All Saints' Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Dovercourt

All Saints' Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Dovercourt Main Road, Dovercourt, Harwich, CO12 4HT

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 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

 Leaders, governors and staff work well together to ensure that pupils benefit from good teaching and achieve well. Standards have risen steadily at both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 since the last inspection.  Over time, whatever their circumstances or ability, pupils make good progress in most subjects, and particularly in mathematics.  Provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. Pupils develop positive values that prepare them very well for life in modern Britain.  Children in Reception settle quickly to life in school. They make good progress in all areas of learning.  Pupils show a keen interest in their learning and the great majority behave well in lessons and around school.  There are effective procedures to ensure that pupils are safe. Pupils say they feel safe at school are well looked after by staff.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs achieve well because the

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

provision for them is good.  Teaching is good. Teachers use the opportunities offered by the new National Curriculum effectively to prepare activities which interest and enthuse pupils and help them achieve well.  Staff use the school’s assessment system well to keep a careful track of pupils’ progress. They act quickly and provide extra help if any pupils are not doing as well as they should.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Teachers in Key Stage 2 do not always set work in writing that is challenging enough or requires pupils, including the most able, to write extensively and to a high standard in all classes.  Attendance is below average.  The responsibilities of different senior leaders for improving attendance and behaviour and for evaluating the impact of actions already taken are not clear enough. This means that improvement in these areas is not as rapid as it could be. Inspection report: All Saints' Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Dovercourt, 2–3 July 2015 2 of 11

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed learning across all year groups and scrutinised pupils’ workbooks. Three lessons were observed jointly with the headteacher.  The inspectors listened to pupils read and talked to them about their reading.  Discussions took place with the headteacher, members of the governing body, staff, pupils and a representative of the local authority.  A variety of documents were examined, including those relating to safeguarding and the school’s improvement plans.  The inspectors considered the views expressed in questionnaires returned by 31 members of staff.  The inspectors took account of the 21 responses to the online Parent View questionnaire and also spoke with parents.

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Inspection team

Jeremy Bird, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Inspection team

Bernadette Oates Additional Inspector Inspection report: All Saints' Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Dovercourt, 2–3 July 2015 3 of 11

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Information about this school

 All Saints’ Primary School is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  Children in the early years are taught in one full-time Reception class. Other pupils are taught in six classes, each of which contains pupils from the same year group.  Almost all pupils are of White British heritage.  The proportion of pupils supported through the pupil premium is above 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.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Key Stage 2.  Year 6 pupils were absent during the inspection as they were attending their residential visit.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching and raise achievement further in writing, by ensuring that all teachers in Key Stage 2:  have higher expectations and set more challenging work for pupils in writing, particularly those who are the most able, so that they write extensively and to a high quality at all times.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Clarify leaders’ roles and responsibilities for improving attendance and behaviour, and for evaluating the effectiveness of measures already taken, so that:  all staff understand the support that is available, and use it purposefully to further improve their management of behaviour and to encourage pupils to attend regularly. Inspection report: All Saints' Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Dovercourt, 2–3 July 2015 4 of 11

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher, leaders and staff work well as a team to ensure that teaching is good and that pupils achieve well. They have created a positive and welcoming atmosphere throughout the school that is based on key values that lie at the centre of its work.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders successfully promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. This ensures that pupils show care, consideration and respect for others. In assemblies and in their day-to-day management of the school, leaders place a great emphasis on the importance of showing consideration for others. This ensures that equal opportunities, fairness, tolerance and helping others are promoted well throughout the school. They are rightly proud of the complete absence of any hint of discrimination anywhere in the school.

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The leadership and management are good

 The lesson activities teachers plan are carefully chosen and interesting to pupils, and help them understand how the different topics they study are linked. Pupils learn about the different challenges that British society has met and overcome throughout our history and about how peoples from all parts of our society have helped to make us what we are. They are also taught about key British institutions such as Parliament and about democracy. In all these ways, the curriculum successfully provides pupils with a good understanding of different cultures and prepares them well for life in modern Britain.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher, senior and middle leaders and governors, have an accurate view of the school’s performance because they check pupils’ progress and the quality of teaching systematically. Leaders have been quick to decide on, and implement, a new method for assessing pupils’ progress now that ‘levels’ have disappeared from the National Curriculum. They have taken decisive action to make improvements where necessary. For example, during this academic year, they have altered the way reading is taught and assessed in Key Stage 2, and this has resulted in pupils making faster progress. Leaders recognise there is more to do if they are to raise achievement in writing to the same level.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders ensure that the quality of teaching is managed well. All teachers are set clear targets based on the school’s improvement needs, their professional development requirements and the progress of their pupils. Their progress towards these targets is monitored regularly and they are given good guidance and training to ensure they succeed in meeting them. Teachers attending a six-week course at a local teaching school were able to demonstrate how their practice had improved as a result of the helpful advice they had received.

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The leadership and management are good

 Pupil premium funding is used effectively to provide disadvantaged pupils with additional support from teachers and teaching assistants, particularly in English and mathematics. The funding and support are having a positive impact on pupils’ achievement. They help to ensure all pupils have full access to the learning opportunities the school provides.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school makes good use of its primary school sport funding. It is meeting its aim of increasing pupils’ participation in competitive sports by broadening sporting opportunities and the chance for pupils to compete with others available to all its pupils. The funding has enabled pupils to take part in more after- school sports clubs as well as a greater range of competitions, including cross-country running and gymnastics.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority has a good understanding of the school’s performance. Its representative provides good advice and support, visiting the school every term and focusing on improving teaching and pupils’ achievement.

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The leadership and management are good

 Subject leadership, particularly in English, mathematics, inclusion and the early years, is effective. This is because leaders are appropriately involved in checking pupils’ attainment and progress, and in taking steps to improve their areas of responsibility.

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The leadership and management are good

 All staff work successfully to ensure that pupils are safe at all times when in school. Safety arrangements are effective and meet requirements. Inspection report: All Saints' Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Dovercourt, 2–3 July 2015 5 of 11

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The leadership and management are good

 School leaders have implemented a variety of measures, including writing to parents whose children’s attendance is lower than it should be. This has improved attendance but it is not as good as it could be. Leaders do not always evaluate the effectiveness of the measures taken and it is not always clear who is responsible to ensure that rates improve and are sustained at higher levels.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders expect good behaviour in lessons and around the school, and the behaviour of the vast majority of pupils is good. Leaders are aware of the few pupils who find it difficult to behave appropriately and their actions to support these pupils are bringing about improvements both in their behaviour and across the school as a whole. However, these actions are not evaluated properly or set out in formal written records. Consequently, teaching staff working directly with the pupils are not always clear about why certain approaches have been taken or what impact they are meant to have had. As a result the support to improve the behaviour of these pupils is not always quite as effective as it might be.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governance is effective and ensures all statutory requirements, including those relating to safeguarding, are met.  Members of the governing body have a clear overview of the school’s performance. They are aware of its strengths, for example in pupils’ achievement in mathematics, and its current improvement priorities.  Governors have a good understanding of the quality of teaching. They are familiar with the requirements relating to the management of teachers’ performance and ensure that promotion and pay increases are based on the progress that pupils make. They check that school leaders take decisive action to improve any teaching that is less than good.  Governors make sure that the funding for disadvantaged pupils is used effectively by checking that the additional support is enabling pupils to make better progress.  Governors are effective in holding the school to account. They are aware of the current need for school

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The leadership and management are good

leaders to improve attendance further and to evaluate more rigorously the impact of support for children with significant behavioural needs.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. They treat each other with respect and form good relationships. Boys and girls work and play together well, from Reception onwards, whatever their background. They collaborate well, sharing equipment sensibly and discussing ideas with enthusiasm. An example of this good collaboration was seen in Reception, where children shared their strategies for developing ways to balance marbles on different pieces of equipment.

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Behaviour

 Older pupils are kind and considerate towards younger ones, and pupils talk about this being something they value in the school. They say they feel safe and secure as a result.

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Behaviour

 Pupils show strong spiritual, moral and social development in the various roles they undertake around the school, such as leading parts of assemblies. They are developing a strong sense of British values such as the importance of democracy and tolerance.

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Behaviour

 Pupils are positive about behaviour and say that adults resolve any incidents quickly if they cannot sort them out for themselves. Most work hard in class and take pride in their work.

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Behaviour

 Teachers generally manage the very few pupils whose behaviour is sometimes challenging well. They ensure that any poor behaviour quickly improves and does not adversely affect the learning and play of other pupils. However, they are not always aware of what support is available or what interventions have been made in the past when attempting to support these pupils, and this sometimes reduces the effectiveness of their actions.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils say they feel safe in school and say that Inspection report: All Saints' Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Dovercourt, 2–3 July 2015 6 of 11

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Safety

this is because they know that the adults and their friends make sure of this. They contribute well to their own and other pupils’ safety through the good way they care for each other.

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Safety

 Pupils have a good understanding of bullying in its different forms, such as cyber bullying, and know how it differs from other poor behaviour. They say it does not occur in school, but they would have confidence that they would know what to do if it did, and that the adults would deal with it effectively.

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Safety

 The school’s work to help pupils stay safe when using the internet has improved recently. Parents have attended workshops which demonstrated the importance of monitoring their children’s use of devices for accessing the internet outside of school. Parents welcome such support and information and pupils show a good understanding of the dangers when on line.

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Safety

 Pupils enjoy coming to school and their parents are supportive. However, despite recent improvement in attendance rates, overall attendance remains below average.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Good teaching is having a positive impact on pupils’ learning, progress and achievement, especially in reading and mathematics. Teachers ensure pupils are able to explore their own ideas and to work without direct support. For example, in a Year 5 mathematics lesson, pupils were encouraged to find ways of working out percentages using their knowledge of percentages.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers’ marking in books provides clear guidance to pupils about how to improve their work. Teachers check regularly that pupils have acted on this the advice and that it has helped them move on in their learning. Pupils develop good skills in self-assessment and regularly reflect on how well they, or their peers, have done.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Reading is taught well. From the early years and through Key Stage 1, pupils quickly develop a secure understanding of phonics (the sounds letters represent in words). They use this understanding with increasing confidence to read unfamiliar words. In Key Stage 2, teachers set pupils challenging questions about the novels they are reading and carefully check how well pupils have understood the deeper meaning of the text. This is rapidly improving pupils’ achievement in reading.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers and teaching assistants have secure subject knowledge in mathematics and teach this subject well. They ask probing questions of pupils that extend their understanding very effectively. In the Reception class, for example, teachers provided children with games that were designed to check how well they could subtract numbers. Staff showed good skill in using the game first to tease out children’s understanding, then to challenge them further, for example, to repeat the exercise using bigger numbers. As a result of this kind of good teaching pupils make good progress in mathematics throughout the school.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress. Their specific needs are quickly identified and addressed by staff. Teaching assistants are well deployed and make a good contribution to pupils’ learning.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers set homework that encourages pupils to think and present their work in imaginative ways. They give pupils clearly defined tasks that still allow pupils to choose how best to present their findings. This has proved effective in motivating pupils to continue their learning outside of school. Reading and mathematics tasks, which the school has hosted on the internet, have also proved popular with the pupils.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Improving the teaching of writing in Key Stage 2 is a current school priority. Teachers have good subject knowledge and know how well pupils are performing. However, they do not always use their insights to set work which is challenging enough for all ability groups, and which helps them to refine their skills. This prevents some younger pupils in Key Stage 2 producing the consistently high standard of work in their creative writing that their other work suggests they could attain. Inspection report: All Saints' Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Dovercourt, 2–3 July 2015 7 of 11

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children start in Reception with skills and understanding that are broadly at the level typically seen for their age. This year, children began school with weaker skills in their personal, social and emotional development. Children make good progress in Reception, and most are on track to attain a good level of development this year, with more doing so than in previous years.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils make good progress throughout Key Stage 1. Over the last two years, the school’s results in the Year 1 phonics screening check have been above average, reflecting pupils’ good understanding of letters and sounds in the early years and Key Stage 1. Achievement in reading in Key Stage 2 dipped last year and the school took swift action to address this. As a result, progress in reading this year has improved with pupils in all year groups making good progress.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils’ attainment in Key Stage 1 in 2014 was above average, with standards in reading and mathematics being particularly strong. Progress within Key Stage 2 is a little variable, but attainment when pupils left Year 6 in 2014 was at least average, with more than half of the pupils reaching the higher level 5 in mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress due to the good quality support and guidance they receive. Their rates of progress are similar to their classmates.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disadvantaged pupils broadly achieve as well as other groups of pupils in the school. The 2014 Year 6 test results showed that disadvantaged pupils were one year ahead of their classmates in reading, half a term behind in writing, two terms behind in mathematics, and half a term ahead in English grammar. When compared with other pupils nationally, they were approximately one term ahead in reading, equal in writing, half of one term behind in mathematics, and half of one term ahead in English grammar. The progress of the current group of disadvantaged pupils is good and similar to that seen last year.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 In all year groups pupils make good progress in mathematics because they employ carefully-considered strategies to deal with the problems they are set in different tasks. Pupils develop effective understanding of problem-solving techniques because teachers focus on these aspects of mathematics very effectively. For example in Year 4, pupils practised addition and subtraction of fractions and were then expected to use these skills to help them solve problems. This resulted in a deeper understanding of this aspect of mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 In 2014, standards in writing in Key Stage 1 were lower than in reading and mathematics. Current progress is stronger than last year. Progress through Key Stage 2 is good by the time they leave but is a little variable because pupils are not regularly expected by teachers in all year groups to write extensively or to a high quality in all their written work.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 This year the school has focused on challenging the most-able pupils. As a result of effective teaching, this group of pupils is making better progress than previously and most are on track to attain the higher levels, particularly in reading and mathematics. Whilst their attainment in writing over time has been in line with national averages by the time they leave, they do not always make quite as much progress in writing as they do in mathematics. This is because the work teachers set is not always consistently challenging in all classes.

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The early years provision is good

 Leadership and management of the early years are good. The staff use good systems for checking what children can do when they start school. Parents are kept well informed about what their children are doing at school and how they can help to support their learning at home.

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The early years provision is good

 Children’s achievement is good and improving. Last year, although a lower proportion of children reached a good level of development when compared with national figures, their progress was good from their individual starting points. This year, children are on track to attain better results, with progress that is markedly stronger than last year. This means they will be well prepared for the work in Year 1. Inspection report: All Saints' Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Dovercourt, 2–3 July 2015 8 of 11

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The early years provision is good

 Good teaching enables all children, including those who are disabled or who have special educational needs, to make good progress in developing their basic skills. Teachers’ effective teaching of phonics gives children a clear grasp of letter sounds and good opportunities to read and spell new words.

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The early years provision is good

 The setting’s initial assessments of children’s skills this year showed boys to be weaker readers than girls. With this in mind, adults have devised activities around themes that are likely to appeal to boys, such as pirates, and these have engaged all children well, especially the boys. This has led to better rates of progress for boys in reading.

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The early years provision is good

 Children behave well and staff help them to feel very safe. Children pay good attention to what adults are saying in lessons. They play well together and show consideration for one another. The well-designed indoor and outdoor learning environments are well managed and resourced and their teachers’ vigilance ensures the children feel, and indeed are, safe at all times. Inspection report: All Saints' Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Dovercourt, 2–3 July 2015 9 of 11

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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. Inspection report: All Saints' Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Dovercourt, 2–3 July 2015 10 of 11

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School details

Unique reference number 115203 Local authority Essex Inspection number 448454

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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 193 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Marilyn Mayo Headteacher Richard Hopkins Date of previous school inspection 13 July 2010 Telephone number 01255502389 Fax number 01255508930 Email address admin@allsaints-harwich.essex.sch.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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School details

You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when and as part of the inspection.

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School details

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk, or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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School details

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please

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School details

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School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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