Quadring Cowley & Brown's Primary School

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

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Mr James Kelwick Quadring Cowley & Brown’s Primary School Church End Donington Spalding Lincolnshire PE11 4SQ

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Short inspection of Quadring Cowley & Brown’s Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 31 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 April 2012.

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Short inspection of Quadring Cowley & Brown’s Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Since your appointment as headteacher in September 2015, you have led the school purposefully and demonstrate determined leadership. You have clearly communicated the school’s priorities and built a hard-working, dedicated and confident team who are all striving to continually improve the school.

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Short inspection of Quadring Cowley & Brown’s Primary School

The staff share your high expectations and you support them well to provide a good quality education for all pupils.

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Short inspection of Quadring Cowley & Brown’s Primary School

Teaching across the school is consistently good and it is regularly monitored by the headteacher.

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Short inspection of Quadring Cowley & Brown’s Primary School

Governors have been instrumental in working with you to improve the school’s performance management system; professional development for the staff is well matched to their needs and performance management targets.

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Short inspection of Quadring Cowley & Brown’s Primary School

You have created a school that encompasses your seven core values: pride, perseverance, responsibility, confidence, fun, aspiration and creativity. Pupils talk about your school with pride and say that they have many opportunities to take on responsibilities. They also report that teachers try to make lessons fun and that the school staff are caring and supportive. Pupils display excellent conduct around the school and understand the learning behaviours they need to have to be successful at school. The school has effectively addressed the areas for improvement since the last inspection. For example, you have introduced a new writing programme to enhance pupils’ understanding of the writing process. This involves writing about memorable experiences (such as leaflet-writing when working with the Environmental Agency, writing and testing out recipes and interviewing the local MP). Pupils are exposed to

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Short inspection of Quadring Cowley & Brown’s Primary School

a range of genres and build their experience of their understanding through explicit success criteria. Pupils are confident and enthusiastic writers and current books show that pupils are making good progress in their writing.

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Short inspection of Quadring Cowley & Brown’s Primary School

You have also developed middle leaders and governance well to ensure that all aspects of the school and its curriculum are monitored and developed. Middle leaders report that they have worked with a local educational consultant to improve their monitoring and leadership skills. The mathematics and English leaders have recently undertaken appropriate monitoring activities, including work scrutiny and learning walks, resulting in robust actions plans for their respective subjects. Governors are actively involved in monitoring aspects of school life and discussions and governor minutes show that they challenge, support and hold leaders to account appropriately. Class governors are assigned and part of their remit is to check on the work of the school by matching teachers’ long-term plans to work in pupils’ books.

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Short inspection of Quadring Cowley & Brown’s Primary School

The school has correctly identified the need to improve attendance as overall attendance and persistent absence for specific groups of learners has been below national for the last two academic years. The school has started to address this with new strategies such as closer monitoring of specific groups’ attendance and writing letters to parents as soon as a concern is spotted. This is starting to have an impact, as shown by the school’s most up-to-date attendance information, which shows that attendance is above national for the period September 2016 to date.

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Short inspection of Quadring Cowley & Brown’s Primary School

The school is also aware that not enough of its pupils are working at the highest levels. No pupils in key stage 1 in 2016 were judged to be working at greater depth in reading, writing or mathematics and only writing at key stage 2 was in line with the national average for working at the higher levels. The school has started to address this. For example, providing more opportunities for applying mathematics skills to real problems has become a focus in mathematics and guided reading practices have been modified to improve the teaching of higher-order reading skills. In class interventions as well as after-school support and extension (weekly Jaffa club), clubs have started to have an impact, as shown by evidence gleaned from internal tracking systems.

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Short inspection of Quadring Cowley & Brown’s Primary School

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Documentation meets requirements and staff have a good understanding of their duties for safeguarding. Governors have received ‘Prevent’ training and there is a nominated governor who has responsibility for monitoring the single central record. Some governors have also been trained in safer recruitment. Accurate records are kept of training and refresher dates and you respond promptly to concerns and ensure that there is early relevant support in place for vulnerable pupils.

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Short inspection of Quadring Cowley & Brown’s Primary School

Pupils report that they feel safe in school and value the guidance that staff provide about how to stay safe in a range of situations, including online safety.

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Inspection findings

 You are an ambitious leader who has identified the strengths and weaknesses of your school accurately. You lead the school confidently and have the capacity to continue to develop it.  The governing body has improved its effectiveness and provides good support and challenge to leaders.  Most areas for improvement from the last inspection have been addressed. For example, the quality of writing has improved across the curriculum in all classes and middle leadership roles have been strengthened. However, the school still needs to closely monitor and accelerate the progress of its pupils so that more pupils are working at greater depth.  Attendance has been below national average figures for two years and although recent analysis shows an improving picture, this focus needs to be continued.  Parents feel that the school supports their children well. Parents are appreciative of the warm, caring culture that pervades the school and value the good

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Inspection findings

communication between school and home.  Pupils are confident, well behaved and happy to be at school. They appreciate the range of after-school clubs that are organised for them and report that incidents of inappropriate behaviour and/or bullying are extremely rare.  The school rightly acknowledges that there was a dip in attainment for girls in mathematics in key stage 2 in 2016. Small cohort sizes have impacted on this data, along with higher than average mobility of pupils for this cohort of pupils. Current work books show that there is effective progression and coverage of the mathematics curriculum. Girls spoken to expressed the opinion that they enjoyed mathematics and that they felt well supported in lessons.  Pupils are supported well with their reading and have the appropriate books matched to their ability. They spoke enthusiastically about the school’s reading challenge, involving earning points in exchange for books read, and liked being

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Inspection findings

able to talk to their teachers about the books that their teachers were currently reading. The titles of these books are displayed on the classroom doors.

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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’ attendance improves to be in line with the national average and that persistent absence, particularly for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and disadvantaged pupils, improves to be at least in line with the national average  the progress of pupils is accelerated so that a greater proportion are working at greater depth in all subject areas by the end of key stage 2.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner 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 this inspection, I held meetings with the headteacher, who is also responsible for safeguarding and subject leaders. I also had a meeting with two members of the governing body, including the vice-chair. I visited a series of lessons, for most of which I was accompanied by the headteacher. I examined samples of pupils’ work and looked at teachers’ assessments and feedback relating to that work. I spoke with pupils, informally during the day 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 lunchtime and during lessons.

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Information about the inspection

I met with parents at the beginning of the school day and I took account of 18 response on Ofsted’s Parent View online survey.

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Information about the inspection

I examined a range of documents, including the school’s self-evaluation, the school development plan, the single central record and other safeguarding records, behaviour logs and policies, records of meetings of the governing body and information relating to pupils’ attendance and their latest progress and attainment information.

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