Lakenheath Community Primary School

Lakenheath Community Primary School Mill Road, Lakenheath, Brandon, IP27 9DU

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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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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The headteacher, teachers with leadership responsibilities and the governing body have worked well to raise achievement and improve the quality of teaching. Leaders have high expectations and the school is well placed to improve further.  Pupils’ achievement is good. Standards are rising and pupils are now making good progress in reading, writing and mathematics.  The school provides well for pupils who need extra help with their learning, including those who are disadvantaged, disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs.  The quality of teaching is good. Teachers have good opportunities to improve their effectiveness through training and the school provides very good support to new teachers.  The school provides well for children in the early years and they make good progress in most areas of learning.  Pupils behave well and feel safe in school. They work hard and have good attitudes to learning.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well, and it fosters British values effectively.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 The teaching of phonics (the sounds that letters make) does not build as well as it could on what children in the early years already know.  Teachers do not always make sure that pupils respond to the detailed and helpful advice in their marking, especially in mathematics.  Teachers do not all insist that pupils present their work neatly.  Pupils do not have as many opportunities as they could to practise their writing in a range of subjects.  The school does not provide a wide range of opportunities to extend pupils who have particular gifts and talents.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspection team visited 32 lessons and some observations were conducted jointly with the headteacher. 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. Inspectors heard a small number of Year 1 pupils read, looked at lunchtime and playtime arrangements, talked with a group of pupils and observed two assemblies.  Meetings were held with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, leaders of English, mathematics and the early years and the special educational needs coordinator. Discussions took place with the Chair of the Governing Body and two other governors, and with a local authority representative.  The inspection team considered the 61 responses to the online survey, Parent View, and took into account the 27 completed staff questionnaires.  The inspection team observed the school’s work and looked at a range of documentation. This included:

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Information about this inspection

the school’s self-evaluation and development plan; records of pupils’ attainment, progress, behaviour and 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 school is slightly bigger than the average-sized primary school.  Children in the early years attend full time.  Most pupils are White British and speak English as their first language.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by pupil premium funding is broadly average. This funding is for pupils looked after by the local authority and those known to be eligible for free school meals.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is average.  A significant percentage of pupils come from the nearby United States airforce base. They often come in at the start of Reception or join Key Stage 1 having had no previous formal education, and typically stay for between two and three years.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

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Information about this school

 There have been a number of staff changes since the last inspection and four new teachers, including the early years leader, joined the school in September 2014.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise standards and build on existing strengths in teaching by making sure that:  adults develop children’s skills in phonics to full effect in the early years  teachers in all classes make sure that pupils respond to the helpful comments and advice in their marking, especially in mathematics  teachers all set high expectations for the way pupils present their work  pupils have more opportunities to practise and develop their writing in a range of subjects  the pupils who have particular gifts and talents are given more chance to extend their skills.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher, senior leaders and the governing body provide strong leadership and are all committed to making the school as effective as possible. Leaders have worked well since the last inspection to bring about improvements in the quality of education and to raise achievement. They 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. Senior leaders regularly check teachers’ work and use rigorous systems for managing their performance. The very good support provided for new teachers has led to improvements in the quality of teaching despite a number of staff changes. Teachers have good opportunities to develop their skills through training. Furthermore, the school is outward looking and has developed partnerships with other schools to improve teaching, including seeking opportunities for teachers to observe outstanding practice elsewhere. For example, it has been working with a group of schools in the London Borough of Hackney to raise achievement in mathematics.

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The leadership and management are good

 Senior leaders make good use of data to check on the progress of different groups of pupils, to evaluate the school’s effectiveness and to identify the right priorities for development. They are quick to identify areas where further work is needed to raise standards, for example in writing and spelling in Key Stage 2 following last year’s National Curriculum tests. Regular meetings to review pupils’ progress and detailed analyses enable leaders to identify pupils who need extra help so that they have the same opportunities to succeed as other pupils and are not discriminated against.

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The leadership and management are good

 Teachers with responsibility for English and mathematics, the early years and special educational needs make a good contribution to school improvement. Their roles are clearly defined and leaders in other subjects also have appropriate opportunities to contribute to developments in their areas.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school uses its pupil premium funding effectively to support the pupils for whom it is intended. It has used the funding to employ additional adults to work with pupils, including a family support worker, so that they have more support. This is helping the pupils concerned to make good progress.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school makes good use of its primary physical education and sport premium to broaden sporting opportunities and promote pupils’ health and well-being. It has used the funding to train staff to teach gymnastics, football, tag rugby, basketball and athletics, and to provide coaches in gymnastics and netball. More pupils have been able to take part in competitions with other schools and an increased proportion of pupils are now involved in sports clubs after school.

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The leadership and management are good

 The curriculum promotes pupils’ academic achievement and personal development well. The school places appropriate emphasis on the basic skills of literacy and numeracy, but also provides many activities and topics that reflect pupils’ interests and stimulate their learning. Educational visits and visitors to the school make a substantial contribution to pupils’ progress. There are opportunities for pupils with particular gifts and talents to extend their skills in mathematics and physical education but the school provides few other activities to meet their particular needs.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school fosters pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well, and a strong emphasis on values such as honesty and tolerance underpins its promotion of British values. During the inspection, the school held its own elections to increase pupils’ understanding of democracy and of the General Election that was taking place. The school prepares pupils appropriately for life in modern Britain through celebrating different festivals and languages and taking pupils on trips that extend their awareness, and it also has links with a school in Africa.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school uses thorough procedures for protecting pupils and fully meets statutory requirements for safeguarding. It carries out careful checks on all adults who work with the pupils and ensures staff are regularly trained.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority has provided good support for the school. Over recent months in particular, the local authority has provided a significant amount of help in improving teaching and learning, and refining aspects of leadership and management.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governance is effective. The governing body shares with the headteacher a clear vision and high expectations for the school. Governors provide good support and challenge to senior leaders.  Visits to the school and regular reports by the headteacher ensure that the governors have an accurate view about the quality of teaching. They keep a close check on systems for managing teachers’ performance to ensure that only effective teachers are rewarded and any underperformance is tackled.  Governors are well informed about what data reveal about pupils’ achievement. They ensure that pupil premium funding is spent appropriately and check that it is having a positive effect on pupils’ progress.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils say that they enjoy school and this is clear from their enthusiasm for learning. It is also evident in the attendance rate, which has improved year on year and is currently a little above average.

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Behaviour

 Pupils throughout the school usually settle quickly to their work, concentrate well and respond to teachers’ instructions. In lessons, teachers’ questions are usually met with a sea of hands, as pupils show their eagerness to answer and contribute their ideas. In some lessons in Key Stage 2, pupils display outstanding attitudes to learning. Pupils throughout the school relate well with one another and work well in pairs and groups.

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Behaviour

 Pupils and parents alike express the view that behaviour is good. Pupils behave well in class, at break times and in assemblies. In lessons, teachers have good classroom control and make their expectations for behaviour clear. Leaders keep a thorough check on behaviour records, and the systems for managing behaviour are strong across the school.

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Behaviour

 Whereas reducing low-level disruption was identified as an issue for improvement at the last inspection, inappropriate behaviour in class is now rare. It occurs only on those few occasions when pupils are unsure about how to proceed with their work.

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Behaviour

 The celebration assembly during the inspection showed that pupils are proud of their achievements. However, they do not all take enough pride in the presentation of their work. Books are presented neatly in some classes and particularly when pupils produce finished pieces for display, but teachers do not all insist that pupils take enough care with their presentation.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils say that they feel safe and parents are confident that the school keeps their children secure. The school provides pupils with clear guidance on how to stay safe, including when using computers.

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Safety

 Pupils know about different types of bullying but say that ‘everyone in this school is kind’. Pupils interviewed said that there is no bullying because play leaders and ‘buddies’ create an environment where everyone feels safe and supported. Pupils are confident that there would always be someone to speak to if they felt anxious, and school records show that there have been few incidents of bullying. There is a strong sense of harmony amongst all groups of pupils, including those from different backgrounds.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils’ learning during the inspection, the work in their books and the school’s own records show that teaching is good. This enables pupils to make particularly good progress in Year 2 and Year 6.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers show good subject knowledge and high expectations. They ask questions skilfully to check pupils’ understanding and provide good opportunities for them to discuss their learning. Lesson activities are varied and usually provide appropriate challenge for different groups of pupils.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching assistants make a good contribution to pupils’ learning and teachers plan their deployment well. Teachers usually plan activities that are matched well to the next steps in learning for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs. Teaching assistants make good use of a range of resources and specialist equipment to support these pupils’ learning and that of less-able pupils. A wide range of support groups for disadvantaged pupils helps them to make good progress.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The teaching of mathematics is good. Teachers usually set work that is pitched at the right level of difficulty and they pay particular attention to providing practical equipment that is highly relevant to the task in hand. In a lesson seen in Years 1 and 2, this helped pupils to grasp new concepts quickly and to succeed in adding hundreds, tens and units.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The teaching of reading is good. The teaching of phonics is effective in Key Stage 1 and pupils have good opportunities to practise their reading regularly. They soon learn to use books as a source of information and older pupils develop good skills in interpreting what they have read. While teaching is good overall in the early years, the teaching of phonics is not matched as well as it could be to the next steps in learning for different groups of children.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The teaching of writing is generally good. Teachers usually structure tasks well so that lessons gradually build pupils’ skills. This helps pupils to organise their ideas and they have good opportunities to practise the beginning, middle and endings of their stories. They learn to develop characters, and to use imaginative vocabulary and increasingly sophisticated punctuation.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers make particularly good use of literature to stimulate pupils’ own ideas, and pupils have been able to work with authors to improve their writing. There are some opportunities for pupils to develop their writing across a range of subjects, but they do not write at length as often as they could within topic work.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers provide high quality guidance when they mark books and this often includes detailed advice about what pupils could do to improve their work. Teachers usually make sure that pupils complete their corrections in literacy. However, when teachers set pupils little challenges as part of their marking in mathematics, they do not always make sure that pupils respond to them.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Most pupils currently in the school have made at least the nationally expected amount of progress through the different age groups, and since the last inspection there has been an increase in the proportion who exceed expected progress.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 A significant proportion of children join the early years with limited skills in speaking and listening, reading, writing and mathematics. Children made good progress to reach standards that were only slightly below the national average by the end of the Reception Year in 2014. This was an improvement on previous years and children currently in the early years are making good progress in most areas of learning.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Standards at the end of Year 2 were broadly average in reading, writing and mathematics in 2014. Most pupils made good progress in Key Stage 1, taking into account their attainment on entry to Year 1 and the number of pupils who joined the key stage with no previous formal education. Pupils currently in Key Stage 1 are making good progress in reading, writing and mathematics, including those from the United States airforce base.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 While pupils’ attainment at the end of Year 6 was broadly average in reading, writing and mathematics in 2014, there was some improvement in standards in reading and mathematics. Pupils made good progress in mathematics and the proportion who made expected progress was in line with that nationally in reading and writing. However, fewer pupils made better than expected progress across the Key Stage 2 in reading and especially in writing.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The school’s own data show that there has been a clear improvement in progress through Key Stage 2 since the last inspection and pupils who left school in 2014 made good progress in reading, writing and mathematics during their final year. Pupils in the current Year 6 have made significantly more progress across the key stage than their counterparts in previous years and the proportion making more than expected progress has improved in reading, writing and mathematics in other year groups too. Lesson observation and pupils’ books show that progress is generally good and standards are rising.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The school provides well for pupils who need extra help with their learning. At the end of Year 6 in 2014, disadvantaged pupils were almost a term ahead of their classmates and slightly ahead of other pupils nationally in mathematics. They were two terms ahead of others in the class and a term ahead of other pupils nationally in reading, and a term ahead of the rest of the class but half a term behind other pupils nationally in writing. Disadvantaged pupils made better progress than their classmates and other pupils nationally in reading, writing and mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress and benefit from a wide range of support. The school works closely with therapists and other agencies to support pupils who have more serious difficulties.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The most-able pupils generally make good progress. They cover a good amount of work in mathematics, read accurately and with confidence, and produce some thoughtful written work. After hearing two contrasting traditional tales, a Year 1 pupil began their own story by writing, ‘On a steaming dry day, a blue tongued lizard was on the floor. It was dried out searching for water and looking for food...’

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The early years provision is good

 The leadership and management of the early years are good, and the new leader is bringing about important improvements. The procedures for checking what children can already do when they join the school are effective. Parents have good opportunities to contribute to their children’s development and staff keep them well informed about how they can support learning at home.

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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 Key Stage 1. Although children often join the school with weaknesses in a number of areas, the proportion who reached a good level of development at the end of the Reception Year in 2014 was only slightly below the national average. This marked an improvement in all areas of learning compared to 2013.

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The early years provision is good

 Teaching is good overall and staff keep a careful check on how well individual children are progressing. Trips into the local area and visitors increase children’s understanding of the world. Having had a recent visit by a dentist, children made good progress in a session focusing on how to look after their teeth. This provided them with good opportunities to develop their speaking and listening, and they came up with some interesting ideas. In a numeracy session, children made similarly good progress in identifying coins and putting them in order. In both sessions, the staff promoted children’s communication and language development well.

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The early years provision is good

 Children behave well and enjoy trusting relationships with the staff which show that they feel safe. They concentrate well for extended periods of time and play together harmoniously. Snack time is a pleasant social occasion.

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The early years provision is good

 The school has identified writing as an area for development in the early years. Some aspects of practice are leading to good learning. For instance, in the role play area – which is currently set up as a dental surgery – children can write for a purpose in booking appointments. Print and numbers are prominent around the classrooms and children’s writing is celebrated in displays.

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The early years provision is good

 While records show that progress in reading is good, the teaching of phonics is not matched as well as it should be to the next steps in children’s development. As a result, the most-able children do not always have as many opportunities as they could to use their phonics knowledge in writing and some tasks are difficult for less-able children.

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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 124539 Local authority Suffolk Inspection number 462034

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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 286 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Sharon Allison Headteacher Emma Vincent Date of previous school inspection 8 May 2013 Telephone number 01842 860256 Fax number 01842 861940 Email address admin@lakenheath.suffolk.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

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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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