The Shade Primary School

The Shade Primary School The Shade, Soham, Ely, CB7 5DE

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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 Outstanding 1 Quality of teaching Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Early years provision Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The head of primary, other leaders, the academy trust and the governing body have a clear vision for the academy. Their strong leadership has ensured that pupils’ achievement and the quality of teaching are good.  The academy provides well for children in the early years. They achieve well in most areas of learning and reach a good level of development at the end of the Reception Year.  The majority of pupils make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics in Year 1. They produce a substantial amount of work and most pupils learn at a good rate.  The academy provides very well for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs. They receive a great deal of sensitive support that is matched closely to their learning needs.  Pupils behave exceptionally well and develop an enthusiasm for learning. They say that they feel safe in the academy.  The academy promotes British values effectively

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

and teaches pupils to be kind and respectful to others. It provides good opportunities for pupils to develop their spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Children in the early years do not have as many opportunities as they could to develop their thinking, creativity and investigative skills. Lack of climbing equipment places some restrictions on their physical development.  In Year 1, teachers do not always provide as much challenge as they could for the most-able pupils, especially in writing.  In Year 1, teachers do not always make sure that pupils use the most suitable practical equipment to support them in mathematics.  The academy has not provided parents with as much guidance as it could about how to support their children’s learning in mathematics and writing.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector visited 14 lessons. In combination with looking at pupils’ books, talking to them about their work and checking their progress over time this provided a balance of evidence on teaching and learning. Pupils in Year 1 were heard to read, an assembly was observed and discussions were held with a group of pupils.  Meetings were held with the head of primary, the assistant headteacher who is also the early years leader, the special educational needs co-ordinator and teachers with specific responsibilities for English and mathematics. Discussions took place with the executive headteacher representing The Staploe Academy Trust, the academy sponsor, and with members of the governing body.  The inspector considered the 59 responses to the online survey, Parent View, and took into account the 19 completed staff questionnaires.  The inspector observed the academy’s work and looked at a range of documentation. This included the

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Information about this inspection

academy’s self-evaluation and development plan, records of pupils’ attainment, progress, behaviour, attendance and systems for protecting and safeguarding pupils.

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Inspection team

Margaret Goodchild, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The Shade Primary School is a newly built academy that opened on 1 September 2013. It is sponsored by The Staploe Education Trust.  The academy is a smaller than average-sized primary school. Currently, it provides only for children in the early years and Year 1. The academy is set to grow, year by year, as a new group of pupils join and older ones move up through the year groups.  Children in the Reception Year attend full time. Children in the pre-school, which provides for 55 children in the Nursery Year, attend part time. Their attendance ranges from one to five mornings per week. In addition, the academy provides wrap-around care for children before and after school.  Most pupils are of White British heritage and very few pupils speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils eligible for pupil premium funding is below average. This funding is for pupils looked after by the local authority and those known to be eligible for free school meals.

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Information about this school

 The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is broadly average.  The head of primary is joint headteacher of The Shade Primary and of Kennett Primary, which is also sponsored by The Staploe Education Trust. She divides her time equally between the two academies.  A new teacher in the pre-school joined the academy just three weeks before the inspection.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the proportion of pupils who make better than expected progress by making sure that:  teachers challenge the most-able pupils by providing work that is difficult enough for them, especially in writing  teachers provide pupils with practical equipment most suited to the particular tasks they have been set in mathematics  more activities in the early years promote children’s thinking, creativity and investigative skills  children have access to climbing equipment to promote their physical development  parents receive further guidance about supporting their children’s learning at home in writing and mathematics.

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The leadership and management are good

 The head of primary, the academy trustees and the governing body collaborate well and are highly committed to establishing the new school as a strong provision. Senior leaders have established a culture in which relationships are positive, teaching can flourish and pupils are expected to behave well.

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The leadership and management are good

 The leadership of teaching is good and there are effective systems for managing teachers’ performance. Leaders carry out detailed checks on teachers’ work and provide them with clear guidance and support. The joint leadership of The Shade and Kennett Primary increases opportunities for staff to undertake training and to share best practice across the two academies.

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The leadership and management are good

 The academy has introduced a comprehensive system for assessing pupils’ attainment and progress in Year 1 in place of National Curriculum levels. Leaders conduct regular checks on pupils’ progress and use data well to ensure pupils have equal opportunities so that none are discriminated against.

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The leadership and management are good

 The assistant headteacher and teachers responsible for English, mathematics and special educational needs make a valuable contribution to improving teaching and raising achievement. Leadership in the early years is good.

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The leadership and management are good

 The curriculum promotes pupils’ academic and personal development. Pupils have good opportunities to develop their basic skills of literacy and numeracy and are motivated by a variety of interesting topics, educational visits and special events.

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The leadership and management are good

 The academy effectively promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development through personal, social and health education and a range of special events and assemblies contribute greatly to this. Pupils are taught the importance of qualities such as tolerance and honesty and this helps to promote British values and prepares them for life in modern Britain. Families who have moved to the area from other countries are supported with special welcoming events.

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The leadership and management are good

 Pupils eligible for pupil premium funding make good progress. It has been used to provide extra support in literacy and numeracy and to fund a learning mentor who works to tackle possible barriers to learning.

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The leadership and management are good

 The academy uses the primary physical education and sport premium to improve pupils’ physical skills, participation and health and well-being. It has used the funding to employ sports coaches and a physical education specialist to raise standards and increase the skills of its own staff. It has purchased additional physical education equipment, provided sports clubs and through involvement in the Witchford School Sport Partnership, opportunities for pupils to take part in competitions with other schools.

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The leadership and management are good

 Safeguarding arrangements meet statutory requirements. Safeguarding and child protection are a priority for the academy trust and staff receive regular training. The head of primary, teachers and teaching assistants are vigilant and quick to take action to ensure that pupils are kept safe.

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The leadership and management are good

 Support provided by an external consultant has been used effectively to help leaders make informed judgements about the quality of teaching and learning. With this support they have also been able to identify precise areas for development and plan ways of managing the gradual expansion of The Shade.

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The leadership and management are good

 The academy works well in partnership with parents and they express a high level of satisfaction with the quality of education provided. Parents are kept informed about the topics their children are covering and learning journals promote communication not only in the early years but also in Year 1. The academy has provided workshops for parents on how to support their children’s reading at home. However, it has not made the same detailed guidance available in relation to writing and mathematics.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governance is effective and the governing body shares with trustees and the head of primary a strong vision and high expectations. The trust has put in place good management structures and provides regular training, both of which help the academy to be successful.  The trustees and members of the governing body are provided with information by the head of primary and external consultants covering achievement and the quality of teaching and learning. They use this to support and challenge senior leaders and hold them to account for children’s and pupils’ outcomes, including specific groups of pupils.  Governors and trustees have thorough systems in place to review teachers’ performance and tackle under performance.  The trust manages the academy’s finances and ensures all statutory duties are met.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. The academy has a very positive atmosphere and pupils respond very well to the activities it provides. Pupils say that everyone is friendly and they feel valued as individuals, they were happy to declare, ‘We love everything in school’.

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Behaviour

 In lessons, pupils show that they are very eager to learn and willing to work hard. They are enthusiastic and readily engage with the tasks teachers set them, quickly putting up their hands to answer questions and listening carefully to instructions. From the early years onwards, children concentrate extremely well and enjoy learning. They consistently display a thirst for knowledge and a love of learning, including when working as a whole class, on their own and in small groups. This has a strong impact on their progress in lessons.

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Behaviour

 Inappropriate behaviour is rare and none was observed during the inspection. The academy is quick to take action if behaviour is less than good and leaders work closely with parents to resolve issues. When pupils come together as a whole school, for instance in assemblies, they are closely supervised by the staff and their behaviour is exemplary.

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Safety

 The academy’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding. Pupils say that they feel very safe in school and they are confident that their teachers would always help them if they were concerned about anything. They say, ‘because we know the teachers so well, it’s very safe’.

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Safety

 Although the oldest pupils are only in Year 1, they are aware of the importance of staying safe. They talked in detail about the importance of the academy’s regular fire drills and how the fire doors and water sprinklers are there to keep them safe in case of a fire. They know about the importance of following the ‘green cross code’ when crossing the road and that they must be careful when using the internet ‘because people might not be real’.

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Safety

 There have been no recorded incidents of bullying or racism, and pupils could not think of any incidents of bullying though they said that there is some rough play. The academy is aware of this and has taken action to make the pupils concerned more aware of the needs of others.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Inspection findings, work in pupils’ books and leaders’ own records show that teaching is good throughout the academy.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers have positive relationships with their pupils and give them varied work that motivates them and holds their interest. Teachers and teaching assistants use questioning well to check pupils’ understanding and probe their thinking.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Marking and feedback are linked to clear learning objectives and provide guidance for pupils on what they have done well and how they can improve. Pupils in Year 1 are now quite used evaluating their own progress and editing their work in response to the teachers’ ‘pink’ comments.  The teaching of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is a strength of the academy. Procedures for identifying pupils with learning difficulties are well established and teachers set work that is matched well to their needs. They receive a great deal of individual attention and intensive support in small groups. The school works very well with therapists and other agencies to make sure that pupils who need it have specialist support.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The teaching of reading is good. Teachers make sure that activities in the early years and in Year 1 are matched well to the next steps in pupils’ knowledge of phonics (the sounds linked to letters). Pupils have regular opportunities to practise their reading, and the teaching of guided reading is good. The inspector observed the most-able pupils being challenged to find information about underwater creatures.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Good teaching in mathematics ensures that children in the early years and pupils in Year 1 cover a wide range of work and develop a variety of skills. The work provides appropriate challenge for pupils.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils are not always provided with the right practical equipment for their mathematics tasks. During the inspection, pupils struggled with subtraction because the equipment they were using was not matched well to the set activity.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The teaching of writing is generally good. However, there are times when teachers in Year 1 keep the whole class together for a considerable amount of time. When this happens, the most-able pupils are held back rather than being able to get on more quickly with their work.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children join the early years with attainment that is broadly typical for their age, though their communication and language and understanding of the world are weaker areas. Children achieved well to reach a good level of development by the end of the Reception Year in 2014.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Achievement is good throughout the academy. In the early years, children’s learning journals show that they produce a substantial amount of work, especially in the Reception Year. Pupils’ books in Year 1 are well presented and again show that all groups cover a good amount of work and achieve well.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils make particularly good progress in reading. In the early years, children make good or exceptional progress in phonics. In Year 1, they continue to make good progress and use their growing knowledge well in reading and spelling.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Most pupils make good progress in writing and by the end of Year 1, they are able to write for a range of purposes. Some of the best written work is produced in subjects other than English.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 In mathematics, children in the Reception Year and pupils in Year 1 make good progress and this is supported by evidence in their mathematics books. In the early years, children make good progress in learning to count, order and write numbers, and develop a range of other skills. In Year 1, pupils make good progress, for example, in addition and subtraction, in their knowledge of geometric shapes and in learning how to present data. Occasionally, pupils in Year 1 make less progress than they could when they do not have the right practical equipment to help them.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs benefit from high quality support that is matched very well to their learning needs. This enables them to make consistently good progress in reading, writing and mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds and those who speak English as an additional language make good progress like their classmates.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 There are too few disadvantaged pupils to compare their attainment with that of other pupils without identifying individuals. However, these pupils receive extra support which is helping them to make good progress.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The most-able pupils make good progress, especially in reading. Just occasionally, tasks in mathematics and writing do not provide enough challenge and pupils’ progress at a slower rate.

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The early years provision is good

 The early years is led and managed well. The academy has effective systems for assessing what children can do when they join the pre-school and the Reception class, and tracks their progress in detail. Parents are kept well informed about their children’s learning, especially through the high quality learning journals.

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The early years provision is good

 Achievement in the early years is good and children are well prepared for moving up to Year 1. In the pre-school and in the Reception Year, children are making good progress in most areas of learning as a result of good teaching.

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The early years provision is good

 In the pre-school, children are given aspect to all aspects of the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum and are making good progress. They are well supported by adults and this helps to promote their personal, social and emotional development and their communication and language.

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The early years provision is good

 Teaching is good. In the Reception Year make particularly good progress in literacy and numeracy, in speaking and listening, and in their personal development. The teacher makes sure that lessons are carefully planned, and staff work collaboratively to support the children’s learning.

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The early years provision is good

 Children do not have enough opportunities to develop their thinking, creative and investigative skills. This is because some tasks that they complete on their own do not promote in-depth learning.

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The early years provision is good

 Children behave very well in the early years and concentrate for significant periods of time on the activities provided. They feel safe, develop trusting relationships with the staff and get on well with one another.

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The early years provision is good

 The classrooms, both inside and out, are well resourced but the lack of climbing equipment in the outdoor area does not fully promote children’s physical development.

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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 139555 Local authority Cambridgeshire Inspection number 450275

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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 sponsor-led Age range of pupils 3–6 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 120 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Jamie Humphrey Head of Primary Lisa Gregory Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 01353 612948 Email address office@shade.cambs.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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