Bradwell CofE (Controlled) Infant School & Nursery

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

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Mr Geoffrey Wharton Headteacher Bradwell CofE (Controlled) Infant School Church Street Bradwell Hope Valley Derbyshire S33 9HJ

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Short inspection of Bradwell CofE (Controlled) Infant School

Following my visit to the school on 12 January 2017, 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 June 2013.

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Short inspection of Bradwell CofE (Controlled) Infant School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You and your team provide a warm and caring learning environment which enables the pupils to enjoy their education and achieve well. The school enjoys close links with the local community. The pupils regularly participate in services at the local church, learn to play crown green bowling at the village club and sing for different local groups as part of the festival for St. Barnabas.

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Short inspection of Bradwell CofE (Controlled) Infant School

You develop the pupils’ personal and social skills well. The pupils are given roles of responsibility, such as toy monitors, to develop their leadership skills. Regular meetings of the pupil forum, involving all pupils, allow them to form and express their views. A recent topic focused on gender equality where both boys and girls realised that everyone has their strengths.

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Short inspection of Bradwell CofE (Controlled) Infant School

Parents are very supportive of the school. As one parent wrote, ‘I am pleased that the school is as concerned with helping the pupils become responsible, well- rounded people, as well as their educational development.’

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Short inspection of Bradwell CofE (Controlled) Infant School

The pupils start school with skills and knowledge that are broadly typical for their age. Pupils make good progress through the school. Outcomes for the past three years at the end of Year 2 show that pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics is above the national standards.

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Short inspection of Bradwell CofE (Controlled) Infant School

However, in 2016 not enough pupils made sufficient progress from their starting points to reach the higher standard in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 2. The latest published outcomes showed that fewer pupils, who reached the expected standard at the end of the Reception Year, achieved highly at the end of Year 2 than other pupils nationally.

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Short inspection of Bradwell CofE (Controlled) Infant School

You lead the school well. You and the staff are dedicated and ambitious for each child to reach his or her full potential. Governors are highly committed and visit the school regularly to check how the school is improving. They have managed the budget well during the period of declining numbers on roll to ensure that standards have been maintained.

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Short inspection of Bradwell CofE (Controlled) Infant School

At the last inspection, the inspector praised the pupils’ behaviour and their achievement. These strengths have been maintained. However, the inspector asked you and your team to improve pupils’ writing. The pupils show great enthusiasm for writing. In the Reception Year, the children are writing their own sentences using capital letters and full stops. One child wrote, ‘I wish I had a rainbow cake. It would be lime, strawberry and orange.’ Throughout the school, pupils are writing well.

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Short inspection of Bradwell CofE (Controlled) Infant School

In addition, the inspector asked you to improve the leadership and management of the school by checking the quality of teaching more frequently. You have increased the number of lesson observations and you have moderated the pupils’ work more frequently, both within the school and with other schools in the local cluster. This has enabled you to maintain the good standards that the pupils achieve.

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Short inspection of Bradwell CofE (Controlled) Infant School

More recently, you identified the need to improve the way you teach phonics to support pupils’ reading and writing skills. You have had much success with this improvement. Pupils use their phonic knowledge well to read unknown words. The outcomes of the Year 1 phonics check have risen for the past three years consecutively, and are now above the national average.

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Short inspection of Bradwell CofE (Controlled) Infant School

I have asked you to develop further the pupils’ ability to reason mathematically to help them solve more complex problems. This will enable more pupils to achieve highly at the end of Year 2. I have also asked you to increase the number of opportunities for pupils to investigate in science and write their own conclusions.

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Short inspection of Bradwell CofE (Controlled) Infant School

The school’s website does not contain all the statutory information regarding the national curriculum.

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Short inspection of Bradwell CofE (Controlled) Infant School

You and your team are committed to ensuring that pupils are safe. The staff are trained annually about safeguarding and they know what to do if a child makes a disclosure. You inform parents about the duty of care that staff provide to pupils through the school prospectus, website and newsletters. You have worked closely with external agencies, particularly with the local multi- agency team when the need has arisen. You ensure that there is good communication with all stakeholders to inform all the necessary agencies about a child’s welfare.

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Short inspection of Bradwell CofE (Controlled) Infant School

Pupils’ attendance has been low. You have worked hard with external agencies to ensure that pupils attend school. In the current school year, the attendance of all groups of pupils is above the most recent national average and no pupils have been persistently absent.

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Short inspection of Bradwell CofE (Controlled) Infant School

The pupils are well informed about how to stay safe. They are knowledgeable of how to stay safe online and know about the potential hazards of pop-up boxes on the internet as well as the harmful effects of cyber bullying. The pupils told me that behaviour is good and that bullying does not happen. The pupils also told me how the local policeman informed them of ‘stranger danger.’

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Short inspection of Bradwell CofE (Controlled) Infant School

All the necessary checks have been completed on the adults who work in school. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and of high quality.

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Inspection findings

 You and your team pay close attention to the individual needs of the pupils. You track closely the progress of the pupils and put in extra tuition if a pupil is not on track. Disadvantaged pupils achieve well. In 2016, disadvantaged pupils achieved close to or above the national figure for other pupils in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Year 2 and in the Year 1 phonics check. The current tracking of all pupils’ progress shows that most pupils are on track to achieve well.  Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are closely tracked and extra support, for example a speech and language therapist, is used to meet the needs of the pupils. This group of pupils make good progress from their starting points.  The school has developed good links with the local pre-school. There are opportunities for the school staff to read stories to the children before they start school and for the children to become familiar with the classroom environment.

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Inspection findings

All the children achieved a good level of development at the end of the Reception Year in 2015. However, while the proportion of children who achieved a good level of development fell in 2016, the individual needs of the pupils are being met to ensure that they are making good progress from their starting points. The school’s current tracking shows that the proportion of children on track to meet a good level of development in 2017 is likely to increase.  The pupils are learning to complete mathematical calculations accurately. The pupils in Year 2 are encouraged to learn the inverse of calculations to deepen their understanding of number. Currently, both boys and girls are achieving well in mathematics. More girls are on track to achieve highly in mathematics. The teachers are developing the pupils’ ability to reason mathematically. Recently, the pupils were asked to explain if a child had three silver coins in her hand, would

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Inspection findings

she have more than one pound? The pupils had to explain their thinking. However, there are too few examples of reasoning questions to further develop the pupils’ mathematical skills through the school.  The pupils’ scientific knowledge is developed well. As a part of their living eggs project, the pupils learn how chickens and butterflies are hatched. The pupils also participate in stream dipping to learn how oxygen affects the number and variety of living creatures found in the local stream. However, pupils do not have enough opportunities to conduct scientific investigations and write their own conclusions.  The school’s website does not contain information about the curriculum in all year groups.

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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

 pupils are routinely challenged through mathematical reasoning activities in all year groups  the science curriculum is improved to allow more opportunities for pupils to plan investigations and write conclusions  the school’s website contains all the curriculum information that is required by the government.

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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 Derby, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Derbyshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I met you, the teacher and a teaching assistant. I spoke with parents and observed pupils at breaktime. I visited both classrooms and looked at every pupil’s work. I met with four governors, including the chair of the governing body. I listened to pupils read and met with a group of pupils. You and I reviewed records about attendance and keeping children safe. I studied your school improvement plan, your self-evaluation and minutes of the governing body meetings. I looked at your documents relating to performance management. I considered the nine responses to the Ofsted free text service, the six responses to the staff survey and the five responses to the pupil survey.

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