Blisworth Community Primary School

Blisworth Community Primary School Courteenhall Road, Blisworth, Northampton, NN7 3DD

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Outstanding 1 This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Early years provision Good 2

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

 Leaders and managers are not sufficiently rigorous in their evaluation of pupils’ achievement. Consequently, expectations of some pupils are too low.  Governors are not clear about their role. They do not challenge school leaders sufficiently well.  The governing body has not ensured that the school has complied with all statutory duties in relation to information on its website.  Pupils’ rates of progress are inconsistent across Key Stage 2 and within classes.  Pupils do not make enough progress in writing and mathematics in Key Stage 2.  Teachers do not always expect enough of pupils. They do not set work that enables all pupils to make good progress.  The most-able pupils are not always sufficiently challenged.  Teachers do not give pupils sufficient and precise feedback that is focused on what they need to learn next.

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The school has the following strengths

 The headteacher has established a warm and welcoming culture in which leaders and teachers are committed to the pupils.  The curriculum provides a broad range of rich opportunities that prepare pupils for life in modern Britain.  The early years provision in Reception is good and a higher proportion of children reach a good level of development than nationally.  Behaviour and safety are good. Teachers have fostered good relationships with and between the pupils. Pupils conduct themselves well at all times of the day.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 13 lessons taught by seven teachers.  Inspectors looked at pupils’ books, listened to pupils read and talked to them about their work.  Inspectors met with senior and subject leaders and the coordinator for special educational needs (SENCO); they also met four members of the governing body.  Inspectors spoke with a representative of the local authority.  Parents' views were taken into account, including 59 responses to the online Ofsted questionnaire, Parent View.  Inspectors listened to the views of staff and evaluated the 15 staff questionnaires that were received.  Inspectors looked at a range of documentation including information about safeguarding, the school’s self- evaluation and improvement plans, the most-recent data on pupils’ achievement, and information relating to teaching, behaviour, and attendance.

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Inspection team

Derek Myers, Lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Information about this school

 This school is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  Children attend the Reception class full-time.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is below the national average.  Most pupils are from White British backgrounds.  The proportion of pupils for whom the school receives the pupil premium grant (additional government funding for disadvantaged pupils) is lower than average and is too small for reporting purposes.  The headteacher is also the executive headteacher of another local school.  The school meets the government’s floor standards for pupils’ attainment by the end of Year 6.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the leadership and management by ensuring that:  systems for the evaluation of pupils’ performance are formalised and shared with all staff and governors  leaders rigorously track the progress of all groups of pupils  the impact of support and interventions to improve the progress of groups of pupils is rigorously evaluated to determine effectiveness  the evaluation informs the school improvement plan and the day-to-day work of the teachers  leaders, including governors, comply with their duties to meet the statutory requirements for the school website  governors have a better understanding of their role, including the use of information about pupils’ performance of pupils, to challenge leaders rigorously.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Secure consistently good teaching so that all pupils, including the most able, disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, make good progress in writing and mathematics by:  ensuring that all staff have high expectations of what all pupils can achieve and plan their teaching accordingly  ensuring that marking and feedback to the pupils in lessons are specific to the intended learning, correcting pupils’ misconceptions and indicating to the pupils what they need to do next  providing opportunities for pupils to act on the marking and feedback in subsequent work  checking on the pupils’ progress in lessons and making changes to the lesson as necessary.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 School leaders have not established sufficiently rigorous management systems. Consequently:  performance data is not evaluated rigorously and insufficient attention has been paid to the performance of groups of pupils compared to national outcomes  the school improvement plan does not address the underachievement of some groups of children  the impact of specific support and interventions to improve the progress of groups of pupils is not evaluated  a number of statutory duties related to the school website have not been met.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Key leaders and managers, including the governing body, are not rigorous enough in their evaluation of pupils’ achievement; they do not evaluate the performance of groups of pupils well enough and do not take sufficient account of national data. As a result, staff expectations of some pupils are not high enough.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Although subject leaders receive appropriate training that enables them to provide advice and guidance to colleagues, they are not given sufficient strategic direction to carry out their role effectively. Consequently, pupils’ progress is variable in writing and mathematics.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 A focus on improving teaching is supported by effective monitoring, performance management and professional development. Even so, not enough is done to raise teachers’ expectations of all pupils and particularly those who are not on track to make at least expected progress.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders ensure that staff are well trained in identifying pupils at risk of harm and in responding appropriately. The school’s arrangements for safeguarding pupils meet statutory requirements.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders have ensured that early years provision is effective.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The primary school physical education and sport funding is being used to good effect. The school has increased the number of clubs the pupils can participate in and has significantly increased participation.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders use the pupil premium funding effectively to help the small number of disadvantaged pupils who are currently at the school.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school introduced a new curriculum in September 2014. It provides a broad range of rich opportunities for learning across all the subjects. In addition, it promotes good behaviour and attendance and a good understanding of safety matters such as e–safety.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school is committed to ensuring all pupils have an equal opportunity and discrimination of any kind is not tolerated.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 There is good provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Their experience in school is enriched by learning about different faiths and beliefs, and by visits to places of worship.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Pupils have recently created their own version of Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red (the ceramic poppies at the Tower of London) to commemorate the First World War. This has helped them to focus on the different British values they learn about over time including individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school has received appropriate support from the local authority in response to declining results in some areas.  The governance of the school:  Governors are not clear about their role. They do not provide effective challenge to school leaders about the performance of groups of pupils.  Governors are appropriately involved in the monitoring of teaching and standards but they do not have sufficiently high expectations of quality of provision or outcomes.  Governors conduct the performance management of the headteacher and set appropriate targets. They are clear about the arrangements for the performance management of teachers and their role in it. They are also clear about the relationship between teachers’ performance and pay.  Governors do not monitor the school’s compliance with statutory duties in relation to the website well enough.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good and low-level disruption is rare.

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Behaviour

 Pupils’ attitudes to learning are positive, both when they are taught in groups and as a whole class. They conduct themselves well and are considerate throughout the day, including at lunchtime.

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Behaviour

 Pupils understand the importance of good attitudes and behaviour in school life and outside school. However, they recognised that on occasion behaviour deteriorates when they are not with their usual teacher.

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Behaviour

 Pupils’ attitudes to learning are usually good. Mostly, they enter lessons ready to learn, although some pupils are late after physical education lessons, causing some disruption to the start of the next lesson.

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Behaviour

 Pupils respond promptly to staff directions and requests and as a result lessons proceed with few interruptions.

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Behaviour

 Pupils and staff expressed no concerns about behaviour; the overwhelming majority parents who completed Parent View agreed that the school makes sure its pupils are well behaved.

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Behaviour

 Attendance is above average and the small proportion of persistent absences relate to specific issues.

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Behaviour

 Pupils take pride in their appearance and their school.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils know how to keep safe and explained how the school helps them to stay safe. They understand the need to stay safe on the internet.

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Safety

 Staff expressed no concerns about safety and all parents who completed Parent View agreed that the school keeps their pupils safe.

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Safety

 Pupils understand the various types of bullying but cannot recall an incident occurring in school. They are confident that staff would deal promptly with any bullying.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers do not have high enough expectations of what some pupils can achieve. Expectations are inconsistent across the school. As a result, in some classes, more-able and less-able pupils are not given work that presents the right degree of challenge. Consequently, some pupils do not make expected progress.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers do not monitor pupils’ learning effectively. They do not always take the opportunity to modify tasks or explanations to accelerate the learning of pupils of different abilities.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers’ feedback to pupils is inconsistent; it sometimes fails to address pupils’ misconceptions or tell them what they need to do next in order to make good progress.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers’ assessment of learning during lessons is also inconsistent. Good teacher assessment in some lessons enables teachers to intervene to accelerate pupils’ learning, but this is not the standard practice.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers’ marking is inconsistent. They do not provide sufficient opportunities for pupils to respond to written feedback in subsequent lessons.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers and other adults create a positive climate for learning in their lessons. Relationships are strong, and pupils are interested and take part well. There is little evidence of low level disruptive behaviour in lessons.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers use a range of appropriate strategies and resources to capture the imagination of pupils. As a result, pupils are interested and readily engage in their learning. For example, one teacher used a video clip of a hot air balloon being inflated, and combined this with some high quality questioning and modelling. This allowed pupils to develop their descriptive vocabulary and sentence structure, and make good progress.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching is good in the early years because activities are well matched to what the children know and can do. Learning activities are stimulating and engaging.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The support provided by teaching assistants is of uneven quality, at best being tailored to support disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs. In some case, however, staff do not have sufficiently high expectations of them and as a result their progress is variable.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Standards in Key Stage 2 have not been strong enough, given the pupils’ achievements in Year 2. Although standards have remained broadly in line with the national average in mathematics and writing and above in reading, they are not improving as rapidly as standards nationally.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils’ progress in Key Stage 2 in writing and mathematics is inconsistent and, overall, has been below that expected nationally for the last two years. The proportion of pupils making better than expected progress is markedly lower than nationally in reading, writing and mathematics. This slow and uneven progress is the result of teachers’ low expectations and work that is insufficiently challenging for some pupils.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Teachers and leaders do not always expect enough of pupils and do not set them work that enables them to make good progress. For example, in 2014 the progress made by Year 6 boys declined markedly in writing.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Although the most-able pupils make the expected progress in reading and writing, they do not do so in mathematics. A lower proportion of these pupils than nationally make more than the expected progress in reading, writing or mathematics because leaders and teachers do not expect enough of them.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Disabled pupils and those who have special education needs made slower than expected progress in 2014 but rates of progress have now improved.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Standards at Key Stage 1 are good. Overall attainment has been above the national average for four of the past five years and was markedly above the national average in writing in 2014.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils make good progress in reading, reading widely and often, including to their parents as part of their homework.

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The early years provision is good

 The majority of children enter the Reception class with levels of development typical for their age. They make good progress and at the end of the early years a higher proportion attain good levels of development than nationally. By the end of the Reception Year, they develop the key skills needed to make a good start in Key Stage 1.

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The early years provision is good

 The quality of teaching is consistently good. All adults have high expectations of the children, informed by baseline and then ongoing assessments. Parents and carers contribute to information about children’s starting points. The school moderates their assessments with other schools in their cluster.

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The early years provision is good

 The leadership and management of the early years provision is effective. Early years staff track children’s progress regularly and effectively, and share the results with the headteacher. As a result, the staff accurately identify the needs of individuals and groups of children, and target appropriate support and interventions.

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The early years provision is good

 Early years staff meet the wider needs of children by working effectively with outside agencies and other providers.

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The early years provision is good

 Teachers plan learning opportunities well. They provide a range of interesting and challenging activities around a theme that covers all seven areas for learning.

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The early years provision is good

 Children are interested and motivated by the activities in the early years, such as Space, and they display the characteristics of effective learning. They are very excited about their up-coming trip and told the inspector that there were only ‘two more sleeps’ to go.

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The early years provision is good

 Children’s behaviour is good. They talked confidently and happily to the inspector. Safeguarding and child protection policies are in place and are reviewed regularly.

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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 121794 Local authority Northamptonshire Inspection number 461547

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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 Community Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 205 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Elizabeth Carter Headteacher Celia Irwin Date of previous school inspection 26-27 September 2011 Telephone number 01604 858414 Fax number 01604 858532 Email address bursar@blisworth.northants-ecl.gov.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 pupils and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and pupils's social care, and inspects the Pupils 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 pupils’s services, and inspects services for looked after pupils, 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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