Wath Victoria Primary School

Wath Victoria Primary School Inspection report

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Age group 3–11 Inspection date(s) 22–23 February 2012 Inspection number 377480 Unique Reference Number 106887 Local authority Rotherham Inspection number 377480 Inspection dates 22–23 February 2012 Lead inspector Jane Hughes

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. The registered childcare provision, managed by the governing body, was inspected under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006.

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Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 249 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Christine Bennington Headteacher Lynn Bridgewater Date of previous school inspection 28 January 2009 School address Sandymount Road Wath-upon-Dearne Rotherham S63 7AD Telephone number 01709 760103 Fax number 01709 760576 Email address wath-victoria.junior-infant@rotherham.gov.uk

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Registered childcare provision Wath Victoria Children’s Centre Number of children on roll in the registered childcare provision Date of last inspection of registered childcare provision June 2006 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.

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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.ofsted.gov.uk

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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 Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children's services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied.

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

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days’ notice. Inspectors took account of the responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) in planning the inspection. They spent 13 hours observing the teaching of 13 teachers in 14 lessons or part lessons, of which one was a joint observation with a senior leader. Some of this time was spent observing the Early Years Foundation Stage registered childcare provision. In addition, the inspection team made short visits to a few support lessons where specialist help is provided by trained assistants. Meetings were held with three groups of pupils, members of the governing body and school staff, including senior and middle managers. The inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a number of documents, including the school’s improvement plan, safeguarding and child protection policies, attainment data and assessment information. They listened to pupils read and looked at pupils’ work. Inspectors analysed 57

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Introduction

questionnaire responses from parents and carers and those completed by pupils and staff.

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Information about the school

This school is of average size when compared to other primary schools. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is higher than average. Most pupils are from White British backgrounds and very few are at the early stages of learning English as an additional language. The percentage of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is above average. The school does not meet the current government floor standard, which is the minimum expectation set for pupils’ attainment and progress.

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Information about the school

Since January 2010, the school has had a temporary leadership team. The permanent deputy headteacher is currently acting headteacher. There is a daily breakfast club run by the governing body. The school hosts the co-located Wath Victoria Children’s Centre. The school’s governing body manages the children’s centre which was inspected separately during the same week as the school. A separate report for the children’s centre will be available on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the school

Registered childcare is provided by the governing body. It was inspected at the same time as the school and reference is made to it in this report. The setting provides care for up to 40 children in the Early Years Foundation Stage age group; of these, no more than 12 may be under two years of age.

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Information about the school

The school has achieved Bronze Eco School and Healthy School status. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Key Findings

■ In accordance with section 13 (3) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement. This is an inadequate school because pupils do not achieve well enough, the quality of teaching is inconsistent and lacks challenge and leadership and management lack impact. The school has some strengths in the effectiveness of the Early Years Foundation Stage and the registered childcare provision.

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Key Findings

■ Pupils’ achievement is inadequate. Attainment has declined since the last inspection and is low in English and mathematics by the time pupils leave the school. Pupils in Years 1 to 6, including disabled pupils and pupils with special educational needs, make inadequate progress. Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage and in the registered childcare provision do well.

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Key Findings

■ Teaching is inadequate in Years 1 to 6. Although little inadequate teaching was observed by inspectors, weak teaching over time has led to pupils’ inadequate progress. The currently satisfactory quality of teaching observed in most lessons, in pupils’ work and reported by senior leaders is not good enough to make up for pupils’ previous underachievement. Inconsistencies in practice contribute to pupils’ slow progress.

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Key Findings

■ Behaviour is satisfactory over time and pupils feel safe in school. Much good behaviour was seen during the inspection. However, previous elements of unacceptable behaviour by a few pupils have contributed to pupils’ inadequate spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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Key Findings

■ Leadership and management are inadequate. Inexperienced interim leadership has been unable to build upon the school’s previously good performance, partly because the leadership of teaching and the management of performance have been insufficiently robust or focused. The governing body provides weak challenge to the school’s overall performance. There is a lack of ambitious vision for the school. The inadequate curriculum does not engage children sufficiently in their learning and does not develop their experience and awareness of ethnic and cultural diversity in the United Kingdom well enough.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

■ Improve the achievement of all groups of pupils in Years 1 to 6 through raising their attainment and ensuring they consistently make at least good progress in English and mathematics by:  establishing firmly a full range of procedures to assess pupils’ learning to include effective questioning, feedback to pupils on how to improve their work and the regular involvement of pupils in assessing their own work  ensuring teachers’ assessments of pupils’ attainment and progress are accurate so that the work planned is well matched and suitably challenging to meet pupils’ individual needs  ensuring teachers’ marking consistently provides points for development so that pupils always have improvement points to work on as well as opportunities to respond to these comments to consolidate their learning  developing the curriculum so that activities are planned that fully engage and motivate pupils and improve their basic skills and their spiritual and cultural

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

development, especially their awareness and appreciation of multicultural society  ensuring that the impact of the above actions improves the quality of teaching to be consistently good or better.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

■ Improve the impact of leadership and management by:  restoring the senior leadership team to its full complement  ensuring that leaders develop a clear and ambitious vision for the school and more effectively support and direct whole-school improvement  ensuring all leaders evaluate the effectiveness of their areas of responsibility and accelerate school improvement through more robust monitoring of teaching, and more rigorous management of performance  ensuring that the governing body has an accurate understanding of the school’s effectiveness and offers robust challenge to leaders where necessary.

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Achievement of pupils

Pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6 is low and is showing only fragile improvement. Unvalidated national assessment data for 2011 showed a sharp decline in pupils’ attainment in all three subjects. There were particular issues within the 2011 Year 6 cohort which had an adverse effect on pupils’ achievement; however, outcomes since the last inspection have been too low. Pupils’ current work and monitoring information show that attainment is rising again but at too slow a pace to make up for previous underachievement. Reading and writing levels for pupils in Year 2 in 2011 were also low. Standards in mathematics are below average at the end of Year 2 and pupils have not made enough progress. Overall, pupils make too little progress from the time they start school in Year 1 until the time they leave the school in Year 6. Gaps in attainment and progress are not narrowing fast enough compared to all pupils nationally. Pupils apply their

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Achievement of pupils

skills of oracy, literacy, numeracy, and information and communication technology to mixed effect. This provides a barrier to their future success. For instance, during the inspection, less-able pupils struggled to read. Pupils have not been successfully taught the skills to break down unfamiliar words into individual sounds and then blend these to make the word easy to articulate. Instead, they guess and look at picture cues. Pupils are generally attentive in lessons and respond well to challenging work when it is set by staff.

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Achievement of pupils

Children start school with skills well below those expected for their age. They enjoy a good start to school in the Early Years Foundation Stage and have fun in the learning environment created by staff. Over the last two years, these children have made good progress by the end of Reception so that the proportion of children reaching a good level of development has been much higher than average. They benefit from the high expectations of adults and the challenging activities set. However, these pupils are not making sufficiently rapid progress through Key Stage 1 to build on these strong foundations.

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Achievement of pupils

Pupils are confident and eager to learn when lessons engage them. They listen carefully to instructions and try hard to complete tasks. However, in less effective lessons, pupils do not listen properly to teachers and rush to answer questions or to complete activities. Some spend too long listening to teachers as they introduce new work. This impedes their learning.

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Achievement of pupils

Pupils’ progress in Key Stages 1 and 2, including that of disabled pupils and those with special needs observed during the inspection, was just satisfactory and should be better but tasks do not always provide enough challenge. Parents and carers confirm that they are happy with how well their children learn. However, inspection findings show that pupils are not making enough progress.

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Quality of teaching

Inspection findings show that there are too many inconsistencies within the quality of teaching across Years 1 to 6 so that, over time, the teaching is inadequate. Since the last inspection, the impact of teaching on outcomes for pupils has declined. It has not been consistently strong enough to promote improvement in pupils’ attainment, learning or progress. Too little of the teaching is of good or better quality. There are too many inconsistencies within teachers’ expectations and their daily practice. In less effective lessons, there is a lack of urgency to drive pupils’ learning. Teachers’ questioning is not always used well enough to check pupils’ knowledge. Pupils do not regularly assess how well they are doing and some have no idea of their targets. Teachers’ assessments of pupils’ work in lessons and the individual match of work to pupils’ abilities are not accurate enough to ensure that attainment rises and their progress accelerates. There are signs that the

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Quality of teaching

school’s newly rationalised assessment systems are helping staff to pitch pupils’ work more appropriately in order to provide a greater degree of challenge. However, this information is relatively new and any sustained impact has yet to be seen. Inconsistencies are also evident within teachers’ marking. The very best, in a class for pupils in Years 5 and 6 for example, offers a highly detailed commentary on what pupils have done well and where improvements can be made. However, some marking is merely an acknowledging tick. Too frequently, marking lacks sufficient information about what pupils need to do next to improve. It is rare to find any dialogue between pupils and teachers in books. It is often not clear that pupils have paid heed to teachers’ guidance in subsequent work. The curriculum has shortcomings in meeting the needs of all pupils and in engaging them sufficiently in their learning. Pupils confirm that the introduction of themes makes learning

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Quality of teaching

more interesting. These approaches are starting to build on pupils’ key skills but are not firmly established. The school has recently invested in more technology to support pupils’ knowledge and to promote their engagement in learning. Spiritual elements of the curriculum are lacking as are planned opportunities for pupils to learn about cultural and ethnic diversity in the United Kingdom.

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Quality of teaching

Adults who work with children in the Early Years Foundation Stage have a good understanding of the learning, development and welfare requirements for children of this age. They encourage children’s independence and ensure activities such as singing, creative and physical tasks engage children well in their learning.

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Quality of teaching

Most parents and carers who returned the inspection questionnaire say that their children are taught well.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Behaviour and safety of pupils are satisfactory. Parents, carers, pupils and staff are generally positive about behaviour, although a very small minority are concerned about how well bullying is tackled by the school. Inspection findings confirm that appropriate systems are in place and regularly monitored by senior staff so that inappropriate behaviour is dealt with speedily and consistently. In recent years a few pupils have shown a lack of respect and unacceptable levels of self-discipline which resulted in their poor behaviour around the school. However, most pupils now behave well. Pupils are keenly aware of different forms of bullying and learn how to prevent them. They show a good awareness of the importance of cyber safety when using computers or the internet. Pupils know they can go to an adult with any concerns. Parents and carers of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs are generally positive about how well the school meets their children’s needs. Most

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

parents and carers who returned the inspection questionnaire feel that the school looks after their children well.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Attendance is average and rising due to the consistent attention of school staff and leaders. Parents and carers are responding more positively to the school’s work in this area. The successful breakfast club encourages pupils to come to school regularly and on time. Here, they enjoy a sociable start to the school day.

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Leadership and management

The acting headteacher has cemented a purposeful working relationship with the two acting deputy headteachers. However, 23 months of temporary and inexperienced leadership have resulted in the school being unable to consolidate previous good performance and move forward. The lack of a full senior leadership team means that the acting headteacher has been unable to assume an effective strategic role. As a result, since the school’s last inspection, the pace of improvement has faltered and the school’s effectiveness has seriously declined. Senior leaders are aware that pupils’ attainment is too low. Expectations of pupils’ rates of progress have also been too low, largely due to inconsistencies in the quality of teaching that the school’s leaders have not addressed effectively. Leaders at all levels do not currently evaluate the effectiveness of their work with sufficient rigour. School self-evaluation is overly optimistic in some areas.

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Leadership and management

The governing body has too little impact on setting a strategic direction for the school. Temporary leaders have not received timely professional development or support for their leadership. Leaders, managers and the governing body are not injecting a sense of urgency to tackle the challenges the school faces. The governing body does not offer robust challenge to the school about its performance. Neither does it have a clear view of the lack of impact of its own work in some areas. In view of the inadequacies in leadership, teaching, pupils’ achievement and the overall lack of improvement since the last inspection, the school does not have the necessary capacity for further improvement.

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Leadership and management

The school is clear about pupils’ individual circumstances. There is no discriminatory practice and the school follows up carefully instances of any type of bullying. Record keeping is detailed. However, the variability between the rates of progress across the school show that not all pupils have equal opportunities to achieve well. Strengths in the leadership in the Early Years Foundation Stage, with an emphasis on the development of professional skills and a good overview of the quality of provision, play a significant role in the good progress made by children in nursery and reception classes. The school engages parents and carers satisfactorily in school life so that more are becoming involved in their children’s learning.

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Leadership and management

The curriculum is inadequate. Although a new curriculum has been implemented, it has yet to engage pupils more readily in all aspects of their learning and so help them to develop the basic skills they require in order to succeed. Partnerships with outside agencies and other schools add variety to the school’s curriculum.

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Leadership and management

The promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is inadequate. Pupils collaborate effectively and usually follow the rules. However, pupils have limited awareness of cultures other than their own. Over time, records show that the persistent lack of respect by a small but telling minority of pupils no longer in the school had a negative impact on aspects of daily school life for the majority of pupils and staff. These memories linger and pupils still recall them. They have a continuing impact on pupils’ spiritual development.

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Leadership and management

The school meets requirements with regard to safeguarding. Staff identify risks and pupils are helped to recognise potential hazards in all aspects of their lives.

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childcare provision

The quality of the registered childcare provision is good. Key strengths are: ■ consistently good outcomes for children, particularly their personal, social and language skills ■ good quality provision which ensures highly enabling and well-resourced environments both inside and outdoors ■ knowledgeable staff who successfully meet the needs of babies and young children ■ meticulous record keeping and detailed information for parents and carers ■ strong induction and transition programmes ■ close partnership work with parents, carers and other early years’ settings. Adults are appropriately qualified and vetted as suitable to work with young children. Children’s safety is a high priority. Parents and carers are very appreciative of the setting and the care their children receive. Inspection findings support their views.

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childcare provision

These are the grades for the Early Years Foundation Stage of the registered childcare provision, inspected under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Overall effectiveness of the Early Years Foundation Stage

Taking into account: Outcomes for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage The quality of provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage The effectiveness of leadership and management of the Early Years Foundation Stage for the registered provision

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding These features are highly effective. An outstanding school provides exceptionally well for all its pupils' needs. Grade 2 Good These are very positive features of a school. A school that is good is serving its pupils well. Grade 3 Satisfactory These features are of reasonable quality. A satisfactory school is providing adequately for its pupils. Grade 4 Inadequate These features are not of an acceptable standard. An inadequate school needs to make significant improvement in order to meet the needs of its pupils. Ofsted inspectors will make further visits until it improves.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Nursery schools 46 46 8 0 Primary schools 8 47 40 5 Secondary schools 14 38 40 8 Special schools 28 48 20 4 Pupil referral units 15 50 29 5 All schools 11 46 38 6

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

New school inspection arrangements have been introduced from 1 January 2012. This means that inspectors make judgements that were not made previously.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

The data in the table above are for the period 1 September 2010 to 31 August 2011 and represent judgements that were made under the school inspection arrangements that were introduced on 1 September 2009. These data are consistent with the latest published official statistics about maintained school inspection outcomes (see www.ofsted.gov.uk ).

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

The sample of schools inspected during 2010/11 was not representative of all schools nationally, as weaker schools are inspected more frequently than good or outstanding schools.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Primary schools include primary academy converters. Secondary schools include secondary academy converters, sponsor-led academies and city technology colleges. Special schools include special academy converters and non-maintained special schools.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Percentages are rounded and do not always add exactly to 100.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Achievement: the progress and success of a pupil in their learning and development taking account of their attainment.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attainment: the standard of the pupils' work shown by test and examination results and in lessons.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Behaviour how well pupils behave in lessons, with emphasis on their attitude to learning. Pupils' punctuality to lessons and their conduct around the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Capacity to improve: the proven ability of the school to continue improving based on its self-evaluation and what the school has accomplished so far and on the quality of its systems to maintain improvement.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Leadership and management: the contribution of all the staff with responsibilities, not just the governors and headteacher, to identifying priorities, directing and motivating staff and running the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Learning: how well pupils acquire knowledge, develop their understanding, learn and practise skills and are developing their competence as learners.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Overall effectiveness: inspectors form a judgement on a school's overall effectiveness based on the findings from their inspection of the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Progress: the rate at which pupils are learning in lessons and over longer periods of time. It is often measured by comparing the pupils' attainment at the end of a key stage with their attainment when they started.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Safety how safe pupils are in school, including in lessons; and their understanding of risks. Pupils' freedom from bullying and harassment. How well the school promotes safety, for example e-learning.

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to share with their children. It describes Ofsted's main

findings from the inspection of their school.

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to share with their children. It describes Ofsted's main

Inspection of Wath Victoria Primary School, Rotherham, S63 7AD 

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to share with their children. It describes Ofsted's main

Thank you on behalf of the inspection team for your friendly welcome when we inspected your school. You were so polite and welcoming. We enjoyed listening to your views and seeing you happily playing and working together. Most of you say that you learn a lot in lessons. You also said that you feel safe in school and that the adults take good care of you. We saw these good things, too. You were keen to tell us more about how you are an Eco-school that you recycle and look for other ways to be increasingly sustainable in school. This is important for the future, so well done!

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to share with their children. It describes Ofsted's main

These are all good elements of your school. However, we have judged that your school is not giving you a good enough education. It needs to improve quickly in some important areas. We have judged that your school requires special measures. This means that Wath Victoria will receive extra support and inspectors will visit regularly to see how well the school is improving.

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to share with their children. It describes Ofsted's main

To make sure you all do as well as possible, we have asked the leaders, staff and governing body to make sure you learn and progress more quickly in English and mathematics to reach higher standards. An important part of this will be to improve the quality of teaching so that you all learn more rapidly and make up lost ground.

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to share with their children. It describes Ofsted's main

We want school leaders and managers to help make improvements by carefully identifying and working on key weaknesses. This will help the school to build on its strengths and help you to do better. You can speed up these improvements by continuing to work hard, assessing how well you have completed your work and by reading carefully any comments teachers write in your books about how to improve.

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to share with their children. It describes Ofsted's main

Enjoy your vegetable garden this summer!

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to share with their children. It describes Ofsted's main

Jane Hughes Lead inspector procedures set out in the guidance 'Complaining about inspections', which is available from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . 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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