Quinton Primary School

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

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Mr David Skelcher Headteacher Quinton Primary School Lower Quinton Stratford-upon-Avon Warwickshire CV37 8SA

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Short inspection of Quinton Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 7 March 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 Quinton 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 Quinton Primary School

Since 2013, the school has almost doubled in size. The school’s reputation in the local community has improved and numbers on roll have increased from just over 100 pupils to just over 200 pupils. This is because you have worked hard to improve the quality of teaching and learning and ensure that pupils get a good, all-round education. Standards have risen and are now above average at the end of each key stage. This is testament to the dedication and passion demonstrated by you and your staff to inspire and motivate pupils so that they all achieve their potential. A particular strength within the school is the curriculum. This is theme-based and provides rich and varied opportunities for pupils to develop their literacy and numeracy skills through exciting topic work. Writing skills are particularly well developed and applied carefully in topic work and different subjects. The same high expectations and quality are expected whenever pupils write, not just in English

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Short inspection of Quinton Primary School

As headteacher, you have created a happy and harmonious school in which pupils thrive academically and socially. As a result, many parents choose Quinton because of the warm and caring ethos promoted. Pupils and parents have nothing but praise for the school. The only thing pupils wanted to change about the school when asked was to ‘have a larger playground because there’s not enough space now there are more children’. The only thing parents wanted to change about the school was to ‘make Mr Skelcher younger so that he stays for a very long time’. You have set high expectations, and pupils and staff rise to these. You are clearly proud of the team ethic you have created. This is much valued by parents, staff and pupils, as demonstrated by verbal responses and the results of Ofsted questionnaires. Staff morale is high and staff work very effectively together as a united team. ‘This is a fantastic school and I love coming to work’ was typical of staff comments on the

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Short inspection of Quinton Primary School

You have successfully addressed the key issues raised at the previous inspection. Pupils in Years 5 and 6 make good progress in line with other pupils in the school. This is because teaching inspires them, and pupils, including the most able, are challenged well and provided with effective feedback to improve their work. You have restructured leadership and management within the school and strengthened the leadership capacity as the numbers on roll have increased. Together, leaders analyse pupil achievement to identify any pupils at risk of falling behind. Where detected, you take swift action to provide additional support so that all pupils achieve well. Together with governors, you canvass parents’ views through annual questionnaires. You evaluate these to inform further actions. You have also introduced ‘parent mail’ to notify parents of events and improve communication. As a result, feedback from parents is extremely positive.

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Short inspection of Quinton Primary School

As a school, you have successfully begun to introduce problem-solving skills into mathematics. Pupils’ calculation methods and mental mathematical skills are strong. However, their reasoning skills and ability to explain and demonstrate how they reach their answers is still at an early stage of development. This limits the progress pupils make and curtails the ability of some pupils, especially middle-ability pupils, to demonstrate that they are working at greater depth. Additionally, there is still work to do in improving attendance. While the vast majority of pupils attend regularly, there are still too many pupils who are persistently absent. You and your governors acknowledge that this is a barrier to learning for these pupils.

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Short inspection of Quinton Primary School

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and stored securely. As the designated safeguarding leader, you make sure that staff receive regular training, including in preventing radicalisation and extremism, so that they know what to do if they have a concern about a pupil. You coordinate and carefully monitor any concerns raised and seek advice or make appropriate referrals to the local authority as necessary. You carry out safer recruitment checks when appointing staff to make sure that they are suitable to work with children. Regular site checks are carried out and activities are risk assessed to minimise any potential dangers or hazards.

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Short inspection of Quinton Primary School

Pupils feel safe and know how to keep themselves safe. All parents who responded to Parent View agree that their children are safe at school. Pupils have a good understanding of the different types of bullying and know that they should tell an adult if anyone is being unkind to them or hurting them. Pupils are confident that behaviour is good in school and that bullying does not happen. They are also confident that where minor disputes arise, these are dealt with quickly either by staff or by the pupils themselves. Important information about keeping safe is shared with pupils in assemblies and lessons. Pupils have a good understanding of internet safety and know what action to take during a fire drill as these are practised regularly.

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Inspection findings

 You have strengthened leadership capacity within the school through your appointment of an effective assistant headteacher, special needs coordinator and inclusion manager. You work together as a strong team. All leaders are fully involved in leading and monitoring their subject areas. Regular analysis of assessment information leads to the identification of any pupils in need of additional support. Effective use of the pupil premium and special educational needs funding ensures that support is quickly implemented and monitored for impact. Where pupils make good gains and catch up, they revert to normal class teaching and routine monitoring procedures. Pupils not making the required progress remain on the intervention register and additional external support is provided or referrals to other agencies are made where needed. Leaders also ensure that they support their colleagues fully. They lead training and disseminate

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Inspection findings

information regularly through staff meetings and informal discussion. They check pupils’ books and identify where improvements in teaching can be made.  Most governors are relatively new to the governing body. However, in a short time, the chair of governors has created an effective team. Governors bring a wide range of experience to the role. They provide the right balance of challenge and support to leaders. They have a good knowledge of how well the school is doing and the school’s main strengths and weaknesses. They canvass parents’ views through an annual questionnaire to ensure that they are aware of any emerging or ongoing issues. They also visit school regularly to check the information provided by leaders in their reports and meetings. This provides governors with first-hand information about teaching and learning. Governors have a very positive view of the school but are not afraid to challenge leaders

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Inspection findings

where they feel that there are gaps or areas which are not yet good enough, for example attendance or website content.  As one parent put it, ‘the school just keeps improving’. This is clearly evident in the results that pupils are achieving. In 2016, attainment was above the national average for early years, Year 2 and Year 6 in reading, writing and mathematics for almost all groups of pupils. Pupils made good progress from their starting points, especially in writing. It was marginally below, however, for disadvantaged pupils in reading at the end of each key stage. Through thorough assessment checking, you and your staff detected this and prioritised reading as an area for improvement across the school. Additional adult support is provided for those who are struggling, and incentives are given to encourage pupils to read daily. The well-stocked library and an impressive range of books in classrooms attract

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Inspection findings

pupils and motivate them to read. Phonics is taught well and younger pupils can decode and blend tricky words using their strong phonic knowledge. Older pupils acquire good reading habits and many read for pleasure at bedtime. The school’s assessment information for current pupils shows that disadvantaged pupils are making at least equal progress to their peers in all year groups.  Pupils’ writing skills are above those expected for their age in all year groups. There are no major gaps in attainment between boys and girls, and middle-ability pupils and disadvantaged pupils are challenged as robustly as higher-ability pupils. Pupils present their work neatly, using a cursive handwriting style taught from the early years onwards. The writing process is well developed with pupils planning, drafting and editing their work to ensure that the finished article is of a high standard. Word processing and computing skills are also successfully

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Inspection findings

incorporated. Teachers provide good feedback to help pupils improve their work through setting ‘next step’ guidance, which most pupils respond to effectively. Due attention is also given to pupils’ use of grammar, punctuation and spelling, which, again, build progressively as pupils move through the school.  Pupils attain well in mathematics because teachers set work at the right level for different ability groups. As a result, pupils make good progress, including middle- ability and disadvantaged pupils. Pupils’ use of number and calculation is a strength. Teachers are beginning to extend this through providing pupils with more problem-solving activities so that they can apply skills learned. However, pupils’ reasoning skills in mathematics are underdeveloped and pupils are not encouraged to explain and show the methods used in reaching their answer. This slows their progress rates and reduces their understanding of mathematical

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Inspection findings

concepts.  Children in the early years get off to a good start. Most join the Nursery with skills and knowledge which are expected for their age. They make good progress because teachers and teaching assistants provide good levels of support. Teachers plan exciting activities, both indoors and outdoors, which cover different elements of the early years curriculum. Children show high levels of engagement, socialise well with their classmates and respond quickly to instructions. Although there are only a small number of disadvantaged children in the early years, their needs are fully met. They settle quickly and enjoy using the extensive range of resources and equipment set out to develop their early skills. Their use of phonics is already at the same level as other children in their class and they display confidence and good levels of independence in line with their peers.  While most pupils enjoy school, there are a small number who are persistently

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Inspection findings

absent, particularly pupils who are disadvantaged or who have special educational needs. Attendance for this academic year is currently below average. At the time of the inspection, 35 pupils’ attendance was below 90% and these pupils are therefore deemed to be persistently absent. Although the school takes appropriate action by contacting parents on the first day of absence and involving outside agency support, leaders have not assessed the impact of any actions taken or adjusted these in light of their findings. Additionally, they have not analysed absence data well enough to deduce any patterns or trends. This aspect needs further work to improve attendance of individuals, ensure that they are safe and remove a barrier to their achievement.

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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

 reasoning skills are taught across the school to strengthen pupils’ mathematical understanding  attendance patterns and trends are analysed and persistent absence is reduced.

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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 Warwickshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I met with you and your leadership team. I also met with the school administrator and three governors. You and your assistant headteacher accompanied me on visits to several classrooms to observe teaching, talk to pupils and look at the work in their books. I met with a group of pupils and listened to some pupils read. I also observed pupils at breaktimes and lunchtimes. In addition, I spoke with parents at the end of the school day. I reviewed 70 responses on Parent View and took account of these. Questionnaires from 19 staff were also considered.

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Information about the inspection

I looked at a range of school documents, including the school’s own evaluation of its work, together with the learning improvement plan and child protection policy. Other information relating to pupils’ achievement, behaviour, attendance and safety was considered. I also checked the school’s website and procedures for keeping pupils safe.

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