Westclyst Community Primary School

Westclyst Community Primary School C/o School Lane, Broadclyst, Exeter, Devon EX5 3JG

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 School leaders, trustees and the local advisory board have created a culture in this new school that enables pupils and staff to excel. They draw on their excellent track record in the sponsor school to promote and sustain this school’s high performance.  Leaders use the sponsor teaching school very effectively to provide high-quality professional development. Teaching is highly and consistently effective across the school.  The teaching, the innovative curriculum and the use of technology instil in pupils a love of learning. Consequently, pupils’ progress is strong across a broad range of subjects, including English and mathematics.  In the early years foundation stage, almost all children achieve a good level of development. An increasing proportion exceed the expected standard, especially in reading.  The proportion of pupils in Year 1 who pass the phonics screening check is high. Throughout key stage 1, pupils are avid readers and

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

eagerly discuss favourite books and authors.  A few of the pupils who have only recently joined the school are not progressing as strongly in writing as others. These pupils tend to be boys, disadvantaged pupils or pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).  Rigorous use of assessment by leaders, teachers and the in-school children’s services team ensures that pupils’ needs are accurately identified and are being met well.  A strong focus on pupils’ personal development, based on the school’s key principle of ‘Fortune favours the brave’, ensures that pupils are resilient learners and respect each other’s views. Their behaviour is impeccable at all times.  Safeguarding is effective. Leaders have established a culture of vigilance in keeping pupils safe.  Parents and carers, staff and pupils are overwhelmingly positive about the school.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that recent arrivals, particularly boys, pupils with SEND and pupils who are disadvantaged, make the same strong progress in writing as others by: – increasing their knowledge and use of vocabulary, including subject-specific words – making sure that they are able to use increasingly sophisticated sentence structures to record their thinking and learning.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

 School leaders, trustees and the local advisory board have high aspirations for all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, and for staff development. They have drawn on their success in the sponsor academy and teaching school to promote in this school a challenging learning environment that inspires pupils to achieve high standards.  Shared and proven senior and subject leadership across the schools ensures that high performance is sustained. A shared children’s services team ensures that pupils’ needs are met successfully and a high standard of personal development, behaviour and welfare is secured. The team includes the special educational needs coordinator, an educational psychologist, a speech and language therapist and a nurse.  Senior leaders hold teachers and subject leaders to account robustly for pupils’ progress. The process is informed by rigorous monitoring and evaluation of progress

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

and regular reviews of the quality of teaching and learning.  High-quality professional development inspires, challenges and supports teachers in improving their practice, as in the teaching of phonics. Staff have developed a consistent and highly effective approach to teaching and learning throughout the school.  The trust-wide curriculum is exceptionally broad, balanced and well planned to secure pupils’ progress. It is enhanced by a very large variety of extra-curricular clubs. The curriculum fosters pupils’ creative thinking, inquisitive questions, avid problem-solving and successful communication.  The sport premium is used highly effectively to train staff and to provide an extensive trust-wide range of physical activities, including a climbing wall, mountain bicycles, sailing, golf and dance. After-school clubs are very well attended.  Pupils are inspired by the use of digital technology, the environment, trips and links

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

with global communities, such as a school in Ethiopia. Such activities make an excellent contribution to their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. They also prepare the pupils very well for life in Britain’s diverse culture, for example in promoting respect for other faiths and beliefs.  Leaders promote equality of opportunity and diversity exceptionally well for pupils and staff. The exemplary relationships between staff and pupils are based on mutual respect and prevent any form of discriminatory behaviour.

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Governance of the school

 The board of trustees provides highly effective strategic direction for the school’s development. Together with the local advisory board, it has ensured that, while the school has doubled in size during the past year, standards of achievement remain high.  Trustees and members of the local advisory board have an in-depth knowledge of the school’s performance. This is gained from a wide range of sources, including reports presented by a Department for Education (DfE) adviser, examination of information on pupils’ progress and their own visits to the school.  Trustees and members of the local advisory board monitor robustly senior and subject leaders’ progress in addressing the priorities in the school improvement plan. They are effective in challenging the leaders to make further progress, for example in demonstrating the impact of provision on the progress made by pupils with SEND.  Trustees and members of the local advisory board ensure that the performance

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Governance of the school

management of staff is focused effectively on improving pupils’ outcomes.  The local advisory board successfully holds senior leaders to account for the impact of the pupil premium and SEND funding on the progress made by disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND. As a result, the pupils are making strong progress in reading and mathematics, although a few of the pupils are not making such strong progress in writing.  Trustees and members of the local advisory board are well trained, particularly in safeguarding and safer recruitment. They are vigilant in monitoring safeguarding arrangements.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  Leaders, trustees and the local advisory board have created a culture in which all staff are vigilant in keeping children safe. Up-to-date training has ensured that staff are knowledgeable and confident in identifying when a child may be at risk and in reporting their concerns. Leaders and staff work very effectively with parents and external partners to support pupils who are at risk. All required checks on staff and other adults are rigorously carried out and recorded on a single register. This also covers the child care and travel arrangements.  Leaders work well to protect pupils from radicalisation and extremism. High-quality training ensures that staff are vigilant, confident and competent to tackle any concerns.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

 High-quality training and support provided by the teaching school ensure that all teachers have an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the subjects they teach.  Teachers have high expectations of what pupils can achieve. They sequence lessons highly effectively to lead pupils to new learning. Time is used very productively to maintain pupils’ focus on their work.  Teachers make excellent use of digital technology to plan lessons that often include links to other sources of information. Pupils eagerly follow the lessons on their digital devices. They access the lessons at home to consolidate their learning.  Through skilful use of questioning, teachers check and extend pupils’ thinking and learning. They promptly correct any misconceptions and effectively support pupils who start to fall behind.  Teachers give pupils precise feedback on their work in line with the school’s policy. Pupils use it well to improve their work.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

 Teachers also use assessment exceptionally well in lessons to identify when pupils are ready for new challenges. For instance, the most able pupils in Year 2 responded very effectively to the challenge of organising their writing into well-punctuated paragraphs.  Parents are well informed about their children’s learning and progress through termly parents’ evenings and detailed school reports.  The curriculum is meticulously planned so that pupils apply their reading, writing and communication skills across subjects. For example, pupils do work in cross-curricular writing books.  Improvements in the teaching of phonics are highly effective. Teachers and teaching assistants ensure that pupils work at the right level of challenge and are able to tackle unfamiliar words fluently.  Pupils are inspired to learn. They develop resilience in learning from their mistakes. They also develop stamina in recording their thinking and learning at length.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.  Highly positive relationships between pupils and staff lead to pupils being confident and self-assured learners. Pupils derive great enjoyment from learning and this has a very beneficial impact on their progress.  Pupils take pride in their work because teachers value it and include it often in high- quality displays.  Pupils passionately debate issues, such as the poaching of elephant tusks, showing respect for others’ ideas and views. They work and play extremely well together. They develop very good social skills, for example through serving lunch to younger pupils.  Pupils say they feel safe in school and parents and staff agree that the school keeps them safe. Through personal, social and health education, e-safety days and visits from fire and other services, pupils learn how to stay safe, including when using technology.

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Personal development and welfare

 Pupils say there is very little bullying in school. They trust staff to take rapid and effective action to resolve any concerns they might have.  Pupils know how to keep healthy through healthy eating and regular exercise. They value highly the programmes provided by the nurse to develop their emotional and mental well-being, such as considering 10 things to do each day to be happy.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.  Pupils, parents and staff strongly agree that the school makes sure that its pupils are well behaved.  Pupils respond exceptionally well to the school’s effective strategies to promote high standards of behaviour. They demonstrate high levels of engagement in lessons and their conduct at break and lunchtime is impeccable. They are self-disciplined.  The school is a very orderly environment. Low-level disruption to lessons is extremely rare. Marked improvements for pupils with behavioural needs are evident. The pupils focus well on their learning and play cooperatively with others at lunchtimes.  Attendance is improving and is now close to the national average. There are few persistent absentees.  In reflecting on their behaviour towards others, including through their international links, pupils learn to be good citizens.

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Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

 Throughout each year group and across the curriculum, including in English and mathematics, pupils make substantial and sustained progress. They gain excellent knowledge, for example from reading across subjects and exploring the environment.  Pupils apply their well-developed speaking and listening skills highly effectively when presenting topics to each other, and sometimes through using the school’s television studio. For example, following a recent visit, pupils in Year 2 were preparing an advertisement for Paignton Zoo to be ‘televised’ for other pupils.  Pupils use their mathematical skills accurately in solving problems. They explain their reasoning exceptionally well, both verbally and in writing.  Pupils read widely and often across subjects with increasing fluency and comprehension. They make exceptionally good use of the library and librarians to find books which engage and interest them. Almost all pupils achieve the required standard

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Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

the national phonics screening check in Year 1.  By the end of Year 2, pupils, including most of the pupils with SEND and pupils who are disadvantaged, write at length across subjects. The most able pupils organise their writing highly effectively into paragraphs. A few boys who recently joined the school and who are disadvantaged and/or are pupils with SEND are making less progress than others in writing. This is because they struggle to find appropriate words and to join their ideas together in sentences. Teachers are suitably addressing these specific barriers to learning through immersing the pupils in stories and subject-specific vocabulary.  The current Year 2 pupils will be the first cohort in the school to complete key stage 1. There is, as yet, no attainment information for them to compare with national figures. The work in pupils’ books and their progress information indicate that attainment is

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Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

likely to be higher than the national average in reading, writing and mathematics.  Given their strong progress across subjects, pupils are exceptionally well prepared for key stage 2.

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Early years provision Outstanding

 Leaders have successfully maintained high levels of outcomes for all children over the past three years. They make extremely good use of professional development and incisive evaluation of staff practice to continually improve the quality of teaching.  The children’s services team and external partners greatly enhance children’s safety, health and well-being. The nurse works very well with the children, for example in developing their awareness of how to keep safe in the sun.  Robust safeguarding practices ensure that children are safe and feel safe. Parents say that they are confident their children are safe and well cared for at school.  Highly successful strategies, including the use of technology and early morning access to the library, engage parents in contributing positively to their children’s learning.  The extremely well organised indoor and outdoor environments and innovative curriculum, including the use of technology, stimulate children’s imagination. They offer

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Early years provision Outstanding

many effective opportunities for children to rehearse and practise their literacy and numeracy skills and to develop personally.  Activities challenge children to think for themselves, for example when locating and recording numbers hidden outside and when investigating minibeasts in a role-play ‘laboratory’.  Teaching is consistently of a very high quality and worthy of dissemination to others. Teachers are highly responsive to children’s learning and constantly adapt activities to meet their changing needs.  Frequent and accurate assessments of what children know and can do are shared with parents. The assessments are used rigorously to guide curriculum planning so that it challenges all children. All areas of learning are meticulously planned and there is a clear and sustained focus on developing phonics and reading skills.  Teachers make very effective use of evaluation from others to modify provision.

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Early years provision Outstanding

 Children are highly motivated and extremely eager to join in. They are curious, listen attentively and are keen to contribute what they know. They work together productively with sustained concentration.  Children’s personal development is excellent. They discuss, debate, share and are interested in and value each other. They demonstrate exceptionally positive behaviour and high levels of self-control, cooperation and respect for others.  Almost all children, including most of those with SEND, disadvantaged children and the most able, are making substantial and sustained progress.  Rigorous monitoring of children’s progress and effective action plans have secured a trend of outcomes that is above the national average. Almost all children achieve a good level of development. The proportion of children exceeding the expected standard continues to rise. It is especially high in reading.  The children’s high achievement and personal development ensure that they are

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Early years provision Outstanding

exceptionally well prepared and ready to start Year 1.

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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

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 Westclyst Community Primary School opened in September 2016 as a free school academy. It is registered to take 420 pupils from ages two to 11 years. This includes 60 nursery places. Currently, there are no children of nursery age. Children in the early years foundation stage are taught in three Reception classes. The current academic year sees the first Year 2 cohort of pupils coming through the school. The first intake of nursery children and key stage 2 pupils is planned for September 2019.  The school is sponsored by Broadclyst Community Primary School, which was graded outstanding by Ofsted in 2008. Broadclyst is a teaching school providing professional development for school leaders and teachers.  Both schools are part of The Cornerstone Academy Trust. The trust has recently sponsored a third school, Yeo Valley Primary School. The board of trustees has appointed a local advisory board which directs the work of the schools. The schools

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Information about this school

share the same senior and subject leadership team. The executive headteacher is the trust’s chief executive officer. He is also a national leader of education.  While the new school is being built, Westclyst Community Primary School is situated in purpose-built classrooms on the site of Broadclyst Community Primary School. It is sharing the school’s facilities but has its own dedicated team of teachers.  The trust provides and manages breakfast and after-school clubs. It also provides travel to and from the school using a fleet of minibuses.  Currently, the school is much smaller than most primary schools.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium is low.  The proportion of pupils with SEND is high. None of these pupils has an education, health and care plan.  Most pupils are of White British heritage. Very few speak English as an additional language.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors held meetings with trustees, members of the local advisory board, the executive headteacher, other school leaders and pupils. They met informally with a few parents. They spoke on the telephone to the school’s DfE adviser and electronically to trainers who had supported the teaching of phonics.  Together with the executive headteacher and head of education, inspectors observed pupils’ learning in all classes. They engaged subject leaders and the head of schools in jointly examining pupils’ progress over time in a sample of books from each year group. Inspectors listened to small groups of pupils reading.  Inspectors examined a range of documents, including the school’s improvement plan, its self-evaluation and documents relating to pupils’ progress and safeguarding.  Inspectors took account of the 42 responses to Ofsted’s online Parent View survey and 27 written responses from parents. They also took into consideration the responses to

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Information about this inspection

the online surveys completed by 43 staff. There were no responses to the pupil survey.

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Inspection team

Sue Frater, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Alison Cogher 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

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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