St Anne's Church of England Primary School

St Anne’s Church of England Primary School, Edgeside Ashworth Road, Waterfoot, Rossendale, Lancashire BB4 9JE

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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

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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This is a school that requires improvement

 The quality of teaching is not good enough to ensure that pupils across the school make consistently good progress and reach the standards expected of them.  The most able pupils are not being stretched enough academically.  Too much of the work in pupils’ books is incomplete, of a low standard, or poorly presented. Teachers are not rigorous in demanding improvements.  In key stage 1, standards have been too low for too long. Improvements in key stage 2 have not been consistent.  Senior leaders have not been rigorous in comparing the school’s performance to that of other schools nationally. As a result, the school’s self-evaluation is overly positive.  The school development plan does not focus sufficiently on the main weaknesses in the school. It lacks clear targets for improvement and measures to check how well the school is progressing towards achieving those targets.  The governors have not been sufficiently rigorous

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This is a school that requires improvement

in identifying the underperformance in the school and questioning the reasons for it.

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The school has the following strengths

 Provision in the early years is good.  The curriculum is rich and varied, with strong provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  Pupils behave well around the school. They relate well to each other and to adults.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching and raise achievement so that they are consistently good by ensuring that: – teachers have the highest expectations of every pupil – the most able pupils are provided with work that challenges them – teachers do not accept work that is incomplete, poorly presented or limited in length and content.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve leadership and management by: – ensuring that the school’s self-evaluation focuses on its weaknesses as well as its strengths, and that the school development plan focuses clearly on eradicating those weaknesses within a clearly defined timescale – ensuring that the school’s policies are implemented consistently – ensuring that all governors have the skills to be able to analyse the school’s performance rigorously and hold senior leaders to account.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of governance should be undertaken to assess how his aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

 The headteacher approaches her work with passion and determination. Since her appointment two years ago, she has made significant changes to the school. Among these are the upgrading of the building and the playground to ensure that pupils are able to work and play in a clean, safe, attractive and stimulating environment. She has ensured that children and pupils of all ages have access to a wide range of technologies to support their learning. She has also established an impressive range of extra-curricular activities, with pupils being able to take part in a club on four nights a week at no charge. Under her leadership, the school has gained a number of awards. The headteacher has taken robust action to tackle some major weaknesses in teaching and has established a new senior leadership team that has been in operation since the beginning of the academic year. The leaders are rightly proud of these

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

developments. However, during this period of change, the school’s results have not kept pace with improvements nationally and now urgently require improvement.  Hitherto, senior leaders have paid insufficient attention to attainment. Individual pupils might make a considerable amount of progress from the time they enter the school to the end of key stage 1. However, if by that time they are still significantly below the national average, they are not sufficiently well prepared for the next stage of their education. In setting targets for pupils, leaders have not ensured that these are sufficiently high to compensate for earlier underperformance. Therefore, although pupils are making progress, it is not fast enough to ensure that pupils achieve well enough and that their results are comparable with those achieved by pupils across the country. Too narrow a focus on developments within the school and insufficient comparison with the national picture mean that leaders’

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

self-evaluation is too generous in its conclusions.  The priorities in the school development plan do not focus sufficiently closely on the weaknesses indicated in the performance information on the school. Although mathematics has been identified as an area for development, it will not become a priority until next year. There is rightly a focus on improving spelling, punctuation and grammar, but there are other aspects of writing which also need to be tackled if results are to rise, such as handwriting and the development of vocabulary and varied sentence constructions. These are not being tackled. The development plan lacks clear, quantifiable targets to indicate precisely what impact on learning the school is aiming to achieve and measures of how well it is progressing towards that goal.  The provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is a strength of the school. The

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

curriculum is broad and balanced, with each subject being overseen by a specific member of staff who is responsible for monitoring its implementation termly and for providing a report to governors. The monitoring reports identify areas for improvements. However, there tends to be a considerable lapse of time before the subject leader can check on whether the required improvements have been implemented and therefore ensure rapid improvement. Leaders are not monitoring the implementation of policies for pupils’ writing and teachers’ feedback sufficiently rigorously. As a result, these are not being implemented consistently.  The primary sports funding has been used effectively to provide pupils with opportunities to take part in a wide range of competitive and non-competitive activities, including gymnastics, running, football, karate, cricket and basketball. These are proving popular with the pupils and are helping them to keep

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

fit. All pupils in key stage 2 receive swimming lessons for half a term each year. Physical education is timetabled for all pupils and sports coaches provide additional training. With a grant from Sport England, the school now has an impressive new sports facility.  The additional pupil premium funding is used appropriately to support disadvantaged pupils.  There are clear procedures for managing teachers’ performance, with each teacher being given specific targets for ensuring the progress of pupils in their classes. Relevant areas for improvement are identified. However, these targets are not driven by whole-school targets because those are not clearly defined in the school development plan.  The great majority of the parents who spoke to the lead inspector were happy with the school. Of the 34 parents who responded to the online questionnaire, just over a third would not recommend the school to others; approximately a quarter were not happy with the teaching and the progress that

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

their children made; and a significant minority were dissatisfied with how the school deals with bullying.  Through a service level agreement with the local authority, the school has received a range of relevant advice, support and training. The work of the attendance officers has been particularly effective in helping the school to improve attendance and reduce the levels of persistent absence.  The governance of the school – The governing body operates through three main committees. Most members of the governing body have been appointed recently. The governors bring a range of expertise and experiences to the school and have sought training to extend their expertise further. – There is no evidence of governors having conducted a detailed examination of the performance information on the school and using this to hold the school to account for the standards achieved. They have relied very heavily on the headteacher to produce the school’s self-evaluation and

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

development plan, and have made limited direct contribution to it. – Each governor is linked to a particular subject or aspect of the curriculum and governors receive regular reports on developments in each of those areas. It is unclear what training the governors have received to enable them to analyse and challenge those reports. – The governors have appropriate measures in place for managing the headteacher’s performance and have supported her in making difficult decisions in relation to staffing and the leadership structure. They have managed resources carefully to allow for the major, positive changes to the fabric and resources in the school. – The governors have ensured that the additional pupil premium and primary sports funding has been used to enhance provision in the school. However, the lack of specific targets in the reports makes it difficult to determine what the school’s aims in these areas are and to what extent they have been

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

achieved.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. There are rigorous systems for checking on the suitability of adults to work with children. The child protection policy is very detailed and provides advice on a range of relevant issues, including radicalisation and sexual exploitation. The headteacher and assistant headteacher have recently attended a course which included a focus on female genital mutilation and forced marriage. The headteacher has also attended a course on combatting terrorism. This training is being disseminated to the rest of the staff. The website provides useful advice to parents on how to keep their children safe when using the internet and social media. The pupils who spoke to the lead inspector were very clear about how to keep themselves safe. The school has clear health and safety policies. Care is taken to ensure that parking outside the school does not endanger pupils and

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

access to the two sites is carefully regulated. The school works closely with external agencies to provide support for the families of children who are potentially vulnerable.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 Since the last inspection, the senior leaders have produced a helpful teaching and learning policy which establishes clear principles for developing a learning culture in the school. The teachers plan their work within the school’s curriculum framework.  Leaders make good use of the wide range of resources available to them. For example, during the inspection, the pupils were very confident in using online materials to practise and develop their skills in relating letters to the sounds that they make (phonics).  Most pupils approach their work with enthusiasm and concentration. This was particularly evident in French, where the pupils enjoyed a ‘stand up bingo’ game, where individuals of all abilities showed themselves to be adept at identifying the French names for numbers up to 100. They clearly enjoyed the activity and were able to apply the knowledge that they had acquired over time.  The quality of teachers’ questioning is variable. Sometimes teachers use skilful questioning which helps

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

pupils build on their existing knowledge and extend it further. On other occasions, teachers rely on responses volunteered by the pupils, rather than directing them at particular individuals to check on their understanding and to ensure that they are fully engaged. In mixed-aged classes, the questions are not adapted to the varying abilities and stages of development of pupils and therefore do help them extend their knowledge and understanding. When pupils are asked to work out an answer with a partner, there is insufficient follow-up to check whether those answers are correct. In a mathematics lesson, for example, this resulted in some children not understanding the difference between a ratio and a fraction and therefore struggling to do the independent work that was later required of them.  Teachers do not apply the school’s marking policy consistently. Incorrectly formed letters and numbers and poorly presented work attract little or no comment. Pupils are not given sufficient opportunities to

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

write at length or to develop a wide range of vocabulary and grammatical constructions. They are not being challenged consistently and are therefore not making sufficient progress. The most able pupils are not being stretched enough.  The school has clear assessment processes, based on the local authority’s scheme, which links directly to the requirements of the national curriculum. Individual teachers’ assessments for each subject are checked by the subject coordinators, using a variety of approaches, including scrutiny of books, lesson observations, interviews with pupils and an examination of the learning environment. The coordinators then produce reports for the senior leaders and governors. Following these checks, specific actions for improvement are agreed with the teachers. However, revisits to establish on whether these improvements have been put in place do not take place until a considerable time later. Therefore, the

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

pace of improvement is not as great as it might be. In some classes, teachers’ assessments of pupils’ writing are not accurate.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  All the pupils who spoke to the lead inspector said that they liked coming to school and that they felt safe there and also when travelling to and from school. They all knew whom to go to if they were worried about something and were confident that they would receive the help they needed. They knew how to keep themselves safe when using the internet and social media, and were very proud to show the inspector the posters that they had produced recently to advise others on how to use such technologies responsibly. Pupils are taught to use email safely.  As a result of the cycling safety classes, first aid lessons and the termly swimming lessons that the school provides, pupils know how to keep themselves safe in other contexts. They have a keen sense of road safety.  A number of pupils said that they had experienced bullying but it had been dealt with successfully and

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Personal development and welfare

had stopped. There also had been some name-calling, but this was ‘usually between friends as a joke’. They also said that had been incidents of racist comments being made but, like the bullying, these had been tackled.  Pupils are highly enthusiastic about the wide range of extra-curricular activities available. The school’s clubs are well attended. Pupils spoken to by inspectors confirmed that they enjoyed academic subjects as well as extra-curricular activities. A strength of the school is the provision it makes for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. There are close ties between the school and the local church and pupils have the opportunity to worship and reflect on a range of issues in assemblies. They also take part in discussions on moral issues in class, as was seen in one lesson where pupils were preparing the ground rules for a forthcoming debate. There are many opportunities for pupils to contribute to organising school life through,

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Personal development and welfare

for example, arranging the seating and equipment for assembly, contributing to the school council and running their own projects, such as the ‘secret garden’ produced by Year 6 pupils. They also contribute to the local community in a number of ways, including helping to keep the neighbourhood tidy. Their moral and social awareness is further developed through raising money for charities in this country and abroad.  The pupils have access to a wide range of musical activities, through membership of the choir and attending the brass, ukulele and guitar lessons that the school provides. They regularly take part in concerts in the community and were recently involved in a major musical event in Blackburn Cathedral. Pupils have also produced their own compact disc of music. The attractive displays around the school show how pupils are given the opportunity to develop their understanding of art. The pupils who spoke to

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Personal development and welfare

the lead inspector gave an interesting account of how they had produced work based on the style of Kandinsky and Van Gogh. Since the last inspection, the school has placed additional emphasis on ensuring that pupils learn about a range of cultures within and beyond Britain, and this was again reflected in the displays.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  The pupils behave well around the school. They relate well to each other, to adults and to visitors, and talk with confidence about a range of topics. They are helpful and polite, with even the youngest standing back to allow others to pass. During breaktimes, they play with enthusiasm but sensibly and clearly gain great enjoyment from the recently refurbished playgrounds.  During discussions, pupils conduct themselves well, taking turns to present their ideas and respecting the views of others, even if when they do not necessarily agree with them.  In the main, pupils behave well in lessons. On occasion, some lose concentration when they are not directly involved in answering questions, or during explanations by the teacher. Some are slow to follow instructions, continuing to write when they have been asked to listen to the teacher. They rarely interrupt others but they are not learning as much as they might.

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Behaviour

 For the last three years, absence rates have been higher than across the country. The school has worked very closely with the local authority’s attendance officers to tackle this. As a result, overall attendance has improved considerably. Persistent absence has fallen, although it is still slightly higher than across the country.  In the past, the number of days of schooling missed by pupils who have been temporarily excluded from school because of poor behaviour has been high. This poor behaviour was exhibited by a small group of pupils. The school worked hard to give appropriate support to those pupils. As a result, there have been no fixed-term exclusions this year.

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

 Results in the screening test for phonics have fluctuated over the last three years. In 2013, they were above average but in 2014 they fell below average. In 2015, they improved but were still below the national average, even though the pupils concerned had been above average in literacy at the end of their time in the early years foundation stage. The work seen in lessons indicates that improvements are being made in this area. Of the Year 2 pupils who are resitting the screening test this year, almost all are on track to reach the required level. In a Year 1 lesson, the pupils were able to tell the difference between words using the sounds ‘oi’ and ‘oy’. They were confident in breaking new words down into smaller parts and putting them back together again so that they could read them. They were also beginning to know the names of letters as well as the sounds they make.  Last year, results in the national tests for seven-year-olds were significantly below average. In reading

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

and writing, pupils’ average scores were in the lowest 10% for maintained schools across the country. The school attributes this to the size and nature of that particular group. However, results for pupils of this age have been significantly below the national average for the last three years and improvement during that time has been inconsistent. The work in books does not point to significant improvements being made.  There has also been inconsistency in the results at key stage 2 over the last three years. In 2013, results overall were above average, with mathematics and reading being significantly above. Results went down the following year but were still above average. Last year, reading, writing and mathematics were below average and significantly below average in grammar, spelling and punctuation. The amount of progress in reading that pupils leaving the school last summer had made during their time in key stage 2 was in the

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

lowest 10% for schools nationally. In mathematics and writing, it was average. The progress made by the disadvantaged pupils in that group was similar to that of other pupils nationally.  The school is taking clear measures to improve reading. For example, during the inspection, individual pupils were seen receiving additional individual support from a parent volunteer and pupils who were heard reading in lessons did so with clarity and confidence. Mathematics is to be a priority in the school development plan for next year.  In the current school development plan, there is a focus on spelling, grammar and punctuation, with a view to improving writing. This is a continuing area of concern. In many instances, in upper key stage 1 and lower key stage 2, the pupils have not developed a fluent and legible style of handwriting and their work is often poorly presented. Teachers rarely comment on this. The school’s handwriting scheme is not

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

being applied consistently. Pupils are not given sufficient opportunities to write independently and at length. Therefore, at present, they are making less progress than the school is predicting that they will make.  In mathematics, particularly in key stage 2, there is a considerable emphasis on calculation and repeat calculations, with limited emphasis on encouraging pupils to develop their understanding. Work is often incomplete and poor presentation detracts from the accuracy of diagrams. This is also the case in science.  In general, the quality of work in Year 6 is better in terms of its content and presentation. Across the school, there is rarely any significant difference between the work produced by high-ability pupils and middle-ability pupils, which indicates that the former are not being challenged sufficiently.

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Early years provision is good

 The early years leader has a firm command of her subject. She has kept abreast of current developments and thinking through attendance at courses, seeking external advice and support and through working closely with other settings in the local authority. She also ensures that her colleagues in the Nursery have received relevant and up-to-date training.  Many pupils enter the Nursery at a level below what might be expected of children of their age. However, they make good progress from their starting points. For the last two years, the proportions achieving a good level of progress by the end of their time in the setting has been above national averages. Last year, girls’ results were slightly below those for girls across the country. This good level of progress is set to continue. According to the school’s figures, 83% of the children are on track to reach a good level of development by the end of the end of their time in the setting. The leader has recently identified the

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Early years provision is good

need to increase the volume of children’s writing and is making this a priority within her action plan.  The children work in a safe and secure environment. The accommodation is attractive, purpose-built and well designed to allow for easy movement between indoor and outdoor activities. The children have access to a very good range of resources to support their development across the full range of the early years curriculum.  The resources available to pupils are attractive and the children are closely involved in deciding on their nature and placement. For example, in response to a child’s suggestion, one of the climbing frames in the play area has been converted into a space ship, which the children clearly enjoy exploring.  The children, including those who have special educational needs or disability and those who speak English as an additional language, are very ready to engage in activities. They relate well to each other

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Early years provision is good

and to adults and several of those to whom the inspectors spoke were able to talk confidently, making good use of a range of vocabulary.  Relationships within the setting are good and parents are kept regularly informed about their children’s progress. The parents who spoke to the lead inspector were very complimentary about the support that they and their children received from the staff.  Teaching and learning in the setting are good, but there is room for further challenge to enable the children to develop even further. For example, in a music and movement session, the teacher did not give the children sufficient opportunity to practise and improve what they were doing. At times, in the Reception class, there is a tendency to let children drift from one activity to another. This does not prepare them sufficiently for key stage 1.

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School details

Unique reference number 119454 Local authority Lancashire Inspection number 10001281

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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 Voluntary aided Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 170 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mr John Greenwood Headteacher Miss Charlotte Hartley Telephone number 01706 214081 Website www.st-anne-edgeside.lancs.sch.uk Email address head@st-anne-edgeside.lancs.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 29–30 March 2011

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Information about this school

 This is a smaller than average-sized primary school.  The proportion of pupils supported through the government’s pupil premium funding for pupils is above average.  The majority of pupils are of White British heritage, with English as a first language.  The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs or disability is below average.  The school does not meet the government’s floor standard, which is the minimum expectation for attainment and progress.  The school’s website was incomplete at the beginning of the inspection but has now been updated.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors gathered a range of evidence to judge the quality of teaching, learning and assessment over time. They observed learning in classes. This included joint observations with the headteacher.  The inspectors looked at examples of pupils’ work and talked to them about their work.  The inspectors talked to parents as they brought their children to school and examined their responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire for parents, Parent View.  The lead inspector met members of the governing body, including the chair and vice-chair, and spoke to representatives from the local authority and the Manchester diocese.  The lead inspector held a meeting with eight pupils chosen at random from Years 3 to 6.  The inspectors also spoke to pupils in class and around the school.  The inspectors examined a range of documents, including the school’s self-evaluation, the school development plan and policies.

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Information about this inspection

 They also scrutinised records relating to behaviour, attendance and safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Aelwyn Pugh, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Barbara Harrold Ofsted Inspector Joan Williamson 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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