Kegworth Primary School

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

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Mrs Tracey Robinson Headteacher Kegworth Primary School High Street Kegworth Derby Derbyshire DE74 2DA

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Short inspection of Kegworth Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 12 October 2016, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in November 2011.

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Short inspection of Kegworth Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You are the third headteacher since the last inspection, having taken up your post in August 2016. Since your arrival, you have quickly identified the school’s strengths and areas in need of improvement. You have provided much-needed leadership, already inspiring governors and staff to reach your high expectations for each pupil. Your ambitions for the school are matched by governors who value the quality of information you provide. This extends to aspects such as pupils’ outcomes and the effectiveness of additional grants such as the pupil premium. Along with the recently appointed chair of governors, you make a formidable team with a clear vision for achieving the best possible outcome for every pupil.

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Short inspection of Kegworth Primary School

The pupils I spoke with from Year 5 enjoy coming to school, taking pride in their uniform and their behaviour. They epitomise the sense of care and belonging that is evident throughout the school. They relish and place great value on the roles of responsibility that come with age, including acting as ‘buddies’ for children in the early years. Year 5 pupils are very excited at the prospect of continuing to be the oldest pupils for a further year as the school increases to accommodate Year 6 pupils from next September.

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Short inspection of Kegworth Primary School

Leaders and governors have acted effectively on the areas for improvement identified at the time of the last inspection. The quality of provision for the teaching of information and communication technology has been improved and regular training ensures that teachers integrate its use into a range of lessons. Pupils told me about ways in which they use computers and the internet to research topics such as ‘Who am I?’ and how they undertake similar research work as part of their regular homework tasks. Boys’ writing improved following the last inspection. Pupils have opportunities to write for extended periods across a range of subjects, with teachers providing regular feedback in accordance with the school’s policy. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding is well developed because the curriculum provides opportunities to explore and learn about different faiths and cultures. In addition, your weekly assembly’s focus on a different aspect of

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Short inspection of Kegworth Primary School

fundamental British values ensures that pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

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Short inspection of Kegworth Primary School

You have rightly identified a need to improve pupils’ outcomes in phonics by the end of Years 1 and 2. Not all teachers and teaching assistants are consistent in their use and teaching of pure sounds and some are too slow to address pupils’ incorrect pronunciation. Pupils’ learning is not as well developed nor embedded in all subjects as it needs to be. Teachers do not focus enough on ensuring that pupils have mastered their understanding and skills before moving on to the new learning tasks.

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Short inspection of Kegworth Primary School

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and of high quality. Leaders and governors place a high priority on keeping pupils safe. All staff and governors undertake regular training to ensure that their knowledge is current. You supplement this by checking that staff can apply their training, should the need arise. Leaders and governors are vigilant for potential safeguarding issues such as domestic violence, extremist views or children who may go missing from education. Record-keeping is accurate and up to date. Leaders review logs, such as those for behaviour and accidents, regularly for trends or patterns so that risks to pupils are reduced further.

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Short inspection of Kegworth Primary School

Pupils and parents believe that the school is a safe place and that teachers will act quickly on their behalf. Year 5 pupils told me how they are taught to stay safe in a variety of situations, such as when using the internet. They say that bullying and name-calling are virtually non-existent because pupils are respectful and tolerant towards each other.

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Inspection findings

 Leaders and governors have an accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for improvement. You have improved the quality of information available to governors and provided a degree of clarity to their understanding that was previously missing. This has enabled leaders and governors to prioritise their actions more effectively, while securing improvements more quickly than had been the case during the last year.  In the short time since your arrival, there is already evidence of your impact on raising standards. Showing great insight and a sense of urgency, you have ensured that the school’s evaluation of its own performance is accurate. Action plans to address areas for development are of high quality, clearly identifying those responsible for actions, and this enables governors to hold leaders to account for school improvement.  Governors challenge and support senior leaders effectively. They have a

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Inspection findings

thorough understanding of their role. Governing body minutes record many searching questions and challenges designed to check that the information they receive from senior leaders is accurate.  Senior and subject leaders are increasingly effective in holding teachers to account for pupils’ outcomes. Leaders use termly meetings to challenge teachers about individual pupils’ progress and attainment, expecting that teachers will already have spotted and addressed any issues. This has resulted in a strengthening of the school’s management of teachers’ performance, linking it more closely to pupils’ outcomes.  Leaders also review each pupil’s attendance as part of a termly review, in response to lower attendance of disadvantaged pupils in the past. The school employs an educational welfare officer who provides invaluable knowledge and support that have helped to raise overall pupil attendance above the national

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Inspection findings

average. Leaders monitor the attendance of disadvantaged pupils closely and this is rising quickly towards that of that of all pupils nationally.  Leaders and governors closely monitor the effectiveness of the additional funding provided through the pupil premium and the physical education and sports grant. Governors know how the money is spent and can identify the impact on disadvantaged pupils beyond their academic outcomes. While the difference in attainment between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils has not yet been eliminated, leaders and governors are confident that current initiatives will speed up the progress of this group of pupils.  Pupils’ outcomes in the Year 1 and 2 national phonics screening have recently dipped. However, you have been quick to identify this, holding training sessions early this term to ensure that teachers’ and teaching assistants’ subject knowledge is accurate. Nevertheless, not all adults model pure sounds

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Inspection findings

consistently well, nor challenge pupils’ misconceptions quickly enough, and this results in pupils carrying these inaccuracies into their reading and spelling.  Children enter the early years at levels of development that are broadly in line with that expected for their age. Historically, by the time they leave key stage 1, pupils have attained levels in line with, or above, that seen nationally. In 2015, the proportion of pupils attaining at the higher levels in reading, writing and mathematics dipped. Provisional information for 2016 suggests that the proportion attaining at the higher levels has risen and is expected to be at least in line with national figures.  Work in pupils’ books shows that, while they make progress, the rates of progress are not consistent in every subject. In their efforts to cover the curriculum, teachers do not ensure that pupils’ learning is secure. Consequently, pupils are not as good at applying their learning to a range of situations and

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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

 teachers and teaching assistants model and apply their phonics skills and knowledge consistently, while addressing any inaccuracies in pupils’ use of phonics immediately  teachers embed pupils’ learning and enable them to master new skills appropriate to their abilities, thereby raising their attainment across all subjects.

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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 Leicestershire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I met you and shared my key lines of enquiry which related to:  pupils’ outcomes in key stage 1, particularly phonics  the school’s use of the pupil premium to support disadvantaged pupils  pupils’ attendance, particularly of those pupils in receipt of free school meals.

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Information about the inspection

I also met with both deputy headteachers, four governors, parents and the pupils from Year 5. I considered the responses of parents from Parent View and the single response to the pupils’ survey. We visited all classes in the school, spending a short time in each, and looked at a sample of pupils’ work together. I looked at a range of documents including an evaluation of the school’s performance and plans for further improvement, information on how the pupil premium is spent and a number of policy documents, including those for child protection and special educational needs. I looked at the school’s website, which complies with Department for Education guidance on what schools should publish.

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