Clyst Hydon Primary School

Clyst Hydon Primary School Clyst Hydon, Cullompton, Devon EX15 2ND

p.1

Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

p.1

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

p.1

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

p.1

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

p.1

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

p.1

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

p.1

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that requires improvement

p.1

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Since the previous inspection, leaders’ actions to improve the school have been adversely affected by continuing disruption to leadership and teaching staff. As a result, leaders, including governors, have not yet secured stable and effective leadership.  Teaching is not yet consistently effective and pupils do not make good progress across the school.  Teachers do not consistently provide feedback to pupils, in line with the school’s assessment policy. This hinders pupils in improving their work and learning.  Teaching does not consistently present a level of challenge matched closely enough to the starting points of the pupils. It does not fully develop pupils’ skills and understanding, particularly in mathematics.  Teachers do not develop pupils’ handwriting skills and their accuracy in spelling well enough as they move through the school.  The curriculum has sufficient breadth. However, teaching of computing and

p.1

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

technology skills is not sufficiently well developed to support pupils’ learning effectively.

p.1

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Actions taken by the temporary head of school and temporary executive headteacher have guided teachers in strengthening assessment of pupils’ progress and securing their good attitudes to learning.  Pupils attend well. They have excellent relationships with each other and with staff, and enjoy school.  The pupils’ good behaviour and attitudes to learning represent positive improvements since the previous inspection. These are increasingly helping them make better progress.  The school has a welcoming atmosphere where pupils’ safety and welfare and their spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development are strongly promoted.

p.1

What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by establishing stable leadership, and teaching staff, that can secure and sustain good or better outcomes for pupils.  Embed and maintain consistently good teaching, learning and assessment to secure pupils’ good and better progress by teachers: – making sure that the work provided for pupils presents a level of challenge that is suitably matched to their specific starting points – providing feedback to pupils, in line with the school’s agreed procedures, that leads to pupils improving their work – more effectively developing pupils’ computing and technology skills – developing pupils’ handwriting and spelling skills more effectively – carefully checking how well pupils are learning in mathematics, and adapting the work and activities provided for them to deepen their understanding.

p.2

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

 Leaders and governors have been unable to maintain consistently good leadership, teaching and pupils’ learning over time. Leaders continue to be confronted by significant turbulence. Unavoidable staff absences through illness and continuing difficulties in establishing stable leadership and teaching staff have been compounded by the unforeseen breakdown of management partnerships. Despite the determined actions of different leaders and teachers, these exceptional factors have continued to constrain efforts to secure consistently good teaching and pupils’ outcomes.  In recent years, leaders’ efforts to manage and improve the performance of teachers have included increasing and well-considered opportunities to engage in training. However, these, and the development of middle leadership roles, have been disrupted by continued changes in teaching and leadership roles.  Current leaders’ evaluations of the effectiveness of the school’s work are accurate and

p.3

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

honest. They have identified the right priorities for improvement and taken appropriate action. This has led to some of the staffing turbulence over time but is now bringing improvement.  The temporary leadership of the head of school and executive headteacher during the summer term has had a positive impact on improving teaching and pupils’ progress. For example, this is seen in the pupils’ improved, and now good, behaviour and attitudes to learning. It is also evident in the strengthened teaching of writing in key stage 2, which, in particular, has improved the progress of pupils in Year 6. However, some of the other changes made by current leaders have not been in place long enough to have a full impact. Steps taken to improve the teaching and achievement of children and pupils across early years, key stage 1 and lower key stage 2 are having a positive effect but too many pupils are not making the good progress needed to fully

p.3

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

raise standards.  A majority of parents and carers who responded to the online questionnaire Parent View would recommend the school to other parents. Most parents acknowledge that the school has had a difficult time but is now improving again. However, a quarter of parents who responded still have concerns about continuing instability in leadership and teaching and lack confidence in some of the planned arrangements.  The curriculum has been improved and now includes appropriate emphasis on English, mathematics and science. Teachers’ planning now provides sufficient progression in the development of pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding across most subjects. However, including in the early years, this has not yet been implemented consistently over time in order to secure pupils’ good progress. In addition, pupils’ computing and technology skills remain underdeveloped, thus limiting their full access to the

p.3

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

curriculum and their readiness for the next stage of their education.  The school promotes pupils’ SMSC development effectively. Pupils talk knowledgeably about different faiths, cultures and beliefs. Pupils show a good understanding of British values, such as respect and tolerance, and demonstrate their readiness for life in modern Britain. For example, they understand democracy when making reference to the manifestos competed by Year 6 pupils to support their election to the school council.  The school is a very caring close-knit community where pupils are encouraged to learn together and look after each other. As a result, pupils feel safe because discrimination is not tolerated. Leaders and staff now give due regard to equality of opportunity but, at different times in the past, too many pupils have not progressed as well as their classmates.  Leaders ensure that additional funding is used effectively to provide extra support for

p.3

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).  Leaders ensure that the primary sport funding is used effectively. For example, the school has employed a specialist sports coach to provide training and increase the skills of teachers and pupils. Links across the management partnerships have widened the range of sporting opportunities provided for the pupils. For example, funds have been used to provide invasion games, tag rugby and athletics and enable pupils to participate in inter-school events and competitions.  The local authority continues to support the school. The brokered move into a new management partnership reflects their continued focus on securing a better future for the school.

p.4

Governance of the school

 Governors have responded positively to the review of their work recommended by the previous inspection. They have engaged in training and widened the range of expertise represented on the governing body. This has strengthened governors’ ability to challenge and support leaders and staff and hold them to account for the quality of teaching and the progress of pupils.  Governors now examine reports from senior staff, management partners and local authority specialists about pupils’ progress in greater detail than at times in the past. As a result, they have a more accurate picture of the strengths and weaknesses of the school. For example, this has enabled them to ensure effective use of additional funding to support pupils with SEND and those who are disadvantaged. However, governors recognise that their determined efforts, supported by the local authority, to secure a long-term management partnership have not yet proved successful.

p.4

Governance of the school

Consequently, they have not yet sustained consistently good leadership, teaching and pupils’ achievement.  Nevertheless, governors continue to strive determinedly to secure stability and future development for the school. This is demonstrated by their carefully considered decision to join the Devon Moors Federation of small schools at the beginning of the next academic year. It is also seen in the appointment and retention of the experienced executive headteacher to provide continuity in leadership and strengthen teaching as a full-time headteacher for the next academic year.

p.4

Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  There is a strong safeguarding culture in the school. All those looking after pupils ensure that pupils are kept safe and secure. School staff and leaders across the different management partnerships have ensured that safeguarding processes, policies and procedures have remained robust and fit for purpose. Safeguarding records, such as appointment checks on staff, are kept meticulously.  Staff are well trained and have kept up to date with statutory guidance and good practice. Staff know and understand what to do when they identify a concern or should a child disclose a safeguarding issue. School records and communications with parents, and, as necessary, with outside agencies, show that leaders act swiftly so that pupils and children in the early years feel safe and are kept safe.

p.5

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 Teaching, learning and assessment, including of early years children, have not been consistent or effective enough over time to sustain pupils’ good progress.  Leaders have provided frequent training and guidance for staff and teachers have responded well. However, continued changes in teachers in key stage 2 prior to Easter of this year have frustrated efforts to secure effective teaching and pupils’ learning. At times, teachers’ feedback to pupils in their books earlier this academic year did not meet the school’s agreed procedures and did not help pupils improve their work.  Pupils’ computing and technology skills are not taught effectively. Pupils do not have enough opportunity to develop these skills and use them to support learning across the curriculum.  Currently, some teaching and support are not adjusted quickly enough to fully challenge and interest pupils and sustain their good learning. As a result, some pupils

p.5

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

are not progressively developing key skills, knowledge and understanding. Older pupils, including those who are most able, are now encouraged to evaluate and edit their own and each other’s work. This is improving their progress but it has not been in place long enough to have had a full impact.  The teaching of mathematics is improving. Teachers are making better use of resources and are providing meaningful practical problem-solving tasks. But this is a recent improvement. Consequently, some pupils have not gained sufficient fluency in their number skills and confidence in reasoning and problem-solving.  Similarly, there is still some inconsistency in the teaching of writing because of the lack of emphasis on developing pupils’ handwriting and spelling. Even so, and especially in Year 6 since Easter, effective teaching has successfully restored pupils’ good attitudes and raised their interest in learning. As a result, pupils have improved their ability to

p.5

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

use a widened vocabulary to write more extensively, expressively and meaningfully.  The teaching of phonics is good. This is now enabling pupils and children in the early years to use these skills to tackle new words and improve their reading to aid learning and for enjoyment.  Teachers and teaching assistants use questioning well to involve pupils. Adults encourage pupils to express their ideas and this, in turn, is helping pupils to show improved resilience in their work.  Teachers manage pupils’ behaviour well. Pupils appreciate the way adults support their welfare and provide good opportunities to learn through educational visits such as to the Meteorological Office in Exeter. Teachers and teaching assistants promote very warm and encouraging relationships with pupils. As a result, pupils show interest in learning, including their homework. They confidently ask questions in lessons, as in Years 3, 4 and 5, when discussing healthy foods.

p.5

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 Teachers and teaching assistants ensure that pupils with SEND receive well-planned additional adult support that meets their needs. Currently, staff also make sure that assessment information is used well to develop the particular skills of disadvantaged pupils that need to be improved.

p.6

Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. Leaders and staff provide strong pastoral support to the pupils and promote exemplary relationships, including in the breakfast and after-school clubs. As a result, pupils are proud of their school, respect adults, appreciate the attention they receive and try hard to improve their work.  Pupils, parents and staff report that pupils’ attitudes to learning have improved recently and are helping to enhance their progress. Older pupils, especially, sustain a strong and improved focus on their learning and clearly welcome the value placed on their efforts. At times, younger pupils, including some children in the early years and others who have experienced slowed learning in the past, lose concentration and progress is hindered. This happens when learning tasks fail to motivate pupils or maintain their interest.  Pupils respond positively to rules and the school’s values of happiness, kindness,

p.6

Personal development and welfare

achievement, respect and responsibility. They take pride in helping each other and show good understanding and empathy to others. Pupils value their roles on the school council and take pride in their various charitable fundraising activities, for example ‘Cake Bakes’. Pupils say they feel very safe at school and know how to stay safe and help keep each other safe.

p.6

Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils behave well when moving around the school and at breaks and lunchtimes. Pupils are kind to each other and to adults. Pupils and children in the Reception and Years 1 and 2 class enjoy school activities and each other’s company.  Pupils behave well in class and most maintain a good focus on their work. Often, pupils behave exceptionally well. This was especially evident in key stage 2 as pupils discussed stimulating topics such as protecting the environment and how the human digestive system works. At times, some younger pupils need reminders from adults not to chatter and to concentrate more on their work. Even so, they respond well and there is no disturbance to the learning of others.  School records show that leaders have taken swift and effective action to support consistently good and better behaviour in and out of lessons. Pupils who spoke to the inspector confidently indicated their respect for adults when saying, ‘Adults care about

p.6

Behaviour

us and keep us safe.’ They showed good awareness of the needs of others and respect for people’s different views. Pupils say there is no bullying and this is borne out by the school’s detailed records.  Parents who spoke to the inspector said that behaviour is good now and this is borne out by inspection findings. Parents who responded to the online questionnaire reveal some concerns over the way different staff have managed pupils’ behaviour at various times in previous terms.  The very large majority of pupils attend well. This reflects their enjoyment of school and the diligence of leaders in checking absence and strongly promoting good attendance. Leaders work closely with parents and outside agencies to ensure that there is very little persistent absence.

p.7

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 Although improved since the previous inspection, pupils’ progress continues to vary too much and is still not good as they move through key stages 1 and 2. Over time, continuing changes in teaching have impeded the progressive development of pupils’ handwriting and spelling skills. Similarly, inconsistency in teaching has weakened the deepening of pupils’ mathematical reasoning and problem-solving skills. The difficulty that some pupils in key stage 1 also have in forming numbers correctly, and in recording their ideas, impedes their progress in mathematics. These weaknesses also show that children are not developing their early writing skills well enough during their year in Reception.  The most able pupils and those from higher starting points have made better progress than other pupils. More recently, strengthened teaching and development of pupils’ ability to learn for themselves, especially of pupils in Year 6, have improved their

p.7

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

outcomes.  Observations of mathematics lessons in the school show that pupils are making increasingly effective use of learning resources such as counting aids. They are also engaging in meaningful practical problem-solving activities. However, pupils’ learning in class and work in mathematics books show that too many pupils across the school have still not progressed well enough to reach the standards they are capable of reaching from their different starting points. This is equally the case in writing.  Pupils in the Reception and Years 1 and 2 class enjoy learning by using programmable models. Pupils in key stage 2 also use computers to aid their learning on occasion. Overall, however, pupils’ computing and technology skills are not developed well enough.  Pupils develop good speaking and listening skills. In particular, they show great interest and talk knowledgeably about environmental issues, such as conservation and reducing

p.7

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

global warming.  Improved teaching of phonics ensures that all pupils in Year 1, and all those in Year 2 needing to retake the phonics screening check, reach the expected standards. Pupils who read to the inspector also showed that they are now using their phonics understanding to make good progress in reading. Teachers’ assessments and pupils’ confident reading of texts to support their learning across the range of subjects also show pupils’ good progress in reading.  Pupils have plentiful opportunities to write for a range of interesting purposes across the curriculum, for example about Tudor Britain and the phases of the moon. Across the school, an increased emphasis on developing pupils’ vocabulary and expressive writing skills through topics relevant to their needs and interests has had a positive impact. However, the variable – and too often poor – quality of pupils’ handwriting and spelling skills, particularly across key stage 1 and lower key stage 2, weakens their

p.8

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

progress in writing.  In relation to their different needs and starting points, pupils with SEND and those who are disadvantaged progress at least as well as their classmates. Increasingly, some are making better progress because of the bespoke teaching and planned learning activities provided for them.

p.8

School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

p.9

School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

p.9

School details

Temporary executive headteacher Simon Westwood

p.9

School details

Website www.clyst-hydon-primary.devon.sch.uk

p.9

School details

Email address admin@clyst-hydon-primary.devon.sch.uk

p.9

School details

Date of previous inspection 8–9 February 2017

p.9

Information about this school

 The school has undergone considerable change since the previous inspection.  The school is currently in a temporary management partnership with the First Federation, which is a multi-academy trust. The day-to-day running of the school is shared on a temporary part-time basis by a head of school and an executive headteacher.  The current management partnership began at the beginning of this summer term and replaced a previous management partnership with Ventrus multi-academy trust. The partnership with Ventrus replaced the partnership with Cullompton Community College that was in place at the time of the previous inspection.  The school has made arrangements to join the Devon Moors Federation at the beginning of the next academic year.  The school is well below average in size.  The majority of the pupils are from White British backgrounds.  The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is lower than the

p.9

Information about this school

national average.  The proportion of pupils with SEND is below average.  The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged is below the national average.  The proportion of pupils who join or leave the school at times other than the normal times is above that found nationally.  Children experience early years provision full-time in a combined Reception and Years 1 and 2 class.  The governing body manages a breakfast club and an after-school club.

p.10

Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed learning in eight lessons and learning activities, and saw the work of three teachers. The acting head of school accompanied the inspector during these visits to lessons.  A wide range of documents was scrutinised, including records relating to pupils’ behaviour and attendance, safeguarding procedures and the school’s self-evaluation.  The inspector examined the school’s systems for evaluating pupils’ progress and records of checks on the quality of teaching. He also scrutinised samples of pupils’ work across a range of subjects and classes.  The inspector talked with individual pupils during lessons and breaktimes about the school and their work. He listened to individual pupils reading and talked with a group of pupils about the school. The inspector also attended a school assembly.  The inspector met with the chair and other representatives of the governing body and held a meeting with a representative of the local authority. He also held meetings with

p.11

Information about this inspection

teachers. He spoke informally with other staff.  The inspector examined the views expressed in 21 responses to Ofsted’s questionnaire, Parent View, and in 19 additional written comments from parents. The inspector considered the responses of five staff and 14 pupils to their questionnaires. He also gathered the views of parents as they brought their children to school.

p.11

Inspection team

Alexander Baxter, 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 .

p.11

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 .

p.12

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.

p.12

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 .

p.12

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.

p.12

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 .

p.12

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 .

p.12

Inspection team

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.12

Inspection team

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

p.12