Thrunscoe Primary and Nursery Academy

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

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Jill Goodwin Headteacher Thrunscoe Primary and Nursery Academy Trinity Road Cleethorpes Lincolnshire DN35 8UL

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Short inspection of Thrunscoe Primary and Nursery Academy

Following my visit to the school on 28 June 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 your predecessor school was judged to be good in January 2012.

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Short inspection of Thrunscoe Primary and Nursery Academy

You and your leadership team have maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. A range of monitoring activity is helping you to clearly identify those areas that need to be improved and to accurately evaluate the quality of teaching. Appropriate professional development activities, which include lesson studies, are helping teachers to trial methods that are new to them. In turn, this developmental approach is helping to keep teaching interesting and relevant for pupils and is helping teachers to respond effectively to changes to the curriculum. As a consequence, the quality of teaching is stronger than at the time of the previous inspection.

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Short inspection of Thrunscoe Primary and Nursery Academy

Together, you and your teachers have ensured much improvement since the previous inspection so that pupils receive a rich, vibrant and relevant curriculum. Pupils now have many opportunities to practise reading, writing and mathematical skills in lessons other than literacy and numeracy. The views of pupils are influential in helping teachers to plan series of lessons. The wide range of pupils’ artistic and creative work on display around the school and the high-quality response to homework tasks reflect pupils’ desire to really involve themselves in their learning.

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Short inspection of Thrunscoe Primary and Nursery Academy

Governors take account of a breadth of evidence to determine how well the school is doing and they are regular visitors to school. They are informed about the attainment of pupils and express ambition for the school to continue to improve. Safeguarding is effective.

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Short inspection of Thrunscoe Primary and Nursery Academy

Leaders ensure that safeguarding is rigorous in keeping pupils safe. Pupils are taught how to look after themselves through well-planned lessons and all aspects of school life. Records are carefully kept and policies are closely followed by staff.

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Inspection findings

 Children enter school at levels generally below those expected for their age, particularly in relation to communication, language and literacy. In 2016, the proportion of children who achieved a good level of development has risen to almost three quarters. Provision in early years is effective in helping children to acquire social skills and to develop independence in learning. Careful teaching has reversed the trend so that the gap between the performance of boys and girls has been eradicated this year. Considerable thought goes into planning activities that will appeal to boys as well as girls. At the time of the inspection, children were very involved in a topic on pirates: writing about pirates, drawing maps and making pirate sandwiches. However, outdoor activities are not as well planned, and adult interventions are less focused, so children are not fully supported to make rapid progress in all areas of learning.

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Inspection findings

 In 2016, over 85% of pupils in Year 1 achieved the expected level in phonics (the sounds that letters make). This represents good progress from their starting points. In key stage 1, pupils made good progress so that over three quarters achieved levels expected for their age in reading and mathematics. Higher-ability pupils are working at levels exceeding those expected for their age, and are doing particularly well in writing.  In key stage 2, pupils continue to make good progress so that the majority of pupils attained levels expected for their age in reading, writing and mathematics. Over a quarter are exceeding expected levels in writing and mathematics, showing that teachers are effectively challenging the most able pupils. School assessment information shows that, in every year group, the majority of pupils make good progress from their starting points.  Leaders and teachers are rigorously tracking the progress of disadvantaged

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Inspection findings

pupils, ensuring that they receive timely interventions to support their good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. Teachers plan successfully for the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, resulting in them making strong progress with many working at, or close to, levels expected for their age.  Leaders have sought to improve pupils’ reading by introducing new reading material to appeal to different pupils and to promote more reading at home. Reading lessons have been improved so that pupils know that they are expected to read, talk and write about texts in detail. Due to improved target setting for pupils, the most able are achieving more because they have a better idea about what is expected of them.  Better-quality reading has contributed to improvements in pupils’ writing. Teachers’ determination to ensure that learning is ‘joined up’ is ensuring that pupils have sufficient meaningful contexts in which to write. In one

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Inspection findings

lesson, Year 1 pupils were successfully generating their own descriptive words to be included in a poem about polar bears, and enjoying the use of some adventurous vocabulary.  Monitoring of teaching in mathematics shows that teaching is effective throughout the school, resulting in the majority of pupils working at expected levels. Teachers are using assessment information to work out where pupils are having the most difficulty and adapting teaching to ensure that gaps in knowledge are filled. In 2015, the most able Year 6 girls did not perform as well as expected. School assessment information shows that girls are performing at expected levels in mathematics this year. However, marking and feedback in mathematics are not as effective as in writing in helping pupils to deepen their understanding.  As a result of high expectations shared around the school, pupils’ behaviour is very good. During social times, pupils play happily together and in

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Inspection findings

lessons they cooperate well. Low-level disruption is rare because almost all pupils understand the importance of concentrating hard and putting effort into their school work. Pupils demonstrate the value that they place on learning through well-presented books and neat and accurate handwriting. Pupils attend school regularly and on time, and as a result, attendance is broadly in line with national averages and persistent absence is below average.  Parents expressed a high degree of satisfaction with the work of the school through the online questionnaire, ‘Parent View’, and through the school’s own questionnaire. Leaders have been responsive to parents’ suggestions. For example, as a result of feedback, teachers have made themselves available for a slot each week to answer parents’ questions or to talk about children’s progress.

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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

 the quality of provision in the early years improves so that activities planned, particularly outdoors, secure more rapid learning for children  teachers consistently apply the school’s policy to ensure that marking and feedback help pupils to know how to improve their learning in mathematics.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for North East Lincolnshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During this one-day inspection, I was able to discuss the work of the school with you and your staff. We visited classrooms together to observe teaching and learning. I was able to look at pupils’ work in books and to speak with pupils throughout the day. Discussions with a representative of the local authority and three members of the governing body helped to provide additional information. School documentation, assessment information, policies and information posted on the school website were also taken into account. I looked at the online questionnaire, ‘Parent View’, to gather 12 parents’ views and I took into account the analysis of the school’s own questionnaire to parents. The views of six pupils and 30 staff were gathered through online questionnaires.

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