Lamplugh CofE School

Lamplugh CofE School Kirkland, Frizington, Cumbria CA26 3XU

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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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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Leadership at this school is inadequate. A succession of temporary arrangements since the previous inspection have hampered school improvement.  The fragility in leadership has contributed to the slow response to the areas for improvement identified at the previous inspection. The standard of education that pupils receive has not improved.  Current leaders do not have an accurate view of the school’s effectiveness. This has prevented them from planning, implementing and sustaining necessary improvements.  Leaders do not give teachers the training that they need, including opportunities to learn from good practice. This has slowed improvements to teaching and learning.  New governors have a wide range of skills but lack the experience to hold leaders effectively to account for the quality of teaching and pupils’ outcomes.  Some children and pupils, especially the most able, do not make the progress of which they

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

are capable, especially in writing. This is because teachers do not have high enough expectations of what pupils can achieve.  Teachers across the school, including in the early years, do not routinely allow children and pupils enough time to think carefully or to show what they have learned or understood. When this happens, teaching does not securely build upon what pupils already know and can do.  Sometimes the questions that teachers ask are not skilful enough to deepen pupils’ understanding further, or to enable them to learn from their mistakes.  Children’s and pupils’ success in gaining phonic knowledge and skills is sometimes hampered by teachers’ weak planning.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Improvements in teaching mathematics mean that pupils have good problem-solving and reasoning skills.  Provision for pupils’ personal development is good. Pupils are well behaved, happy and safe in school. They attend school regularly.  Leaders ensure that the curriculum helps pupils to learn across a range of subjects and to learn about different cultures and faiths.  The very small number of two-year-old children benefit from effective support that helps them to learn and develop well.

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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?

 Urgently tackle the weaknesses in leadership across the school by ensuring that: – there is effective senior leadership to direct and secure sustainable improvements to teaching and pupils’ outcomes – self-evaluation is accurate, grounded in evidence and leads to appropriate priorities for improvement – strategies for improvement are implemented carefully, monitored and evaluated to show that new ways of working are successful and sustainable – governors hold leaders stringently to account for the quality of teaching and pupils’ outcomes, including the achievement of disadvantaged pupils.  Swiftly improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in the early years and the rest of the school by ensuring that: – teachers routinely allow pupils enough time to show what they have learned and understood, so that teachers are able to build on what children and pupils already know and can do – teachers use questioning more skilfully so that children and pupils deepen their

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

understanding and learn from their mistakes – the teaching of phonics is systematically planned to ensure that children and pupils gain the phonic knowledge and skills they need to become successful readers and writers.  Improve children’s and pupils’ outcomes, especially in writing, by ensuring that teachers: – raise their expectations of what children and pupils can achieve for their age and ability – provide children and pupils, including the most able, with work that is sufficiently challenging, across a range of subjects, to enable them to make the progress of which they are capable.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 Since the previous inspection in January 2017, leadership at the school has suffered from a protracted period of instability. A succession of short-term, temporary arrangements have been unsuccessful in establishing the necessary momentum for the school’s much-needed improvement. Leadership is too fragile to ensure that there is enough capacity to sustain school improvement without external support.  Leaders and governors have collectively failed to act quickly to address the recommendations from the last inspection. Evidence from the work of pupils currently in school, including disadvantaged pupils, shows that too frequently they do not make the progress of which they are capable, especially in writing. This is because teachers’ and leaders’ expectations of what pupils can achieve are too low, and work does not challenge pupils sufficiently.  Leaders and governors have not analysed carefully enough the information that they

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

have available about the school’s strengths and weaknesses. Their view of the school’s effectiveness is therefore inaccurate and overgenerous. This has led to weak plans for development. Improvement planning is not focused sharply enough on the right priorities or in ways that would enable governors to check the impact of leaders’ actions to improve teaching and pupils’ outcomes.  Leaders and governors have made sure that teachers are able to participate in important meetings and activities with other local schools, for example to check the accuracy of their assessments of pupils’ work. However, leaders and governors have not made enough provision for teachers to learn from good practice elsewhere. Teachers do not have access to the high-quality training that they need to develop their subject knowledge, especially in writing and in phonics. This has slowed the pace of improvement in the quality of teaching.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 Leadership of provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) ensures that they generally make adequate progress from their individual starting points. Leaders follow local guidelines to make certain that, where appropriate, children and pupils receive the support that they need from other professionals.  Leaders and governors provide children and pupils with a curriculum that enables them to learn across a range of subjects, and to develop well spiritually, morally, socially and culturally. Pupils benefit from the strong working relationships that leaders and governors have developed with other schools. For example, some pupils make regular visits to nearby primary schools to share in physical education, science and music activities. This has a positive impact on the progress that pupils make in these subjects.  Leaders’ plans for the use of the pupil premium funding are not effective. For instance,

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

they do not provide specific details about the actions they will take to improve outcomes for disadvantaged children and pupils. This makes it difficult for leaders and governors to monitor precisely the difference that the funding is making to pupils’ progress over time.  Leaders and governors make effective use of the physical education and sport premium funding. Collaborative arrangements with other local schools enable pupils to increasingly participate in a range of sports activities. During the inspection, pupils improved their understanding of healthy lifestyles and of how to eat healthily by working with visiting professionals.

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Governance of the school

 A period of weak governance has contributed to the overall fragility and turbulence in the school’s leadership. The school’s plans to improve governance were too weak and had limited the effectiveness of the governing body. An external review of governance is due to take place in June 2019.  The recent recruitment of new governors under the leadership of the relatively new chair has resulted in a wider range of skills in the governing body. Governors are committed to the school, visit regularly and take a keen interest in pupils’ learning. However, most governors are inexperienced and are not sufficiently involved in evaluating the school’s strengths and weaknesses. This has prevented them from understanding fully the extent of improvement needed and from holding leaders to account for their progress in improving the school.  Governors ask questions about many aspects of the school’s work. However, they do

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Governance of the school

not ask enough pertinent questions about teaching and pupils’ outcomes. In particular, their knowledge of the outcomes for disadvantaged pupils and the most able is weak. Their oversight of the pupil premium funding is not good enough. Consequently, they do not hold leaders sufficiently to account for their use of this funding to improve the achievement of disadvantaged pupils.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  Leaders have ensured that staff have had the right training to enable them to recognise the signs of abuse and neglect and to protect children and pupils from radicalisation and extremism. Staff are confident about the school’s procedures for keeping pupils safe from harm and understand how to report any concerns they may have.  The school’s systems for checking the suitability of adults to work with children and pupils are appropriate and fit for purpose. Governors monitor these checks to make sure that they are up to date.  Children and pupils feel and are safe and secure in school. Parents and carers who spoke to the inspector and who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, agreed strongly with this view.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 Teachers value meeting with colleagues from other local schools, for example to share ideas and to check the accuracy of assessments. However, the school’s inadequate leadership arrangements have meant that opportunities for teachers to improve their subject knowledge have been limited. This has had a negative impact on the quality of teaching, learning and assessment, which has been slow to improve since the last inspection, especially in writing and in phonics.  Teachers’ clear expectations about behaviour and routines help children and pupils to settle quickly. The learning that teachers plan usually engages pupils’ interests so that, most of the time, they listen attentively and focus well.  However, teachers’ expectations of what children and pupils can achieve are often too low, especially in the development of their writing skills. The work that teachers plan limits what children and pupils are expected to do, especially when they write in other

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

subjects. This has a negative impact on their progress in writing.  Some teaching does not provide children and pupils with enough challenge or opportunities to show what they have learned and understood in lessons. This limits teachers’ ability to gain an accurate understanding of what pupils already know and can do. As a result, planning for subsequent learning fails to take enough account of pupils’ prior learning. On occasion, teachers do not explain tasks well.  The secure relationships that teachers establish with children and pupils ensure that they are confident in class. Most pupils are keen to answer the questions that teachers ask. However, too frequently, these questions require only simple answers and are not sufficiently skilful to encourage pupils to think more deeply or to learn from their mistakes.  Recent improvements in the teaching of mathematics have increased pupils’ opportunities

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

to practise and develop their problem-solving and reasoning skills. Where learning builds securely on what pupils already know, they develop confidence in applying their skills to a range of problems and can write simple explanations for their solutions.  Work in children’s and pupils’ writing books shows that the teaching of phonics is typically helping them to apply their knowledge to write and spell words. Pupils who read to the inspector were able to use their phonic skills to attempt to read unfamiliar words. However, teachers’ planning for phonics sometimes lacks precision. For example, children and pupils have too few opportunities to practise segmenting and blending sounds in a wide range of words. Some children and pupils who must share study materials have difficulty seeing the resources clearly, which prevents them from participating fully in the learning. This weaker planning, where it occurs, has a negative

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

impact on children’s and pupils’ success in developing secure phonic knowledge and skills.  Children aged two years are secure with the routines that operate within the school. Staff offer these very young children good levels of support to develop their social and communication skills.  Teachers provide pupils with homework in line with the school’s policy. Parents who responded to the online Parent View questionnaire were strongly of the view that their children receive the right amount of homework. They were highly appreciative of the information that the school provides about their children’s progress.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  Lamplugh School is a warm, caring and happy place to learn. Leaders have created a welcoming atmosphere for pupils and parents alike. Parents are highly appreciative of the school’s caring ethos, and for the support that their children receive.  Pupils are confident and self-assured in school, because they know that they are valued. Those who join the school at different times during the year benefit from effective support to help them to settle. This has a positive impact on the progress that pupils make in school, including those with SEND.  The effective professional relationships that leaders have established with other agencies, such as children’s health and social care services, enable them to secure help for pupils when it is needed. Staff and leaders share information promptly in order to ensure that children’s and pupils’ welfare needs are met.

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Personal development and welfare

 Children and pupils learn about other cultures and faiths through the curriculum that leaders provide. They understand differences and similarities in families and in the wider world, in ways that are appropriate for their age and stage of development. Pupils develop an appreciation of the needs of others through activities such as their regular visits to a local care home and through fundraising for charities. Staff teach pupils to think about moral and ethical issues, for instance about the importance of recycling, as well as the impact of humanity on whales in the world’s oceans.  Leaders and governors understand the challenges and opportunities presented by having only small cohorts of pupils. They have used their strong relationships with other local schools to negotiate a range of experiences for pupils, including sports, musical and scientific learning. These experiences have a positive impact on pupils’

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  Pupils are polite and respectful to their teachers, to visitors and to each other. Their kindness towards each other reflects the example set for them by their teachers. Pupils conduct themselves well in class and around their school, which is an orderly and happy place.  Children and pupils generally have good attitudes to learning and understand their teachers’ expectations of their behaviour. On the few occasions when they concentrate less well or become disengaged from their learning, it is because the teaching they receive does not challenge them sufficiently. Parents were strongly of the view that behaviour at the school is good and that leaders deal effectively with any issues that might occur.  Pupils’ attendance at school, including that of disadvantaged pupils, is at least in line with the national average, and it sometimes better. There are valid reasons for the

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Behaviour

very small number of pupils who are absent from school for extended periods of time.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 There were no pupils in Year 1, Year 2 or Year 6 at the end of the summer term in 2018. Therefore, there is no published information about pupils’ progress and attainment by the end of Year 2 and Year 6. Similarly, there were no Year 1 pupils to take the national phonics screening check in 2018.  Younger pupils learn phonics according to the school’s agreed approach. Evidence gathered during the inspection shows that most children and pupils learn to recognise letters and groups of letters through familiar activities. Pupils try to use this learning in their attempts to write. However, where teaching is not well planned because teachers’ subject knowledge is insecure, pupils do not have enough opportunities to speak at length or to show what they know by ‘having a go’ for themselves. Weaknesses in teachers’ planning get in the way of some children and pupils gaining a strong grounding in phonics.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 Pupils currently in the school, including those who are disadvantaged and those with SEND, are making reasonable progress in their reading. Those pupils who read to the inspector did so with confidence and enjoyment and were able to use their phonics skills where appropriate to attempt unfamiliar words. Pupils’ growing vocabulary helps them to understand the meaning of the texts that they read. Younger children, including two-year-olds, have access to a range of books, displayed in attractive areas in their classroom. Information from the school’s assessment information shows that children enjoy sharing their favourite stories with adults.  The progress that children and pupils make in writing is more variable. Pupils have opportunities to build on their understanding of phonics in order to spell words correctly or to make plausible attempts where appropriate. Work in current pupils’ books shows that over time they learn to write for different purposes. However, too

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

frequently, the work that teachers set for them does not promote strong progress. For example, some planned tasks do not take enough account of what pupils already know and can do. This hinders the progress that pupils make, especially those who are the most able.  Pupils now have more opportunities to develop their problem-solving and reasoning skills in mathematics than they did at the time of the last inspection. Work in their books shows that over time pupils apply their mathematical skills in different situations. They are beginning to be able to explain their answers verbally and in writing. Sometimes, teachers’ explanations are not clear enough for pupils to be able to make the links that they need as they move from one aspect of learning to another. When this happens, pupils struggle to understand and make less progress as a result.  Pupils have opportunities through their lessons to learn across a range of subjects,

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

including science, history, geography, and computing. However, teachers do not use these subjects to improve pupils’ progress in reading, writing and mathematics, such as by using calculations in science. Evidence gathered during the inspection shows that pupils learn about other cultures. They also learn about faiths such as Islam, Judaism and Buddhism.

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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 admin@lamplugh.cumbria.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 19–20 January 2017

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Information about this school

 Lamplugh CofE Primary School is much smaller than most primary schools.  The proportions of pupils from minority ethnic groups or who speak English as an additional language are much lower than average.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is much lower than average.  The proportion of pupils receiving support for SEND is broadly average.  Since the last inspection in January 2017, the school has experienced several changes of leadership, all on a temporary basis. At the time of this inspection, the school was under the leadership of an acting headteacher.  A new chair of governors was appointed to the governing body in May 2018. A number of new governors have also since been appointed to the governing body.  The school’s Nursery class offers provision for children aged two to four years, on a full- and part-time basis. The school also offers a breakfast and after-school club.

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Information about this school

 The most recent section 48 inspection for schools with a religious character took place in March 2019.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed learning in all classes.  The inspector looked at pupils’ work across year groups and across a range of subjects.  The inspector listened to some pupils reading, spoke informally with pupils and observed pupils’ behaviour in classes and around the school.  Discussions were held with senior leaders, governors, teachers and staff. The inspector also spoke to a representative from the local authority and to a national leader of education who is supporting the school.  The inspector looked at a range of documents, including the school’s plans for improvement, safeguarding and recruitment information, behaviour logs, assessment information and minutes of governing body meetings.  The inspector spoke to some parents and took into account 17 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. The inspector also considered three responses to Ofsted’s questionnaire for staff.

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Information about this inspection

 In order to maintain confidentiality and to avoid the identification of individual pupils, there is no separate section in this report covering the early years provision.

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Inspection team

Mavis Smith, 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

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open- government-licence/ , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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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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