Coldfair Green Community Primary School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Mrs Amanda Fewkes Headteacher Coldfair Green Community Primary School Judith Avenue Knodishall Saxmundham Suffolk IP17 1UY

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Short inspection of Coldfair Green Community Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 26 April 2016, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in June 2011.

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Short inspection of Coldfair Green Community Primary School

When you took up your position in September 2015, you faced a challenging situation. A high proportion of staff who had been at the school for a number of years had left or were absent on maternity leave. This has meant that the vast majority of staff, like you, are new to the school. Faced with this challenge, you have quickly re-established the strong sense of teamwork for which the school has been known and which was commented on in the last inspection report. You have tackled a number of difficult issues, such as staff recruitment and budgetary issues, and have done so successfully and with true grit and determination. Consequently, this period of change has not had a sustained detrimental effect on the quality of teaching and learning in the school.

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Short inspection of Coldfair Green Community Primary School

At the same time, together with your new team, you have swiftly identified what needs to be done and put in place plans to secure further improvements. Your improvement plan is detailed and is updated on an almost daily basis with steps taken to secure further improvements. One example is the work done to improve the teaching of phonics. This has been successful and the proportion of pupils on track to meet the standard expected in the Year 1 phonics check is set to rise. You have improved the quality of teaching and learning, visiting classes regularly, identifying strengths and weaknesses and providing helpful feedback to teachers. You have made clear to all staff your high expectations and that your aim is to ensure the school works towards delivering outstanding teaching and learning. Your enthusiasm and positive attitude is shared by staff. There is a strong commitment to support and improvement, both for those staff who are new to the profession

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Short inspection of Coldfair Green Community Primary School

and for those who are more experienced. This is creating a learning culture which is supporting the school’s further improvement.

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Short inspection of Coldfair Green Community Primary School

You and your governors are ambitious and determined that every child will succeed, and have set teachers’ performance targets accordingly. Governors ask detailed and challenging questions of you, for example regarding the progress and achievement of different groups of pupils. They use their skills to good effect, and ensure that a good balance of care for individuals and high expectations is maintained. Governors’ regular visits to the school enable them to gather first-hand information about the school to use together with pupil assessment information and your reports to them, to ensure that the school continues to improve.

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Short inspection of Coldfair Green Community Primary School

Pupils spoken to during the inspection said that they really enjoy their learning at Coldfair Green because teachers make it fun. One boy cited an example of ‘snappy starters’ for mathematics lessons as something he greatly enjoys. Another pupil spoke with enthusiasm about literacy work centred on novels which inspire and engage them so that lessons are more interesting. They talk about the school as a very friendly place. One pupil who joined the school in September said that she felt nervous on day one, but after that was happy because everyone was so kind and welcoming.

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Short inspection of Coldfair Green Community Primary School

Safeguarding has a high priority at Coldfair Green School. Meticulous checks are carried out and recorded when recruiting staff to ensure that children are kept safe. You check these records regularly to ensure that all statutory requirements are being met. Pupil records for those for whom the school has concerns demonstrate how seriously all staff take pupils’ welfare and safety. Concerns are recorded appropriately and are followed up rigorously by you with external agencies. The school does not accept decisions, for example to close cases, when they do not have confidence that pupils are safe. Instead you insist that further action is taken. Staff training is all up to date and staff know what they need to do if they have a concern about a child. Staff have received training in the ‘Prevent’ duty and are given up-to-date information when new advice is provided in relation to safeguarding. As a result, pupils are kept safe in school.

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Short inspection of Coldfair Green Community Primary School

The vast majority of parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire agreed that their child was safe in school. Pupils told inspectors that they feel safe in school and that they would tell a trusted adult in school if they had any concerns or worries. The school has ensured that pupils understand about how to keep themselves safe when using technology such as the internet and mobile phones, and the school has established ‘digital leaders’. These are pupils to whom others can speak if they encounter something online that they are concerned about.

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Inspection findings

 The previous inspection report identified the need to raise achievement in mathematics. As a result of this and the introduction of the new national curriculum, the school has reviewed and developed its practice in mathematics. There is a greater emphasis on pupils applying their mathematical skills to solving problems. The school is developing its mastery curriculum in response to the new national curriculum for mathematics and is taking time to customise this to Coldfair Green School so that it is precisely right for pupils in the school.  In Year 6 there is particularly strong evidence of pupils developing their reasoning skills and using mathematical language accurately. Pupils are given the opportunity to make choices about their work and to select tasks at differing levels of challenge. This is encouraging them to reflect more closely on their own understanding of concepts in mathematics and to recognise if they require

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Inspection findings

additional support or challenge.  The ‘maths gang’ is an initiative by the cluster of schools to which Coldfair Green belongs, enabling teachers to explore best practice further by visiting other schools. As a result mathematics standards are rising and progress in mathematics is good.  In the early years, progress in mathematics is not as evident. Here teachers correct children’s errors, such as number reversals, but children do not use this and so repeat the same errors again.  Feedback throughout the rest of the school is used well to further learning because pupils use this feedback well. They respond to comments and use them to further improve their work.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development remains a strength of the school. Pupils have a strong sense of right and wrong. Pupils spoken to during the inspection recognise that everyone is different and everyone is important.

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Inspection findings

 Pupils are given good opportunities to develop an understanding of values, including British values. For example, they said they had recently been learning about tolerance in assembly and what this means in school and the wider world.  The broad curriculum provides opportunities to learn about other faiths such as Buddhism, and other cultures. For example, as part of a topic on Mayan civilisation, pupils also learned about chocolate production and issues relating to this in developing countries.  Pupils behave well and the school is a calm and orderly environment. The small number of pupils with behavioural difficulties are managed well and do not disrupt the learning of others. Pupils told inspectors that bullying was very rare and that any behaviour incidents were dealt with well by adults. Pupils know the sanctions and rewards for behaviour and say they are effective.  Attendance has improved because leaders have rigorously tracked each pupil’s

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Inspection findings

attendance and followed up absences with parents. You have taken time to meet with parents whose children are often absent and worked to identify reasons for non-attendance. A strong message has been sent out regarding the unacceptability of term-time holidays. However, the attendance of some pupils who are disadvantaged or who have special educational needs or disability, while this group is very small in number, is below that of others.  Pupil achievement and progress in English and mathematics is good and in some classes achievement in science is also strong. Pupils achieve well because teachers plan lessons which meet pupils’ needs.  In some subjects such as geography, achievement is not as strong because teachers’ expectations in these subjects are not always as high as in English and mathematics.  The majority of disadvantaged pupils progress as well as, or better than, their peers. They are well supported in class and through additional interventions.

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Inspection findings

Leaders are quick to identify where pupils require additional support and use the funding provided for disadvantaged pupils to provide this. However, a very small number of these pupils do not make rapid enough progress because they are absent too frequently.  Pupils who have special educational needs or disability also make good progress because support provided for these pupils is carefully planned. The new team who check provision for this group of pupils have identified further improvements. They have clear plans in place to ensure that pupils who have special educational needs or disability develop greater independence in their learning.  The most-able pupils also make good progress, although occasionally they are not given sufficient challenge and opportunities to deepen their understanding and skills.  Some pupils in parallel classes, for example in Year 1, are not making equally rapid progress. This is because teachers in these classes do not have equally

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Inspection findings

high expectations of what pupils can achieve.  The majority of parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire were very positive about the school, and this has also been the case in surveys carried out by the school. However, a proportion of parents who responded were more critical of aspects of the school, including the information they receive about their child’s progress and the leadership and management of the school. This is because governors have not done enough to ensure that parents understand the changes that have taken place in the school and the reasons for them.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 they track the attendance of groups of pupils and use this information to identify barriers to learning so that the progress of these pupils improves even more  the good teaching in English and mathematics is consistently evident in other subjects so that achievement in foundation subjects is as high as it is in English and mathematics  teachers in parallel classes have equally high expectations of what pupils are capable of to ensure that they all achieve well enough  parents are provided with better information regarding changes that take place and the progress that their children are making at school.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, meetings were held with you, your leader for literacy and two members of the special educational needs team. I also met with two governors and spoke to pupils. I scrutinised a range of school documents, including information about safeguarding, school development planning and governor minutes. I observed teaching in all classes, and pupils’ work was evaluated.

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