing the impact of teaching and checking progress towards the targets in the school’s development plans. A rigorously planned schedule ensures that all governors are well trained. The governors provide expertise in different areas of the school’s work, have a good grasp of the data that shows how the school’s performance compares with others. They hold the leaders to account for the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement. They monitor the school’s finances carefully, including the use of the pupil premium to improve these pupils’ achievement. They have a clear understanding of the link between teachers’ performance and salary progression, know what is being done to improve

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The leadership and management are good

teaching and tackle any underperformance robustly. Governors ensure that the procedures for safeguarding pupils meet requirements.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. They have positive attitudes to learning, concentrate well in lessons and show respect for each other and adults at all times. They are proud of their school and describe the school as ‘a peaceful place’. They recognise that their school is small but has many facilities that many other schools do not have, such as ‘our own swimming pool’.

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Behaviour

 The school’s procedures for managing pupils’ behaviour are good and they are applied consistently. As a result, pupils display good levels of self-discipline in and out of the classroom and grow up as confident learners.

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Behaviour

 Pupils readily take on extra responsibilities. For example, they choose a number of charities each year and raise funds for them. They have raised funds for the local hospice, Great Ormond Street Hospital and World Wildlife Fund. ‘Pupil play-leaders’ work well with other pupils to prevent and resolve conflicts successfully.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. The school carries out checks on all staff to make sure that they can work with children. The staff implement the school’s safeguarding policies effectively. They help pupils to develop their understanding of how to stay safe and to enable them to make safe choices.

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Safety

 Pupils say they feel very safe and well cared for by all the adults in the school. All parents who completed Parent View and those who were consulted during the inspection were unanimous in their agreement, with the inspector’s view, that pupils are kept safe at all times while they are in school.

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Safety

 Pupils are well informed about all types of bullying, including cyber-bullying. They say bullying is very rare and that, should it occur, it is quickly and effectively resolved. They know what to do if they should encounter any such situation. Pupils have a clear understanding of the issues relating to the misuse of drugs.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The school’s strong focus on improving the quality of teaching has ensured that it is now consistently good, with some examples of outstanding teaching, in all key stages including the early years. There are very good relationships between staff and pupils; staff have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour and generally challenge them appropriately. Consequently, most pupils are making good progress and standards have risen. Strong and supportive relationships between all adults and pupils help to promote a positive learning climate in all classrooms.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers’ subject knowledge is good. They plan work carefully and use questions effectively to check pupils’ understanding and to deepen pupils’ thinking. In a mixed class of Year 5 and 6, pupils were engaged in writing a description of a setting, based on the book ‘War of the Worlds’ which they just completed reading. The teacher’s effective questioning and prompting enabled pupils to refine their work and write high quality accounts that were designed to capture their potential readers’ imagination.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching assistants work effectively alongside teachers and provide good support to disadvantaged pupils, disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs. This is helping these pupils to make good progress.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers mostly, but not invariably, ensure that the work they set provides an appropriate challenge for most groups of pupils. However, occasionally, they do not make use of information they collect about pupils’ progress to ensure that work is demanding enough, especially for the most-able.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers encourage pupils to read a range of stories and information texts which enhance their understanding of characters and of different styles of text. Standards in reading have risen sharply over the past year. Teaching in phonics is particularly effective and, as a result, attainment in the phonics screening test in 2014 was high. In mathematics, pupils are making good progress because teachers ensure the pupils have developed the skills they need before setting them problems to deepen their understanding further.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils write for different purposes during literacy lessons. However, they have limited opportunities to write in subjects other than English. As a result, their writing skills, although improving, are not as high as they should be because they do not develop the rich and extensive vocabulary they need to make their writing interesting and exciting. Pupils’ handwriting and presentation skills are not developed consistently across the key stages.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The marking of pupils’ work is effective, although teachers do not always suggest how pupils might improve their vocabulary. In all other respects, pupils receive clear guidance on how to improve their work and about what they need to learn next. They regularly follow their teachers’ suggestions for the next steps they need to take. The good use of self assessment helps pupils to reflect on what they have learnt, identifying errors and the next steps they could take to reach the next level of skill.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Over the past two years, the school has taken effective action to improve pupils’ achievement. As a result, pupils throughout the school have made accelerated progress since the previous inspection and achieved well from their starting points. Pupils’ work in the past two terms in the current academic year clearly indicates that this rate of good progress has been sustained. In both 2013 and 2014, attainment at the end of Year 6 was in line with the national average although, in 2014, it was weaker in writing than in reading or mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 An increasing number of the most-able pupils make good progress in all areas, especially in reading. They read a range of texts by well-known and popular authors and analyse events and characters clearly and confidently. In mathematics they are developing good calculation and problem solving skills. However, a few of the most able pupils do not always reach the standards of which they are capable because they are not consistently stretched to perform as well as they can.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Progress in writing is not as rapid as that in reading and mathematics. This is because pupils are not sufficiently encouraged to extend their writing skills by writing in subjects other than English. Across the school, pupils’ handwriting and presentation skills are not sufficiently developed.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress from their starting points in all year groups because they get the support they need. The school’s effective use of early initial assessment of these pupils’ needs ensures that staff know which pupils need extra support and pitch activities at a level that helps them to succeed.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium funding benefit from well-organised and effective support from teachers and teaching assistants. The very small number of pupils in Year 6 in 2013 and 2014 means that their attainment cannot be reported without the risk of identifying individual pupils. However, the school’s data indicates that pupils supported through the pupil premium make the same or faster progress when compared with their classmates. The gap between their attainment and that of their classmates is narrowing rapidly.

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The early years provision is good

 Leadership of the early years is good. It has ensured that each child’s needs have been carefully considered so that they make good progress. Adults provide children with an enjoyable, safe and secure learning environment. The leader, ably supported by her team, has improved communication with parents significantly. Weekly learning journals that record children’s learning in school are sent to parents who are invited to comment about their child’s learning at home. All parents consulted during the inspection stated that their contributions are valued and that they are very happy with the school’s work with their children.

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The early years provision is good

 Attainment on entry to the Reception fluctuates year on year. In general, children start in Reception with skills and knowledge that are below those typical for their age in language, reading and writing. However, currently, an increasing number are arriving with skills and knowledge that are typical for their age because the school is now working closely and effectively with the adjacent pre-school, which is attended by most children before they enter the Reception class. Children make good progress in all areas of learning and enter Year 1 well prepared for further learning. In 2014, the proportion of children who achieved a good level of development was in line with the national average.

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The early years provision is good

 Teaching is good. Staff provide a range of engaging activities that encourage children to become confident learners who readily engage in the indoor and outdoor activities they choose for themselves or which are directed by adults. Pupils enjoy reading stories and talking about what they are learning. In one particularly effective lesson, they were purposefully engaged in different activities based on ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ that they read earlier. One group was seen debating whether the caterpillar ate an ice-cream, in addition to the fruits. Disabled children and those who have special educational needs are very well integrated and benefit from good support from skilled staff. Assessment of children’s progress is rigorous and the information gained is used effectively to inform planning.

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The early years provision is good

 Behaviour is good. Children have an excellent and caring relationship with their teachers and learning support assistants. They listen carefully, support one another and are starting to take on simple responsibilities, such as tidying up. Their health, safety and well-being are always of utmost importance to staff and, as a result, children are very safe and secure in school.

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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 115113 Local authority Essex Inspection number 462113

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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 114 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Steve Crisp Headteacher Kerry Collins Date of previous school inspection 16 July 2013 Telephone number 01245 400772 Fax number 01245 400144 Email address admin@easthanningfield.essex.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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