Swaffham Prior Church of England Primary School

Swaffham Prior Church of England Primary School Station Road, Swaffham Prior, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire CB25 0LG

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

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Early years provision Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Leaders, including governors, have not responded effectively to parents’ and carers’ concerns about leadership and behaviour in the school.  Capacity to improve is poor. Leaders, including governors, have not responded quickly enough to stem the decline in pupils’ outcomes at the end of key stage 2 since the last inspection.  Governors and school leaders do not work together effectively to address weaknesses in the school. Fractured relationships are hindering school improvement.  The school improvement plan is not sharply focused on the most important priorities.  Subject leaders rely too heavily on external support to identify how to improve teaching, learning and assessment.  The 2017 key stage 2 results show that too many pupils did not make good progress in writing and mathematics from their starting points.  Teachers’ expectations of the quality of pupils’ work, including their presentation and handwriting, are inconsistent and are

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

sometimes too low.  On occasions, including in the early years, teachers do not make good use of assessment. Consequently, some work is too hard and some is too easy for different groups of pupils.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The school provides a broad curriculum which motivates and interests the pupils.  Reading is taught well, using high-quality texts that engage pupils. As a result, pupils make good progress in reading.  Pupils have positive attitudes to learning when work is well matched to their abilities.  Good relationships between adults and pupils create a positive atmosphere for learning.  Pupils have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe and healthy.  One-to-one support for pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities is effective.

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Full report

In accordance with section 44(2) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires significant improvement, because it is performing significantly less well than it might in all the circumstances reasonably be expected to perform.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that leaders, including governors, respond to parents’ views about the school by: – taking parental complaints seriously and responding to them in a timely fashion – improving communication with parents about the school’s strengths and priorities for improvement.  Improve the effectiveness of school improvement planning, so that weaknesses in the school are identified and addressed rapidly, by: – simplifying plans so that priorities are understood by all leaders, including governors – prioritising the most important areas for development so that leaders are not distracted from improving teaching, learning and assessment.  Ensure that teaching, in each key stage, meets the needs of all pupils by: – planning learning that builds pupils’ starting points – increasing the challenge for the most able pupils, particularly in writing and mathematics – using assessment more effectively to identify when pupils need additional support

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

or challenge – deploying teaching assistants more effectively to support and challenge pupils.  Improve the effectiveness of governors by ensuring that they: – systematically challenge leaders about the impact of actions intended to improve pupils’ progress and attainment – complete monitoring that is proportionate, supportive of school leaders in evaluating school performance and does not negatively affect the day-to-day running of the school – follow policies for dealing with staff and parental complaints correctly.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 The school’s vision of ‘learning, working and growing together’ is not being delivered by leaders and governors. They are not working in partnership for the benefit of pupils in the school. As a result, they are not sufficiently focused on improving teaching and learning to enable pupils’ outcomes to improve more rapidly.  Since the previous inspection, leaders have not acted quickly enough stop the decline in standards and progress at the end of key stage 2. Consequently, too many pupils did not make enough progress in writing and mathematics in 2017.  Leaders have not responded to the negative perceptions of some parents about pupils’ behaviour, the significant level of staff turbulence and how the school is led and managed. A significant proportion of parents who responded to the Ofsted inspection survey have lost confidence in leaders, and well over half would not recommend the school.  The school improvement plan is overly complicated. Consequently, staff and

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

governors find it difficult to articulate the school’s priorities. Actions in the plan, including how these will be monitored, are not sufficiently focused on the most important areas of weakness. As a result, actions intended to improve teaching and pupils’ progress are not always effective.  Although staff are set appropriate targets to improve their teaching, they do not feel that they are provided with support or training to improve their practice. In staff surveys, some staff said that this is reducing their effectiveness.  Middle leaders (subject leaders and the early years leader) are starting to have a positive impact, but currently rely on the support of external advisers from the local authority to identify priorities. This is limiting the rate of improvement in the school.  Pupil premium funding is used to provide additional support for pupils, including small-group work and support from teaching assistants in lessons. Leaders can show

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

that these strategies are helping pupils to overcome specific barriers to their learning. For example, sessions with small groups in comprehension skills helped pupils to improve their reading skills, and handwriting sessions improved pupils’ letter formation.  Funding for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is used effectively to meet their needs. The leader of this work ensures that good support is in place for pupils with education, health and care plans, ensuring that they make strong progress from their starting points and are well supported in lessons.  The headteacher has recently changed the school’s behaviour management policy. A greater emphasis is now placed on rewarding good behaviour and encouraging pupils to work together to achieve rewards. This is enabling pupils’ good behaviour to be recognised more often by teachers.  The school provides a broad curriculum which responds to the varying interests of

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

pupils. Pupils said that they enjoyed learning in a range of topics, such as ‘Shackleton’ in Years 3 and 4 and ‘Great Britain and Me’ in key stage 1.  Leaders’ promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral and social development is effective. Pupils have opportunities to learn about different faiths and cultures. Their understanding of fundamental British values is less well developed. For example, pupils could not talk confidently about democracy or the importance of having laws.  The physical education (PE) and sport premium is used well to provide pupils with greater opportunities to take part in sports. The school provides a range of clubs that respond to pupils’ interests. The school takes advantage of other opportunities for pupils to participate in a range of physical activities.  Although the local authority has provided considerable support to the school since the previous inspection, including a recent review of governance, it has had little

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

impact on the improvement of governance or leadership. This is because there has not been sufficient challenge to school leaders about the speed at which they are making improvements to teaching and learning. However, subject leaders and the early years leader have benefited from useful advice, which is resulting in gradual improvements to teaching.

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Governance of the school

 Governors recognise that they have not been effective in holding leaders to account for the decline in standards in key stage 2 or the school’s response to parents’ concerns.  A recent review of governance, completed by the local authority, highlighted that governors were too involved in day-to-day management and this was placing excessive demands on the headteacher.  Governors visit the school frequently, but their monitoring is not always focused on improvement priorities and does not complement the monitoring undertaken by school leaders.  Governors have reflected on their practice and are starting to respond to the recommendations of the review of governance. They welcome the support of a national leader of governance. Governing body meetings are becoming more focused. This is partly because the information provided by the headteacher has improved and partly because agendas are more closely linked to the school’s

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Governance of the school

priorities.  The new safeguarding governor has recently completed a safeguarding audit. This confirmed that governors and staff have up-to-date training in relation to child protection and safer staff recruitment. Improvements have been made to monitoring so that governors can check the school’s response to accidents and ensure that policies are up to date and followed by staff.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  Records of concerns have been improved recently. They are detailed and comprehensive. The headteacher has a thorough knowledge of the needs of each child in the school.  Regular training and weekly updates are provided for all staff in relation to safeguarding.  Pupils have a good knowledge of e-safety. They understand the risks of being online and how to manage them when in school or at home.  Behaviour logs are detailed and enable any patterns in behaviour to be identified. They include detail about the impact of incidents on staff and pupils and how leaders have responded to them.  The single central record is diligently maintained by office staff to ensure that anyone working in or visiting the school has had appropriate checks.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is too variable. Teachers are not routinely making good use of assessment to plan learning. This results in tasks being provided which are not as well matched to pupils’ needs as they could be. In some cases, the most able pupils are not challenged sufficiently. On other occasions, work is too hard for less-able pupils and teachers do not modify work quickly enough. In both of these instances, pupils do not make the progress that they should.  The quality of support provided to pupils by teaching assistants is inconsistent. One- to-one support for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is mostly effective and enables pupils to access learning which meets their needs. However, support by teaching assistants for groups of pupils in lessons is uneven. These pupils are not given enough guidance about how to complete tasks and improve their work. As a

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

result, pupils supported by teaching assistants sometimes do not produce their best work.  The use of questioning, by teachers and teaching assistants, varies widely in its effectiveness. Questioning in reading is challenging and helps pupils to make strong progress in developing reading skills. Questioning in mathematics is less well developed. It does not help pupils recognise their errors or encourage them to explain how they have solved problems.  In mathematics, pupils work hard and are involved in making choices about the level of challenge in tasks. However, some teachers do not monitor the pupils closely enough and adapt learning when pupils are stuck or finding work too easy. In one example, the majority of pupils struggled to complete work on pie charts correctly and this was not identified, with the result that many pupils made little progress.  The teaching of writing is improving, but expectations for the quality of pupils’ work,

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

presentation or handwriting are sometimes not high enough. This is most significant for less-able pupils who then make insufficient progress. It also affects the most able pupils, who have the potential to achieve learning at greater depth.  A significant proportion of parents who completed Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, felt that children do not receive appropriate homework for their age. The headteacher has identified the need to improve the impact of homework but this is not a priority in current plans. In some cases, pupils do not receive support with reading at home. These pupils are provided with opportunities to read in school, including with parent volunteers.  Phonics teaching is well matched to the ability of pupils. Adults model sounds accurately and encourage pupils to use their knowledge of sounds to read unfamiliar words. Wider reading skills are taught well in the school. Teachers use high-quality

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  Pupils have a good understanding of how to stay safe online. They could talk about how risks can be managed and what to do if they have concerns. For example, they spoke about talking to a trusted adult about ‘friend requests’ before accepting them.  Pupils know how to stay healthy and understand the importance of a balanced diet and regular exercise.  Pupils can explain what bullying is and say that it is rare. A significant proportion of parents who completed Parent View said that the school does not deal with bullying effectively. However, pupils could explain how they would get help if bullying happened and who they would talk to in school to make it stop. The school has improved the way it checks behaviour and is dealing more effectively with poor behaviour.  Pupils’ attendance is in line with national averages. The school’s administrative team

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Personal development and welfare

checks absence diligently every day. Any parent who has not provided a reason for absence is telephoned in the morning to try to find out why their child is not in school.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Most pupils work hard in lessons, and are keen to ask and answer questions. Pupils’ positive behaviour enables lessons to run smoothly. When required to do so, pupils work well in pairs or small groups to complete tasks. However, there are occasions when pupils become distracted or lose concentration. This tends to be when work is not well matched to pupils’ ability.  Most pupils move around the school calmly and sensibly, showing courtesy and respect for adults and each other. They are polite and, during discussions with the inspector, were supportive of each other, even if they had different opinions about aspects of the school’s work.  Parents and staff have expressed concerns about the behaviour of a small group of pupils and how this is managed. Following a recent governance review, systems for recording incidents have been improved and patterns in behaviour are more carefully

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Behaviour

tracked. Leaders now identify weaknesses in provision and are tackling the behaviour of this group of pupils more effectively.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 Leaders have not ensured that all pupils achieve well enough. Overall standards at the end of key stage 2 have declined since the last inspection and have been low for the last two years. This is because pupils do not make enough progress from their starting points. Too few pupils attained greater depth in writing and the higher standard in mathematics in 2017.  Progress in reading in key stage 2 improved in 2017, and standards were higher than average. The proportion of pupils attaining at the higher standard in reading by the end of Year 6 improved in 2017, and was above average.  The progress of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities varies. Pupils with education, health and care plans are provided with effective one-to-one support and make good progress from their starting points. Some of these pupils do not make as much progress as they should because work in lessons is not well matched to their abilities.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 Last year, the number of disadvantaged pupils in the Year 6 class was low, preventing any meaningful comparisons with the results achieved by all pupils nationally. The progress of disadvantaged pupils across the school is highly variable. This is a small group in the school and includes pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities.  The proportion of pupils attaining the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics in key stage 1 increased in 2017 and was above average. However, fewer children attained greater depth than in the previous year.  Pupils’ outcomes in the phonics screening check in Year 1 were broadly average for the last three years. By the end of Year 2, almost all pupils attained the phonics screening standard in 2017.  Observations of teaching and scrutiny of pupils’ work in key stage 1 and key stage 2 confirm that, currently, most pupils are making reasonable progress. However,

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

teachers’ expectations of pupils are sometimes not high enough and this is reflected in the inconsistencies in the quality of work and presentation in books across the curriculum.  Most children enter the school with skills that are typical for their age and leave the early years having attained a good level of development. However, overall results vary when compared to national averages. This is largely due to small cohorts with varying proportions of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities.

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Early years provision Requires improvement

 The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inconsistent in the early years. At times, learning is not well matched to children’s abilities and they do not make the progress that they should. Lower-ability writers find it difficult to work independently on writing tasks. Some children become distracted and adults do not intervene to provide additional support, with the result that the children struggle to complete tasks.  The early years leader, responding to the advice of local authority advisers, is experimenting in how adult support is used. However, the impact of adult interactions varies. Some tasks are not sufficiently adapted for children to access them confidently. In contrast, high-quality adult interaction supports learning well when children’s play is extended by skilful prompting and questioning.  Children behave well in lessons. When they choose activities, most children sustain

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Early years provision Requires improvement

interest and work and play sensibly together, sharing resources. For example, a small group of children worked together to sort shapes and make patterns inside the classroom. Outside, another group worked together to explore different materials in a tray to make sculptures, such as cakes and Christmas trees.  The outside space provides a safe and stimulating environment and resources promote independent play and learning. Activities are often linked to learning in the classroom. For example, following whole-class input from the teacher, children were observed forming letters in coloured sand and looking for shapes in the environment.  Children are encouraged to apply their phonics skills when writing and also have access to resources to help them recognise and write common words. Children’s work demonstrates that rates of progress vary. In some cases, children have moved quickly from mark-making to writing basic sentences. In other cases, most-able

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Early years provision Requires improvement

children are not always provided with enough challenge to make rapid progress.  Staff make sure that children are safe, both indoors and outside. Close supervision ensures that children use equipment and move around the early years areas safely.

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Email address office@swaffhamprior.cambs.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 10–11 July 2014

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Information about this school

 The school does not meet the government’s floor standards for 2016, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics.  The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information on its website about phonics and reading schemes used by the school; how parents can find out more about the curriculum; how paper copies of the website contents can be provided; or how disabled pupils can access the school.  This is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  Children begin the early years in the mixed Reception and Year 1 class. There are three other mixed-age classes.  Most pupils are of White British heritage.  The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is below the national average.  The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged and supported by the pupil premium is below the national average.  Since the last inspection, the school has had significant staff changes.

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Information about this school

 The headteacher was in post at the time of the last inspection in July 2014.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed teaching and learning in every class. Most observations were completed jointly with the headteacher.  The inspector looked through a range of pupils’ work in different subjects.  The inspector spoke to two groups of pupils and had discussions with other pupils around the school, including at breaktimes.  The inspector considered the views of pupils who completed Ofsted’s online survey.  The inspector considered the views of 44 parents who completed Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, sent letters and emails, and those he spoke to on the telephone or met at the start and end of the school day.  The inspector made observations of pupils’ behaviour at breaktimes, when pupils were moving in and around the school and during lessons.  Discussions were held with staff, governors, senior leaders and representatives from the local authority and diocese.  Meetings were also held with the school’s leaders of English, mathematics and the

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Information about this inspection

early years, and with the special educational needs coordinator.  The inspector considered a range of documentation, including information relating to pupils’ attainment and progress, and leaders’ evaluation of the school’s performance and areas for development.  The inspector looked at behaviour records, including records of bullying incidents.  The inspector reviewed safeguarding documentation and how this related to daily practice, as well as speaking with staff and pupils.

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Inspection team

Keith Pullen, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector guidance ‘Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. www.gov.uk/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and- alternative-provision-settings .

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Inspection team

You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when and as part of the inspection.

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Inspection team

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk , or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted .

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Inspection team

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspection team

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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