Egloskerry Primary School

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

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Mrs Emma Kerr Headteacher Egloskerry School Egloskerry Launceston Cornwall PL15 8RT

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Short inspection of Egloskerry School

Following my visit to the school on 1 November 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 February 2012.

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Short inspection of Egloskerry School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

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Short inspection of Egloskerry School

You took up the substantive post of headteacher in January 2016, having previously been acting headteacher, and you have moved quickly to improve the quality of education provided by the school. You are helped in this by the clarity of your insight into the school’s strengths and the areas it needs to work more on. You set high standards for all staff – what you refer to as ‘non-negotiables’ – and staff rise to meet these expectations. All the members of staff who responded to the survey of their opinion strongly agreed that the school is well led and managed.

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Short inspection of Egloskerry School

The quality of your development planning is high and you are influencing how this is done not just at Egloskerry School but across the cooperative trust of which it is a member, the Launceston Rural Learning Trust. The school’s development plan is a living document which informs the regular monitoring, evaluation and review processes that you, other leaders and governors undertake. The plan is also linked to your own performance management and to that of all other staff, especially teachers. As such, the priorities you have set have a constant influence on the school’s daily life and, consequently, the quality of pupils’ education is improving.

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Short inspection of Egloskerry School

You are ably supported in your work by the governing body; indeed, governance is an emerging strength of the school. Governors provide very good oversight of the school’s work and bring considerable professional expertise from their respective areas of employment to bear on their duties as governors. In particular, the level of challenge provided by governors’ monitoring visits, and the monitoring reports that follow on from them, is of a high quality. Governors clearly understand that their role is a strategic one and do not allow themselves to be distracted by any over- engagement in operational matters. Rightly, they are confident that they can leave this to school leaders.

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Short inspection of Egloskerry School

You, governors and all the staff have created a rich learning environment at Egloskerry School, replete with learning opportunities both indoors and out. In particular, two aspects stand out. First, the use of pupils’ own work to illustrate and to promote progress (through what you refer to as ‘the wheel of progress’), and, second, the use of learning walls full of resources to help pupils make progress and to teach them how to rely on themselves rather than turning to the nearest adult. As a consequence, pupils are developing their resilience well.

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Short inspection of Egloskerry School

Parents are very positive about the quality of education provided by the school. In their responses to the online survey of their opinion, Parent View, the great majority stated that they would recommend the school to another prospective parent. Many also commented on how happy their children are at school and how enthusiastically they go to school every day. They also speak highly of the support they have received from the school when they have needed it.

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Short inspection of Egloskerry School

Pupils are safe in the school and there is clearly a culture of safeguarding built around a knowledge of pupils’ individual needs and any vulnerabilities they might have. Egloskerry School is a relatively small primary school and this means that all staff know all pupils very well and can be vigilant in spotting any evidence that a child may not be thriving. Everyone who responded to the parent, staff and pupil surveys said that children were safe and well cared for while at school.

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Short inspection of Egloskerry School

In evaluating its safeguarding practice, the school makes good use of its own termly surveys of parents’ opinions, which always include questions about safety and well- being. As a consequence, the school has regular dialogue with parents about safeguarding and can respond swiftly to any concerns that they might raise. The school works well with pupils and their families to raise awareness of the potential dangers of sexting, online grooming or the misuse of social media. This is facilitated by the nominated safeguarding governor who, as a police officer, brings to his role considerable professional expertise in these crucial aspects of keeping children safe. Issues such as radicalisation and extremism are discussed with pupils in age- appropriate ways, often in response to events in the news that pupils are curious about. Leaders have undergone training in the ‘Prevent’ duty, part of the government’s anti-radicalisation programme, and have disseminated this to all staff.

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Short inspection of Egloskerry School

The single central register of checks that are made on the staff’s backgrounds and their suitability to work with children is maintained in good order. There are one or two areas, however, where compliance with regulatory requirements is not as strong as the practice that is found in the school. For example, while all staff have received part one of the latest government guidance, ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’, July 2016, the school’s current safeguarding and child protection policy does not reflect the contents of that guidance. In addition, while the school has all the information required to maintain an effective admission register, it is not recorded efficiently in line with requirements.

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Inspection findings

 In mathematics, current pupils are making good progress. This was confirmed by examination of the work in pupils’ books and by talking to them about their mathematical knowledge, understanding and skills. This progress is aided by good teaching which is characterised by effective questioning and the precise use of mathematical terminology, both of which are beginning to develop deeper understanding. Where terminology is used less exactly, however, some pupils’ progress stalls.

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Inspection findings

 Current pupils who took the mathematics key stage 1 national curriculum assessment in 2016, and who are now in Year 3, performed well, with a larger proportion than the national average reaching the expected standard. These pupils are continuing to make good progress. The same is true of current pupils who have recently moved up from the early years and who performed well in the mathematics early learning goals of number and shape, space and measures.

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Inspection findings

 At key stage 2, historic information on pupils’ progress has shown that pupils have tended to make progress at rates broadly in line with the national average. This was not the case in the most recent key stage 2 national curriculum assessments, however, where progress was below average. The school is acutely aware of this and is working hard to improve its tracking of pupils’ performance as they move through the school and the robustness of the information it uses to do this.

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Inspection findings

 Although pupils attain well and make good progress at key stage 1 in mathematics, the proportion who are working at greater depth within the expected standard is slightly lower than the national figure. Similarly, the proportion of pupils achieving a high score in the key stage 2 assessments in 2016 was below the national average for pupils with higher prior attainment. The school recognises that it still has work to do on developing pupils’ mastery of mathematics.

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Inspection findings

 Disadvantaged pupils perform well across a range of subjects and year groups. For example, in the key stage 2 national curriculum assessments in 2016, disadvantaged pupils made progress at broadly the same rate as other pupils nationally in each of reading, writing and mathematics, which is one of the benchmarks for assessing a school’s success in improving the life chances of disadvantaged pupils. This is only one example of a range of measures in which disadvantaged pupils, both current and former, have tended to perform at the same level as other pupils nationally, and in some cases outperform them. This positive picture was confirmed by a close focus on the work of disadvantaged pupils during observations in lessons and the scrutiny of pupils’ books.  The extent of the progress made by the most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, is not quite so consistent. For example, at key stage

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Inspection findings

2 in 2016, while all prior high-attaining pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics, only in reading did a similar proportion to the national figure attain a high score. This was also reflected in the fact that prior higher-attaining pupils made better progress in reading than in other subjects.

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Inspection findings

 Given that Egloskerry School is a relatively small school, there are very small numbers of disadvantaged pupils who have high prior attainment. This makes it difficult to generalise about the performance of such a small group. Nonetheless, what evidence there is would suggest that the same strengths and weaknesses which are evident in the performance of the most able pupils generally are also seen in relation to the most able disadvantaged pupils. Examination of work produced by the most able disadvantaged pupils in the school and talking to them in lessons about their learning show this to be the case.

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Inspection findings

 Pupils with a range of ages and abilities demonstrate that they have the skills necessary to continue to improve their reading as they move through the school. All the pupils who were listened to reading aloud showed that they have been taught well to use phonics to help them deal with unfamiliar or difficult words. The most able readers read with fluency and inflection, while those who are developing their skills show a resilience to stick with difficult passages, determined to read them correctly. Whatever their level of ability, pupils talk about how much they enjoy reading and how they read nearly every day. All this is testimony to the effectiveness of the school’s work to promote a culture of reading.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:  pupils develop an increasing mastery of mathematics in order that they make faster progress, particularly during key stage 2  teaching more successfully addresses the needs of the most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, so that they attain at a higher level and make faster progress.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body and the director of children’s services for Cornwall. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection I held a number of meetings with you and had discussions with other members of staff, including the special educational needs coordinator. I also had a meeting with members of the governing body, including the chair of governors. Jointly with you, I undertook observations in lessons and scrutinised work in pupils’ books. During these activities I took the opportunity to talk to pupils about their learning and their experiences of the school. I also listened to a number of pupils reading aloud; they were selected from across the age and ability ranges. Both before and during the inspection, I examined documents provided by the school; these included the school’s own self-evaluation and the school development plan. I spoke to parents at the start of the day and also took into account the 21 responses to the online survey of parental opinion, Parent View. I also examined the nine responses to the staff survey and the 36 responses to the pupil survey.

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Information about the inspection

In particular, the inspection focused on the following key lines of enquiry:  How well are current pupils making progress in mathematics?  How well do disadvantaged pupils, including the most able, perform across all year groups?  How well do the most able pupils make progress across all subject areas?  How effective is safeguarding?

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