Newborough CofE Primary School

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

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Mrs Rebecca Marrs Headteacher Newborough CofE Primary School School Road Newborough Peterborough Cambridgeshire PE6 7RG

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Short inspection of Newborough CofE Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 19 September 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 November 2014.

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Short inspection of Newborough CofE Primary 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

Since your appointment as headteacher in September 2017, you have rightly identified a decline in some aspects of the school’s work. This is due largely to a high turnover of staff, including three changes of headteacher. You found too much variability across the school in the progress pupils were making and saw a further decline in standards in Year 6 in 2018. You also identified that the areas for improvement raised at the last inspection had not been fully embedded because of changes in leadership and staff turnover. You are providing strong leadership in addressing the issues you have identified. You have set high expectations for teaching and have worked closely with staff to further develop their practice. You have developed a new curriculum which has been implemented from the beginning of this term and you have provided effective support for staff in using the new system of assessment. It is too early to determine the impact of these

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

developments on the progress pupils are making. You and the leadership team have ensured that an above average proportion of children in the early years continue to reach a good level of development and that a high proportion of pupils in Year 1 are continuing to reach the required standard in the phonics screening check. You are addressing the weaknesses by rightly identifying key areas for improvement in your school development plan to strengthen teaching, learning and assessment. You also recognise the need to ensure that subject leaders monitor pupils’ work more rigorously so that there is a closer link between the work seen in pupils’ books and the school’s tracking information about the progress they are making.

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

You have created strong teamwork with the staff and worked hard to strengthen links with parents and carers through establishing the new parent forum. As a result, staff morale is high, and parents feel very positive about the work of the school. One parent typified the views of others by writing, ‘the new headteacher has made a big difference to the school and I am pleased with the progress my child is making.’

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

You have continued to ensure that pupils’ attendance, punctuality and behaviour are good. Staff are continuing to promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well through the curriculum, including their awareness of fundamental British values.

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

Governors provide effective strategic oversight and support for the work of the school. They visit regularly to get their own view of the school’s work and are rigorous in holding leaders to account for the quality of education. They ask challenging questions about pupils’ outcomes, such as the variability in pupils’ progress across the school. They ensure that all policies are up to date.

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

School leaders have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. You are working closely with parents and the local authority to develop a strong culture for safeguarding. As a result, the school provides a warm, welcoming and safe environment for pupils. You and your staff receive strong support from governors in providing a safe environment to protect the interests and welfare of children. You have developed and successfully implemented an action plan to promote safeguarding. Governors also ensure that all policies and procedures are up to date. Your staff thoroughly assess any potential risks to pupils.

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

Staff provide effective levels of supervision to ensure that pupils stay safe throughout the day. Pupils handle equipment carefully, play safely and move around the school in an orderly manner. They say they feel safe, that bullying is rare and they know how to use the internet safely. Staff and nearly all parents agreed in their online questionnaire responses.

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Inspection findings

 I wanted to determine if the new curriculum was promoting progress and deepening pupils’ understanding of technical vocabulary. This was because the curriculum has only been in place for two weeks. Our joint visits to classrooms demonstrated that pupils were actively engaged in their learning of topics such as the Greeks and the Tudors. Key words were clearly displayed to promote understanding of the topics. Teachers were clearly planning for progression in mathematics lessons at key stage 2. However, some pupils did not understand place value well enough and a few pupils in each year group said that their work was sometimes too easy. Systems for assessing pupils’ progress within the new curriculum are also at an early stage of implementation.  I also wanted to find out if all pupils currently in school are making good progress from their different starting points. Our visits to lessons and examination of

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Inspection findings

pupils’ books show that the majority of pupils are making good progress over time from their starting points. However, this is too variable across year groups, and is reflected in the school’s tracking information on pupils’ progress over time. Boys are not doing as well as girls in writing across the school. Not enough pupils are working at greater depth, especially at key stage 2, which was also seen in pupils’ books. Subject leaders have yet to monitor pupils’ books rigorously against the newly implemented system of assessment to accurately determine pupils’ progress.  Finally, I wanted to know if teaching is challenging enough to extend the learning of all pupils because, in the past two years, some pupils have not achieved as well as they should. During our joint visits to lessons, pupils were focused and engaged in learning. Children in the early years were actively engaged in sorting and matching numbers, looking at story books, and participating in role play.

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Inspection findings

Work in pupils’ books also showed that occasionally expectations are not high enough. The school’s tracking information shows a lower proportion of pupils working at greater depth in some areas than other pupils nationally by the end of Years 2 and 6, confirming that teaching is not always challenging enough.

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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

 teachers set consistently high expectations for all groups of pupils so that the proportion of pupils working at greater depth increases  they improve the progress boys are making in writing  all leaders check the impact of the new curriculum and assessment systems on the progress all pupils are making over time  subject leaders rigorously monitor the impact of teaching on pupils’ learning and their progress when they look at pupils’ books.

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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 Peterborough, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Peterborough. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

I held meetings with you, school leaders, a group of 12 parents, three members of the governing body and a representative of the local authority. I visited lessons across the school, including in the Reception class, with you and looked at samples of pupils’ work. I also talked to pupils about their learning and took account of their responses during the inspection. I looked at the 123 responses from parents to Ofsted’s electronic survey, Parent View, together with 22 free-text responses. I examined the 18 questionnaire responses from staff and the 26 questionnaire responses from pupils. I looked at a range of documentation, including: safeguarding policies and procedures; the local authority’s audit of safeguarding; the school’s action plan to promote safeguarding and vetting procedures; records of training in safeguarding and risk assessments; the school’s tracking information on the progress pupils are making; minutes of governing body meetings; the school

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Information about the inspection

development plan and self-evaluation document; attendance figures and records of behaviour.

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