Kinnerley Church of England Controlled Primary School

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

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Ms Marilyn Hunt Headteacher Kinnerley Church of England Controlled Primary School School Road Kinnerley Oswestry Shropshire SY10 8DF

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School

Following my visit to the school on 27 March 2018, 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 2013.

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School

Based on the evidence gathered during this short inspection, I have identified some priorities for improvement which I advise the school to address. In light of these priorities, the school’s next inspection will be a full section 5 inspection. There is

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

You and your governing body work hard to provide effective leadership to the school. You are clear about what the school does well and the areas in which it needs to improve, as evidenced in your school development plan. You and your governing body have successfully led the school into becoming part of the Westcliffe Primary Federation in June 2017.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

In your endeavour to improve the quality of teaching and learning, you have rightly put in place procedures to regularly monitor and review teaching and learning throughout the school. You identify concisely the areas for improvement in teaching to accelerate pupils learning. Together with the executive headteacher of the Westcliffe Federation of primary schools, you use this information to provide support for your teachers. Teachers appreciate this support. You provide development opportunities for teaching assistants to improve their skills. This was clear in some lessons we observed.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

The curriculum is rich and engaging. It captures pupils’ interest and helps them to understand the wider world they live in. Pupils value these opportunities. For example, pupils in key stage 2 learned about World War II and the children who were evacuated. Pupils spoke with enthusiasm to me about their trip to give them an experience of what it must have been like to be an evacuee. A pupil said, ‘When we arrived, people told us who we had to go with. It felt very real. I was going to live with people in a bakery.’ Another pupil added, ‘I was a bit disappointed when I found out I was going to live with people at a pig farm.’

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

You are not afraid to take decisive and difficult decisions when it is in the best interests of pupils. For example, when teaching does not meet the needs of pupils, you take swift and effective action to address weaknesses. This results in a motivated staff team that is keen to improve.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Parents and carers of pupils in the Reception class who spoke to me explained how their children had quickly settled into school. One parent said, ‘My child has made amazing progress in the six months she has been here, and the staff have given the family fabulous support.’ In the early years, you use an online system to share photographical evidence of children’s learning with parents. This provides clear information on how their children are progressing.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

You and your teachers have begun to address the areas for improvement identified at the last inspection. Teachers check work more regularly, and pupils’ books demonstrate that they are given time to reflect on lessons and respond to teachers’ comments in a thoughtful way. For example, one pupil commented, ‘I struggled at first, but after a small explanation I got the hang of it.’

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

The leadership team ensures that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. The person responsible for safeguarding attends regular training and updates provided by the local authority. Safeguarding training of the staff and governing body is rightly a priority. Although the safeguarding policy is very detailed, it is not always systematically followed. As a result, there is a shortfall in record–keeping, and records are not always up to date.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Pupils are safe, feel safe and are well cared for. Pupils know who to speak to if they have a concern. Pupils spoke confidently to me about how teachers teach them to keep themselves safe. For example, pupils explained, ‘Rules in school keep us safe.’ Another pupil said, ‘We are taught not to speak to people we do not know if we are online.’

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

The person responsible for safeguarding effectively creates a culture where pupils, staff and parents know how to raise concerns. She actively follows up concerns and puts in place appropriate actions. Parents spoken to during the inspection and those responding to the online questionnaire, Parent View, show that parents are firmly of the view that pupils are safe and well looked after in school.

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Inspection findings

 You have a persistent focus on improving the school. You have dedicated time to designing and introducing an assessment and tracking system to monitor pupils’ progress. This provides you with progress information about pupils throughout the year and over the key stages, which you analyse. You discuss your analysis with teachers in pupil progress meetings and, together, you plan interventions. However, teachers do not routinely use this information to plan highly focused lessons, which meet the needs of all pupils.  The new governing body is rapidly establishing governors’ roles and responsibilities. Together with the school’s leaders, governors are effective in the way that they monitor and plan school improvement. For example, they conduct focused visits to the school. Following on from a visit that focused on safeguarding, you and the governors put in place a plan to improve the security of the site.

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Inspection findings

 Teachers plan a range of opportunities for pupils to write. For example, pupils’ books show that they write stories, information texts, letters and postcards. In Year 6, pupils are routinely taught different writing skills, which they then practise and use to improve their work. However, in other year groups, writing skills are not routinely taught to pupils, and this hinders the progress they make.  You monitor the effectiveness of a new mathematics scheme designed to support the development of teachers’ mathematical knowledge and their lesson planning. Mathematics lessons are not yet consistently moving pupils on in their learning at the right time or at a good enough pace. Some lessons do not provide enough challenge, while others do not provide enough time for pupils to become secure in their knowledge and skills. Pupils’ books show that a variety of mathematical concepts is being taught. However, there are limited opportunities for pupils to

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Inspection findings

apply these new skills.  Pupils’ topic books and science books show examples of teachers developing reading, writing and mathematics across the curriculum. For example, in science pupils are given opportunities to classify animals using Venn diagrams. They are given opportunities to complete extended pieces of writing, such as a diary in history.  The outside area in the early years provides an appropriate space in which to learn and play. Staff support pupils in the early years to quickly learn routines and help them to increasingly become independent. Welfare requirements are met. However, the indoor classroom environment does not provide the best opportunities for pupils to learn through exploratory play.  Some parents are not yet satisfied with the quality of teaching or the progress their children are making in school. This has led to a number of concerns being raised with you, which you have responded to.

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Inspection findings

 The school has a house system whereby pupils from all year groups join together for some activities. Older pupils demonstrate a sense of responsibility for younger pupils. For example, during a recent whole-school visit to the Islamic Centre, older pupils were partnered with younger ones. Teachers and pupils spoke passionately about the visit. A Reception pupil who spoke to me said, ‘We went to the Islamic Centre and we made dream catchers.’  Pupils behave well around school. They show respect for each other and sometimes help each other. The school has rightly begun to develop pupils’ resilience to ‘have a go’ when faced with difficult situations. However, in lessons, pupils are too easily distracted and often do not complete work unless supported by an adult. This is sometimes because the work is not at an appropriate level and sometimes because pupils are over-reliant on adult support.

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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

 the safeguarding practice reflects the school safeguarding policy and staff systematically record safeguarding concerns and actions  teachers routinely use the assessment and tracking information in writing and mathematics to plan and deliver highly focused teaching to ensure that all pupils make good progress  further action is taken to improve teachers’ subject knowledge in mathematics to improve the quality of teaching in mathematics  teachers provide opportunities for pupils to apply their mathematical skills and consolidate their learning in mathematics  teachers routinely teach pupils the skills they need to develop their writing and provide opportunities for pupils to practise these skills  pupils’ behaviour in class improves so that they are not distracted and can retain and recall prior learning  the early years classroom is developed to provide appropriately engaging learning and play opportunities.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of Lichfield, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Shropshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I met with you, the executive headteacher, members of the governing body and the local authority school improvement adviser. I met with parents at the beginning of the school day and took account of the 33 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. I reviewed a range of documents including your self-evaluation, school development plan, assessment and progress information, and documents relating to safeguarding, staff recruitment checks and child protection procedures.

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Information about the inspection

I visited classes with you to observe teaching and learning. I spoke to pupils and staff. I looked at pupils’ work both in and out of lessons.

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