Moat Primary School

Moat Primary School Juniper Avenue, Matson, Gloucester GL4 6AP

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Early years provision Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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This is an inadequate school

 This school has declined over the past two and a half years. School leaders have failed to prevent this because they have not rectified the areas that were identified as requiring improvement at the previous inspection.  All pupils, including the most able, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and those who are disadvantaged, are not making the progress they are capable of, particularly in key stage 2.  Pupils’ outcomes have declined because teaching is inadequate. Some teachers do not have strong enough subject knowledge and skills, especially in mathematics.  Teachers do not do enough to encourage or enable pupils to write well, to present their work neatly, or to apply their writing skills to a range of subjects.  The leadership of the school is inadequate because it has not improved teaching quickly enough. Staff have not had enough training to improve their skills and leaders have not

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This is an inadequate school

monitored teaching and learning well enough.  Since the previous inspection, governors have failed to challenge school leaders about poor outcomes for pupils, high levels of absence and the ineffective use of additional funding for pupils.  Pupils take too much time off school and are frequently late for school. Until very recently, poor behaviour was not tackled effectively, with too many pupils being excluded. The high absence rates have contributed to the poor progress of pupils.  Leaders have not ensured that the range of activities and facilities provided for the Reception class enable children, particularly boys, to fully develop their speaking and writing skills.

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The school has the following strengths

 The new executive headteacher has introduced systems to improve pupils’ behaviour and these are being implemented effectively by staff.  Improvements to the way that pupils are taught phonics (letters and the sounds they make) have been effective in raising standards.  Arrangements to keep pupils safe have been improved this year and are effective.

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Full report

In accordance with the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

raising teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve providing regular training for staff which is focused on areas of weakness in their subject knowledge and teaching skills ensuring that teachers’ feedback enables pupils to improve and develop their work training teachers to plan activities that develop pupils’ problem-solving and reasoning skills in mathematics using information about what pupils know and can do to plan activities that challenge them in their learning.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

enabling pupils to write effectively for a range of purposes and across subjects ensuring that they regularly read books that will develop their reading skills and comprehension insisting on high standards of presentation in their handwriting, diagrams, pictures and graphs ensuring that the additional funding provided by the government is used effectively to support the learning of pupils in need of extra help.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

monitoring the quality of teaching, learning and assessment regularly throughout the year and taking action quickly to tackle any weaknesses ensuring that the curriculum meets the needs of pupils and supports progression in learning carrying out the planned additional support for pupils who have fallen behind in their learning and carefully check its effectiveness ensuring that all staff are held to account by frequently checking on their performance against their targets.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the effectiveness of work to support the rapid development of children’s speech, language skills and early writing in the Reception class.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Continue to improve attendance so that absence and persistent absence are at least in line with national averages.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Further improve behaviour by identifying patterns in the circumstances that lead to poor behaviour incidents and adjusting practice to reduce occurrences of poor behaviour.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

The school may not appoint newly qualified teachers.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

 School leaders have not been effective in stopping the decline in standards over the past two and a half years. The quality of education provided by the school is inadequate and leaders have not demonstrated the capacity to improve the situation.  Leaders have not done enough to improve weak teaching over time. As a result, pupils have not made enough progress in their learning.  All groups of pupils, especially the most and least able, disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, have made very slow progress over the past two years. As a result, leaders have not ensured equality of opportunity for all pupils. Leaders’ evaluation of the achievement of pupils has been overly generous.  Teachers do not provide enough work which matches the skills and abilities of pupils to enable them to develop their learning. Not all teachers have the knowledge and skills needed to teach well and leaders

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

have not provided enough training for them to improve. During this year, leaders have not monitored the quality of teaching, learning and assessment frequently enough. Weaknesses in teaching have not been tackled quickly or effectively enough.  After a period of changes in leadership and teaching staff, the newly appointed executive headteacher has stabilised the situation and introduced appropriate plans to improve the school. His first priorities have been to improve behaviour and attendance. Actions to achieve these improvements are starting to have a positive effect.  Over time, the actions of leaders and governors to support the achievement of pupils for whom the school receives additional funding have not been targeted well enough and so have not been effective. A local authority-commissioned review of the use of these funds earlier in this academic year concluded that the money had not been used effectively. A further review will take place next year. On his appointment,

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

the executive headteacher used the findings of this review to improve the plans for this spending and has improved the arrangements to check the progress that these targeted pupils make. These changes have not yet, however, had an impact on pupils’ achievement.  Subject leaders and other leaders within the school have good plans for improvement from September 2016 but actions during this year have not happened with sufficient urgency.  The arrangements for managing teachers’ performance have not, until recently, been carried out effectively. The executive headteacher has introduced new systems since he arrived at the school and all staff now have targets for their improvement.  School leaders have not organised the curriculum well enough to ensure that pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is promoted as well as it should be. However, pupils have a range of opportunities to experience different religions and to understand other cultures. They have learned about

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

democracy, individual liberty and other fundamental British values. Nevertheless, until now the curriculum has not been planned to support pupils’ progress in learning from one year to the next. Leaders have been working hard to ensure that it meets the needs of the pupils ready for teaching in the next academic year.  The local authority has been working in partnership with the governors to try to secure good leadership for the school and to monitor the performance of leaders. They have been aware of the difficulties that the school has been in and have conducted several school reviews to identify areas that need development. This work has not, however, prevented the school from declining and being judged inadequate.  The governance of the school Governors have tried hard to appoint strong, sustainable leadership for the school but this has not been successful in the recent past. They did not hold previous headteachers to account for the decline

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

in standards. Governors did not insist that leaders demonstrate clearly how they planned to improve the achievement of pupils eligible for the pupil premium and, as a result, the additional funding has not been spent effectively. Similarly, there were shortcomings in the monitoring of the primary physical education and sport premium. Governors have not ensured that the school meets its statutory requirements with respect to information published on the school website. Since the previous inspection, the governing body, together with the local authority, has recruited additional members with particular skills and knowledge to provide further expertise to their work. One of the additional governors is a national leader of governance. Governors have now begun to carefully review the school’s improvement plans and check how well they are being carried out. They are keen for the leaders and teachers to work with other schools in order to improve leadership, achievement

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

and teaching. Governors have been proactive in commissioning reviews of the school’s financial arrangements and provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They have learned lessons from these reviews and those arranged by the local authority on safeguarding arrangements and on the pupil premium. As a result, they are now in a stronger position to hold the school leadership to account for these areas.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. The executive headteacher has ensured that the recommendations of the local authority review of safeguarding have been carried out. Staff training in this area is up to date, procedures for reporting any concerns are clear and communication with other agencies is effective.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate

 Teaching has not ensured that pupils make enough progress in their learning. School leaders have not made improvements in most of the weaknesses in teaching that were identified in the previous inspection. Teachers often do not match their explanations and the work that they set to the abilities of the pupils. Consequently, pupils, notably the most able, do not make the progress they should.  Some teachers do not have high enough expectations of the quality of work that pupils should produce. As a result, pupils present work which is not good enough. In some classes, handwriting does not improve over time and often pupils do not produce accurate diagrams and graphs. Pupils’ writing does not develop quickly enough because they do not have enough opportunities to write at length in all of their subjects.  The teaching of mathematics is not good enough because some teachers do not have the subject

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate

knowledge and teaching skills that they need. For example, teachers confuse pupils’ mathematical development by giving them incorrect explanations. Teachers do not provide enough activities that develop pupils’ mathematical vocabulary and so pupils struggle to explain their work and to understand new concepts. Pupils are not taught to use rulers and mathematical equipment well enough and so they are not able to produce clear, neat graphs and tables. Teachers do not provide enough opportunities for pupils to apply their learning and solve problems in a variety of situations. As a result, pupils are not able to remember the methods that they have been taught.  In Reception and key stage 1 classes, teachers keep a careful note of how often pupils read and what they need to do to improve. They ensure that pupils read books that will help their reading develop and also try to make sure that an adult reads regularly with them. However, this does not happen consistently

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate

across the school to make sure that pupils continue to make good progress in reading. Leaders have identified that whole-class reading lessons need to be improved and have plans in place to do this.  Leaders have not organised the curriculum well enough to ensure progression in all subjects. For example, in science, pupils are completing more complicated work in one year group than is set in the following year. Some subject leaders have not kept a careful enough check of the teaching and learning in their subject over the course of this year and necessary staff training has not been provided.  Teachers mark pupils’ work regularly and follow the school’s marking policy by providing prompts and questions for pupils to improve their work. In some instances this is very effective, but often the prompt that the teacher provides is not effective in developing pupils’ learning.  Leaders’ checks on what pupils are learning provide useful information about which pupils need additional

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate

support. However, teachers have not used the information from these checks on learning well enough to set work at the right level and adjust what they are teaching to overcome gaps in pupils’ knowledge and understanding.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare requires improvement.  Pupils’ books show that they do not always take enough pride in their work. Their attitudes to learning are not consistently positive.  Pupils’ conduct before school, at break and at lunchtimes is generally good and reflects the increased focus by staff on improving behaviour. Staff work consistently to ensure that lessons are not often disrupted by poor behaviour. However, leaders have noted that incidents of poor behaviour and conflict between pupils often occur at lunchtime and they are developing actions to tackle this.  Pupils comment that they feel safe and the school’s actions to keep them safe are effective. Pupils are not concerned about bullying in any form. They report that it is not a regular occurrence but when it does happen they are confident that it will be handled well by staff. Teachers and other adults ensure that

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Personal development and welfare

derogatory and aggressive language is unacceptable and always challenged. Pupils can explain how they are educated about how to be safe, including when using technology, and how to be healthy.  School leaders can demonstrate how their actions have improved the attendance of individual pupils and fewer pupils have been missing school in the past two terms. They can also provide strong examples of the work they have done to help individual pupils improve their behaviour.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.  Over the past few years a very high number of pupils have been excluded from school when compared to national figures. According to the information provided by the school, there has also been a high number of detentions.  On his appointment, the executive headteacher immediately introduced a new behaviour policy and ensured that classroom rules and behaviour charts were placed in every classroom. All teachers and teaching assistants have carried out the new policy and inspectors could see this working well in lessons. Leaders have also introduced additional support for pupils who sometimes do not behave well. As a result of this work, behaviour has improved and the number of exclusions and detentions has fallen term by term since the autumn.  Attendance is low and a high proportion of pupils are absent too often. Over the past two years the proportion of pupils who have missed a lot of school time has been much higher than the national figure.

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Behaviour

School leaders and governors understand how this affects pupils’ learning and have improved the work done to tackle this issue. They have set up an attendance team which carefully checks absence information and has worked hard with parents to improve attendance. School leaders have encouraged punctuality by reducing the cost of the breakfast club and have organised rewards for good attendance. These actions have been successful in improving attendance each term. However, attendance is still not high enough.

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Outcomes for pupils are inadequate

 Standards have fallen since the previous inspection and assessment information indicates that many of the current pupils will not achieve high standards of learning this year.  Over the last two years too many pupils, including the most able, have made very slow progress during key stage 2 and so have not developed strong knowledge, skills and understanding by the end of Year 6. This means that they are not well prepared to continue with their education in secondary school. The progress in learning of current pupils is also too slow and not improving quickly enough.  The progress of disadvantaged pupils (those that are eligible for the pupil premium and those that are looked after by the local authority) has been very slow and is also not improving quickly enough. As a result, the gap between the performance of these pupils and other pupils nationally is not closing. The progress of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is too variable in different year

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Outcomes for pupils are inadequate

groups and for different subjects.  School leaders have improved the way that pupils are taught phonics. As a result, the proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics check has risen since last year. This has also had a positive effect on those pupils who did not reach the expected standard last year, and more of these pupils have now managed to reach the standard. However, many pupils further up the school do not receive sufficient adult support with their reading. Their progress in reading is not checked carefully enough so they do not make good progress in reading.  The assessment of Reception children’s starting points indicated that many arrive with knowledge and skills lower than typical for children of their age. By the end of the Reception Year, the proportion of children who reach a good level of development is nearly average. This rate of progress in the children’s

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Outcomes for pupils are inadequate

learning and development means that about half are ready to start key stage 1.  Outcomes at the end of key stage 1 improved strongly in 2015 but were still low. Information about what children know and can do this year indicates that their outcomes are not as strong as they should be.

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Early years provision requires improvement

 Often children start school with skills and abilities below those typical for their age, with about half starting with poorly developed speech and communication skills. By the end of the year, the proportion of children ready to start Year 1 is broadly average. Not enough children, particularly boys, make good progress across a range of curriculum areas.  The progress that children make in developing their reading is stronger. Nearly all girls reach expected levels in their reading, as do an above-average proportion of disadvantaged children. However, these levels of progress are not matched in other areas of the curriculum and children’s attainment is lower, particularly boys’ attainment, in mathematics and writing.  Teachers and other adults have established clear routines which lead to good behaviour in class activities. This has supported teaching so that it can be effective. However, some children need further support to

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Early years provision requires improvement

work well together when they are allowed to choose activities independently. For the new school year, leaders plan to provide more targeted activities which are intended to develop communication and cooperation better.  Leaders are working with the pre-school in order to make sure that children have the best possible start to Reception. Communication with parents is achieved through regular afternoon meetings where they can see the work that their children are doing, and attendance at additional meetings on particular issues such as reading. The teacher has also provided useful packs of resources to support children during the term and to get them ready for Year 1.  Teachers’ work to help the pupils understand the sounds that letters make is now well organised, effective and is starting to strengthen children’s reading skills as they progress through the school. However, support is less effective in helping children develop their fine motor and hand control to

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Early years provision requires improvement

accurately form letters and develop their early writing skills.  School leaders have organised appropriate and effective additional support for children arriving with lower levels of development and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, such as help with speaking clearly and developing their language skills. They now plan to help parents to be more involved to increase the effectiveness of this support.

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School details

Unique reference number 133253 Local authority Gloucestershire Inspection number 10012365 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 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 162 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Judith Sales Headteacher Tim Cooper Telephone number 01452 520 502 Website www.moatprimaryschool.co.uk Email address admin@moat-pri.gloucs.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 24–25 April 2014

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Information about this school

 This school is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  Most pupils come from a White British background. About a third of the pupils come from a range of minority ethnic groups. A few pupils speak English as an additional language.  Since the previous inspection the headteacher has left the school. An acting headteacher was appointed who left in October 2015. In November 2015, the headteacher of Widden School, Mr Tim Cooper, was appointed as executive headteacher of the two schools. Initially he worked almost exclusively at Moat Primary School but now he spends equal time at each school. There have been several changes of teaching staff and teaching assistants during the past three years.  More than half of pupils are known to be eligible for the pupil premium (additional government funding for pupils eligible for free school meals and those in local authority care). This proportion is well above

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Information about this school

average.  The proportion of pupils who have an education, health and care plan is above the national average and the proportion who have special educational needs support is well above the national average.  A high proportion of pupils start at the school after the early years foundation stage.  The early years foundation stage is made up of one Reception class. Pupils in Year 1, 2 and 3 are taught in three single-age classes whilst pupils in Years 4, 5 and 6 are taught in two mixed-age class. Next year the school leadership is planning that all pupils will be taught in single-age classes.  The school has a daily breakfast club provided by the governing body.  A private pre-school shares the school site. This was not part of the inspection and is subject to separate inspection and reporting arrangements.  The school does not meet the government’s current floor standards, which set minimum standards for

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Information about this school

attainment and progress.  The school does not meet the requirements on the publication of information about the primary sport premium; it does not provide the details of a named member of staff for parents and carers to contact, nor does it state how people can find further details about the curriculum.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed eight lessons or part lessons. Three lessons were observed jointly with either the headteacher or one of the deputy headteachers.  The views of parents and carers were taken account of through the 26 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View. Pupils and staff did not respond to their online questionnaire but pupils contributed their views through a student council meeting. Inspectors spoke with other pupils and with members of staff during the inspection.  Inspectors held meetings with school leaders, members of the governing body and representatives of the local authority.  Pupils’ work was examined carefully both in lessons and through a sample of books. Inspectors scrutinised school documentation including improvement plans, records of the monitoring of teaching, school policies, information about the progress that pupils are making in their learning and the

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Information about this inspection

arrangements for safeguarding pupils. Inspectors heard pupils read and examined their reading journals.

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Inspection team

Tom Morrison, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Lizzy Meadows 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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