Rickling Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School

Rickling Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School Rickling Green, Saffron Waldon, Essex CB11 3YG

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Overall effectiveness Good

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

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Overall effectiveness Good

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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This is a good school

 This school has improved rapidly because leaders and teachers have worked effectively as a team to deliver a higher quality of education.  School leaders, including governors, know their school very well and have concentrated their efforts in the most important areas, including the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress, especially in mathematics.  Teaching, learning and assessment are good and support pupils to gain knowledge quickly and use it skilfully.  Pupils’ learning and progress are now good and the progress of boys, in particular, has improved.  The quality of teaching, learning and assessment in the Early Years Foundation Stage is good. As a result, children make good progress.  Personal development, behaviour and welfare are outstanding because of the exceptional work of the school in keeping pupils safe and encouraging them to be healthy, respectful towards each other and highly committed to learning.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Pupils’ reasoning skills are not sufficiently developed in mathematics. Teaching does not support them well enough to understand how best to use their knowledge for the most challenging work and reach the highest levels for their age.  Some pupils in Key Stage 1 are not making the same rate of accelerated progress in reading as pupils in the rest of the school. Inspection report: Rickling Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, 7–8 October 2015 2 of 9

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the teaching of mathematics to enable more pupils to reach the highest age-expected levels by:

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

making sure that new work is explained very carefully, so that pupils use their existing knowledge confidently in order to move on to higher level problems and calculations taking time to check that pupils who repeat the same mistakes understand how to avoid them the next time they tackle similar work.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the rates of progress in reading at Key Stage 1 by ensuring that the arrangements for the teaching of phonics, particularly in Year 1, are more closely matched to pupils’ abilities. Inspection report: Rickling Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, 7–8 October 2015 3 of 9

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 This school is well led by leaders who have moved it forward significantly. The determined executive headteacher is ably assisted by a capable assistant headteacher and subject leaders. They have united a willing group of teachers to work as an effective team that delivers a high quality education.  School leaders, including governors, have a very accurate view of the strengths of the school and set out clear plans for improvement. They have communicated their high expectations to all staff about the required quality of teaching, planning and assessment, which teachers have accepted.  There are thorough arrangements for checking on the quality of teaching and improving it. Leaders visit lessons, talk with pupils, study their work and regularly discuss assessment information with teachers. This work helps them to organise effective training, which has improved teaching in those areas where it was most needed, especially mathematics.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 Performance management arrangements are well established. Teachers are set targets which are precisely linked to the quality of teaching and the progress of pupils. Pay rises are closely linked with the improvement of the school.  Subject leaders are knowledgeable and influential role models. They have helped to drive the improvement in teaching, notably in English and mathematics, where curriculum developments have strengthened provision.  Leaders have secured a broad and balanced curriculum that supports pupils’ good learning and exceptional personal development. This prepares them very well for their time in secondary school. Subject planning takes account of pupils’ different abilities and work is intended to interest everyone, including boys as they develop their reading and writing skills. Extra-curricular opportunities are exceptionally well developed, particularly in sports, and involve most children as well as parents.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 Pupils’ preparation for life in modern Britain is highly effective because they are taught to understand the importance of democracy, the risks of extremism and respect for different cultures and people within their country and around the world.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted extremely well. They have helped create their school’s values and enjoy working together to reflect on them. For example, in an assembly seen by the inspector, every pupil was involved in a highly effective discussion about the effects of world hunger on different countries and how this issue could be tackled.  The use of additional funding to promote sport is particularly effective. All pupils receive high quality PE lessons with professional coaches and participate in high quality individual and team activities, in and outside school hours, often at district or county level. This has increased family involvement in

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

school sports.  Currently, there are no disadvantaged children at the school. In previous years, the school used additional funding effectively. Extra teaching and resources helped these pupils to succeed. Gaps in attainment and progress, between them and others nationally and within school, were reducing.  Parents are very positive about the quality of education provided by the school, and regard teachers as highly effective guardians of their children’s learning and welfare.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 The governance of the school: ― Governors are a dedicated part of the leadership team and have helped the executive headteacher to quickly improve the school. Governors have a very accurate view about the strengths of the school and how well pupils are learning. They make effective use of school assessment information, which helps them understand the remaining areas for improvement. This enables them to support leaders while holding them firmly to account. They do this through effective performance management arrangements, weekly visits, links to different subjects and thoughtful questioning. They clearly understand the way in which the school uses additional funding to promote sport. Governors are well-trained in safeguarding and experienced with school financial decisions.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. As a result, pupils feel extremely safe at school. Arrangements for checking that all staff and visitors are safe are well organised, and access to the school site is carefully managed. All members of staff and governors are suitably trained in child Inspection report: Rickling Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, 7–8 October 2015 4 of 9 protection and safeguarding. Leaders, staff and governors are vigilant and ensure that any concerns about pupils’ welfare are quickly acted upon and information shared with the appropriate authorities.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 Teachers make good use of their subject knowledge to provide interesting and challenging work. They create positive relationships with their pupils, who are motivated to work hard and enjoy learning. For example, in Years 5 and 6, pupils explained how they are inspired to write and influence people with their ideas, and pupils in Years 1 and 2 enjoyed using their number knowledge to solve puzzles, unlocking a trapped whale from an undersea prison.  Teaching activities are challenging and teachers’ expectations are high. They use assessment information carefully and plan work that is sufficiently difficult for pupils of different abilities. As a result, pupils in the different year groups are making good progress because teaching is helping them gain knowledge quickly and skilfully.  Teachers make effective use of questioning to challenge pupils to think hard and check that they understand their work. For example, in Years 3 and 4, pupils improved their calculations because they

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

were asked to show how the stages of a sum should be properly set out. In Years 5 and 6, they were asked to offer different ways of answering a mathematics problem and explain why their chosen methods would work.  Writing skills are taught effectively. As a result, pupils can write persuasively, use paragraphs thoughtfully and understand how different types of clauses help them control what they want to say. Their vocabulary is well developed and spelling is normally accurate or improves quickly. This is because they are helped to use thesauruses and dictionaries properly. Teachers remind pupils of the more challenging words they should use and help them to correct spelling mistakes effectively.  Reading skills are generally well developed, and teaching helps pupils to think about the meaning of the stories and texts they are using. However, teaching in Year 1 does not effectively help some pupils to

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

learn about phonics (the sounds that letters make). Some pupils are given work that is not well matched to their abilities and this affects the progress that they make.  Teaching assistants offer effective and encouraging support to pupils, including those with disabilities and special educational needs. They explain work, ask questions and help pupils improve their reading and calculation skills.  All teachers consistently follow the school’s marking policy. Work is marked thoroughly and pupils receive useful comments about how to improve. Pupils act on this advice because teachers give them time to do so. However, a small number of pupils repeat the same mistakes in mathematics because teachers’ comments are less effective and misunderstandings are not cleared up in a timely manner.  Parents support teachers and work with the school by helping their children with homework and the carefully managed reading schemes. This enables pupils to develop good reading habits at home. Parents

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

also receive advice about how to help younger children to improve their use of phonics.  Teaching is less effective for some of the higher level mathematics work. This is because activities do not support pupils to understand how their current knowledge of number and calculation can help them tackle the most complex problems. Consequently, some pupils lack confidence when they begin to attempt their work.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.  All pupils closely follow the school’s ‘Five Golden Rules’, which guide them to work hard, value learning, help each other, respect each other and live life as part of the school ‘family’. Pupils designed these rules for themselves, with their teachers’ help, and are highly committed to them.  Pupils give excellent service to their school and to each other. Most stand for eagerly contested elections Inspection report: Rickling Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, 7–8 October 2015 5 of 9 and serve on the council or as a member of another committee during their time at the school. These experiences help them to value parliamentary democracy, how laws are made and why these are important parts of their lives. As a result, they can recognise ideas which are undemocratic or extremist.  Staff look after all pupils extremely well to make sure they are safe, settled and happy. Parents say that

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Personal development and welfare

class teachers always communicate the slightest concerns to them. Parents are also extremely complimentary about the way the school has helped their children following any personal problems. Parents who spoke to the inspector said, ‘the teachers are the strength of this school in looking after our children’. Pupils who are new to the school are also helped to settle in very quickly and successfully.  Pupils feel totally safe and are very confident they will be helped if they report a problem of any sort for themselves or on behalf of a friend.  Pupils’ awareness of how to stay safe when using the internet, email and age-appropriate social media is exemplary. They are highly aware of the risks and can explain how to avoid them because of regular advice and reminders from teachers and leaders.  Pupils adopt healthy behaviours because physical fitness and healthy eating are promoted extremely well.

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Personal development and welfare

All pupils are very well coached in school sport and most belong to a club or team which competes outside of school in competitions. Parents are highly supportive of this work. Pupils also understand what makes a healthy diet, proudly grow their own vegetables on the school allotment and enjoy healthy meals for lunch.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.  Pupils’ attitudes in lessons are exemplary and they are highly motivated to succeed. They attach great value to learning and older pupils explain how they are now inspired by their education, especially their literacy abilities and much-improved skills in mathematics.  In lessons, pupils are highly confident learners because teachers help them understand what to do to succeed, and accept mistakes and challenges as part of learning. As a result, when work is new or more difficult, pupils do not give up easily. They use previous learning to solve problems, support each other or ask for help.  Pupils are extremely sensible when moving between classes, on the playground and in assembly.  Teachers have worked hard with pupils to achieve a respectful community where bullying is extremely rare. This is because pupils have been taught to recognise bullying in its different forms and discuss

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Behaviour

problems with their teachers, who act quickly should it occur.  Leaders and teachers communicate the importance of good attendance, and pupils and parents agree with them. Pupils attend regularly and punctually and attendance is firmly above the national average.

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are good

 Pupils join the Reception class with knowledge and skills which are below those typical for their age in reading, writing and mathematics, particularly boys. They make good progress and join Year 1 near to or ahead in these area and ready to make a successful start in Key Stage 1.  Pupils make good progress across all the year groups and in all subjects. This is shown in their current work, subject knowledge and skills, school assessment information and end of key stage test results.  Attainment at the end of Years 2 and 6 has improved quickly since the previous inspection and is now above average in reading, writing and mathematics. There are also more pupils working at higher levels of knowledge and skills in all three subjects than found nationally, in both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.  Leaders and teachers set demanding targets for all pupils. They meet regularly to discuss how well pupils

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are good

are doing and act quickly if any are at risk of falling behind. As a result of this work, and good teaching, the proportions of pupils who make or exceed age-expected progress in reading, writing and mathematics are higher than those found nationally.  Boys’ learning has improved in all subjects, especially reading and writing, and the gap between their progress and that made by girls has been firmly reduced. Inspection report: Rickling Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, 7–8 October 2015 6 of 9  Pupils’ progress in phonics (the sounds made by letters) is good. Those who need additional support to catch up in Years 2 and 3 are successful because of well-organised help, effective reading schemes, and supported from their parents.  The most-able pupils learn well in all subjects, especially reading and writing. In reading, they can quickly infer the meaning of a text and predict what is likely to happen next. Their writing skills are also very well

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are good

developed.  Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make good progress from their different starting points. Teachers and teaching assistants are effective at helping pupils because they set targets that are sufficiently demanding and help pupils to understand their work.  There are too few disadvantaged pupils currently at the school to make a meaningful comparison between their progress and attainment and that of their peers. However, the gap in attainment and progress between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils nationally and within the school was closing in 2013 and 2014.  Pupils make good progress in science, topic work and religious education. Across different subjects, their literacy skills are well developed, especially in work which requires them to express their point of view or persuade the reader. They are also able to apply their numeracy skills across different subjects. For

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are good

example, in science they organise information into tables and charts in order to show changes taking place when they record results from experiments.  Pupils’ arithmetic and calculation skills are good and they can apply them to problems. However, they are less confident when tackling new and more complex mathematics problems that require several steps to solve them.  In Year 1, some pupils are not making as much progress in reading as others across the school, and their phonics knowledge is not as good as it should be.

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Early years provision is good

 Children make good progress in the early years and are well prepared for Year 1. A large proportion enter the early years with literacy and numeracy skills below those typical for their age, especially boys. The proportion of children achieving a good level of development by the end of the Reception Years is above average and this represents good progress.  The provision is well led. Adults plan together, review the effectiveness of their work and have made changes to their arrangements for teaching so that children of different abilities make good progress and enjoy their learning.  Teaching is good. Staff are suitably skilled and know the children and their needs well. The new leader’s evaluation of children’s starting points is perceptive and accurate and progress and learning are recorded from the earliest point of entry into the school. Children have access to a well-arranged and interesting

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Early years provision is good

environment, indoors and outdoors, and the facilities are arranged well so that different activities take place effectively, covering all the required areas of learning. Children’s ‘Learning Journey’ books show strong evidence of thorough assessment and good progress.  Children are curious to learn and enjoy the activities provided. This is because their teacher and other adults regularly ask effective questions and encourage children to ask their own. During a phonics lesson, children practised saying their letters and sounds with the teacher, before taking part in different activities that encouraged them to apply and talk about what they had been taught. Children use their understanding of letters and sounds well in their early writing.  Behaviour is managed well and children feel safe. They quickly learn to work cooperatively with each other, take turns and share. Occasionally, children lose interest when they spend too long on one activity

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Early years provision is good

or their progress is not checked on by an adult.  The engagement of parents is high. Staff work closely with parents in order to keep them informed of their children’s progress. Teachers offer good support to parents so that they can practise early reading and number approaches at home with their children. Inspection report: Rickling Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, 7–8 October 2015 7 of 9

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School details

Unique reference number 115130 Local authority Essex Inspection number 10001920

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School details

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

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School details

School category Voluntary aided Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 93 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Rebecca Martin Headteacher Gillian Napier Telephone number 01799 543274 Website www.farnham.essex.sch.uk Email address admin@rickling.essex.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 12–13 September 2013

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Information about this school

 Rickling Church of England Primary School is much smaller than the average-sized primary school.  The school is part of the Federation of Farnham and Rickling Primary schools, which is led by an executive headteacher. Both schools share the same assistant headteacher and governing body.  The vast majority of pupils are of White British heritage and all pupils speak English as a first language.  There are no pupils for whom the school receives the pupil premium. This is additional funding for disadvantaged pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and children who are looked after.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is below average.  The leader of the Early Years Foundation Stage joined the school at the start of this term.  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 Year 6.

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Information about this school

Inspection report: Rickling Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, 7–8 October 2015 8 of 9

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed teaching and learning in eight lessons, four of which were jointly observed with the executive headteacher.  The inspector observed a school assembly on the first day of the inspection.  The inspector looked at work from pupils in each year group and listened to children read.  Meetings were held with the executive headteacher, assistant headteacher, subject leaders, a local authority adviser, the school improvement partner and governors.  The inspector met with 20 pupils from different year groups to discuss their experience at the school. He also discussed learning with pupils in all of the lessons he visited.  The inspector took into account the 58 responses to the online survey, Parent View, and the views of 12 staff who completed an Ofsted survey. He held informal discussions with 11 parents and also took account of a letter received from a parent.  The inspector looked at a range of school documents and information, including leaders’ and governors’

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Information about this inspection

views on how well pupils are doing, checks on the quality of teaching, curriculum plans, minutes of governors’ meetings and behaviour and attendance records. The inspector also looked at arrangements and records for safeguarding procedures and the performance management of staff.

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Inspection team

David Turner, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector guidance 'Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-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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Inspection team

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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Inspection team

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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Inspection team

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, further education and skills, 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. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Inspection team

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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

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