Lew Trenchard Church of England Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Lew Trenchard Church of England Primary School Lewdown, Okehampton, Devon EX20 4DP

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Outcome

Lew Trenchard Church of England Primary School continues to be a good school. However, inspectors have some concerns that one or more areas of the school may be declining, as set out below.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to school. There is a strong inclusive ethos that reflects the Christian values of the school: respect, responsibility and kindness. Pupils know that there are trusted adults who will keep them safe and help them to learn. The high level of care provided by staff, including the family support worker, helps pupils to manage their emotional health and well-being well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders expect all pupils to do their best. Pupils recognise the recent improvements that leaders are making to the curriculum. However, some pupils still have gaps in their knowledge and do not learn as well as they should.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well most of the time and bullying is rare. Pupils understand what bullying is and how it affects them. Teachers encourage pupils to improve friendships by exploring stories such as the ‘Good Samaritan’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents are positive about the school. One parent reflected the views of others when they wrote, ‘The school is such a wonderful and welcoming place. Staff have high aspirations for the children. It feels like a family here.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school helps pupils to learn about leading a healthy lifestyle. There are plenty of after-school clubs for pupils to attend, including sport and music.

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

The school has been through an unsettled period in recent years due to many staff changes. Pupils’ attendance, including disadvantaged pupils’ attendance, remains too low. However, the new head of school, guided by the executive headteacher, is already 3 March 2020

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working with determination to bring about whole-school improvements. For example, she has a detailed staff development programme to improve leaders’ and teachers’ subject knowledge. Nonetheless, some important parts of this training programme, such as improving subject leadership, are at an early stage of development. As a result, some elements of the curriculum are not being implemented well enough yet.

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Too few children read as well as they should by the time they leave Reception. Leaders are taking prompt action to remedy the weaknesses in the school’s reading curriculum. For example, teachers are developing pupils’ love of books well. There is a suitable phonics scheme in place. However, staff do not consistently follow it. Some staff have not had recent training or do not apply it well. Some pupils who struggle to read are given books with words that are too difficult. Consequently, pupils lose confidence, and they are not catching up well enough.

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The school is beginning to develop pupils’ resilience in mathematics. Pupils are given activities to practise, which then deepens their understanding. Some pupils occasionally find the work hard, but they also know that they are learning more as a result.

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Leaders provide teachers with detailed curriculum plans that follow the national curriculum. Sequences of lessons build up the knowledge that pupils should learn step by step. However, teachers do not use all the information they have about what pupils know in order to ensure that the curriculum is meeting pupils’ needs well enough in some subjects, including mathematics.

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Leaders are taking the right action to strengthen their schemes of work in all subjects. However, not all leaders know enough about how well their subject is being implemented across the school. This has led to some gaps in the curriculum. For example, in science, pupils gain strong scientific knowledge, but their scientific enquiry skills are less secure. Pupils learn more and remember more in history, but they do less well in geography and computing.

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Most pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do well in their learning. Detailed plans are in place to support pupils with SEND to enjoy the full curriculum, and they are enjoying it. Targets are precise and reflect pupils’ needs and stage of learning. Occasionally, some pupils with SEND lose interest in their learning because the curriculum is not matched to their needs closely. Some teachers do not pick this up quickly enough. This results in some adults providing too much support and reduces pupils’ ability to work on their own.

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Pupils understand democracy. For example, they are given the opportunity to vote for school council members. They learn about religion, respect and tolerance through the curriculum and in assemblies. Therefore, they are well prepared for the next stage in their education.

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The An Daras Multi-Academy Trust leaders understand the school’s priorities. The local governing body carries out its duties effectively. It takes a special interest in checking that staff feel well-supported. 3 March 2020

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In discussion with the headteacher, we agreed that reading and the effectiveness of curriculum leadership may usefully serve as a focus for the next inspection.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Recruitment procedures ensure that adults are safe to work with pupils. Leaders ensure that staff have the training they need. Staff know the signs that a child may be at risk of harm. For example, they are alert to pupils at risk of neglect. Leaders act swiftly on concerns that are brought to their attention.

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Safeguarding

Teachers provide pupils with the knowledge they need to stay safe, particularly when using social media and the internet.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Phonics is not taught well enough in the early years and key stage 1. Adults do not pronounce some sounds accurately. This means that pupils who struggle to read are falling further behind. Leaders need to ensure that staff are trained so that they have secure subject knowledge of phonics and that they teach phonics consistently well, so that all pupils learn to read accurately.  The school’s assessment systems are not yet fully embedded. In some subjects, including mathematics, teachers do not use what pupils know and can do well enough in order to plan what to teach next. This hinders the depth of knowledge that pupils gain. Leaders should ensure that teachers use all the information they have about what pupils know and can do to plan and implement sequences of lessons that deepen pupils’ knowledge and skills consistently well in every subject.  Leaders’ work to establish how well the curriculum is implemented is at an early stage.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

Some leaders have not checked the implementation and impact of their subject. This has led to some gaps in subjects such as science, geography and computing. Leaders need to have a better understanding of the implementation of their subjects so that they can iron out any weaknesses and ensure that pupils learn well across the curriculum.  Pupils, including those pupils who are disadvantaged, do not attend school regularly enough. Consequently, these pupils have gaps in their knowledge and skills. Leaders should introduce school-wide strategies to improve pupils’ attendance and ensure that pupils who have fallen behind catch up quickly.

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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 or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded 3 March 2020

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judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence 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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This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the predecessor school, Lew Trenchard Church of England Primary School, to be good on 19 September 2012.

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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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How can I feed back my views?

If you are the school and you are not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted .

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

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. 3 March 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10122373 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

 The school opened in April 2017, when it joined the An Daras Academy Trust.  The school has a pre-school that caters for two- to four-year-olds. There are currently no two-year-olds in the setting.  The school’s most recent section 48 inspection (inspection of schools with a religious character) was on 24 January 2018, when it was judged to be good.

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Information about this inspection

 We met with staff to discuss the training they had received, how leaders support them and how workload is managed.  The lead inspector listened to some pupils read.  We had several meetings with the head of school and executive headteacher, chief executive officer of the trust and members of the local governing body, including the chair of governors. We spoke to the academy improvement officer on the telephone.  We evaluated documentary evidence and other types of information, including evidence related to behaviour and safeguarding. 3 March 2020

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 We analysed 17 responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online survey, and met with some parents at the start of the day. We analysed responses to Ofsted’s staff’s and pupils’ surveys completed during the inspection.  We did deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, and science. This included visiting lessons, looking at pupils’ work, meeting with senior and subject leaders and discussions with teachers and pupils. We also looked further into the quality of education that pupils receive in history, geography and computing. We talked formally with pupils from the school council, as well as with other pupils informally across the school.

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Inspection team

Sue Costello, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Debbie Tregellas Ofsted Inspector 3 March 2020

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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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