West Winch Primary School

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

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Mr Mark Oldridge Headteacher West Winch Primary School Back Lane West Winch King’s Lynn Norfolk PE33 0LA

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Short inspection of West Winch Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 17 October 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 October 2017.

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Short inspection of West Winch 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 West Winch Primary School

The progress your pupils made from key stage 1 to key stage 2 in reading and mathematics was significantly better than other schools in 2016. Unvalidated data from the 2017 tests shows that progress is still above the national average in mathematics and reading, although not as strong in writing. This data also shows that the proportion of pupils who reached the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of key stage 2 is well above that of other schools nationally. However, this does not mean that there is any sense of complacency in your governing body or senior leadership team. A detailed and ambitious development plan clearly identifies the areas you still want to improve to ensure that West Winch continues to raise both expectations and outcomes for its pupils.

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Short inspection of West Winch Primary School

Children arrive in Reception with a wide range of starting points. Because of good teaching, the proportion of them reaching a good level of development by the time they move to Year 1 is consistently above the national average. This means that their Reception Year prepares them well for key stage 1. The Reception classroom is well organised and provides stimulating activities that enable children to quickly form good relationships, learn to listen and acquire the skills that will help them to make rapid strides towards reaching the level expected for their age. For example, the early years leader had created a series of activities around the theme of Halloween. This provided the children with opportunities to draw or write their own list of ingredients for potions, measure the length of various creepy creatures and count cauldrons. A teaching assistant was working effectively with a small group of

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Short inspection of West Winch Primary School

children cutting apples into sections or, as one pupil told me, ‘into halves and quarters’. Children were absorbed in the activities, whether they were independently creating shapes with plasticine, manoeuvring trucks around the race track or practising the sounds that letters make with their teacher.

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Short inspection of West Winch Primary School

Your pupils are confident, articulate and welcoming and were keen to talk to me about their school and their learning. They enjoy their lessons and their time at school with their friends, as evidenced by their good attendance and behaviour. Relationships between teachers and pupils are positive and pupils showed consideration for each other in class and at breaktimes. Your pupils develop a clear understanding of what it means to contribute usefully to society by taking on roles which have a real impact on school life and for which you hold them accountable. The elected members of the school council organise competitions and raise funds for charities that involve the whole school. The eco reps keep everybody alert to the need to save energy and recycle where possible and the librarians ensure that the library is open for pupils at lunchtimes. Each Reception child is matched with a Year 6 pupil who not only reads with them once a week, but looks out for them around

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Short inspection of West Winch Primary School

school. Pupils are proud of these roles and approach them with a strong desire to make a difference and give something back to their school.

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Short inspection of West Winch Primary School

In every classroom I visited with you, pupils were attentive and eager to learn. Teachers plan a varied diet of activities that allow pupils the chance to work with others, as well as working independently, and they make sure that pupils understand the purpose of their learning. In Year 2, pupils were developing their understanding of two- and three-dimensional shapes using a variety of different activities and resources. One group explored the school site with a teaching assistant to identify key shapes within their everyday environment, while other pupils, having solved several shape puzzles, were creating puzzles of their own for others to solve. Pupils were able to use a range of resources to help them visualise and manipulate the shapes, which consolidated their understanding of the differences between two- and three-dimensional shapes.

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Short inspection of West Winch Primary School

Since the previous inspection, you have worked hard to improve the vocabulary and spelling of your pupils. Raising pupils’ interest in words and spelling through spelling competitions and spelling games, which pupils told me are fun and help them to remember, has resulted in a strong performance by the end of key stage 2 in the grammar, punctuation and spelling tests. The 2017 unvalidated data shows over half of Year 6 pupils reached the higher standard, which is well above the national average. Work in pupils’ books shows a clear focus on the acquisition of the technical skills that support effective writing as part of your drive to improve writing outcomes by the end of key stage 2. Mathematics books also show that pupils are given more opportunities to apply their mathematical knowledge through problem- solving activities where they are expected to explain their reasoning. Pupils’ books are marked regularly and teachers effectively address any misconceptions

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Short inspection of West Winch Primary School

immediately by giving pupils small activities to complete to consolidate their understanding.

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Short inspection of West Winch Primary School

You ensure that staff are well informed about new safeguarding guidance through regular training and updates. Your governors actively check that staff understand their responsibilities and know what to do if they have any concerns. You work closely with the families of your most vulnerable pupils to ensure that they are in school and able to learn. When necessary, you seek the help of outside agencies to support them further. Pupils who spoke to me during the inspection said that they feel safe because ‘There are always lots of staff around to keep us safe.’ Parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, overwhelmingly agree that their children are well looked after and have no concerns about their safety at school. The curriculum helps to raise awareness in children of how to keep themselves safe in different circumstances. Pupils told me about regular assemblies which remind them of how to keep safe online and when using social media.

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Inspection findings

 To determine whether the school remained good, my first line of enquiry was to look at how the teaching of writing has improved since the previous inspection. At the end of key stage 1 in 2017, unvalidated data shows that the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in writing is in line with national expectations and more pupils are writing at greater depth than in 2016. Although pleased with these improvements, you had already identified in your school improvement plan that, although in line with other schools nationally, the outcomes in writing for your pupils by the end of key stage 2 do not show the same levels of progress that pupils make in reading and mathematics. In fact, not one of your Year 6 pupils reached greater depth in their writing assessments in 2017.  You have various strategies in place to address this. These include raising the expectations of teachers in every year group, ensuring that all pupils have

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Inspection findings

regular opportunities for independent writing and evaluating closely the training needs of individual teachers. Work in pupils’ books and in class demonstrated that they not only plan their writing carefully but also create their own checklists to ensure that they remember to demonstrate specific skills when writing independently.  I also wanted to see how broad a curriculum you provide for your pupils beyond the subjects of English and mathematics. You have designed your curriculum around topics which allow pupils to explore subjects such as science, history, music and art, based around a class text. For example, Year 3 pupils were reading ‘Stig of the Dump’, studying rocks and fossils in science and building Stone Age shelters as their design technology project. Trips and external visitors such as theatre companies are also used to enrich the wider curriculum. Some teachers plan practical activities to bring the wider curriculum alive for pupils. For

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Inspection findings

example, during my visit, Year 4 pupils went on a bug hunt as part of their work on rainforests and Year 5 pupils measured and recorded the changes in the length of their own shadows over the course of the day to help them understand the movement of the earth.  However, teachers do not always make the most of opportunities in lessons to match activities to the ability of different groups of pupils. This is especially the case in subjects other than reading, writing and mathematics. Work in pupils’ books shows that, too often, pupils of all abilities are given the same tasks to complete, which means that some pupils do not make the progress they are capable of across all areas.  My final line of enquiry was to examine how well you meet the needs of the small number of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities or who are disadvantaged. You and your governors have chosen to invest much of the

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Inspection findings

extra funding available for these pupils in providing well-trained teaching assistants. These teaching assistants work successfully with some of your most vulnerable pupils to improve their progress in reading, writing and mathematics, as well as building their confidence and helping them to thrive in the school environment. They also provide effective support, working alongside classroom teachers. Your special educational needs coordinator regularly monitors the impact of all support activities to ensure that they meet the changing needs of pupils. Your pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who are disadvantaged do well from their varied starting points.

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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

 writing continues to be a focus in all year groups so that pupils are well prepared to meet the higher expectations of the national curriculum at the end of key stage 2  the wider curriculum provides pupils with activities that encourage curiosity, provide challenge for all abilities and develop skills beyond reading, writing and mathematics.

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

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I met with you, your deputy headteacher, who is also your English lead, your special educational needs coordinator, your safeguarding lead and members of the governing body.

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Information about the inspection

I visited every class with you, where I observed pupils learning and talked to them about their work and their school. In lessons, we looked at pupils’ work in books to determine the quality of learning over time and the quality of learning across the curriculum.

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Information about the inspection

I spent time speaking informally with pupils in class and met with a group of Year 6 pupils to talk about their experience of West Winch Primary School. I also considered the 45 responses to Parent View, which included free-text comments, as well as the parental surveys provided by the school.

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Information about the inspection

I scrutinised the school’s documents about safeguarding, including the record of checks on the suitability of each member of staff to work with children and young people, the school’s own evaluation of its performance and your plans for its improvement.

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