Meavy Church of England Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Meavy Church of England Primary School Meavy, Yelverton, Devon PL20 6PJ

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Outcome

Meavy Church of England Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Meavy School is the hub of the community. Parents and staff are united in ensuring that pupils get the best possible start in life. The strong relationships between school and home are clearly having a positive impact on pupils’ learning. Pupils are proud of their school and enjoy sharing their learning through the ‘Meavy Museum’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

During the inspection, we spoke to many pupils. They told us that they enjoy school and what they learn in lessons. Pupils were keen to tell inspectors how the trips and visits they go on bring learning alive.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Meavy is a calm and tranquil school that is built on mutual trust and respect. Pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around school is of a high standard. Teaching staff have high expectations of pupils. As a result, pupils are motivated to work hard in lessons.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils say they feel safe in school. They are adamant that if they had any worries or concerns the ‘Meavy family’ of staff would take care of them. Pupils are confident that bullying does not happen. This view is also shared by parents. Nevertheless, pupils know how to respond if bullying occurs.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school continues to provide a good quality of education. Pupils told inspectors that their learning is challenging every day. However, in some subjects, such as art and physical education (PE), teachers’ subject knowledge is not strong. Nevertheless, leaders have taken decisive action to ensure that pupils are not being hampered by this.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The headteacher ensures that staff focus on teaching early reading skills from the moment children enter the school. Staff are well trained and skilled in the teaching of phonics. Teachers are ambitious in their expectations of the sounds and words that children should be able to read by the end of each term. Many children secure the necessary reading skills early. This enables children to move on to reading books which 12 September 2019

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match the sounds they know. They soon become fluent and confident with their reading. Pupils who are not confident readers receive effective extra help, so they are not left behind.

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Leaders build on the solid foundations for pupils’ reading. Teachers read to pupils every day. Teachers read books that support pupils’ understanding across all their subjects. For example, pupils in Years 5 and 6 are reading ‘Letters from the Lighthouse’. This supports pupils’ understanding of their history topic. Teachers help pupils to understand unfamiliar language. This supports pupils to achieve well in a range of subjects.

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Pupils are keen readers outside of school. Many pupils spoke positively about their passion for the local library. They particularly enjoy the summer reading activities promoted by the school. This helps pupils develop a lifelong love of reading.

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Recently, leaders changed their approach to writing because pupils are not achieving as well in writing as they are in other subjects. In the early years and key stage 1, this is having a positive effect. However, it is making less difference in key stage 2. Older pupils have missed some important ideas, and so some technical elements of their writing are not as strong. In writing, and in some other subject areas, subject leaders have not made improvements rapidly enough. This is because they do not yet monitor the quality of implementation of the curriculum in their subject regularly.

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Teachers and teaching assistants know their pupils well. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) achieve well. Plans for these pupils are precise and are reviewed regularly. The small proportion who are behind are catching up quickly.

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The headteacher ensures that pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain. Staff plan visits to places of worship to learn about different religions and cultures beyond Christianity. They are currently reigniting links with two schools from different contexts in Tanzania.

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The early years part of the school is a hive of activity. Children have a smooth transition into Reception and so they are ready to learn when they arrive. Trusting relationships are flourishing and enabling children to be happy and motivated. They respond well to adults and demonstrate a curiosity to learn.

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Staff in the early years have designed the curriculum so that early reading, writing and mathematics underpin learning. Teachers have wasted no time in using what children already know to develop and build children’s skills further and establish high expectations of behaviour.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Leaders have ensured that systems for reporting and recording any safeguarding concerns are robust.

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Safeguarding

The headteacher has created a culture that ensures staff are not complacent. Staff know 12 September 2019

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what to do if they have any concerns or worries to ensure pupils are kept safe. Training for all staff is up-to-date. The school has also focused on ensuring pupils’ good mental health is a high priority in their work to safeguard pupils.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Pupils’ writing in key stage 2 is not as strong as in key stage 1. Pupils in upper key stage 2 do not have all of the necessary components of knowledge to be able to write in different styles. This limits their technical ability to write for different purposes and audiences. Leaders need to ensure that the curriculum is sequenced effectively and assure themselves that pupils are given timely opportunities to firmly secure the required knowledge and skills in writing.  The curriculum is generally well-planned. However, a minority of subject leaders do not systematically support staff to develop their planning and sequencing skills. This means that subjects such as art and PE are overly reliant on external subject expertise. Senior leaders need to ensure that subject leaders have a greater influence over the quality of education in their areas of responsibility.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called a section 8 inspection of a good school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the predecessor school, Meavy Church of England Primary School to be good on 11 December 2014.

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents and carers think. We use Ofsted Parent View information when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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You can search for published performance information about the school.

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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. 12 September 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10111572 Type of school Primary

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 Meavy Church of England Primary School is smaller than the average-sized primary school. It joined St Christopher’s Multi-Academy Trust (the trust) in October 2016. The work of the school is overseen by the board of trustees.  The vast majority of pupils are White British.  The proportion of pupils with SEND, including pupils with an education, health and care plan, is well below the national average.  The proportion of pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals is well below the national average.  The school is designated as having a religious character and received its section 48 inspection in December 2016 when this aspect of the school’s work was graded as good.  The school has an executive headteacher. 12 September 2019

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Information about this inspection

 Meetings were held with the executive headteacher, head of teaching and learning, subject leaders, the leader with responsibility for pupils with SEND, the early years leader and a sample of support and teaching staff.  The lead inspector held a meeting with four governors from the local governing body, including the chair and the chief executive officer of the trust.  Inspectors examined a range of documentation provided by the school, including the school’s self-evaluation document, the school’s improvement plan, and documentation relating to the safeguarding of pupils.  A significant proportion of the inspection focused on ensuring that pupils are safe. Inspectors scrutinised training records, tested staff’s safeguarding knowledge, spoke with pupils and considered the views of parents who responded to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View. The lead inspector also met with the designated safeguarding

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Information about this inspection

lead.  The lead inspector considered 37 responses to Ofsted Parent View and 11 responses to the staff survey. There were no responses to the pupil survey.  Inspectors reviewed the school’s reading, writing and science curriculum. This included visiting lessons, looking at pupils’ work, meeting with senior and subject leaders and discussions with teachers and pupils.

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Inspection team

Matt Middlemore, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Non Davies Ofsted Inspector 12 September 2019

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regulates and inspects to 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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