All Saints Church of England VA Primary School

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

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Mrs Kathryn Batcock Headteacher All Saints Church of England VA Primary School Fulmodeston Road Stibbard Fakenham Norfolk NR21 0LT

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Short inspection of All Saints Church of England VA Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 8 June 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 November 2012.

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Short inspection of All Saints Church of England VA Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You continue to provide effective leadership, working with your strong team of teachers and teaching assistants to maintain a cohesive and successful team. Since the previous inspection, you have introduced shared leadership of the school with you as headteacher for four days and your deputy as headteacher for the remaining day. The school has just entered into a partnership with another local school. These developments provide good opportunities for your staff to develop their skills and experience. Staff appreciate your support; all staff who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire said that they feel well supported and that they are treated fairly and with respect. You are keen to continue to develop opportunities such as these to enable the school to develop further.

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Short inspection of All Saints Church of England VA Primary School

The issues identified in the previous inspection report have been successfully addressed. The teaching of mathematics was identified as an area for improvement. You have introduced a number of changes which have improved the teaching of mathematics. Pupils practise their basic skills at the beginning of each day. Teachers plan tasks where pupils develop their problem-solving skills regularly. The introduction of the ‘stretch and fix’ approach is effective. Through this approach, teachers know exactly where pupils need more help and intervene swiftly to address this, while providing higher-level challenges for those who are ready to move on. As a result, pupils are making good progress in mathematics and a number of pupils told me that mathematics is their favourite subject in school. Governors are a strength of the school. They are highly supportive but balance this support with appropriate challenge for leaders. For example, they questioned you about

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Short inspection of All Saints Church of England VA Primary School

proposed changes involving new technology and whether this would be effective in raising standards. Governors commissioned further research before they were convinced of its value. Governors monitor expenditure carefully to check for value for money. As a result, nothing is ‘nodded through’ without thorough discussion and evaluation. They visit the school regularly and provide detailed and comprehensive reports on what they have found. These are discussed and used to help identify and plan further areas for improvement.

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Short inspection of All Saints Church of England VA Primary School

Teaching is good because teachers carefully plan lessons which meet pupils’ needs. Teachers and teaching assistants work together well so all adults make a valuable contribution to pupils’ learning. They ask questions to check on pupils’ understanding during lessons and to extend learning. Teachers and pupils enjoy very positive relationships because teachers know pupils well. Pupils told me that ‘teachers always help you and are kind’ but also said that teachers make sure they work hard in lessons. This is reflected in the work in pupils’ books across a range of subjects, which is of a high standard.

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Short inspection of All Saints Church of England VA Primary School

Leaders have maintained a very broad and interesting curriculum which is a strength of the school. As one pupil told me, ‘there is something for everyone’. Examples of interesting science and history lessons were evident in pupils’ books and in classes, together with examples of visits such as to Cambridge and London, and of projects such as the school pond project. During the inspection, pupils were celebrating the opening of a new school kitchen. This had been incorporated into work to promote healthy eating and pupils told me what they had learned about what is and is not healthy. A wide range of clubs enhances pupils’ learning; good opportunities are provided for pupils to learn musical instruments, to take part in sporting activities and to develop their creative skills.

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Short inspection of All Saints Church of England VA Primary School

Pupils enjoy coming to school and are rightly proud of their school. They told me about the many aspects they enjoy. Pupils said that behaviour is good in school and bullying is rare. One pupil said, ‘There are sometimes a few fall outs but that’s all.’ Pupils are well supported in developing into rounded and caring individuals. For example, pupils in one class were reflecting on what lessons they had learned from their study of ‘The Iron Man’. One pupil’s response included, ‘I have learned not to judge people by how they look.’ Pupils are well mannered and polite; for example, pupils routinely hold doors open for adults and for each other, they take turns in lessons, and listen to each other sensibly. Pupils know about the wider world because they learn about different countries and faiths in lessons. Assemblies reinforce values such as respect and tolerance. This is reflected in pupils’ behaviour and attitudes. Typical of this is the comment made by one

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Short inspection of All Saints Church of England VA Primary School

pupil who said, ‘We are all unique but one big family in this school.’

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Short inspection of All Saints Church of England VA Primary School

You know that despite pupils’ positive attitudes, some pupils are absent too often and attendance at the school is below that found nationally. You have worked with parents and with the attendance officer to address this and, as a result, attendance is improving. Nevertheless, you recognise that more needs to be done to improve attendance and to impress upon some parents the negative effect of term-time holidays on pupils’ progress. Parents are highly supportive of the school. They value all that staff do to support their children. Almost every parent who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire said that they would recommend the school to another parent. Comments received by Ofsted during the inspection praised the broad curriculum and the care shown by adults in the school. One comment typical of many was ‘My children’s learning astounds me. Progress is always being made. They are happy to go to school every day and I feel respected

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Short inspection of All Saints Church of England VA Primary School

You ensure that keeping pupils safe is integral to the work of the school. You ensure that all necessary checks on staff are carried out and recorded appropriately. You and your safeguarding governor audit the school’s procedures and systems regularly and provide feedback to the full governing body. You provide regular staff training which is effective. As a result, staff know what to look for that may indicate a child is at risk of harm. You maintain careful records of all concerns and action taken in response to these. These records show that you work with external agencies when needed and take effective action to keep pupils safe.

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Short inspection of All Saints Church of England VA Primary School

Pupils say that the school is a safe place. Parents agree with this view. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe online because this is regularly taught in school. You have also worked with parents to increase their knowledge of how to keep their child safe when using the internet and other technologies.

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Inspection findings

 At the start of the inspection, we agreed that I would look at how well reading and writing are taught so that pupils make good progress. This was because outcomes in the Year 1 phonics assessment have been lower than those found nationally. Also, the proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in reading and writing in Years 2 and 6 has been inconsistent over time.  We watched some phonics teaching and I talked with your leaders for English about phonics teaching. I found that the teaching of phonics has been strengthened so that all staff take a consistent approach to teaching sounds. Regular monitoring of pupils’ knowledge of sounds is now carried out and used well to identify where pupils have gaps in their knowledge so that teaching programmes can be amended. Additional support for pupils who struggle with phonics is having a positive impact.  As a result, outcomes in phonics are rising and your assessments indicate that the

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Inspection findings

proportion of pupils who are likely to reach the expected standard this year is set to rise further.  I saw that reading across the school is promoted well. Classes have a good range of resources in place to promote reading and the library is well stocked and used regularly by pupils. Pupils told me that they like reading. Your assessments demonstrate that pupils are making good progress in reading.  Writing is strong across the school because tasks to develop pupils’ knowledge of spelling and grammar work are firmly embedded within purposeful writing. For example, pupils in Year 4 were learning about connectives. The teacher explained that pupils would need to use these in their writing of diary entries the following day.  Opportunities for writing in other subjects are well used. For example, pupils in Year 6 had written about Mayan beliefs linking their history topic to information writing. Examples of quality writing in science and religious education were also evident in

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Inspection findings

many classes.  Because pupils learn the technical skills of writing and are given many and varied opportunities to practise and develop these, they are making good progress in writing and the standard of writing across the school is good.  The second area we agreed I would look at was the progress of disadvantaged pupils in reading, writing and mathematics. I talked with leaders about how pupil premium funding was used. I looked at the progress of these pupils overall and selected specific pupils to discuss in more detail.  I found that you and other leaders clearly identify how disadvantage may be impeding pupils’ progress. Leaders showed me how the support provided helps to overcome this so that the majority of pupils who are disadvantaged make good progress.  There is a strong commitment to ensuring that pupils who are disadvantaged experience the full breadth of the curriculum. For example, you support pupils in

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Inspection findings

learning musical instruments, in taking part in trips and other extra-curricular activities. Leaders demonstrated, through looking at individual pupils, how this benefits pupils because it increases their engagement with school and learning, and also boosts their self-esteem.  The third area I looked at during the inspection was how effective middle leaders are in ensuring that pupils make good progress across the curriculum. You have a number of leaders who are new to their posts. You have supported them well, teaming teachers together to learn from each other. Your mathematics leaders have benefited from high-quality training and so have a very clear understanding of their role and how they will further improve mathematics across the school.  Leaders check on the quality of teaching and learning. For example, they visit lessons and provide clear feedback about the strengths and areas for improvement that they

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Inspection findings

find. They look at pupils’ work in staff meetings and provide training and support for other staff. However, some leaders are not using their assessment information sufficiently sharply to identify where progress is most rapid and where more needs to be done to accelerate progress further.

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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

 middle leaders continue to develop their use of assessment information to identify where improvements can be made to further accelerate pupils’ progress  the headteacher continues to work with parents to improve the attendance of some pupils. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of Norwich, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Norfolk. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I held meetings with you, with teachers and with four governors. I met with a group of pupils from Years 4, 5 and 6. I scrutinised a range of documents, including information on pupils’ progress, safeguarding, development planning and the school’s self-evaluation. I visited all classes and evaluated pupils’ work. I checked the school’s website and found it to meet requirements on the publication of specified information.

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