Tibberton Community Primary School

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

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Mrs Amanda Horniman and Miss Olivia Kelly Co-Headteachers Tibberton Community Primary School Orchard Rise Tibberton Gloucester Gloucestershire GL19 3AQ

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Short inspection of Tibberton Community Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 21 November 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 September 2012.

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Short inspection of Tibberton Community Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You have made a demonstrable impact on the areas for improvement from the last inspection and speak confidently and knowledgably about the school’s current strengths and areas for development. Your precise evaluation of the quality of teaching, learning and assessment ensures that actions are steeped in substantiated findings.

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Short inspection of Tibberton Community Primary School

The school is an inspiring environment for both staff and pupils. Staff are encouraged to bring innovative ideas into the classroom and speak passionately about the impact it has had on pupils’ outcomes. You have created a culture where all members of the school community are learners and all play a vital part in improving the learning opportunities for pupils. Due to leaders’ high expectations, this has permeated every classroom. All adults want to lift the ceiling on expectation and will exhaust every avenue to achieve this. As a result, it is not surprising that you play a pivotal role in developing practice in local schools. It is a little school with big ideas!

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Short inspection of Tibberton Community Primary School

At the beginning of the inspection, we agreed on the lines of enquiry to consider during the day. These included establishing the effectiveness of actions to improve progress in reading across key stage 2. We also agreed I would explore how teaching, learning and assessment support pupils to make progress in mathematics, particularly for girls. Third, I considered how pupils in key stage 1 are supported to develop their writing, particularly those who left Reception having achieved a good level of development. Finally, I considered whether safeguarding is effective.

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Short inspection of Tibberton Community Primary School

Leaders carry out thorough employment checks for staff who wish to work at the school. Staff files are well managed. From interview to appointment, safeguarding is the golden thread which runs through this process. Once employed, staff have access to a comprehensive induction programme which ensures that they are able to carry out their duties diligently. There are regular opportunities for leaders to discuss safeguarding with governors and this ensures that safeguarding is always at the forefront of people’s minds.

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Short inspection of Tibberton Community Primary School

When staff have concerns about a pupil, they know what to do and who to tell. Once concerns are shared, leaders act swiftly and effectively to ensure that the right course of action is taken and to determine whether external agencies need to be informed. When this takes place, school leaders keep open a frequent line of communication to ensure that the concerns they have are dealt with effectively and appropriate support received. Leaders act tirelessly to keep pupils safe and are advocates for pupils’ welfare. As a result, all pupils who completed the survey strongly agreed that they feel safe. Parents agree. This is a safe and nurturing environment.

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Inspection findings

 Leaders have developed an innovative and exciting way of developing pupils’ reading comprehension and understanding. Although this is still in its early stages, there is already evidence of impact. What was once a ‘good enough’ approach to teaching reading is now consigned to history. Teachers skilfully interweave different reading skills into each lesson. This means that pupils have frequent opportunities to develop their reading skills. Pupils love these lessons because they engage them and capture their imagination. As a result, pupils demonstrate an ability to tackle more complicated questions about what they have read and the classroom environment is a hive of activity.  In reading lessons, teachers demonstrate a clear strength in their subject knowledge and understanding of what the pupils know and can do. Teachers skilfully tease out pupils’ understanding, helping them to feel successful while

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Inspection findings

also providing challenge. They also carefully design questions to challenge pupils of all abilities. Pupils engage in meaningful discussions about reading and bounce ideas ‘to and fro’ until they are satisfied with their response. Pupils have wide exposure to a range of established authors. They feel confident to ‘pick apart’ an extract of writing, running a watchful eye over the language and author style before applying what they have learned. Consequently, pupils are able to demonstrate their understanding of a wide range of reading material and hold powerful learning conversations with both their teacher and peers. Everyone is involved in the learning.

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Inspection findings

 In mathematics, leaders have developed a unique approach in the teaching of mathematics. Pupils are encouraged to develop their fluency, reasoning and problem-solving skills through a series of activities chosen by the pupils. Pupils make informed choices when selecting the level of challenge, this is due to leaders’ work to improve pupils’ ability to accurately self-assess. Through these choices, each pupil’s workbook is unique in the level of challenge, the activity chosen and the approach taken. As a result, all pupils find the work challenging and savour the experience of succeeding when they have solved a problem.  Pupils have positive attitudes towards mathematics. They embrace the learning opportunities provided and speak confidently about the progress they are making. An example of this is in the school’s approach to developing fluency with short bursts of number work. Pupils work against the clock to solve a series of

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Inspection findings

questions. Once completed successfully, they move on to the next stage of increasing difficulty. Due to the success of this approach, leaders have acted to ensure that more challenging stages are available to meet both the demand and pupils’ increasing confidence when solving number problems. Pupils present their work meticulously. This is due to their positive attitudes towards their learning and the strong sense of pride is evident.  Finally, I looked at how pupils in key stage 1 develop their writing skills. Teachers provide pupils with rich learning experiences which enthuse pupils and encourage them to experiment with a range of ideas. We visited a lesson where pupils were making a pirate stew. Pupils were keen to share their ideas and experiment with increasingly difficult vocabulary and sentence structures. The class teacher skilfully questioned the pupils to draw out their understanding. Due to the safe,

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Inspection findings

nurturing environment, pupils felt confident to discuss their ideas while also taking on feedback when needed. No opportunity was wasted. The teacher skilfully used her knowledge of the pupils and the curriculum expectations to question pupils about the types of words they were using. Consequently, pupils have a varied diet in writing which results in strong progress.  Pupils’ workbooks demonstrate strong progress from the beginning of the academic year. Pupils have regular opportunities to develop their writing skills. Lessons are well designed in a clear sequence. Workbooks show that pupils improve their use of sentence types. Over time, pupils were able to improve their sentences from simple to more sophisticated, skilfully using what they have learned in lessons to their writing. Pupils also develop their use of ambitious vocabulary. In Year 2, we saw examples in books where pupils had persevered

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Inspection findings

over a series of lessons to spell and correctly use the word ‘shimmering’ in their writing. This demonstrated how the series of lessons develop pupils’ writing in an effective way.

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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

 they embed the new strategy for the teaching of reading so more pupils reach age-related expectations and above in reading 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 Gloucestershire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During this inspection, I spoke to you and middle leaders. I also spoke to five representatives of the governing body, and an external adviser from the local authority. Senior leaders came with me as I made visits to lessons to observe pupils. We also scrutinised the work in pupils’ books alongside the middle leaders in school.

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Information about the inspection

I looked at a range of documentary evidence, which included the school’s self- evaluation and the current school development plan, as well as progress and attendance information. Additionally, I scrutinised various safeguarding records, including those relating to the suitability of staff to work with children and training opportunities for staff. I also met with the designated safeguarding leaders.

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Information about the inspection

I took account of 10 responses to the Parent View online survey and 14 responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey.

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