All Saints Babbacombe CofE Primary School

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

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Mrs Caroline Labrum Headteacher All Saints Babbacombe CofE Primary School Quinta Road Torquay Devon TQ1 3RN

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Short inspection of All Saints Babbacombe CofE Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 24 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 January 2014.

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Short inspection of All Saints Babbacombe CofE Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. The school’s ethos is fully reflected in the everyday life and work of the school. Pupils relish and enjoy ‘learning, growing and worshipping together’. You, together with staff and governors, base the work of the school around the Christian values of ‘friendship, forgiveness, creativity, perseverance, responsibility and trust’. This is pivotal to the continuing effectiveness of the school. It is reflected in the positive attitudes pupils have towards their learning and in the way in which they work and play harmoniously together. Pupils demonstrate both eagerness and perseverance in the way they solve challenging mathematical problems. They enthusiastically adapt their creative skills across different subjects, such as history, geography and religious education. You and your staff encourage them to take on roles and responsibilities, including preparing assemblies, providing

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Short inspection of All Saints Babbacombe CofE Primary School

weekly headline news bulletins and sorting out any minor issues between pupils. They do this very willingly and with great success.

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Short inspection of All Saints Babbacombe CofE Primary School

At the time of the last inspection, the school was asked to make sure that pupils were fully challenged in their learning. The successful adoption of a curriculum approach specifically designed by the teachers to engage and motivate learners has provided the school with a successful way of extending the pupils’ thinking. They apply the knowledge and skills they have gained to other subjects across the curriculum. For example, when learning about the Victorians, Year 5 pupils applied a range of skills to investigate marketing strategies to advertise the inventions of this era. Since the last inspection, the school has become part of St Christopher’s Multi- Academy Trust, and this has enabled staff to work closely with other schools. Teachers report the benefits of working very closely with their neighbouring school, St Marychurch, and appreciate the opportunities to moderate and assess pupils’ work across the wider Torbay area.

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Short inspection of All Saints Babbacombe CofE Primary School

A key line of enquiry for my visit to your school was to explore how the school kept its pupils safe. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are both detailed and of high quality. Recruitment and vetting procedures are rigorous and training for both staff and governors is fully up to date. Central to the school’s vigilant safeguarding culture is the way in which staff use their detailed knowledge of individual pupils to keep them safe. There is a clear understanding of the need to protect pupils from radicalisation and extremism. Staff and governors fully understand how to recognise the warning signs of child sexual exploitation.

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Short inspection of All Saints Babbacombe CofE Primary School

Pupils report that they feel safe and know that if they have a worry or concern, an adult in school will help them sort it out. Pupils who are experiencing difficulties at school or home are given high-quality pastoral support to help them cope and overcome their problems. They are very clear about how the school protects them from the dangers of the internet and know they have to be very careful about the use of mobile telephones and social media sites. The majority of parents who responded to Parent View, the Ofsted questionnaire, felt that their children were well looked after by the school.

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Inspection findings

 To ascertain that the school remained good, my key line of enquiry was exploring how it challenged its most able pupils, especially with reading in key stage 1 and writing in key stage 2. Comparison with the 2016 national results indicates that the most able readers in Year 2 and the most able writers in Year 6 did not reach the greater depth expected in their assessments. You and your subject leaders quickly identified that these results reflected a lack of both teacher and pupil confidence in the new curriculum and testing systems. The school has taken swift action to ensure that both staff and pupils are now very clear about the raised expectations for all groups of pupils, including the most able.  Current Year 6 writing books show that the most able, including those who are disadvantaged, are working with a greater depth to their learning. They use a wide range of vocabulary and demonstrate a growing sophistication in the way

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Inspection findings

they write. For example, pupils, especially the most able, have developed engaging and dramatic writing styles suitable for a range of different audiences and purposes. They have greater confidence in making accurate use of punctuation. Pupils appreciate the more detailed feedback they receive from their teachers and are quick to take the action required to improve their work further.  The most able readers in the current Year 2 talk in depth about the books that they enjoy reading, both at home and in school. They have a clear understanding of the difference between fiction and non-fiction. The most able read fluently and confidently. Pupils talk about the contents of what they are reading and use a range of different techniques to work out words they do not know. The most able readers in Year 3 who did not reach a greater depth in their Year 2 assessments have been supported through extended reading activities. This has resulted in

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Inspection findings

them making accelerated progress. They read widely and confidently talk about the books that they enjoy reading and are clear about who their favourite authors are.  Another line of enquiry was to find about how the school was improving the attendance of those pupils who do not attend regularly and take unauthorised absence. You were able to show me how any unexplained absences are carefully followed through and patterns are monitored by staff and governors. You do not shy away from fining families who take their children out of school for unauthorised absence. External agencies are used well to support those pupils who are persistently absent. The ‘door knocking’ service is particularly effective in seeking out those pupils who should be in school.  During the inspection, I noted that those parents who accessed Ofsted’s Parent View reflected a mixed response to some of the questions. Many parents were

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Inspection findings

very positive about the school and described it as ‘a fantastic school… with friendly and approachable staff… a relaxed atmosphere and is very welcoming’. However, other parents raised concerns about bullying and behaviour in and around school. The pupils I spoke to were very clear that bullying was not a problem and that if such an incident occurred, it would be immediately dealt with by an adult. A number of pupils explained that they have moved from other schools where they had been subjected to bullying and that they felt much safer now. Your ethos attracts pupils who find learning difficult in other local schools. You explain that they may take a little while to settle and this can affect the dynamics of a class for a while. However, you, your governors and St Christopher’s Trust are clear that all children who come to the school should be warmly welcomed and fully included in the life of the school.

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Inspection findings

 Although some parents noted that the school was ‘well run’ and that all their questions or concerns were always dealt with, other parents raised issues about the leadership of the school. This was a huge surprise to you, your staff and governors because it did not tally with your own school questionnaires. Your deputy headteacher is currently on secondment to another trust school and, until recently, you took on extra duties to support your administrative team. We agreed that the extra workload involved may have resulted in you appearing less accessible to parents.

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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

 those parents who do not have confidence in approaching the school with a concern are given a range of different ways to do so  they work alongside parents to help them gain a better understanding of the aspirations that the school and St Christopher’s Multi-Academy Trust have for all pupils.

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

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Information about the inspection

I met with you to talk about the improvements which had been made since the last inspection. I looked at all safeguarding records and explored your recruitment and vetting procedures. I also held discussions with two governors, including the chair of governors, and five senior and middle leaders. We visited all the classes together and looked at the current Year 6 writing books. I heard four of your most able pupils from Years 2 and 3 read. I also had a discussion with six Year 6 pupils. I observed both lunchtime and afternoon play and informally spoke to a number of pupils about behaviour in and around school. I looked at the 72 survey results from Parent View and considered the comments that parents had submitted.

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