Grampound-with-Creed CofE School

School report Grampound-with-Creed CofE School Fore Street, Grampound, Truro, TR2 4SB

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected as an academy 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 school has got off to a strong start as an academy. The multi-academy trust, of which it is a member, provides effective support and clear strategic direction to guide the school’s future development.  Leaders’ careful and well-coordinated planning, including effective support and guidance from the governing body, has ensured that pupils benefit from a good education. The quality of teaching and achievement are both improving.  Pupils behave well in class and around the school site. They have positive attitudes to learning and cooperate well with adults and with each other, on most occasions.  Pupils affirm with confidence that they feel safe at school. They are suitably aware of the potential risks of the internet and other aspects of e-safety.  Consistently good teaching enables pupils to achieve well in a range of subjects, including in English and mathematics. Teachers’ marking provides good guidance to pupils on how to

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

improve their work.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs achieve as well as other pupils in the school. The same is true of disadvantaged pupils; for this group, gaps in attainment with other pupils nationally are closing securely.  The school places a high priority on pupils’ well- being. Pupils’ personal and social development is promoted especially well through a wide range of activities and experiences.  The early years is a particular strength of the school. Children are well taught and carefully nurtured. Consequently, they are typically well prepared for Key Stage 1 by the end of their Reception Year.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Not enough pupils consistently reach the higher levels of attainment in Year 2 and, in the case of mathematics, in Year 6.  On occasions, teachers do not provide the right level of challenge in lessons, particularly for the most-able pupils.  Some leaders, including those responsible for subjects, have not yet developed fully the skills and experience necessary to support rapid school improvement.

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Information about this inspection

 During the inspection, the inspector observed seven part-lessons, the majority of which were jointly observed with the head of school. The inspector also listened to Year 2 and Year 3 pupils reading. Meetings were held with: the head of school and the interim executive principal; middle leaders; members of the local governing body, including the Chair; and a group of Key Stage 2 pupils. In addition, a telephone conversation took place with the School Improvement Partner from The Learning Institute.  The inspector looked at planning and self-evaluation documentation, assessment information and examples of pupils’ work, and a range of policy documents.  The views of 24 parents who responded to the online questionnaire, Parent View, were taken into consideration. The inspector also spoke to a number of parents at the school gate. In addition, the views of the 12 staff who responded to the inspection questionnaire were analysed.

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Inspection team

Ken Bush, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Grampound-with-Creed CofE School is much smaller than most primary schools. There are currently three classes. Class One is solely for children in the early years provision. Class Two covers Years 1 to 3 and Class Three, Years 4 to 6.  All children in the Reception class are full time. Children attend the Nursery part time.  The school has a daily breakfast club; this generally caters for up to 10 pupils.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is close to the national average.  The proportion of pupils for whom the school receives the pupil premium is below the national average. This is additional government funding for specific disadvantaged groups: those known to be eligible for free school meals and those who are looked after. In 2014, there were insufficient numbers of Year 6 pupils from this group to evaluate specifically their attainment in reading, writing and mathematics

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Information about this school

compared with other pupils in the school or other pupils nationally.  Almost all pupils are of White British heritage.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  The school has been part of St Piran’s Cross CofE Multi Academy Trust, along with four other other primary schools, since December 2013. The school is led by a head of school. There is currently an interim executive principal overseeing all the schools within the Trust; he is a National Leader of Education. Grampound-with-Creed has a local governing body which comes under the auspices of the Trust govening body.  When the predecessor school of the same name was previously inspected by Ofsted in February 2010, it was judged to be good overall.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching and achievement by ensuring that:  a greater proportion of pupils in Year 2 in all subjects and in Year 6 in mathematics attain at the higher levels  teachers provide the right level of challenge for all pupils, especially for those who are most able  all leaders, especially those responsible for subjects, are able to develop their capacity to promote rapid school improvement.

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The leadership and management are good

 Pupils receive a good overall education at Grampound-with-Creed. It has taken on academy status effectively and is using the resources of the Trust increasingly well to raise the expectations of both staff and pupils. The school is well led and has a strong culture of high achievement.  Plans for improvement are not only clear and achievable, but also based on an accurate understanding both of what is working well in the school and what could be better.  Senior leaders rightly recognised in the past year that the pace of improvement would benefit from some acceleration. Several key strategies to improve the quality of teaching are clearly beginning to bear fruit, notwithstanding that some have been implemented quite recently. However, some leaders, including those responsible for subjects, have not yet developed fully the skills and experience necessary to support rapid school improvement in the next phase of the school’s development.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders have ensured that the systems used for monitoring the quality of teaching and tracking pupils’ progress are robust and generate useful information for staff.  Staff are set clear targets for improvement. Those spoken to by the inspector affirm that they are held firmly to account for achieving these and that pay increases are closely aligned to performance. As is seen by their overwhelmingly positive responses to the inspection questionnaire, staff morale is high.  The curriculum is well coordinated and provides a suitable range of learning experiences for pupils, including in the development of literacy and numeracy skills across a range of subjects. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural skills are especially well promoted. The school uses its focus on core Christian values well to underpin the curriculum both in daily assemblies and in lessons.  The school takes its responsibility to prepare pupils well for an understanding of life in modern British

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The leadership and management are good

society very seriously. Residential trips to places such as London ensure that, while pupils appreciate their Cornish heritage, they are also exposed to more ethnically and socially diverse regions of the United Kingdom. The operation of the school council effectively introduces the notion of democracy and the rule of law, as well as encouraging respect for people’s different viewpoints.  Leaders make effective use of the additional funding from the school’s physical education and sports premium. Given the small size of the school, the decision to pool part of the resource with other local schools to fund a specialist teacher of physical education is sensible and creative. The premium has also been well used to develop staff training in the teaching of physical education, thereby raising standards. The school has a clear commitment to developing active lifestyles for its pupils.  Pupil premium funding is used effectively to ensure that disadvantaged pupils achieve as well as other

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The leadership and management are good

pupils in the school. This includes providing additional one-to-one support sessions and mentoring.  The majority of parents who responded to the inspection questionnaire are happy with the education provided by the school. Weekly newsletters and regular text messaging enable parents to feel well informed about school events and initiatives, such as refraining from taking term-time holidays. Those parents spoken to by the inspector feel that the school keeps them fully informed about their children’s progress.  Arrangements to ensure that children are kept safe are fully in place. The site is secure and well maintained. Careful checks are made to ensure that all staff have been suitably vetted before taking up appointment. Training for all staff is up-to-date. Risk assessments, including for off-site activities, such as residentials, are compliant with guidance. As a result of these measures, pupils are kept safe and feel

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The leadership and management are good

safe.  As an academy, the school does not receive any formal support from the local authority. Nevertheless, it makes effective use of advice and guidance from local authority officers, when appropriate.  The breakfast club enables those pupils who make use of it to get their day off to a good start.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governors make a strong contribution to the school’s overall effectiveness; they hold leaders rigorously to account for its performance. They provide an effective and coherent link with the work of the Trust as a whole, ensuring clear strategic leadership has a growing impact on the outcomes at Grampound- with-Creed.  The local governing body has a high level of technical expertise regarding educational issues. Governors are fully aware of how well different groups of pupils are achieving compared with national standards, including disadvantaged pupils supported by additional funding. Consequently, they ensure, along with the school’s leaders, that this revenue is prudently spent.  The local governing body has a clear understanding of the quality of teaching in the school. It oversees the system of pay progression well and has ensured that all staff salary increases are linked securely to

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The leadership and management are good

at least good performance against the targets for improvement that have been set. Governors are clear about what is required in the event of any underperformance by staff.  The local governing body discharges all its statutory duties effectively. This includes ensuring equality of opportunity, although governors are aware that raising the attainment of the most-able pupils is an area for improvement. Governors are committed to ensuring that the school is one where harmonious relationships flourish and that any discrimination, were it to occur, would be tackled vigorously.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils have positive attitudes to learning and most confirm that they enjoy school life. They are generally attentive in class and contribute well to lessons, in most cases.  Pupils conduct themselves well around the school site, including at playtime and lunchtime. They behave with consideration to others, and are polite and welcoming to adults and visitors.  School records show that there are very few noteworthy incidents of misbehaviour and that the number warranting any form of intervention from senior leaders is declining. There have been no exclusions from school in the recent past. Those pupils on the school roll who have known behavioural difficulties are well managed by experienced and capable staff.  Pupils confirmed to the inspector that the good behaviour witnessed first-hand during the inspection is typical of a normal school day. They are clear about the rewards and sanctions system, and especially

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Behaviour

value the free time (‘golden time’) they earn for consistently good behaviour throughout the week. On the few occasions when teaching fails to fully interest them, a very small minority become distracted.  Parents and staff share the inspector’s positive view of behaviour, as reflected in their comments in the inspection questionnaires.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils report that the school is a safe environment and that they feel comfortable anywhere on the school site.  Bullying is rare. Pupils confidently expressed to the inspector that any unpleasantness between pupils is generally over trivial incidents at playtime or lunchtime, which are quickly resolved. Name-calling or aggressive behaviour is uncommon.  Pupils know about the principal types of bullying, including that relating to texting and social messaging. They are knowledgeable about e-safety and other forms of risk outside of school, pertinent to their age group. Older pupils commented that they are expected to keep an eye out for the younger ones during playtime and lunchtime, and that they are happy to take on that role.  Attendance is broadly average over time. It has not improved as rapidly as leaders had planned because of the persistent absence of a very small number of pupils. Owing to the small size of the school, this has

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Safety

had a disproportionate impact. Arrangements for promoting regular attendance, including the following up of any absence, are robust.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Good-quality teaching across the school, including in the early years provision, enables pupils to achieve well in a range of subjects. The impact of the Trust on accelerating the rate of improvement in the standard of teaching at Grampound-with-Creed is clearly evident.  Teachers typically use their good subject knowledge to plan lessons which motivate and interest the pupils. In most cases, this leads to effective learning.  Reading is consistently well taught across the school. Pupils quickly become accurate and fluent readers because the teaching of letters and sounds (phonics) is systematic and well matched to individual pupils’ starting points. This is reflected in the improving results in the Year 1 phonics screening check. As they progress through the school, pupils are encouraged to read a variety of more complex texts; this develops pupils’ reading proficiency well.  Most pupils at Grampound-with-Creed are confident writers. They quickly acquire a good grasp of basic

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The quality of teaching is good

skills which are developed as their writing matures. By Year 6, most can produce a range of different types of writing for different purposes with a high level of technical accuracy.  The teaching of mathematics is improving rapidly. Pupils are increasingly encouraged to raise their expectations of what they can achieve. Most pupils have a sound understanding of key mathematical concepts such as number and shape; they are becoming more adept at applying their knowledge to problem-solving. The school acknowledges that the most-able mathematicians in the previous Year 6 were not as well prepared for the national tests as they might have been. This situation is much improved in the current academic year.  Marking makes a strong contribution to pupils’ learning. Inspection evidence indicates that pupils are making increasingly good use of the comments made by teachers to improve both the quality and

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The quality of teaching is good

technical accuracy of their work.  Where teaching is occasionally less successful, not all pupils are given the right level of challenge to stretch them fully and encourage them to think deeply about their learning. This is particularly, but not exclusively so, in the case of the most-able pupils.

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is good

 Pupils achieve well at the school; most groups of pupils make good progress. This includes those in the early years provision.  By the time that they leave at the end of Year 6, the great majority of pupils attain results which are at least in line with national averages, and, in some cases, well above. In 2014, all of the Year 6 pupils gained the expected Level 4 in both reading and writing. The proportion attaining Level 4 in mathematics was in line with the national average.  With only minor degrees of variability, rates of progress across the school are typically good. Progress and attainment in Key Stage 1 has historically been less strong than in Key Stage 2, partly because of a significant turnover of teaching staff in Class One. However, inspection evidence indicates that because of more settled staffing and more consistently good teaching, pupils in Key Stage 1, in the main, are now achieving better than in the past.

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is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs achieve as well as their classmates. They are well supported through carefully planned provision, which is tailored effectively to meet their individual needs.  Disadvantaged pupils supported by additional funding progress at least as well as other pupils in the school from their different starting points. This is enabling them consistently to narrow the gaps between their attainment and that of other pupils in the school and other pupils nationally.  In 2014, the proportion of the most-able Year 6 pupils attaining the higher Level 5 was close to the national average in reading and in writing. However, this group attained less well in mathematics. In Year 2, not enough pupils gained the higher Level 3 in reading, writing or mathematics. The most-able pupils in the current Year 2 are on track to attain better results than in the previous year.

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is good

 From starting points which range from what is typical for their age to below, children in both the Nursery and the Reception phases of Class One make consistently good progress.  By the end of the Reception Year, an above average proportion have attained a good level of development. Consequently, most children are well prepared to begin Year 1. The most-able children do not always attain as highly as they might, although this feature is less marked in the early years provision than in Year 2 and Year 6.  Teaching is consistently good in all key areas of learning, including mathematics, writing and reading. Staff have a high degree of understanding of how to teach phonics effectively and how to link children’s growing understanding of letters with early writing development.  As in other parts of the school, liaison between teachers and teaching assistants is effective. For example, the inspector observed how the work of two different groups in a Reception phonics session - one taken

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is good

by the teacher and one by the teaching assistant - was well coordinated. As a result, all children received the same good-quality experience, regardless of which group they were in.  The children seen by the inspector were positive about their learning and keen to learn. They responded quickly and without fuss to staff’s instructions and moved around the indoor and outdoor spaces sensibly and safely. Their good behaviour was evident also from how constructively they cooperated with their classmates when learning through play.  A strong feature of the early years provision is the use of assessment and record-keeping. Staff make comprehensive assessments of children when they join the school; their progress is then tracked well using a range of different information. Parents are well informed about their children’s progress and contribute to it regularly. The parents of children in the early years provision spoken to by the inspector

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is good

were all very pleased by how well their children’s early education is managed.  The early years provision is extremely well led. Children’s safety and well-being are given a high priority so that they are kept safe and feel safe. The other schools in the Trust are increasingly benefiting from the expertise in this area of education in Grampound-with-Creed.

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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 140467 Local authority Cornwall Inspection number 450373

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School details

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

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Academy converter Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 74 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Peter Wootton Headteacher Caroline Jarrett Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 01726 882644 Fax number 01726 882644 Email address head@grampound-creed.cornwall.school.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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