Leintwardine Endowed CE Primary School

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

p.1

Mrs Anne Brandrick Headteacher Leintwardine Endowed CofE Primary School Watling Street Leintwardine Craven Arms SY7 0LL

p.1

Short inspection of Leintwardine Endowed CofE Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 27 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 March 2013.

p.1

Short inspection of Leintwardine Endowed CofE Primary School

Under your experienced and well-respected leadership, the school has maintained a good quality of education since the previous inspection.

p.1

Short inspection of Leintwardine Endowed CofE Primary School

You have ensured that pupils benefit from a rich and diverse curriculum that enables them to do well in their learning. The progress that pupils have made in reading, writing and mathematics by the time they leave Year 6 is above the national average, and this good progress is set to be maintained by pupils currently in the school. This is as a result of continued good teaching and a strong focus on improving outcomes in mathematics. Pupils do especially well in phonics by the end of key stage 1.

p.1

Short inspection of Leintwardine Endowed CofE Primary School

The school’s ethos is rooted in its core values, which are highly respected by pupils and staff. Leadership capacity is set to improve further as result of the governors’ strategic vision in setting out in partnership with two other schools, including an outstanding provider.

p.1

Short inspection of Leintwardine Endowed CofE Primary School

Parents responding to Ofsted’s online questionnaire or freetext (Parent View) and those who spoke to me were unanimously positive. All who responded strongly agreed that their children were well looked after and that they would recommend the school to another parent. They universally agreed that their children are taught well and making good progress in their learning. Leaders and staff know individual pupils well, including those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. As a result, they usually ensure that individual needs are met well, which is greatly appreciated by parents.

p.1

Short inspection of Leintwardine Endowed CofE Primary School

As a result of your good leadership, you and governors know your school’s strengths well and why it is not yet outstanding. Regular monitoring of teaching, including examination of pupils’ work, discussion with pupils and analysis of pupil performance, and the actions taken in response to these processes, ensures that good standards of teaching have been maintained. Coordinators, including those who lead the early years and mathematics, know the priorities for their areas of responsibility well.

p.2

Short inspection of Leintwardine Endowed CofE Primary School

Governors are fully involved in the life of the school and make a significant contribution in strategic planning and checking outcomes of pupils. However, they have not ensured that the school meets all of its statutory requirements to publish specific information on its website, including information relating to the spending and impact of the pupil premium, provision for pupils who have special needs and/or disabilities and key stage 2 results.

p.2

Short inspection of Leintwardine Endowed CofE Primary School

When Leintwardine was last inspected in 2013, inspectors said that leaders, managers and governors had worked exceptionally well to improve pupils’ achievement. You have continued to build on this progress, which has led to improvements in outcomes in mathematics. Outcomes in early years have improved over time but still need to improve further.

p.2

Short inspection of Leintwardine Endowed CofE Primary School

The last inspection report recommended that the proportion of outstanding teaching should be increased and that pupils’ progress should be speeded up. You have maintained the good quality of teaching and brought about improvements in teaching problem solving and reasoning in mathematics. This has led to pupils making more rapid progress in this subject. Teaching assistants are deployed well in lessons to enable pupils to be more actively involved in their learning. Leaders ensure that teachers comply with the school’s policy on feedback to ensure that pupils know how to improve their work.

p.2

Short inspection of Leintwardine Endowed CofE Primary School

You are aware that the school is not yet outstanding. Pupils currently in the school, including boys, in Years 2 and 6, are not doing as well in writing as they are in reading and mathematics. Outcomes for children in early years are not as strong in communication and numeracy as they are in other aspects of their development. Leaders are not sufficiently evaluative of the impact of additional funding for disadvantaged pupils or those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.

p.2

Short inspection of Leintwardine Endowed CofE Primary School

The culture and ethos of safeguarding among staff and leaders leads to pupils feeling safe in school, including those who have medical needs. The school has a medical needs policy in place, and staff at all levels are alert to the risks for identified pupils. Parents who responded to the Ofsted questionnaire all agreed that their children feel safe in school. Designated staff are well trained for their roles. They ensure that all staff are kept up to date with information and guidance . Leaders ensure that records are maintained securely and that information is recorded in a timely fashion. However, governors are too trusting of leaders that the school is meeting all of its statutory duties in regard to safeguarding and are not making rigorous checks to make sure that this aspect of provision continues to be strong.

p.2

Inspection findings

 Teaching has been strengthened as teachers have developed their mathematics teaching to include problem solving, reasoning and the opportunity for pupils, especially the most-able, to work in greater depth. Leaders have invested heavily in staff training of mastery, problem solving and reasoning in mathematics, which is leading to improved outcomes for pupils.  In the most recent tests and assessments in 2016, pupils made above-average rates of progress in reading, writing and mathematics from the end of key stage 1 to the end of key stage 2. Outcomes at the end of key stage 1 were above average in reading, mathematics and science. This year, outcomes at the end of key stage 1 and 2 are set to be higher than in the past in reading and mathematics but outcomes in writing have not improved at the same pace. Good teaching enables pupils to develop an extensive vocabulary range in literacy in key stage 2. They are

p.3

Inspection findings

able to explain terms such as alliteration, assonance and adverbial phrases. Nevertheless, this secure knowledge is not always reflected fully in the quality of the writing that they produce.  Standards in phonics in Years 1 and 2 have been on a three-year rising trend and are set to improve further this year. Standards are consistently above average as a result of the targeted small-group teaching in key stage 1. This enables pupils to achieve the expected standard even where they were behind age-related expectations at the end of early years.  Outcomes for children in early years have improved in recent years from below average to broadly average. Over time, pupils tend not to do as well in communication and numeracy as they do in other aspects of their learning.  The most-able pupils in school are doing well, especially in mathematics and reading where they are making rapid progress as a result of more challenging work

p.3

Inspection findings

to enable them to work in greater depth.  The small number of pupils learning English as an additional language make rapid progress as they are exposed to a range of English-language activities which improve their speaking and writing skills.  Additional adults are deployed very well, especially in teaching phonics. They also work effectively with a wide ability range of pupil groups and support those who need to catch up well.  Pupils’ attitudes to learning are very positive; they feel safe and secure and agree that behaviour in school is good. They reported that there is very little bullying. Where it does occur it is dealt with well by adults. There have been no permanent exclusions in recent years. Pupils attend school regularly. They report that they enjoy most of their lessons. Many said that mathematics was their favourite subject, which is an indication of the impact of leaders’ work to improve the way

p.3

Inspection findings

the subject is taught.  Pupils know about the school and Christian values of peace, trust and wisdom. They have had the opportunity to learn about diverse communities through the school’s link with a school in Tanzania. There is an active school council, and pupils can apply and be interviewed for membership of the ‘Eco action’ team. However, pupils are not sufficiently secure in their understanding of British values. None of the pupils spoken to were aware of British values and they could not explain the meaning of terms such as ‘democracy’.  Leaders are not sufficiently evaluative of the impact of additional funding for disadvantaged pupils or those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. That said, evaluation of outcomes for different groups of pupils can be difficult because of the small numbers in each cohort. For example, currently there are too few disadvantaged pupils in the school to comment on their progress.

p.4

Inspection findings

 The progress of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is mixed. Some, who have specific needs of dyslexia, are doing well, while others have made more limited progress, especially in their writing. Parents, however, spoke very favourably about the provision and support for their children who have special educational needs.  There is no consistent pattern in outcomes for boys. In some subjects such as science, English grammar, punctuation and spelling they outperform girls, whereas they do less well in mathematics and particularly in writing.  The school has not published an evaluation of the impact of the pupil premium and special needs funding on its website. A number of policies on the website appear to be out of date because even where they have been recently reviewed the dates have not been revised. The school does not publish pupil outcomes at the end of key stage 2 as required.

p.4

Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

p.4

Next steps for the school

 governors check more rigorously to ensure that leaders continue to meet their safeguarding responsibilities  pupils in key stages 1 and 2, particularly boys, are doing as well in writing as they are in other subjects  pupils get off to a more rapid start in developing their communication and numeracy when they are in the Reception year  British values are more explicitly taught on the curriculum so that pupils have a greater understanding of them  the school’s website meets all statutory requirements. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body and the director of children’s services for Herefordshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

p.4

Information about the inspection

During the inspection I met the headteacher and other members of staff. I also held discussions with three members of the governing body including the chair, and the intended executive headteacher and head of school from September 2017. I also spoke by telephone to a representative from the local authority and the school’s improvement partner. I visited parts of four lessons, observed jointly with the headteacher. I also observed pupils as they moved around the school. I met with a group of pupils. I scrutinised the school’s self-evaluation, pupil performance information and safeguarding and child protection records. I spoke to eight parents at the school gate. In addition, there were 16 responses to the online Parent View, 16 to Parent View freetext and two emails from parents. There were no responses to pupil and staff surveys .

p.5