Moor Row Community Primary School

Moor Row Community Primary School Moor Row, Cumbria CA24 3JW

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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 Requires improvemt

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This is a school that requires improvement

 Leaders have not succeeded in making sufficient improvements in the quality of provision at the school. In spite of some recent improvements in teaching, not enough pupils attain the expected standards.  Work set for pupils is not always matched well to their needs. Not all most-able pupils are being stretched enough in their learning.  As at the time of the previous inspection, there is variation in the progress made by different year groups of pupils across the school and in different subjects. During their time in the school, disadvantaged pupils are not making enough progress.  Leaders are not making sure that teaching across the school fully covers the required knowledge, skills and attitudes set out in the national curriculum.  Teaching in the early years is not sufficiently matched to children’s needs or abilities. School leaders do not have a full understanding of how to improve provision for children in the early years.

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This is a school that requires improvement

 Governors have a patchy understanding of the priorities for improvement and what remains to be achieved.  The presentation of work in pupils’ books is not good enough and teachers are doing little to tackle this.  Leaders have not succeeded in ironing out the inconsistencies in the quality of teaching and learning.

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The school has the following strengths

 A strong emphasis on respect and manners is successfully building pupils’ values. Throughout the school pupils behave well, respect diversity and are interested in the world around them.  Standards of reading in Year 1 and of writing in Year 6 are now higher than average.  Pupils’ enthusiasm, skill and achievement in sport are developing well because the school spends and reviews sports premium funding carefully.  Pupils’ work is celebrated in displays throughout the school, as the result of much effort by staff, particularly teaching assistants.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the effectiveness of leadership and management by:  improving the quality of checks and reviews on the quality of staff and pupils’ work across the school to reduce inconsistencies in teaching and learning  ensuring that staff and leaders are clear how pupils’ skills, knowledge and understanding will systematically build over time through covering each national curriculum subject in sufficient depth  sharpening all leaders’ evaluation skills so they can be more precise in identifying the impact of actions and guide further improvement.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the impact of the governing body on improving the school by ensuring that governors:  understand clearly the key strengths and weaknesses of the school and the progress of pupils in all year groups and key stages  check and review the impact of pupil premium funding on outcomes for disadvantaged pupils  effectively monitor the work of the headteacher in managing the performance of teachers  hold leaders to account for the progress made by children in the early years and most-able pupils and disadvantaged pupils in key stages 1 and 2.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching and outcomes for pupils by:  developing further the abilities of teachers to meet the needs of different ability groups and different year groups within the same class  making sure the deployment of teaching assistants is reviewed frequently so their skills and expertise are well utilised in lessons  ensuring that all teachers apply the school marking policy consistently within and across classes  ensuring that the gap between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and their peers is closed, while maintaining rising attendance  increasing the challenge for most-able pupils to master the knowledge, understanding and skills in each subject.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching and outcomes for children in the early years by:  ensuring that all leaders, including the headteacher, develop a strong understanding of how young children learn and what good teaching and learning in the early years looks like, including the teaching of early writing  ensuring that the needs of Nursery children are considered fully when planning class activities  monitoring the quality of teaching more closely with precise feedback to staff to ensure that teaching is consistently good or better  enhancing arrangements for self-review to track the progress of different groups of children and use information to identify clear priorities to raise achievement  ensuring that class time is used effectively and that activities reflect high expectations of what children can achieve.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

 Although the headteacher has set the right overall direction for improvement since the previous inspection, leaders’ actions have not led to sufficient improvements. Inconsistencies remain in the quality of leadership, teaching and learning and the standards achieved by pupils.  While staff training and performance management are beginning to improve the quality of teaching, leaders are not checking the impact of these with sufficient rigour. As a consequence, there is too much variation in the quality of staff and pupils’ work across the school. Sometimes leaders’ own knowledge of how to tackle common challenges faced by staff and pupils at Moor Row is too limited to drive change forward at pace. This prevents leaders from acting confidently to make improvements without drawing on the increased links made with other schools for support. For example, the headteacher is too dependent on others from outside the school for insight into the quality and impact of provision in the early years.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

 In moving the focus of staff to the new national curriculum requirements, the school has looked to make meaningful links across subjects through cross-curricular topics. This is leading to some interesting lessons for pupils, including important themes such as diversity. However, too little emphasis is given by leaders to making sure that staff are clear enough in advance of the required skills, knowledge and understanding that will be taught over time. As a result, there are gaps in pupils’ learning, such as in developing key concepts in music. In spite of these weaknesses, pupils are gaining much benefit from increased extra-curricular activities. Pupils told the inspector how they have enjoyed additional activities, including those helping them design and build toy objects. They said they want to participate in such activities even more.  The school’s own analysis indicates that additional government funding to improve outcomes for

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

disadvantaged pupils through the pupil premium was not spent well in 2014/15. This is because some activities were not coordinated or monitored effectively by leaders. During 2015/16, expenditure is becoming much more well focused and reviewed: for example, by monitoring closely the impact on pupils’ progress of the school’s recent decision to fund additional teaching for disadvantaged pupils.  The outcome of the previous inspection led to a prolonged and unsettled period within the school. Due to factors outside the school’s control, this affected staffing, governance and the school’s relationship with parents. Effective support from the local authority and from a national leader in education has since enabled the headteacher to steer the school successfully through some much-needed changes. A number of new teachers have been appointed and they are bringing freshness to the work of the staff team. A

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

positive relationship has been established between leaders and the extensively renewed governing body. Good communication and consultation with families by leaders have led to almost all parents now giving the school their full support. Parents feel involved in their children’s learning. Relationships between staff are strong. Nevertheless, it is too soon to see the impact of all these changes on teaching and pupils’ outcomes.  Leaders use the additional sports funding from the government effectively. Priorities have been based on a clear analysis of staff and pupils’ needs. Expenditure and impact are being tracked carefully. The focus on netball, for example, has led to the greater engagement and success of pupils in competition. Staff confidence to teach physical education has been strengthened well through a wide range of staff training.  The headteacher’s vision for the school is rooted firmly in improving the lives of pupils from the village of

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

Moor Row and the surrounding areas. She has a well-informed understanding of the community and is increasingly using her insights to set broader priorities for the school. For example, after identifying that few local children in this coastal area can swim, swimming lessons have become a key focus. Now all pupils leave key stage 2 being able to swim.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding is developed strongly. Leaders respond successfully to the limited ethnic and cultural diversity in the area by placing a careful emphasis on promoting pupils’ respect and understanding of difference. Books, stories and visits to other places, such as a local Buddhist meditation centre, are used thoughtfully to introduce pupils to different beliefs. A recent and successful focus on different families gave pupils a clear understanding of how each family is unique. Pupils understand what language would be derogatory to others and the negative impact

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

language can have on other people’s feelings.  Pupils are being prepared well for life in modern Britain. For example, the school promotes democracy successfully. High importance is placed on electing and consulting the pupils on the school council. Developing pupils’ mutual respect for others is keenly promoted, for example by pupils’ regular participation in fundraising for charities – activities which pupils say they enjoy immensely.  The governance of the school  Although governors are increasing their challenge to the school and reviewing progress more effectively, members of the governing body do not hold a comprehensive understanding of the school’s strengths and priorities. They are too dependent on the expertise and understanding of the headteacher and the chair of the governing body when checking and reviewing improvement.  Too few governors have a well-informed understanding of teachers’ performance management.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

 While school finances are reviewed carefully by the finance committee and reported to meetings of the full governing body, non-committee members have a limited understanding of how effectively additional money such as pupil premium funding is being spent.  Governors make sure that safeguarding is given appropriate emphasis so they can be confident that pupils are safe.  The new chair of the governing body knows the school well. She is beginning to give some effective support to the school as well as identifying clearly how the governing body needs to improve.  Through extensive changes of membership in the school’s governing body since the previous inspection, governance is starting to strengthen. Governors have helped steer the school through recent turbulence by supporting changes of staffing, improvements in resourcing and greater links with other schools. Through their active support for the headteacher, they have helped to restore the

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

confidence of parents in the school.  New governors now bring a broad and valuable range of expertise to the governing body. They are beginning to access training to assist them in their roles: For example, the chair recently attended extensive training about narrowing gaps in attainment for pupils. This means that governors are increasingly well placed to challenge and support the school as it moves forward.  Governors believe passionately in what the school can provide for local pupils. They are keen to play their part within improvement and actively support the wider life of the school, such as through pupils’ residential trips and sports day.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Moor Row is a school where pupils access many opportunities to learn about keeping themselves safe. As a consequence, pupils show a well-developed understanding of key issues such as staying safe while using the internet as well as when playing

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

outdoors at home. Frequent staff discussions, training and the sharing of information are keeping staff up to date about promoting pupils’ safety and welfare. Teachers and teaching assistants have a good knowledge of how to identify risks to children, including how to protect them from hearing or reading extremist views. They know how to record and report any concerns they may have about pupils, families or staff. Clear safeguarding information is displayed well around the school, promoting key messages about the protection of children and how staff are expected to respond. Parents are confident that pupils are safe. The premises are kept fully secure and visitors checked thoroughly.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 The quality of teaching across the school has improved since the previous inspection. Support and training from other schools have been key to making sure that there is now no inadequate teaching. However, the quality of teaching and learning remains inconsistent over time. This is the result of insufficient monitoring and follow-up by leaders. Furthermore, not all staff are confident that Moor Row is a school which readily accepts the need for improvement.  Where teaching is best, teachers explain their intentions well to pupils and engage them actively in their learning. For example, during the inspection, pupils from the combined Year 3 and Year 4 class were excited about their lesson about magnets before they entered the classroom. Subsequent teaching gave them many opportunities to test their ideas. They were guided skilfully to consider the suggestions of other pupils. Questions and prompts from the teacher were matched well to their abilities. Where

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

teaching in the school is less successful, teachers do not expect enough of pupils, or teachers are unclear how they can identify if pupils are making sufficient progress.  When leaders review the quality of teaching through observations, they spot key strengths and are able to identify what needs to improve. Staff value the feedback they receive. However, leaders do not always keep a close enough eye on the work of staff. For example, too little attention has been given to ensuring that teachers are clear about school expectations for the planning of lessons. Consequently, in some lessons, teachers are unclear how they will judge if pupils are successfully making progress.  Pupils’ books show that sometimes there is not enough difference in the complexity of work required, or completed by pupils from different year groups within the same class. For example, the quality of work by a most able pupil from an older year group was less than that from a lower-ability pupil from the younger

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

year group studying the same topic. The school has already identified that there are gaps in the teaching of the most able pupils in mathematics. In part, this is because the work set in some lessons is too reliant on published schemes rather than the support of the teacher. Several older pupils individually told the inspector they enjoy mathematics because it is ‘easy’.  The quality of written and verbal feedback to pupils about their work has improved since the previous inspection. However, too much inconsistency remains, sometimes within the same class. This supports the view of some pupils and parents that the school’s policy on marking feedback is not applied consistently to everyone within a class.  The quality of presentation in pupils’ books varies from good to poor. This is because teachers’ expectations are not consistently high. While leaders have started to challenge staff, pupils’ standards of

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

presentation remain variable, often within the same class.  The use of teaching assistants to support teaching is variable. Teachers and leaders sometimes do not deploy them to good effect. Sometimes their skills are utilised well, such as when working with pupils at the breakfast club or to support individual pupils in lessons. At other times, there is an over-reliance on teaching assistants to work with specific groups of pupils or to teach particular content. High-quality displays of pupils’ work across the school have benefited from the contribution of teaching assistants.  Links with other schools to improve the teaching of reading have worked well. As a result, staff now have a stronger understanding of how to teach reading, and current pupils are beginning to make increased progress in their reading skills. This work has been supported by the school making greater financial investment in providing a wide range of high-quality fiction and non-fiction books. These books are

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

presented attractively within well-used selections of books in classrooms.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. Pupils enjoy school and care about their school environment and local community. For example, older pupils recently studied the lives of deceased servicemen listed on a village war monument. This gave pupils a strong understanding of the contribution made by their community to the First World War.  The school takes many steps to link older and younger pupils together, such as through regular successful shared reading opportunities. This promotes pupils’ personal skills well.  Pupils who spoke to the inspector say they feel safe, valued and listened to.  Pupils say bullying is rare and is tackled effectively by staff when brought to their attention. This view is supported by most parents.  Through learning at school, older pupils are aware of how to spot and report instances of cyber bullying when they are using social media. Through good school links to the police, pupils understand issues of

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Personal development and welfare

road safety. Pupils are campaigning actively to reduce car speeds within the local area.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. In lessons and when travelling between different parts of the school, pupils are sensible and self-disciplined. They are polite to visitors and they are observant – for example, commenting kindly to the inspector about the different ties he wore during the school inspection.  Pupils arrive punctually at school. They respond warmly to their individual greeting from the headteacher when seeing her at the school gate each day.  Pupils respect their well-organised, attractive classrooms. They take care with resources and furniture. They enjoy seeing their work presented attractively by staff on the display boards. Pupils are very proud of the school’s extensive investment in laptops and know how to look after these new resources.  Although pupils are provided with only a limited range of resources with which to play games on the playground, they use these well. Pupils are cooperative and inventive. Older pupils involve younger pupils

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Behaviour

thoughtfully in their play.  The overall attendance of pupils is average. However, the attendance of disadvantaged pupils lags behind that of other pupils. Persistent absence for this group of pupils was high in 2014/15. The school has taken steps to support families sensitively and, as a result, the attendance of disadvantaged pupils is improving rapidly.

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

 Pupils begin Year 1 with gaps in their personal development, ability to communicate and their mathematics skills. This means they need to make much progress to catch up with their peers. As at the time of the last inspection, standards have continued to vary across subjects and age groups in key stages 1 and 2. Consequently, not all pupils make the progress they need to.  In the national screening check of how well pupils understand phonics (the sounds that letters make), pupils in year 1 were in line with the national average in 2014 but above average in 2015. The information provided by the school indicates that this improvement has been maintained and the pupils who are currently at the end of Year 1 are also likely to achieve well in phonics.  In the end of year tests for seven-year-olds, results in mathematics and reading have been broadly average for the last two years. In writing, however, they declined from being average in 2014 to being

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

below average last summer. The quality of pupils’ current work shows that improving the standard of writing remains a challenge in Year 3. However, pupils who did not achieve well in their reading and mathematics last year are starting to catch up in Year 3. This is because they are enjoying the improved resources and teaching of these subjects in the school.  For the last two years, in the end of year tests for 11-year-olds, standards have been broadly average in mathematics and writing but below average in reading. School information provided during the inspection suggests that this year standards will be average across subjects in key stages 1 and 2. However, there is wide variation across the school in the quality of pupils’ work. This indicates that pupils are yet to make consistently good progress. Furthermore, disadvantaged pupils across the school are not yet expected to achieve the same as their peers in school.

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

 Recent feedback to school leaders indicates that former Year 6 pupils arrived at secondary school in 2015 well prepared for learning modern foreign languages. This is because of their progress in French and Spanish studied at Moor Row. During the inspection, pupils told the inspector how much they enjoy learning different languages at school.  In recent years, the progress made by boys and girls throughout the school remains broadly average. At higher levels, girls are outperforming boys in reading, writing and in spelling, punctuation and grammar in key stage 2. The progress made by disadvantaged pupils over time by the end of key stage 2 is declining in mathematics and reading. In contrast, disadvantaged pupils’ progress in writing has risen noticeably.  The progress made by pupils who have special educational needs or disability varies across the school. The school is keeping the effectiveness of support for pupils under close review. In some cases, the wait

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

faced by the school to receive advice from external agencies is holding back the school’s ability to support pupils well. In other examples, pupils are beginning to catch up with their peers but much remains to do.

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Early years provision requires improvement

 Children start school by attending part time in the combined Nursery and Reception class. At this point, approximately half the children have skills and abilities that are typical for their age. Other children start a little behind their peers particularly in their personal development and communication skills. By the time children move to Year 1, not all have caught up with their peers. This means that some children are not fully ready to move on in their learning. This is because the quality of teaching in the early years over time is inconsistent.  Some tasks, such as those set for the start of the day, underestimate children’s abilities and do not sufficiently enhance their learning. Leaders do not understand that such provision is holding back children’s progress.  Some teaching does not meet the needs of Nursery children because staff do not plan carefully enough to adapt to their specific needs. This is because leaders do not have a well-developed understanding of how

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Early years provision requires improvement

to meet the learning needs of the youngest children. Insufficient training has been accessed by staff about the early years. Consequently, effective teaching of three-year-olds is not always modelled well and weaker teaching not consistently spotted and improved.  The quality of teaching of writing is variable. While some activities lead to good examples of writing by children, others do not. This variability is because staff and leaders have not fully developed the skills to support and extend children’s writing across the activities provided.  Reviews by leaders of the work of the Nursery and Reception class are not precise enough to make full use of assessment information to improve teaching within the early years. Improvement is too focused on resources, such as the recent updating of the outdoor play space. In addition, leaders have too little understanding of the work of the school in the early years and the key priorities for improvement.

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Early years provision requires improvement

 The school does not review in sufficient detail what progress is made by different groups of children. Thus, there is no sharp analysis of how the gaps in progress between these groups and their peers can be narrowed.  School information provided during the inspection suggests that children currently at the end of their time in the Nursery and Reception class will achieve much better this summer. Recent local authority moderation of the work of staff and evidence gathered during the inspection indicates that assessments of Reception-aged children are accurate.  Some teaching is effective. For example, during the inspection, most-able children making long lines of cars were helped skilfully by the teacher to measure their sets with a tape measure. Her accurate explanations and good use of language helped the children to develop new knowledge rapidly. Other successful teaching includes the deployment of teaching assistants to support children’s play. At these

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Early years provision requires improvement

times, staff make good use of language and questions to help children to think and explore.  Children settle quickly in the Nursery and Reception class. They develop good relationships with staff and enjoy attending. Children benefit from the caring approach of staff and staff’s good relationships with the children’s parents. Parents told the inspector how much their children miss school when they are not attending. Every effort is made by staff to keep children safe and to promote their good behaviour. Children enjoy opportunities to take the register to the school office and to make choices in their play.

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School details

Unique reference number 112161 Local authority Cumbria Inspection number 10012116

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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 87 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Alison Boyd Headteacher Paula Skelly Telephone number 01946 810 620 Website www.moor-row.cumbria.sch.uk Email address headteacher@moor-row.cumbria.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 18 March 2014

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Information about this school

 Moor Row is a smaller than average-sized primary school. Children in the early years attend a combined Nursery and Reception class. Pupils are combined as classes of Years 1/2, Years 3/4, and Years 5/6.  The school runs a breakfast club.  Since the previous inspection, there have been extensive changes to the membership of the school governing body and a new chair of the governing body appointed. Two new teachers have joined the school.  A national leader in education from St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School has provided support to the school since the previous inspection.  The school meets the government’s floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics at the end of year 6.  Almost all pupils are of White British heritage.  There are no pupils recorded as speaking English as an additional language.  The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs or disability is below average.

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Information about this school

 The proportion of disadvantaged pupils who are eligible for support through the pupil premium is below average. The pupil premium is additional government funding to support the educational achievement of pupils who are looked after, or eligible for free school meals.  The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information about the school curriculum, governance and pupil premium on its website.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed learning and teaching across classrooms. He spoke to children in lessons and at other times of the day. Most teaching was observed jointly with the headteacher.  The inspector looked at children’s work and displays around the school. He also heard some pupils read.  Meetings were held with six members of the governing body including the chair, a range of staff, a representative of the local authority and a national leader in education who is supporting the school. The inspector also considered staff responses to an Ofsted questionnaire.  The inspector spoke with pupils on the school council to gather their views of the school.  The views of parents and carers were considered, including 13 which were given through Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. The inspector talked to a number of parents on the playground at the start of the school day. The inspector also considered school evaluations of recent surveys of parents’ views.

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Information about this inspection

 A range of documents were considered including reviews of how well the school is doing, plans for the future, records of meetings of the governing body, plans for learning and information about children’s progress.

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Inspection team

Tim Vaughan, lead inspector Her Majesty’s 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

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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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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