Brough Community Primary School

Brough Primary School Church Brough, Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria, CA17 4EW

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Overall effectiveness

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

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

 The quality of teaching is not consistently good. As a result, too few pupils achieve well in reading, writing and mathematics by the time they leave Year 6.  Pupils do not always make enough progress because teachers do not give them work that matches their ability. Some pupils find the work too hard while others find it too easy.  Teachers do not always expect enough of pupils as they move from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2.  Pupils’ learning in mathematics is hampered because they are not secure in their basic mental numeracy skills.  The presentation of pupils’ work is variable. Some pupils often make errors in spelling and grammar.  The quality of marking is variable and teachers do not always make sure that pupils check, correct and improve their work so they can learn from their mistakes.  Some subject leaders are at an early stage of developing their skills to drive improvement in their areas of responsibility.

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

 Potential risks are not analysed carefully enough to make further improvements in pupils’ security.  Over time, targets set in the school development plan have not been linked closely enough to pupils’ progress or measurable enough for leaders to assess how well the school is doing.  Leaders, including governors, have sometimes been too generous in their evaluation of some aspects of the school’s work, especially teaching.

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The school has the following strengths

 Effective provision in the early years ensures children develop a genuine eagerness to learn. They build very positive relationships with each other and the adults around them and achieve well.  The proportion of pupils reaching the expected level in the Year 1 phonics screening check is above the national average.  Behaviour is generally good in class and around the school. Attendance is higher than the national average and this reflects pupils’ enjoyment of school.  In 2014, the proportion of pupils reaching the higher levels by the end of Year 6 was above average.  The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Visitors into school and trips bring learning to life. Pupils enthusiastically engage in a wide range of sports.  The headteacher has introduced a new tracking system to check pupils’ progress. This is helping leaders to pinpoint where further improvements are

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The school has the following strengths

needed so they are in a position to move the school forward.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed teaching and learning in lessons taught by teachers, four of which were jointly observed with the headteacher. Sessions led by teaching assistants were observed and the inspector also listened to pupils read.  Discussions were held with school staff, pupils, the headteacher, governors and a representative from the local authority. The inspector had a telephone conversation with the headteacher of Scotby Church of England Primary School.  The inspector observed the school’s work and looked at a wide range of documentation, including safeguarding documents, the school’s procedures for gaining an accurate view of its own performance, development plans, records of pupils’ standards and progress, documents relating to attendance and behaviour, and pupils’ work in their books.  There were 18 parental responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View), which were taken into account. The 11 responses to the staff questionnaire were also reviewed. In addition, the inspector spoke

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Information about this inspection

informally to parents at the start and end of the school days. Two e-mails were received from parents and the inspector had a telephone conversation with a parent.

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Inspection team

Naomi Taylor, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Brough is much smaller than the average-sized primary school.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils, those supported by the pupil premium, is lower than that found nationally. The pupil premium is additional government funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and children who are looked after by the local authority.  The proportion of pupils with special educational needs is higher than the national average.  All pupils are White British.  Provision in the early years is full time.  Most pupils are taught in mixed-age classes.  There have been several changes in staffing since the previous inspection.  The school is being supported by the headteacher and staff from Scotby Church of England Primary School.  Sharing the same site, but not inspected during this inspection, is a nursery.  In this very small school, the government’s floor standards which set the minimum expectations for pupils’

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Information about this school

attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6 do not apply.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching and learning so that they are at least good in order for pupils to make consistently good progress by ensuring that:  work is well matched to pupils’ different abilities  teachers have consistently high expectations of what pupils can achieve as they move from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2  pupils know how to improve their work and learn from their mistakes.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise pupils’ achievement in reading, writing and mathematics by:  more regularly checking pupils understand what they are reading  ensuring pupils are secure in mental mathematics so that they can solve problems more accurately and swiftly  ensuring consistently high expectations in the presentation of pupils’ work, including handwriting and spelling.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the impact of leadership and management by:  ensuring governors and senior leaders evaluate the quality of teaching and all aspects of the school’s work accurately  making sure that targets set in the school development plan are measurable and linked to pupils’ progress  developing the skills of subject leaders so they are able to contribute fully to raising standards in their area of responsibility  ensuring senior leaders and governors analyse any potential risks rigorously.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Over time, the work of the headteacher and the governing body has not been fully effective in ensuring that the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement have been maintained since the previous inspection. As a result, leadership and management requires improvement.  Teachers’ performance is checked by the headteacher, who ensures staff attend training that matches the school’s priorities and the professional development needs of individual teachers.  Several changes to staff over time have contributed to inconsistencies in improving pupils’ progress. Current staff have enthusiastically engaged in working with staff at Scotby School and several changes are already afoot with increasingly positive outcomes. For example, provision in the early years has improved well.  In recognition of the mixed-age Reception and Key Stage 1 class covering a very wide range of ability, the headteacher and governors have rightly agreed for Year 2 pupils to be taught separately for part of the

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The leadership and management requires improvement

week during the next academic year.  Some subject leaders are new to their roles this academic year. They have not fully developed a range of ways in which to measure the quality of teaching in their areas of responsibility across the school and have yet to make a full impact on school improvement. However, they are benefiting greatly from their links with subject leaders at Scotby School.  The headteacher and governors are accurate in their evaluation of pupils’ achievement and provision in the early years. However, their view of the quality of several aspects of the school’s work, including teaching, has been too generous over time. As a result, it is only recently that action has been taken to improve these areas. The recent support from Scotby School is helping to achieve whole-school improvements and there is clear evidence that the school has the capacity to improve further.  The school development plan identifies useful priorities and objectives. Although targets set are linked to

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The leadership and management requires improvement

pupils’ progress the targets are not always precisely measurable. This does not provide enough information for school leaders to evaluate accurately the impact of their actions. Also, teachers do not always have high enough expectations of pupils’ work when they move from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2. As a result pupils’ achievement still requires improvement.  The school tackles discrimination effectively by teaching pupils about different cultures and lifestyles. All staff make sure pupils understand that other children and their parents who have a non-Christian faith, or come from different ethnic backgrounds or have different traditions, customs and behaviour from their own, are worthy of respect and friendship. Leaders ensure there is help for pupils who have additional needs and the pupil premium funding is used to support disadvantaged pupils so that, in most classes, the progress of these pupils improves. However, there is still work to do to raise the achievement of all pupils,

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The leadership and management requires improvement

including the least and the most able, to at least good and to ensure that disadvantaged pupils do as well as their peers. Thus, the school’s promotion of equality of opportunity requires improvement.  The subjects taught provide opportunities for pupils to develop their understanding of fundamental British values. Older pupils understand that Britain is a democratic society and link this to voting for members of the school council. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good and prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain. Residential trips for older pupils to Liverpool and to outdoor activity centres help to broaden their horizons. Leaders foster good relationships within the school and the local community. Pupils contribute to village life through fundraising events and their work in the community garden next to the school.  The primary school sport funding is spent effectively. Specialist coaches work with pupils and staff to help

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The leadership and management requires improvement

develop their sporting skills. The school offers after-school sporting activities and pupils are involved in a range of inter-school competitions. As a result, more pupils are participating in sport and are developing increasingly healthy lifestyles.  Recently, the local authority recognised the need for a higher level of support for the school. For example, local authority officers organised a visit for the early years staff to see another early years setting. This has had a very positive effect on developing this area of the school’s work.  Safeguarding arrangements meet statutory requirements but there is scope for the headteacher and governors to anticipate potential risks more rigorously.  The governance of the school:  Governors bring a range of expertise to the school and ask pertinent questions to help them know about various aspects of school life. However, their view on the quality of teaching is too generous

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The leadership and management requires improvement

because they have not focused strongly enough on the progress that pupils make in each year group. Governors recognise they need to re-assess the level of challenge they provide because standards have not been maintained since the previous inspection. The local authority has been instrumental in developing links with Scotby School, and governors have given freely of their time and benefited from a visit to observe a governing body meeting there.  The governing body monitors financial spending well and understands the need to check the progress of disadvantaged pupils compared to that of non-disadvantaged pupils in the school. Governors know about the arrangements for monitoring teachers’ performance. They understand that any underperformance must be tackled and that rewards for good teaching must be linked to pupils’ achievement. Governors attend training to help them carry out their duties, including understanding

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The leadership and management requires improvement

data on pupils’ performance.  Governors are conscientious in the way they undertake their statutory duties. Required checks on adults are recorded and staff are well trained in child protection. Governors make sure safeguarding arrangements meet requirements so that pupils and staff are safe. However, they recognise the need for a meticulous analysis of potential risks in relation to site security and are currently reviewing the behaviour and safety policy.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  Pupils behave well in class and around the school. They say that they like their teachers and enjoy learning. Pupils are respectful and polite to each other and to the adults around them.  Some parents raised concerns with the inspector about how well behaviour was managed in some classes and this was reflected in some of the responses in Parent View. There is a very small minority of pupils who have social and emotional barriers to learning. The school is working with these pupils, their families and external agencies to support them in choosing appropriate behaviour.  Some parents and pupils feel there are inconsistencies in how staff deal with incidents. The recent review of the behaviour policy is designed to make rewards and sanctions much more transparent.  Most parents responding to Parent View believe their children are happy at school, which reflects the

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Behaviour

conversations the inspector had with pupils.  Above-average attendance reflects pupils’ enjoyment of school. However, for a very small minority, their learning is interrupted when holidays are taken during term time.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure requires improvement.  Pupils feel safe in school because they know that the adults in the school have a genuine interest in their care and well-being. They are well informed about how to stay safe when riding their bicycles on the road and when using different forms of technology.  Pupils know what bullying is and could explain different forms, including racism and cyber-bullying. Pupils are confident that bullying is rare in school, but if it does take place, staff deal with it effectively. This was also the view of parents who spoke with the inspector.  Although Parent View illustrates that most parents feel their children are kept safe at school and are well cared for, some concerns were raised during the course of the inspection. The inspector was satisfied with the recording of incidents and actions taken. However, potential risks are not always analysed

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Safety

meticulously enough and, therefore, the safety of pupils requires improvement.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Information on pupils’ progress, observations of teaching and work in pupils’ books indicate that the quality of teaching is uneven across the school and not consistently good over time. This prevents some pupils from making good progress.  The headteacher recognised that the quality of teachers’ marking needed to improve. The school introduced a new marking policy providing guidance to teachers on how to help pupils improve their work. However, there is a lack of consistency by teachers in making sure that pupils act upon advice and correct their work to help them learn from their mistakes.  Teachers collect information regarding pupils’ progress and question pupils to assess their level of understanding. A new tracking system to gather this information has recently been introduced but it is not fully established. As a result, information is not used well enough to plan suitable work and, therefore,

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

activities are sometimes too hard or too easy to challenge all pupils effectively. Some teachers do not have high enough expectations of what pupils can achieve as they move from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2, resulting in older pupils having some gaps in their learning.  There has been a recent drive to improve the quality of learning and teaching. The school is now supported by staff from Scotby School, but improvements are at an early stage of development in order to have yet a sustained and positive impact on standards. Too many pupils remain insecure in their mental mathematical skills, which slows their progress in working out numerical problems.  The teaching of phonics (letters and the sounds they make) is a strength of the school’s work and leads to a higher proportion than average reaching the expected standard in the Year 1 check. However, a few pupils do not always have a good enough understanding of what they are reading. This is not always

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

checked systematically in guided reading sessions.  There has been a successful drive to improve the opportunities for pupils to write in different styles, which is evident in pupils’ books. Visits out of school stimulate pupils’ writing, but some inconsistencies remain in the expectations of pupils’ presentation of their work, in the quality of their handwriting and in the accuracy of their spelling.  Teaching assistants work with teachers to support pupils with special educational needs. The highly enthusiastic teaching assistants are now providing a variety of practical activities to support pupils when they work together in small groups, or on a one-to-one basis. This is having a positive impact on improving the progress of pupils who are disadvantaged or of the least able.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Progress made by pupils from their individual starting points in Year 1 is not always good enough. As a result, pupils’ achievement requires improvement.  The proportion of pupils who achieve the expected level in the Year 1 check is higher than average. This is because teachers and teaching assistants are skilled in the teaching of phonics. The few pupils who struggle to read are given very effective support and this leads to improvement in their reading skills.  At the end of Key Stage 1, pupils’ attainment has been below average in reading and writing. There has been an improvement in mathematics, with all pupils reaching the expected level in 2014. The proportions reaching the higher levels in reading, writing and mathematics were below average. National comparisons should, however, be treated with caution because of the very small numbers in year groups taking national assessments.  As in Key Stage 1, assessment and test results at the end of Key Stage 2 tend to vary because they are

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

dependent on the attainment of small groups of pupils. These small groups include pupils who have started school at times other than the usual and who have not benefited, therefore, from the good start in the Reception Year.  The school’s information on pupils’ attainment and progress and inspection evidence show that in reading, writing and mathematics, pupils’ achievement is uneven. Overall, most pupils make the progress expected of them in reading, writing and mathematics. However, too few pupils consistently make better-than- expected progress in these subjects.  The most able pupils are provided with a good range of additional activities to help them achieve at the higher level. For example, the school has recently invested in an online mathematics package pupils can use at home to develop their skills. During the inspection, gifted and talented readers went on a visit to a high school to meet an author. However, the most able are not always fully challenged to make the best

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

possible progress.  Pupils with special educational needs are cared for well. However, their progress still requires improvement. The school works well with other agencies to support the specific needs of some pupils.  The headteacher and governors agree how the pupil premium is used to support disadvantaged pupils. The headteacher has identified that the gap in achievement between disadvantaged and non- disadvantaged pupils in school is closing, but this is still not at a rapid enough pace. The number of these pupils in each year group is too small to make meaningfully comparisons with non-disadvantaged pupils nationally.

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The early years provision is good

 Children settle extremely well in the early years because of effective links between school, home and nurseries. Pre-school children spend time in the early years prior to enrolling at the school, and this enables them to get used to the school environment and routines. Home visits help staff and parents to find out what children enjoy doing and their dislikes, which ensure a smooth transition into school.  Children learn good manners towards each other and the adults around them. They automatically say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ when sharing, and when older pupils hold doors open for them. They behave extremely well in lessons and during breaks.  Staff ensure that pupils are safe and cared for well. For example, children told the inspector why they needed to stay close to each other and staff when working outdoors so that they were safe.  As a result of good leadership, teaching and thoughtfully planned activities, children are very involved in

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The early years provision is good

their learning. For example, as part of their topic on nocturnal animals, children enthusiastically found feathers and twigs during an outdoor activity. They used these and clay to make their own models of birds and animals. On returning to the classroom, they then used their imagination to describe what the birds and animals might see, hear and do at night-time. This helped to broaden their vocabulary, which they then used in their writing.  Communication between school and home is strong. Parents told the inspector how happy their children are in the early years. They are kept well informed of the progress their children are making through records known as ‘learning journeys’. These are used by staff and parents to record each child’s achievements throughout their time in the early years, both in school and at home. Such records help staff to plan challenging activities to ensure children build on their experiences and make good progress.

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The early years provision is good

 The local authority has effectively supported the early years manager in developing this area of the school’s work. Its representatives have confirmed that staff are accurate in the assessment of all children’s progress in the Reception Year.  Children’s individual starting points vary from year to year. Whatever their starting points, children achieve well. By the end of the Reception Year, the majority of children reach a good level of development and are well prepared for Year 1. In 2014, the proportion reaching a good level of development was higher than average.

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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 112177 Local authority Cumbria Inspection number 461700

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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 72 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Karen McSkimming Headteacher Lesley Whittle Date of previous school inspection 10 January 2012 Telephone number 01768 341284 Fax number Not applicable Email address admin@brough.cumbria.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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