Cam Hopton Church of England Primary School

School report Cam Hopton Church of England Primary School Hopton Road, Upper Cam, Dursley, GL11 5PA

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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

 Strong leadership by the recently appointed headteacher has enabled the school to secure good and improving achievement for its pupils, despite significant changes in staffing.  Teaching is typically good. The continual focus on improving teaching is being successful. It is rigorously monitored, with good support in place to improve any areas where it is needed.  Pupils achieve well through the school. By the end of Key Stage 2, pupils reach above average levels in national assessments in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils are particularly good at reading and enjoy different books and authors.  Pupils’ behaviour is typically good. Pupils are very enthusiastic about their lessons and the other activities the school provides.  Governors provide a good level of challenge and support. They are highly committed to improve the school further. Furthermore, they take pupils’ safety very seriously and they ensure that all aspects for

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

keeping pupils safe are of the highest standard.  Children get off to a good start in the early years, where staff teach them well so they are well prepared for their next classes.  A wide range of experiences helps all pupils to develop their spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness. This prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain.  The school’s work to ensure pupils’ safety is outstanding. This is because pupils have an excellent understanding of how to stay extremely safe in a range of different circumstances, including those related to the internet.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because:

 Pupils do not always make the necessary corrections and improvements following advice given by their teachers.  Pupils’ writing skills are not used often in different subjects. This means that they do not make the same impressive progress in writing as they do in reading.  Teaching does not always ensure teaching assistants and other adults are used effectively to help pupils achieve to the highest levels.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 20 lessons or part-lessons across the school, of which one was jointly with the headteacher.  Inspectors held meetings with staff, pupils and members of the governing body. The lead inspector also had a meeting with a representative from the local authority.  The views of staff were gathered through discussions and the 16 returns to the Ofsted staff questionnaire.  A wide range of documents was scrutinised, including records relating to behaviour and attendance, safeguarding procedures and the school’s analysis of how well it is doing. Inspectors examined the school’s systems for checking progress and reports of visits to the school made by the local authority.  The inspectors talked to pupils about their work and listened to individual pupils read from Years 1, 2 and 6. They also looked at samples of pupils’ work across a range of subjects and classes.  The lead inspector examined the school’s work in updating procedures for checking pupils’ progress within

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Information about this inspection

the revised National Curriculum.  Inspectors took account of the 55 responses to the Ofsted online parent questionnaire, Parent View. Parents’ and carers’ views were also gathered from informal discussion. They also considered five letters from parents or carers.

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Inspection team

Matt Middlemore, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Cam Hopton is smaller than the averaged-sized primary school.  Most pupils are of White British heritage.  The proportion of pupils eligible for pupil premium, which provides additional funding for children in local authority care, children of service families and those known to be eligible for free school meals, is below average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is above average.  Children in Reception class attend full time.  The current headteacher has been in post since January 2015.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement further by:  ensuring pupils in Years 1 to 6 use the advice given by their teachers to improve their work and achieve more quickly  ensuring that teaching assistants are used consistently well across the school to support learning  ensuring that planning provides enough opportunities for pupils in Years 1 to 6 to practise writing at length in a wide range of subjects and topics.

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The leadership and management are good

 The strong leadership of the recently appointed headteacher, well supported by staff and governors, creates a culture where pupils behave well and that teaching can improve. Recent changes to staffing has strengthened teaching and, therefore, pupils’ achievement is now good.  A good range of strategies are used to find out about the quality of teaching, such as lesson observations, book checks, classroom visits and looks at displays around the school. Setting targets for teachers to improve the quality of teaching is increasingly rigorous and is used well to support their professional development.  Senior leaders know the school’s strengths and weaknesses. Middle leaders, together with governors, check precisely on pupils’ progress, adjusting what the school provides to increase the impact on pupils’ achievement. However, leadership and management are not yet outstanding as there has been insufficient

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The leadership and management are good

time for leaders’ actions to ensure that teaching and pupils’ achievement are at the highest levels.  The headteacher has remedied weak teaching so that it is now consistently good. Procedures ensure that if staff achieve their targets linked to pupils’ success, they are rewarded appropriately.  The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development well. There are key activities that develop a sense of wonder and encourage tolerance and acceptance of others. For example, pupils learn termly about different values such as respect, tolerance and reflection. This thoughtful consideration of values and views encourages pupils to show respect for different cultures and traditions. It promotes British values well and prepares them for life in modern Britain.  The school’s curriculum is broad and provides many stimulating experiences for pupils. For example, in Year 6, pupils created animal animations using computer software, to support their understanding of

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The leadership and management are good

endangered species. This was followed up by a visit to a local zoo. Pupils report that they enjoy school and that learning is exciting across all age ranges.  The school uses primary sport funding well to ensure more pupils take part in physical activities, and the governors monitor its effectiveness well. Pupils are consulted on what extra provision they would prefer to support their traditional sports, such as cheer leading, table tennis and developing as sports leaders. As a result, pupils have significantly increased their attendance at extra-curricular sporting clubs. They say that this has boosted their enjoyment of school and participation in competitive sport with other schools.  Parents and carers who responded to Parent View and who spoke to inspectors say that staff are very approachable and helpful. Furthermore, they expressed considerable confidence in the recent changes in leadership and management of the school.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school’s arrangements for safeguarding pupils are robust and meet statutory requirements. Policies are detailed and fully in place and monitored rigorously by both the local authority and governing body. Staff do not tolerate discrimination of any kind.  Additional funding for disadvantaged pupils is used effectively. It helps to boost pupils’ reading, writing and mathematical skills, and their social and emotional needs. As a result, these pupils make similar progress to that of other pupils.  The local authority provides effective support for the school, visiting the school every six weeks to monitor progress. It provided guidance for governors and assisted in securing a permanent headteacher following the last inspection.  The governance of the school:  The governing body effectively fulfils its duties to promote the school’s work further alongside senior leaders. Following a review of governance, the governors restructured the way they share and

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The leadership and management are good

undertake their responsibilities with specific teachers and subjects. Governors regularly visit and monitor the school’s performance and effectively hold all leaders to account. This helps bring about improvements in both the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress across the school. Governors are well informed about what is done to reward good teaching and how leaders tackle underperformance of staff.  Governors keep a rigorous check on the school’s finances. They talk confidently about how the school spends the pupil premium and the sports funding and the impact of this on pupils’ outcomes.  Governors place a high importance on safeguarding and on pupils’ well-being, reviewing policies regularly to ensure that pupils are kept safe.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils are polite and welcoming to visitors and are keen to talk about their work. Pupils’ attendance, which is above the national average, reflects pupils’ enjoyment of school. Movement in and around school is calm and in the lunch hall pupils happily sit and talk with one another within a calm setting. Pupils say this is typical.  Behaviour at lunchtime and break time is particularly good. A wide range of activities and equipment is provided to help make these times fun and educational, led effectively by other adults in the school.  School records show that incidents of poor behaviour are rare. Strong and consistent routines set by all staff ensure that those who sometimes find it difficult to behave well in lessons are helped to stay on task with skilled support.  The overwhelming majority of parents and carers who responded to Parent view and met with inspectors

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Behaviour

agree that behaviour is typically good.  Most pupils work hard all the time in lessons. They are keen to learn and contribute to class discussions. Sometimes, when the work provided is not quite challenging enough, particularly in Key Stage 2, pupils lose focus and so do not involve themselves in the lesson as much as possible.  Pupils take pride in their work and this is replicated in their appearance.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding. Parents and carers are very confident that the school keeps their children safe and pupils report they feel extremely safe. The school site is very secure and is reviewed regularly by governors to ensure that all pupils are kept very safe.  The school’s policies and procedures for keeping pupils safe are extremely robust. Procedure and policies are reviewed consistently by governors who act immediately on any concerns raised.  Pupils are clear about the different kinds of bullying and are adamant that incidents of inappropriate behaviour are dealt with swiftly and effectively. School records confirm that incidents of bullying are rare. Pupils know that if they have any concerns, they will be taken seriously and acted upon immediately.  Pupils have a good understanding of e-safety and know about cyber bullying. They speak knowledgeably

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Safety

about how to keep themselves safe and know what to do if anything unkind should happen to them. They learn this through the school’s commitment to e-safety within the curriculum.  There are thorough systems in place to identify vulnerable pupils and leaders act quickly to provide support for pupils and their families.  Training in all aspects of safeguarding is extremely rigorous for all staff, including governors, who all know exactly how to respond if an incident occurs.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The work in pupils’ books and their knowledge and understanding in reading, writing and mathematics show that teaching over time has improved to typically good levels. As a result, pupils learn well and make good progress in most subjects.  Some teaching assistants make valuable contributions to pupils’ learning. For example, in a challenging Year 4 mathematics problem-solving lesson, pupils were adeptly supported to ensure they could access the learning. However, this is not the typical picture, as some teachers do not always use the skills of additional adults to best effect. This means they are not always as effective in helping pupils achieve as well as they can.  Teachers’ good subject knowledge and range of approaches support pupils in making good progress. This was evident in English when, in Year 5, pupils were encouraged to use vocabulary that is more adventurous and writing styles to develop their imaginative writing further.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers make clear what is expected in learning. Pupils learn to evaluate the quality of their work but are not always clear about what to do or motivated to check if their work is accurate.  Teachers and other adults create a positive climate for learning in their lessons. Relationships are strong throughout the school, and pupils are interested and take part well. There is little evidence of low-level disruptive behaviour in lessons.  Teaching is good in the early years because stimulating activities ensure that children learn in a number of effective ways to develop their early language, number, social and physical skills.  Most teaching ensures pupils enjoy their learning. This was particularly evident during a mathematics lesson in Year 2. The teacher creatively combined reading skills to enthuse pupils' interests with characters from a popular children’s book, while also learning about multiplication.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Reading is taught well. Pupils told inspectors that they enjoy reading every day for pleasure. Pupils in Key Stage 1 meet with their teacher every day to talk about their reading and to develop and extend their skills. The teaching of phonics (linking letters with the sounds they make) in the early years and Key Stage 1 is good. Pupils quickly acquire the skills they need to work out unfamiliar words when reading and spelling words they know when writing.  Good teaching is ensuring that pupils’ writing is continuing to improve. However, across the school, pupils have few opportunities to practise their writing skills across a range of subjects.

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The achievement of pupils

 Pupils’ achievement has improved since the last inspection. It is now typically good through the school. In 2014, pupils reached above average levels in their reading, writing, and mathematics. By the end of Year 6 last year, pupils also reached levels above the national average in reading, writing and mathematics.  The work in pupils’ books and evidence from lesson observations show current pupils make good progress in nearly all year groups across the school. Pupils achieve well and results are on course to be well-above average in reading, writing and mathematics.  The school’s results were above average in 2014 in the national phonics (linking letters to the sounds they make) screening check for pupils in Year 1. These good results are indicative of the pupils’ good start they get in the early years learning to read and write.  In 2014, the gap in attainment by the end of Year 6 for the very small proportion of disadvantaged pupils

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The achievement of pupils

and other pupils in the school and nationally was closed for reading. In writing and mathematics, the gap was approximately one term behind others in the school, and a two term national gap for mathematics. However, these pupils made more than expected progress from their starting points in writing, but not so in mathematics.  Information for current Year 6 pupils indicates that the gap will close completely in all subjects in 2015. This is because of the faster rate of progress that these pupils now make in all year groups.  Although a very small proportion, disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress. Their needs are well met through carefully planned learning and support opportunities given by teachers and teaching assistants.  The most able pupils achieve well, being above national average for writing and mathematics. Pupils are particularly confident in their reading abilities and are on track to being well above the national average.

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The achievement of pupils

They know a wide range of authors and many talk enthusiastically about the type of books they like.  Progress in writing is good, but overall it is not quite as impressive as in mathematics and reading. This is partly because although pupils write for a range of different purposes in their literacy work, they do not get the same opportunities to write to the same depth in other subjects.

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The early years provision

 Most children join the Reception Year with skills and abilities that are broadly typical for their age.  Good leadership and management by the new early years leader has raised the quality of teaching so that it is consistently good. Provision is not yet outstanding over time, as there was a dip in outcomes last year. However, children now make good progress across all areas of learning. They are increasingly well prepared for their start in Year 1.  Children make good progress, and observations by inspectors and checks on progress showed that the improvement in children’s attainment and progress is continuing for the current Reception Year.  When children are working with the teaching staff, they quickly become engrossed in the activities. Adults’ skilled interaction, careful questioning and examples of good learning ensure that pupils make good progress. As a result, children now leave the early years ready for Year 1.

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The early years provision

 Children sustain good levels of concentration and cooperate well. They move around both the indoor and outdoor environments happily and confidently and show respect for the environment. Inspectors observed how quickly and safely children tidied up their equipment in preparation for their guest reader of the week.  Behaviour is routinely good. Children are used to taking turns as well as listening to each other. High expectations, positive relationships and a strong commitment to keep children safe are successfully fostered by all adults at all times.  Parents and carers are kept well informed of their children’s development and spoke favourably to inspectors about the positive start to school their children receive.

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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 115676 Local authority Gloucestershire Inspection number 462475

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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 aided Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 205 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Joanne Pickard Headteacher Peter Godfrey Date of previous school inspection 13–14 June 2013 Telephone number 01453 542763 Fax number 01453 519447 Email address admin@camhopton.gloucs.sch.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . 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.ofsted.gov.uk

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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.ofsted.gov.uk

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