Grange Community Primary School

Grange Community Primary School Brindley Avenue, Winsford, Cheshire CW7 2EG

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

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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

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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This is a school that requires improvement

 The quality of teaching and outcomes are not yet good. Although now improving more quickly, the rate of improvement had slowed due to significant staff instability.  Progress is not yet consistently good throughout the school, particularly in writing. Pupils who have gaps in their learning are not making enough progress to ensure that they catch up quickly.  Teaching does not consistently provide sufficient challenge for pupils. As a result, the most-able pupils do not reach the levels of which they are capable.  Some teaching does not ensure that pupils’ knowledge is deepened and consolidated. This means that pupils’ understanding is not always secure enough to build on successfully.  Attainment, although improving, remains low. This is particularly the case for pupils in Years 4, 5 and 6. As a result, pupils are not fully prepared for the next stage of their education.

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The school has the following strengths

 The headteacher provides determined and passionate leadership. Her vision for excellence is shared with other leaders and staff.  The recently formed senior leadership team has brought about improvements to progress, particularly in Years 1 to 3.  The governing body is supportive and provides effective challenge to the headteacher.  The early years provision is well led and provides good-quality teaching.  Pupils behave well and are polite and well mannered. They feel safe in school and know how to keep themselves safe in different situations.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise the quality of teaching and improve outcomes for pupils particularly in writing, and with special regard to Years 4 to 6, by: ensuring that expectations for pupils’ progress are consistently high, so that progress accelerates and all pupils, including the most able, reach the standards of which they are capable ensuring that teaching consistently deepens and builds on pupils’ knowledge and understanding to provide firm foundations for future progress sharing the good teaching practice there is in school to further improve teaching skills.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 The headteacher shows passion and determination to provide the best-possible education for pupils. This passion is effectively communicated and shared with the recently established senior leadership team, the school’s middle leaders and staff.  Leaders show a strong commitment to improvement. The headteacher and two assistant deputy headteachers are well placed to carry the school forward. They have brought about improvements to the quality of teaching and progress, particularly in Years 1 to 3.  The leadership of teaching is well established and, since the last inspection, has been successful in eliminating the weakest teaching. The school’s staffing has been stable since September 2015. This stability and the impact of new staff appointments have improved progress for pupils throughout the school. However, leaders are aware that teaching is not yet strong enough to ensure that pupils make consistently strong progress, particularly in Years 4 to 6.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 Middle leadership has improved since the last inspection. Middle leaders have an accurate view of progress in their subject areas, and have clear plans in place to address gaps in learning. Leadership of literacy and mathematics has promoted an improvement in current progress, particularly in Years 1 to 3. The teaching of phonics (letters and the sounds they make) has improved since the last inspection and, as a result, pupils’ achievement in the end of Year 1 phonics screening check has gradually risen.  The curriculum is a strength of the school. It provides a vibrant and interesting range of activities which ensure that pupils are engaged in their learning. Interesting themes, such as Shakespeare’s plays or the Aztecs, include ‘wow’ questions such as ‘Macbeth: would you like to have been in his shoes?’ Pupils enjoy the range of after-school clubs such as netball, craft, chess and gymnastics.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted well and the school prepares pupils effectively for life in modern Britain by developing their tolerant attitudes. Pupils learn about different faiths and cultures. They consider moral issues and learn to respect the views of others through activities such as taking part in a debating competition with other schools.  Parents speak positively about the school. There were only a few responses to Parent View (Ofsted’s online questionnaire for parents). However, the large majority of those parents who responded were happy with the school and all would recommend it to other parents. The inspectors also spoke to parents in the playground before school. Nearly all were happy with the education their child receives, with some commenting positively about the school leadership, how well their children are looked after and how the school communicates with them well.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 Pupil premium funding (additional government funding) is used wisely. There are a wide range of tailored learning opportunities that support disadvantaged pupils and help them to make similar and sometimes better progress than other pupils in the school. There are good arrangements in place to ensure the well- being of more vulnerable pupils.  Leaders make effective use of sports funding. The use of expert coaches is having a positive effect in engaging pupils in sport, raising their confidence and building their self-esteem. Pupils appreciate the increase in number of sporting competitions such as hockey, athletics, netball and football.  The governance of the school Governors share a commitment and passion to provide the best-possible education for pupils. Governors are knowledgeable about the school and very supportive of the headteacher. Governors know about the quality of teaching and ensure that pay progression is only awarded where

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

performance meets targets. They have played an active part in the appointment of new staff, helping to establish the current stability. Governors provide effective challenge to the headteacher. They ask pertinent questions about the achievement of pupils, in particular those who may not be performing as well as others. Governors manage the school finances well and check that the funding for disadvantaged pupils is used effectively to support their progress.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective . Robust arrangements are in place to ensure that pupils are protected. All adults, governors and staff understand their role in keeping pupils safe, and what they need to do if they have concerns. These concerns are always followed up, and the school has the confidence of parents and pupils that all pupils will be kept safe. Staff child protection training is regularly updated, and staff have up-to-date knowledge of protecting pupils from the dangers of radicalisation and

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 Teaching does not yet ensure that pupils make consistently good progress. Although the quality of teaching has improved, expectations of pupils’ learning are not always high enough to ensure that pupils are challenged to make the progress of which they are capable.  Teaching does not always ensure that pupils’ knowledge is effectively deepened and secured. Opportunities are sometimes missed to reinforce strategies to help pupils retain what they have learned. For example, in mathematics, opportunities are sometimes missed to help those junior pupils who are still counting on their fingers to develop strategies for remembering their multiplication tables.  Staff provide interesting activities to promote pupils’ engagement in writing. A Key Stage 1 class enjoyed thinking of questions to ask about a suitcase which had mysteriously appeared in their classroom. However, the task did not provide challenge for most-able pupils, as some completed the writing task

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

easily and their learning was not extended further.  Where teaching is more effective, pupils’ learning is extended well and their progress is evident. For example in a Key Stage 2 computing lesson, most-able pupils were effectively challenged to work independently to create more advanced movements in a rainforest picture using hand-held devices.  Reading is improving as a result of increasingly effective teaching, and phonics is taught well. This is helping readers to gain confidence and fluency in reading.  Teachers use technology well to interest and engage pupils in their learning, for example using a device to enable the sharing of the work of the most-able pupils. This was effective as a stimulus for other pupils to develop their learning.  The school’s marking policy is effectively implemented throughout the school. Pupils know what they need to do to make their work better and this helps to promote better progress.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 Teaching assistants work well in partnership with teachers to develop learning. They provide effective support to individuals and small groups.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  Pupils have positive attitudes towards their work. They display care and consideration for each other, and respectful attitudes towards staff.  Pupils are proud of their roles as school council members, eco-council members, playground leaders and buddies. Those elected to the school council are confident that they are helping to improve the school, for example through providing more equipment for the playground.  Pupils feel safe in school. The school works well with, for example, the police and fire service to develop pupils’ understanding of safety. Pupils understand how to keep themselves safe when using the internet. They know about different forms of bullying, including bullying using racist or homophobic language, but say that bullying in school is rare and any incidents that occur are quickly dealt with by members of staff.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils behave well in lessons and around the school. They are polite and welcoming to visitors.  School leaders closely monitor pupils’ behaviour, and this helps to bring about improvements and ensure that good behaviour is maintained. Pupils learn to manage their own behaviour; for example, pupils who misbehave reflect in writing on their choices and future actions.  Pupils engage well with their lesson time and this has a positive impact on their progress. Occasionally, where learning does not provide enough challenge, pupils lose interest and become distracted.  Attendance is improving and is close to the national average. The school has reduced the number of pupils who are persistently absent by working closely with their families.

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

 In the national tests and assessments in 2015, standards at the end of Year 2 and Year 6 were well below average in reading, writing and mathematics. As a result, pupils were not well prepared for the next stage of their education.  Although most pupils make expected progress, over time the proportion making more than expected progress from their different starting points is below the national average. Since the last inspection, the proportion of pupils making expected progress has increased to be in line with national averages. Current progress is now improving, and an increasing number of pupils are making more than the expected amount of progress.  Gaps in learning remain, particularly in Years 4, 5 and 6, as a result of less-effective teaching in the past. Leaders are putting into place strategies to address these gaps, such as teaching sessions focused on basic skills. As a result, progress is increasing but is not yet fast to enough to ensure that pupils make up

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

lost ground and achieve well. Attainment in writing remains weaker than in other areas.  Since the school was last inspected, the proportion of pupils attaining the higher levels at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 have been low. However, due to improvements in teaching, a higher proportion of pupils currently in Year 2 are on track to reach the standards of which they are capable. Few pupils are on track to achieve higher standards by the end of Year 6, as pupils are still making up for slow progress in the past and teaching does not consistently provide sufficient challenge to extend learning.  Disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs or disability make similar progress to other pupils in the school. The gap between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and others nationally is closing, particularly in reading and writing. Disadvantaged pupils outperformed other pupils nationally in the 2015 Year 1 phonics check.

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Early years provision is good

 The early years provision is good because the quality of teaching is good. Children’s learning is promoted well and children make good progress from their starting points. Although outcomes have not been consistently good since the last inspection, currently children are achieving well and are becoming well prepared for the transfer to Year 1.  Children enter the early years with starting points that are below those expected for their age, particularly in communication and language. Outcomes since the last inspection rose from only 7% achieving a good level of development in 2013, to 50% achieving this level in 2014. In 2015, this dipped again to 33%. However, this cohort of children joined school with a particularly low level of skills and knowledge and more than half of the class had involvement with external agencies supporting their welfare and learning. The current cohort are making good progress and most are at the levels expected for their age. They are

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Early years provision is good

on target to attain well by the end of the early years.  Children in Reception class are confident and fully engaged in their learning. They happily choose their own activities and show good levels of concentration as they play with hand-held devices, make models from dough and engage in role play. Children in Nursery class also demonstrated increasing levels of concentration when they sustained a role-play ‘doctors and patients’ game. A small group patiently took turns in a letter-recognition game.  Children show a keen interest in numbers, such as when as they were observed enthusiastically finding out how many more marbles they would need to put into a number ‘machine’ to make 10. They showed confidence in recording their answers. Staff questioned children well to develop their thinking about how many more they would need.  Children make good progress in learning about phonics (letters and the sounds they make). In Nursery,

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Early years provision is good

children respond well to a game where they identify the initial-letter sounds of objects. Most-able children learn to put three letters together to make some words.  Staff establish positive relationships with children. This helps to build their confidence and self-esteem. Children happily cooperate together and develop care and consideration for each other; for example, children in Reception class voluntarily make ‘birthday cakes’ for each other out of play-dough.  Children display a strong sense of security. Staff ensure that children are kept safe and that they learn to move safely around the rooms and outdoors.  Staff have clear expectations for children’s good behaviour. Children are familiar with the routines of early years and this helps them to feel secure and settled.  Children show an enthusiasm for mark making, and some show confidence in writing a simple sentence.  The early years is well led. New initiatives such as a programme to improve children’s speaking and

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Early years provision is good

writing skills, and another to improve numeracy skills, have had a positive impact this year on children’s progress and attainment.  Parents are encouraged to share observations of their children’s learning and to support their children’s learning at home. This helps to ensure children’s good progress.

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School details

Unique reference number 111048 Local authority Cheshire West and Chester Inspection number 10002272

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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

Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 195 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Emma Healey Headteacher Hazel Palmer Telephone number 01606288010 Website www.grange-pri.cheshire.sch.uk Email address head@winsfordgrange.school.cheshire.org.uk Date of previous inspection 25–26 January 2012

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Information about this school

 This is a smaller than average primary school.  The large majority of pupils are of White British heritage.  The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is below the national average.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils eligible for the pupil premium is well above the national average. Pupil premium is the additional government funding used to support pupils who are eligible for free school meals or who are looked after by the local authority.  The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs or disability is above average.  In 2015, the school met the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  The school provides a breakfast club for pupils.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed teaching and learning throughout the school. One observation was carried out jointly with the headteacher. In addition, inspectors scrutinised pupils’ workbooks and listened to them read.  Meetings were held with pupils, all members of the governing body, the headteacher and other senior leaders. The inspectors also held a meeting with a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors looked at a range of information produced by the school, including information on pupils’ progress and attainment, behaviour and attendance, procedures for safeguarding and the school’s own evaluation of its work. They considered reports to the governing body, minutes of their meetings and the school’s plans for further improvement.  Inspectors considered the 11 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, and the eight parents who expressed their views via text message to Ofsted. Inspectors also took into account responses to a

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Information about this inspection

questionnaire conducted by the school and spoke to parents during the inspection.  Inspectors took account of the seven responses to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire. There were no responses to the online pupils’ questionnaire to consider.

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Inspection team

Elaine White, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector David Woodhouse 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

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Inspection team

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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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