Scamblesby Church of England Primary School

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

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Mrs Ceri Tacey Headteacher Scamblesby Church of England Primary School Old Main Road Louth Lincolnshire LN11 9XG

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Short inspection of Scamblesby Church of England Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 10 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 Scamblesby Church of England Primary 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 Scamblesby Church of England Primary School

You lead the school in a calm and purposeful manner. You have effectively identified the strengths and weaknesses of the school and communicate your vision to the staff team confidently. The staff are supportive of your vision and know what they have to do to in order to improve the school further. You have fostered positive relationships with your staff team and they are confident leaders of learning within their classrooms. The governing body knows the school well and is supportive of your well- informed leadership. The governing body is a strength of the school and uses its expertise well to develop the school.

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Short inspection of Scamblesby Church of England Primary School

The pupils and staff of the school emanate the school’s core values through warm and caring relationships. Pupils spoke fondly about their teachers and value their care and attention to make them successful learners. Values such as trust, friendship and respect are explicitly taught in the lessons and shared in school assemblies. Pupils show consideration to each other and are respectful of the adults in the school.

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Short inspection of Scamblesby Church of England Primary School

You have dealt with staffing instability astutely. New members of staff receive support from experienced teachers and training is closely linked to the school’s development priorities. You effectively use your teachers’ expertise to ensure a consistent approach to teaching and learning across the school. Teachers know how to improve teaching and learning as they are involved in the school development planning. They are motivated to share their ideas and expertise widely so that pupils make good progress.

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Short inspection of Scamblesby Church of England Primary School

Teachers have created a positive reading culture for the pupils through introducing innovative ways to unpick storylines in class reading books. Pupils are using their reading skills to gauge a deeper understanding of characters, vocabulary and story structure. Pupils enjoy reading and are able to offer their opinions about texts that they read.

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Short inspection of Scamblesby Church of England Primary School

Teaching assistants work with teachers to support pupils’ needs well. They provide individual support and work with groups of pupils in the classroom. Pupils value their time with teaching assistants and pupils have positive relationships with them.

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Short inspection of Scamblesby Church of England Primary School

You have dealt with the areas for improvement from the previous Ofsted inspection effectively. Teachers are implementing the school’s new assessment system well and frequently check on pupils’ learning throughout the lesson. Teachers regularly plan and review targets and use school monitoring opportunities to check on the consistency of pupil assessments. As a result, new targets provide pupils with a clear structure with which to improve and make good progress. Pupils who spoke to me know what they have to do in lessons and eagerly respond to the teacher’s feedback.

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Short inspection of Scamblesby Church of England Primary School

Attendance for the past two years has been below national expectations. You recognise that the attendance of pupils must improve to be in line with national expectations. You have already implemented new ways to raise the profile of attendance in the school and leaders are monitoring this carefully to ensure that attendance improves for this academic year.

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Short inspection of Scamblesby Church of England Primary School

Pupils make good progress across the curriculum as a result of effective teaching. They have opportunities to use their English and mathematics skills through links with other subjects. Pupils have completed topics in geography and history based on their local area and therefore had opportunities to practise their skills.

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Short inspection of Scamblesby Church of England Primary School

During the inspection, we looked at pupils’ books and noted that lower-attaining pupils are not making as much progress as they could. We agreed that tasks are not consistently well matched to pupils’ abilities. Where this is the case, pupils do not make the progress they should. You have rightly identified this as an area that the school will focus upon over the next year.

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Short inspection of Scamblesby Church of England Primary School

You are the designated lead for safeguarding and, along with the school’s leadership team, you have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. High- quality, detailed records show that you manage concerns swiftly and understand the procedures for referring pupils where there is a concern. You are prompt and vigilant in garnering further support by approaching the appropriate external agency.

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Short inspection of Scamblesby Church of England Primary School

Staff and governors are knowledgeable about safeguarding procedures through regular training and updates. Staff have had training so they can recognise how to protect pupils from the threat of radicalisation and extremism. You have also ensured that appropriate staff are trained in paediatric first aid.

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Short inspection of Scamblesby Church of England Primary School

Pupils feel safe at the school and are confident that their concerns are quickly dealt with by staff. They know precisely how the school keeps them safe through locking the school gates and that visitors are signed in to the school. They value the visits from the local police and know how to keep themselves safe online. Pupils said that bullying is rare and know that teachers deal with any disagreements in a firm but fair manner.

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Inspection findings

 You have a clear and accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. The staff and the governing body know the school’s priorities and how to achieve them. You have a clear vision and have high expectations of staff and pupils.  You have dealt with the recent instability in staffing well and quickly built a confident and hard-working team. Teachers share their expertise and work closely with staff to ensure that pupils make good progress in their learning.  The school values of friendship, belief, happiness, respect, nurture, aspiration and kindness are communicated well to pupils. For example, in a school assembly, a teacher eloquently told a bible story that centred upon trust and belief. Pupils were captivated by their classmates performing the story and listened intently. Pupils show these values in their relationships and positive conduct during their day-to- day school routines.

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Inspection findings

 You have ensured that there is a broad and balanced curriculum which develops pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural skills. You and your team have ensured that the curriculum is relevant and interesting for the pupils through using the school’s local area. For example, pupils have conducted a local study on Scamblesby, used maps and even looked at old photographs of the village in previous decades. They have compared the Scamblesby of today with how it looked in the past. Pupils told me about the range of extra-curricular activities on offer. One child was thrilled to tell me that she loves the sewing club.  Teachers encourage pupils to be independent learners and to work together. They enjoy having the opportunity to organise their own book clubs and being the nominated expert on a particular author. They like to motivate their classmates to join their book club and share in their love of reading. Pupils keenly conveyed to me

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Inspection findings

how they like to have the chance to share their expertise with their classmates through being ‘the teacher for 15 minutes’. They share their skills of collage, story writing and the importance of being healthy.  Children in the early years attain a good level of development. The classroom is a bright and interesting place to be. There are stimulating activities that appeal to a broad range of interests and build on the children’s imagination. For example, children told me about the ‘Faraway Tree’ and that it listens to the children making their phonics sounds while they are sitting in the listening circle. The ‘Faraway Tree’ is a small model used as part of the class teaching to show the children the importance of saying their sounds correctly.  The personal development and welfare of children in the early years is a strength of the school. Children readily told me why it is important to eat fruit at breaktimes and

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Inspection findings

the importance of their ‘friendship tree.’ Staff in the early years celebrate cultural diversity well. For example, one child led the class with singing in a different language. All the children happily joined in and understood the meaning of the song.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, cultural and social needs are met well by the school. Older pupils explained the importance of trust and explained how this is taught in lessons. Pupils who spoke to me recounted in great detail how their class teacher demonstrated trust in a class activity. They made explicit links between the class activity and the assembly they had listened to that morning.  In 2016 pupils’ outcomes in the phonics screening check in Year 1 were above national averages. I heard pupils reading and using the techniques which the school has taught them to successfully sound out difficult or unfamiliar words. You recognise that in previous years the teaching of phonics was not effective and this has been

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Inspection findings

dealt with. You are confident that the good results of 2016 can be sustained.  Reading skills are taught well in the school. Lower-attaining pupils acquire reading skills through regular opportunities to read with an adult. They read their books well and apply their phonics skills correctly. Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities receive extra support with their reading. They practise their phonics sounds with teaching assistants and this is supporting them well to make good progress in reading. The most able pupils read well and enjoy reading challenging books. They are able to say what they like to read and have strong reading preferences. The positive culture of reading is exemplified well through the pupils’ engagement in book clubs. Pupils encourage their classmates to be ‘reading fans’ of particular authors. The positive reading culture in the school is supporting pupils to understand the importance of reading and to make good progress.

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Inspection findings

 Additional government funding for primary sport is used effectively. Pupils take part in a wide range of sports such as cross-country events and local tournaments.  Parents told me that you lead the school in a calm way. One parent told me that she valued the care and support you had shown her family. The consensus among the parents is that the school is well managed and that their children are happy.  The school’s website meets statutory requirements for published information.

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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

 attendance improves in line with national expectations  teaching and learning targets the needs of the lower attaining pupils so that they make greater progress.

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Next steps for the school

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

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I held meetings with you and subject leaders. I also had a meeting with the chair of the governing body. We visited a series of lessons, examined examples of pupils’ work and looked at teachers’ assessments of that work. I spoke with pupils, informally, during lunchtime and lessons, and formally during an interview. I also listened to pupils read and looked at their reading records.

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Information about the inspection

I observed pupils’ behaviour around the school at the start of the day, at breaktimes and during lessons. I met with parents at the beginning of the school day and I took account of nine responses to the Ofsted free-text service and 16 responses to Parent View. There were no responses to the staff or pupils’ survey. I examined a range of documents, including safeguarding records and policies, behaviour policies, the latest achievement information for the school, the school’s improvement plan and self- evaluation summary, records of meetings of the governing body, and information relating to pupils’ attendance and behaviour. I scrutinised safeguarding documents including the single central record (the school’s record of safeguarding recruitment checks on staff).

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Information about the inspection

I considered the areas for improvement that were identified at the previous inspection in February 2012. These related to: embedding the use of assessment levels for those pupils working below national curriculum standards, ensuring that the organisation, planning and reviewing of target-setting throughout the school provides pupils with up-to-date targets that are a good match to their needs. I also checked that pupils’ targets are integral to learning so that pupils know and understand them and take ownership of them. Further, I checked that pupils always know what they achieve in lessons and the next steps forward.

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Information about the inspection

 whether leaders are meeting their statutory obligations for keeping children safe  areas for improvement since the last Ofsted inspection  whether leaders are managing attendance effectively  whether leaders are ensuring that pupils make effective progress across the curriculum in wider subject areas.

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