Norwell CofE Primary School

Norwell CofE Primary School School Lane, Norwell, Newark, NG23 6JP

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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 issues identified as requiring improvement at the last inspection have been addressed. Pupils of all abilities, including the most-able are now achieving well throughout the school.  The executive headteacher is a strong leader who has worked very successfully to help the school improve. As a result, teaching is improving enabling pupils to make good progress.  Teaching in reading, writing and mathematics is now good throughout the school. Teachers capture pupils’ interests and encourage them to think hard, question and explain their answers.  Support for pupils who are disabled or who have special educational needs is good. This supports these pupils to make good progress.  Pupils’ behaviour is good. Pupils are enthusiastic about learning and show respect and tolerance for others.  Leaders ensure that pupils are kept safe and secure. Pupils talked with the inspector about how to keep themselves safe and about the school’s

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

focus on risks from modern technologies.  Governors have considerable expertise and keep a regular and careful check on the work of the school.  Leaders ensure that children in the early years get off to a good start. Children are inquisitive and keen to learn. As a result of effective provision, children make good progress in the early years.  The curriculum is planned well and promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Pupils learn about British values and are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 The activities set by teachers are not always pitched at the right level for all pupils to do as well as they could.  Collaborative working with the partnership school has not had time to impact fully on pupils’ achievement.  There are not enough opportunities made available for parents and carers to be involved in how to support their child’s learning more successfully.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector visited seven lessons, six of them jointly with the executive headteacher. She heard some pupils in Year 2 read and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Meetings were held with the executive headteacher and other staff, a group of pupils, members of the governing body and a representative of the local authority.  Informal discussions were held with parents and children.  The school’s staffing structure has been recently reorganised.  The inspector examined a range of documents, including the school’s self-evaluation and improvement plan. The school’s analysis and tracking of pupils’ progress, records relating to classroom observations, the management of staff performance, records of behaviour and safety, and records of meetings of the governing body were also scrutinised.  The views of 16 parents’ responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, were analysed. The inspector also took account of the 12 responses to the staff questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Patricia Hunt, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is much smaller than the average-sized primary school.  Pupils are taught in two mixed-age classes: Class 1, for Reception-age children and pupils in Years 1 and 2; and Class 2, for Years 3, 4, 5 and 6.  Most pupils are from White British backgrounds. No pupils speak English as an additional language.  There are significantly more girls than boys on roll.  The proportion of pupils supported through the pupil premium is far smaller than average. The pupil premium is additional funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and those looked after by the local authority.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is below average. However, more than a third of the pupils in Year 3 have special educational needs.  The school works in partnership with St Matthew’s CofE Primary School and the governing bodies of both schools are currently considering a formal partnership between the two schools. The executive

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Information about this school

headteacher is executive headteacher for both schools.  The school’s national test results cannot be compared to the government’s floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress. This is because there are fewer than the minimum 11 pupils required to make such a comparison meaningful.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching to accelerate pupils' progress by:  consistently giving pupils work that is set at just the right level to enable them to make the best possible progress  extending opportunities for parents and carers to be more involved in supporting their children’s learning  building on the collaborative working between the partner schools to share high quality teaching practice and skills.

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The leadership and management are good

 This is a good school. The executive headteacher and the governing body have been effective in bringing about rapid improvements, particularly in teaching. Improvements in managing the performance of teachers, with a sharper focus on the progress that different groups of pupils are making, has resulted in pupils making much more progress across all subjects.

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The leadership and management are good

 The partnership between Norwell CofE Primary and St Matthew’s CofE Primary has helped the school to improve, especially in raising the quality of teaching and learning. Leaders and staff share good practice and take part in training courses together. This develops their knowledge and expertise. However, teachers have not yet had sufficient time to put into action their new skills. The headteacher works across both schools and is building on these links.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders carefully check the progress of different groups of pupils. They identify those who are in danger of not making enough progress and make sure they get the extra help they need. Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, are provided with effective support. The work of the staff who manage the recently established ‘rainbow room’, where pupils go for help and support, is becoming invaluable in proving opportunities for pupils to catch up with their peers. This support has helped to ensure that there is equality of opportunity for all pupils to get additional help with their learning.

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The leadership and management are good

 There is a shared commitment to improve the school. Staff responses to the inspection questionnaire about the school were all entirely positive.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school has very few disadvantaged pupils. However, pupil premium funding is used effectively to narrow the gap in attainment between disadvantaged pupils and their peers. Governors regularly review how this money is spent. This year, the money has contributed to the provision of the ‘rainbow room’ and provided other additional support for eligible pupils.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school has planned the curriculum well to capture pupils’ interests and engage them in their learning. A link with a primary school in Leicester is supporting pupils in learning to develop a good understanding and knowledge of different cultures and the main religions represented in Britain, and to have respect for diversity.

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The leadership and management are good

 Additional funding for sports and physical education is used well to increase participation in physical education. Pupils enjoy a good range of sporting activities, including orienteering and swimming. Training for teachers is also taking place so that these activities can continue to be offered in the future.

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The leadership and management are good

 Parents are very pleased with how well the school is led and managed. They value the information they receive about their children. In particular, parents commented on how quickly support is put into place now for pupils who need additional help to succeed. However, the school is not involving parents enough in sharing with them how they could help extend their children’s learning.

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The leadership and management are good

 Safeguarding arrangements meet statutory requirements and are effective. All staff work together to ensure that pupils are safe.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority has provided effective support for the school during the period since the last inspection and in supporting the governing body in the appointment of the executive headteacher.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governors are ambitious for the school and are committed to developing the partnership with St Matthews CofE Primary School as they recognise the potential this has in taking the school to the next stage of its development.  They are very supportive of the executive headteacher, particularly during the recent staffing restructure and of her actions to improve teaching in order to ensure good achievement for all pupils.  Governors know about the school’s strengths and its areas for development based on published data. They know the school well and get involved with school life. They frequently challenge the executive headteacher to make sure that children are benefiting from any new developments. For example, the effectiveness of the ‘rainbow room’.  Governors play an important part in managing the performance of the executive headteacher and carefully supervise the performance of staff. They ensure that teachers’ pay is closely related to the

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The leadership and management are good

performance of pupils.  The governor with responsibility for ensuring appropriate practices are in place to keep children safe visits the school regularly and checks policy and procedures. She ensures this information is shared with other governors.  Governors have worked closely with the executive headteacher to ensure that the finances of the school are sound. They know how the pupil premium and sport funding are used and they keep a close check on how well pupils’ are doing.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils are enthusiastic about learning and show respect and tolerance for others.

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Behaviour

 Pupils are proud of their school. They particularly value the opportunities to gain the executive headteacher's awards for achievements and positive attitudes to their work.

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Behaviour

 Pupils have developed good skills in how to improve their own learning and find things out for themselves. During their time in early years pupils develop resilience and then build on this skill in Key Stage 1. This prepares pupils well for Key Stage 2.

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Behaviour

 Older pupils take on extra responsibilities, especially to help younger pupils, and act in a mature way with visitors.

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Behaviour

 Pupils take pride in their work and work very hard in all subjects. Staff have good relationships with the pupils who listen carefully to their teachers. Pupils are willing to share their ideas and thoughts with each other.

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Behaviour

 Attendance is broadly in line with the national average. There have been no exclusions since the previous inspection.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils say they feel safe. They know about unsafe situations and how to keep themselves safe. Pupils told the inspector about assemblies and lessons which focus on the dangers around them. They have an increasing knowledge and understanding of the risks from technology, such as mobile phones and the internet.

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Safety

 The school undertakes and maintains comprehensive records of all pre-employment checks on staff members and those who volunteer to work in school with pupils.

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Safety

 Staff observe pupils carefully, particularly during break and lunchtime, to ensure they stay safe.

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Safety

 Pupils have a good understanding of potential bullying situations but say incidents of bullying, such as name-calling, is very rare.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is now, consistently good throughout the school. A scrutiny of pupils’ work and the school’s own records confirm this.  Pupils are taught to aim high, to ‘have a go’ and not be afraid to make mistakes. Teachers pose questions skilfully, using their responses to probe further to extend pupils’ thinking.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Writing skills are taught well. Pupils have the opportunity to write at length in English and other subjects. There is a good emphasis on improving grammar, punctuation and spelling. The correct use of English grammar is taught from an early age. Pupils’ work in Year 1 showed they were confidently using speech marks and exclamation marks accurately in their writing.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The teaching of mathematics is good and improving quickly to address past weaknesses in learning. Pupils now apply their skills through solving mathematical problems and investigations that extend and deepen their learning.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The school promotes reading very well and the pupils have a good knowledge of different authors.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers have a strong knowledge of the learning needs of pupils in their class. Underachievement is quickly identified and addressed. Teaching assistants skilfully support pupils who need additional support.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are supported well. The effectiveness of this support can be seen, particularly in Year 3, where lessons are planned to ensure the high number of pupils who need additional support are able to access learning. A range of activities are provided that build on what they know and allow them to secure new knowledge often through practical activity. However, sometimes the work is too hard for some pupils, including the less able, to complete without too much reliance on adults to tell them what to do.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Although parents say they welcomed the information they receive about how well their children are doing, there are not enough opportunities for parents to be shown how to support their child’s learning.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Although pupils’ progress has improved considerably throughout the school, teaching is not yet outstanding because teachers do not always make sure the work they set consistently challenges pupils to do the very best they can.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The number of pupils in each year group is very small. As a consequence, analysis of the school’s performance in the national assessments must be made cautiously. Nevertheless, the results of the 2014 national curriculum tests for Year 6 were below average in mathematics and writing; however, this was an improvement on the previous year.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 All groups of pupils now achieve well throughout the school. The progress of all groups of pupils is accelerating. Inspection evidence, school data and work in pupils’ books show that, currently, in Year 6 pupils are working at above-average levels. They are on course to do better than their peers nationally all subjects and more pupils are expected to reach the higher levels.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils achieve well in reading. In 2014, the proportion that met the expected standard in the phonics (the sounds letters make) screening check was above average. Year 1 pupils are on track to achieve at least as well as their peers in 2015.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Current Year 2 pupils are working at nationally expected levels. Able younger pupils in this mixed-age class thrive on the opportunities the teacher gives them to do harder work.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 There are very few disadvantaged pupils in each year group. The school keeps a careful check on the progress made by these pupils to ensure any attainment gaps between these and other pupils are closing. In 2014 there were no disadvantaged pupils in Year 6.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress and achieve well because of the effective support they receive.  Most-able pupils achieve well. On the whole, teachers provide these pupils with challenging tasks that deepen their knowledge and understanding. Occasionally, pupils’ books show the work teachers’ set is not consistently providing opportunities for pupils to extend their thinking. Additional classes are provided to support the more able to reach their potential. For example, technology is used to deepen thinking further in the advanced coding sessions the pupils attend weekly.

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The early years provision is good

 Good leadership and management of the early years provision is successfully preparing children for their next stage in their education. All staff have high expectations and a good understanding of the needs of the children.

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The early years provision is good

 Children’s starting points are generally typical for their age, but just below in early reading and writing.

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The early years provision is good

 Teaching is good in the early years. All children leave having reached a good level of development. Staff question children effectively, taking these opportunities to extend children’s vocabulary and understanding of number.

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The early years provision is good

 Parents say that their children enjoy coming to school because the staff have developed a welcoming and caring environment. They are very complimentary about all aspects of the early years provision.

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The early years provision is good

 Children’s progress in all areas of learning is rigorously assessed, monitored and checked to ensure its accuracy. This information is used well to plan activities that extend and reinforce children’s skills.

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The early years provision is good

 The mixed-age class enables the more able to make good progress as there are many opportunities for them to have a go at harder work.

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The early years provision is good

 Children settle well into the early years. They interact and form close relationships with staff and each other. They are happy and feel safe.

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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 122766 Local authority Nottinghamshire Inspection number 461977

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Voluntary controlled Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 52 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair David Purveur Headteacher Diane Ward Date of previous school inspection 25 June 2013 Telephone number 01636 636244 Fax number 01636 636244 Email address office@norwell.notts.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

inspects to 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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