Old Stratford Primary School

Old Stratford Primary School Willow Grove, Old Stratford, Northamptonshire MK19 6AZ Inspection dates 2–3 February 2016

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Early years provision Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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This is a school that requires improvement

 Leaders and governors have not communicated their vision for the school to all parents and staff. As a result, some staff and parents do not understand the improvements that need to be made.  Leaders introduced a new assessment system in September 2015; consequently, judgements are developing but are not yet consistently accurate. This has made it difficult, in the short term, for leaders and governors to track pupils’ progress effectively.  Some subject leaders do not have a good enough understanding of how well their subjects are taught across the school.  Standards in writing fell in 2015 because too few pupils made more than expected progress over Key Stage 2.  Teaching is inconsistent and expectations of what pupils can achieve in writing are not high enough.  Teachers have not sufficiently developed opportunities for pupils to learn about British values through a range of subjects.  The early years staff team have not made the

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This is a school that requires improvement

most of the learning environment and their use of assessment is underdeveloped.

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The school has the following strengths

 The new headteacher has an accurate view of the school’s effectiveness. She has a good understanding of what needs to be improved and she has already started to take effective action.  Governors have worked effectively with the new headteacher and the local authority to update their evaluation of the school.  Governors and the headteacher have devised a school development plan that addresses all the areas for improvement.  Attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics at Key Stage 1 are good.  Attainment and progress in reading and mathematics at Key Stage 2 are good.  Disadvantaged pupils make good progress and attain standards at or above the national average for other pupils.  Pupils’ behaviour is good; they play well together and do as teachers ask. They enjoy coming to school and attendance is good.  Staff care for the pupils well; they keep the pupils safe and teach them how to stay safe online and

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve leadership and management by ensuring that: communication with parents and staff is clear and timely governors fulfil their statutory duty to meet the requirements for the school website the quality of subject leadership is consistently good the learning of British values takes place across the full range of subjects.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching so that it is consistently good by ensuring that: teachers have high expectations of all pupils teachers’ assessments are accurate and they use them when planning what they are going to teach.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that leaders and governors increase the number of pupils making good progress in writing in Key Stage 2 by: improving teaching to that of the best making sure that teachers consistently follow the school’s marking and feedback policy, especially when setting pupils’ next steps for learning.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the provision in early years by developing: the use of assessment information the outdoor learning environment to provide a wide range of learning opportunities across the whole early years curriculum.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders and governors have high expectations and are ambitious for the school. However, they have not effectively conveyed their vision to all staff and parents. Consequently, a small minority of parents and staff do not understand the need for some improvements.  Communication is not as effective as it ought to be and a small minority of parents and staff are dissatisfied with this.  The new headteacher, governors and the local authority representative have a comprehensive and accurate view of the school. They have correctly identified the areas that need to be improved.  The headteacher has provided governors with a robust, detailed school development plan that clearly sets out the improvements to be made and the deadlines to be met. Leaders have included a range of professional development opportunities for staff in the school development plan and there are effective links between priorities set out in the plan and teachers’ performance management objectives.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

 The new headteacher took prompt action and introduced an assessment system to meet the needs of the new curriculum in September 2015. However, it is not yet fully implemented by teachers and teachers’ assessments are not yet consistently accurate. As a result, internal pupil tracking information, in the short term, is not reliable and does not, on its own, provide leaders and governors with an accurate view of pupils’ progress. Leaders have planned training and moderation with the aim that they will get a more accurate view once teachers become more confident in their judgements.  The extent to which teachers use and apply the school’s marking and feedback policy is inconsistent. For example, pupils are not always clear about their next steps in learning.  Overall, the role of the subject leader has been insufficiently developed. Consequently they do not all have a comprehensive overview of their subjects across the school. They are unable consistently to

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

identify strengths to be shared with colleagues or gaps in provision that need improving.  The curriculum is broad and balanced. Leaders and teachers provide pupils with a range of activities that enrich the curriculum, including drama productions, dance, music clubs, residential trips and sports such as basketball, football, karate and netball. Pupils in Years 3 and 4 spoke enthusiastically and knowledgably to inspectors about all they were learning during their ‘Roman’ day.  The school’s promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development requires improvement. Teachers teach pupils about other cultures, religions and beliefs in religious education lessons but provide limited opportunities for pupils to develop this learning in other subjects. The new headteacher has ensured the promotion of British values through whole-school assemblies and, as a result, pupils speak confidently and knowledgeably about them. For example, pupils were able to describe the democratic

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

process and how this is embodied in school by the election of pupils to positions of responsibility such as the school council. Consequently, pupils are being prepared for life in modern Britain.  Leaders have used additional sports funding effectively to support the provision of extra-curricular sport and to provide specialist coaches such as for tag rugby. However, leaders have not evaluated the impact of the funding in terms of increased participation by pupils or through opportunities to take part in a wider range of sports.  Leaders have made good use of the pupil premium funding and as a result, disadvantaged pupils make good progress.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school Governors have improved their understanding of the quality of education provided by the school. Those governors who participated in the recent review with the headteacher and the local authority have a good understanding of the school, including what needs to be improved. Governors give priority to improving the performance of disadvantaged pupils and know the strategies leaders have employed to raise standards. Consequently, disadvantaged pupils make good progress. Governors have not enabled the school to ensure that the school website is kept up to date and that it includes all the necessary information. This has had a detrimental impact on communication and some parents’ overall view of the leadership of the school. The governing body has a good understanding of performance management and its role in it. Governors managed the new headteacher’s performance management well and have provided her

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

with support in her first six months at the school. The governing body maintains appropriate oversight of the management of the performance of staff and whether they should be awarded a pay rise.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Both pupils and parents told inspectors that pupils are safe in school. The designated safeguarding leads provide effective leadership and management. Staff have received training and understand their roles; they know what to look for, how to report it to the safeguarding lead and how to record their observations and involvement. The headteacher, who is responsible for overseeing safeguarding, is effective and robust in her dealings with external agencies.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 Teaching is inconsistent across subjects and the school. Where teaching is weaker, teachers have gaps in their subject knowledge, their expectations of some pupils are too low and some pupils are not sufficiently challenged or well supported. Consequently, too few pupils make more than expected progress in writing.  Assessment is also inconsistent. The headteacher introduced a new assessment system in September 2015 to reflect the new curriculum. However, teachers use it inconsistently and some teachers are still referring to the old National Curriculum levels in their planning. As a result, teachers do not always have high enough expectations of the pupils and pupils do not make as much progress as they should.  In those classes and subjects where teaching is stronger, teachers have high expectations of pupils and good subject knowledge, use questioning to good effect, and provide good guidance for learning and

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

effective support. Consequently, pupils make good progress.  Reading is taught effectively at Key Stage 1 and pupils attain above the national figure in the phonics checks in Years 1 and 2.  Teachers have established calm, purposeful classrooms and pupils settle to their learning well. Time is used effectively and pupils focus on their learning because their teachers clearly set out what they need to do in each lesson.  Pupils understand the three different levels of challenge in each lesson and appreciate the opportunity to select their own task. They appreciate the support they receive from teachers and support assistants.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  Pupils are confident and engaged inspectors in conversation keenly. They look out for one another and are respectful towards each other, listening carefully and not talking over one another.  Pupils and parents recognise the support school staff provide pupils in their learning. Pupils confidently explain how targets, marking and the three challenge levels help them to learn how to be a successful learner.  School staff care for pupils well. Pupils could explain to inspectors how school staff keep them safe and how they were taught to stay safe through initiatives such as ‘stranger danger’ or lessons on e-safety.  Pupils agree that bullying is rare but that when it does occur, pupils, parents and staff are all confident that it is dealt with promptly.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  The behaviour of pupils around school and at breaktimes is good. Pupils and staff expressed no concerns about behaviour; the overwhelming majority of parents who completed Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, agreed that the school makes sure its pupils are well behaved.  Pupils are proud of their school. The school is an orderly learning environment and pupils are obliging. Pupils’ attitudes to learning are positive, both when they are taught in groups and as a whole class. They respond promptly to staff directions and requests and lessons proceed with few interruptions.  Pupils are friendly and engaging, happy to talk, polite and respectful. Pupils conduct themselves well and are considerate of each other. They move around school sensibly and play well with each other at breaktimes and lunchtime. Pupils enjoy the wide range of play opportunities provided in the well-

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Behaviour

resourced outdoor space and the variety of equipment available at breaktimes.  Pupils enjoy coming to school. Attendance is good. School leaders know the small proportion of families who struggle to get their children to school regularly and are working with them to improve attendance.

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

 The attainment of pupils in writing has declined at Key Stage 2 from well above the national average in 2013 to below average in 2015. Pupils have not made good progress in writing, particularly girls and the most able.  Pupils make good progress in reading and mathematics over Key Stage 2. Consequently, standards of attainment were above average in reading and mathematics by the end of Key Stage 2 in 2015.  Pupils currently at the school are making good progress in reading and mathematics but too few are making more than expected progress in writing.  Despite a decline in attainment in 2015, standards in Key Stage 1 remain above the national average. Overall attainment has been above average for the past three years in reading, writing and mathematics. Attainment was well above the national average in 2015 in writing and mathematics.  All the pupils attained the expected standard in phonics in 2015. This was above the national average.

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

Pupils read widely and often, including to their parents.  Disadvantaged pupils make good progress and attain at least in line with the national average for other pupils by the end of Key Stage 2.  The small number of pupils with special educational needs make good progress from their different starting points.

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Early years provision requires improvement

 The headteacher, with the local authority, has an accurate view of the standard of provision in the early years. They know what needs to be done to improve provision and have begun to take effective action.  The school baseline assessments show that children start Reception class in line with what is typically expected for children of their age. In 2015, the proportion of children attaining a good level of development was above the national average.  Leaders and teachers have not ensured that accurate and comprehensive assessments are undertaken and recorded on a regular basis. Teachers and leaders do not use the online assessment recording and analysis system effectively. As a result, teachers’ expectations of the children are not high enough and learning activities do not always meet the needs of the children.  Children’s learning is limited by the outdoor learning environment, which restricts their learning

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Early years provision requires improvement

opportunities to sand, water and climbing. This in turn has a detrimental impact upon other areas of learning such as writing.  Early years leaders and teachers have not enabled parents to be fully involved in their children’s education and there is little evidence in the children’s ‘learning journals’ that parents are involved in their child’s learning.  The behaviour of children is good. Children are cooperative, take turns and share resources. They were keen to talk to inspectors and told one inspector all about their shells and how they came from the seaside. Teachers and support assistants work hard to help children to settle into the school.  Safeguarding in the early years is effective.

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School details

Unique reference number 121892 Local authority Northamptonshire Inspection number 10001179

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Maintained Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 201 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Paula Simpson Headteacher Sasha Lees Telephone number 01908 267700 Website www.oldstratfordschool.org.uk Email address bursar@oldstratford.northants-ecl.gov.uk Date of previous inspection 8–9 February 2011

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Information about this school

 This school is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  Children in Reception attend full time.  The proportion of pupils with special educational needs or disability is below average.  The large majority of pupils are from White British backgrounds.  The proportion of pupils for whom the school receives pupil premium funding (additional government funding for pupils who are eligible for free school meals or who are looked after by the local authority) is above average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress by the end of Year 6.  A new headteacher took up her post in September 2015.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed 15 lessons or parts of lessons taught by seven teachers.  The inspectors looked at pupils’ books, listened to pupils read and talked to them about their work and school.  The inspectors met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, the Key Stage 1 leader and members of the governing body.  The inspectors also met with the early years leader, who is also the coordinator for special education needs, and subject leaders and teachers.  The lead inspector spoke with a representative of the local authority.  Parents' views were taken into account, including 27 responses to the online Ofsted questionnaire, Parent View.  The inspectors listened to the views of staff and evaluated the 16 staff questionnaires that were received.  The inspectors looked at a range of documentation, including: information about safeguarding; school policies including complaints; the school’s self-evaluation and improvement plans; the most recent

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Information about this inspection

information on pupils’ achievement; pupils’ records; and information relating to teaching, behaviour and attendance.

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Inspection team

Derek Myers, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Karen Slack Ofsted Inspector Fiona Parr 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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