Diseworth Church of England Primary School

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

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Mrs Alison Woffindin Headteacher Diseworth Church of England Primary School Grimesgate Diseworth Derby Derbyshire DE74 2QD

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Short inspection of Diseworth Church of England Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 26 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 May 2012.

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Short inspection of Diseworth Church of England Primary School

You have maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. This is a small school, where adults know all pupils well. The pupils and parents appreciate the positive and friendly atmosphere this brings. It also means that you have a good understanding of the school and have kept a close eye on how it is improving.

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Short inspection of Diseworth Church of England Primary School

The governing body have a good range of skills and they provide you with strong support. The plans you have developed to extend the age range of the school, to include Year 6 pupils, have been a high priority. You are realistic about the extra challenges this will bring for staff and have worked with other schools to ensure that you are getting ready for these changes.

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Short inspection of Diseworth Church of England Primary School

Parents appreciate the breakfast and after-school club. They feel they provide them with useful support and are a key part of why they like the school. Parents also welcome the links to the local church and they feel the school is a key part of the local community. You communicate strongly the importance of good attendance and, as a result, almost all pupils attend regularly.

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Short inspection of Diseworth Church of England Primary School

You are very aware of the areas for improvement identified in the previous inspection and have ensured that staff have received additional training and support in order to improve pupils’ writing and presentation. Pupils now regularly work on their ideas to improve and develop them before writing them up as a ‘neat’ version. They are writing extended passages in literacy sessions and as part of particular topics they are studying. Pupils are confident when using mathematics and are secure in their use of calculations.

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Short inspection of Diseworth Church of England Primary School

The school is increasingly benefiting from involvement in an informal local partnership of schools, known as ‘BESKiLD’. Although this is still at an early stage of development, it has brought helpful opportunities to share ideas, learn from each other and agree assessment judgements about pupils’ learning. The local authority has provided ‘light touch’ support to gain an understanding of how well the school is doing.

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Short inspection of Diseworth Church of England Primary School

You are aware that the progress made by pupils in science is not strong enough and you are considering ways that you can increase the depth of their learning, along with improvements to the assessment of this subject and other foundation subjects. You have good systems in place to check the attainment of pupils at key points in the year. You are less clear about the progress of pupils over time and from their different starting points. The checks that you carry out on the attainment of pupils are not sufficiently helpful in identifying some gaps in learning. This has resulted in older pupils being less secure in some aspects of their grammar and punctuation skills.

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Short inspection of Diseworth Church of England Primary School

You have made sure that you have good systems to check that adults who work at the school are suitably qualified and experienced. The records you keep of these checks are thorough and organised well.

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Short inspection of Diseworth Church of England Primary School

Staff and governors have received regular training in order to develop their awareness of safeguarding and feel confident that the systems in place would enable them to raise any concerns they might have. Staff are aware of the importance of British values and the school has developed a strong ethos that promotes respect and tolerance. The small size of the school means that staff know all pupils well, and this helps them to feel safe. Pupils say that they are not worried about bullying, although they realise that people do fall out with each other from time to time. You have also provided regular information for pupils about how to stay safe when using the internet and the importance of road safety.

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Inspection findings

 Children make a good start in the Reception class. The checks you make on their skills and abilities when they start school determine the effective help and support they receive.  Pupils develop secure skills in sounding out letters when they start school. You understand that the small number of pupils in each year group means that statistics about the proportion achieving the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics check can fluctuate widely.  In key stage 1, pupils develop secure skills. They have a sound understanding of mathematics. You have made sure they understand the importance of knowing their tables and practise them regularly. Pupils read with confidence and have a good understanding of the meaning of texts.  The proportion who achieved the expected level in the 2016 key stage 1 national tests was above average and almost all groups of pupils did well. The small number of pupils in each cohort means that you rightly look upon each pupil as

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Inspection findings

an individual, and you are aware that proportions of pupils achieving a level can vary considerably because one pupil makes a big difference.  The school is in the process of extending its age range to include Year 6 pupils. This means that you do not currently have any national test results in key stage 2 that you can use for comparing how well older pupils are doing. You are working with other schools to share information about the work of these older pupils, in order to check they are where they should be.  You continue to monitor the attainment of pupils in key stage 2 and check how well they are doing against what you would expect for their age. This approach is helpful, but does not always give you enough information about the progress they have made over time, or from their different starting points.  Some of the older pupils in key stage 2 are not developing strong enough skills, especially in aspects of their writing. You are aware of this priority and that some

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Inspection findings

planning is still not ensuring that pupils work at a level that stretches them and helps them to develop their skills in grammar and punctuation sufficiently.  Pupils learn about a wide range of subjects through topics they are studying. Although they study science, this is not always in sufficient depth. The assessment of foundation subjects requires further development in order for you to feel more secure about how well pupils are doing in these areas.

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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

 they take more account of the progress made by pupils over time and from their different starting points  they use this information more systematically to help teachers to plan learning that addresses the gaps in pupils’ grammar and punctuation skills, especially for the older pupils  sufficient time is given to the teaching of science and the assessment of progress in a wide range of subjects.

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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 Leicester, 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

I met with you on several occasions, spoke to the local authority’s school improvement partner on the telephone, and met governors, in order to review your evaluation of the school’s effectiveness. I looked at learning in classrooms across the school, checked a range of work in pupils’ books and compared this to the school’s records of their progress. I spoke to a group of pupils to gain their views about the school and I heard some of them read. I looked at your attendance figures and records of behaviour. I looked at the 26 responses on Parent View, including the comments made. I checked the effectiveness of your policies and procedures for safeguarding, including checks made in relation to the recruitment of staff.

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