St Michael's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Lyme Regis

Inspection of St Michael’s Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Lyme Regis Kings Way, Lyme Regis, Dorset DT7 3DY

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Requires improvement Primary School, Lyme Regis 27 and 28 April 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to this warm, welcoming school. Leaders ensure that the vision and values of the school are part of everyday life for all. Everyone understands the core mission to ‘do to others as you would like them to do to you’. Pupils and staff share a language that helps them to understand how to behave individually and as a community.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders, including governors, are ambitious for all pupils. However, the quality of education is not yet good. Pupils experience too much variety in the way teachers deliver the curriculum.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well in lessons and around the school. There is a calm, orderly atmosphere. However, in some lessons, pupils are too passive as there is not enough challenge for them. This is because leaders have not set out the curriculum in enough detail.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Relationships are positive in the school. Pupils and staff share a mutual respect. Pupils say that ‘there isn’t anyone you wouldn’t trust’ when talking about sharing a worry or a concern. They feel that all staff listen to them and encourage them to do their best.

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better?

Leaders have designed a curriculum that builds on the school’s unique locality. The curriculum also ensures pupils have the opportunity to broaden their knowledge, experience and understanding of the world.

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better?

Key knowledge is sequenced from the early years onwards, which gives structure to learning. However, knowledge is not broken down into small enough steps to ensure that pupils secure understanding and then build on this. This means that pupils struggle to know more and remember more as they move through the curriculum.

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better?

There is a clear system for identifying pupils who may have additional needs. Leaders support teachers so they know how to meet these needs and remove barriers to pupils’ learning. However, individual plans are not specific enough. The lack of detail in curriculum plans hampers the progress that pupils with SEND can make.

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better?

Leaders have prioritised developing a love of reading at the school. Pupils can talk about books they have enjoyed reading or those that they have had read to them. However, the teaching of reading is not effective enough, particularly for pupils in early years and key stage 1. Pupils in these year groups are behind where they should be in their phonics. Recent changes are now having an impact but there is work to do to ensure they catch up with peers nationally. Leaders have not yet ensured that teachers and support staff have strong enough subject knowledge. Primary School, Lyme Regis 27 and 28 April 2022

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Plans for pupils’ personal development are built on the values of the school. They take part in citizenship activities such as local beach cleaning and raising funds for Ukraine. Pupils learn about respect and tolerance and how people can be different. One child said that at this school everyone ‘respects people for who they are’. They learn about relationships and positive friendships. Before the pandemic, pupils enjoyed a broad range of clubs and are excited about many of these restarting.

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Governors are ambitious for pupils. They are committed to their work and have revised the way they support and challenge leaders. They are knowledgeable about the school and carry out their core functions with diligence. Leaders’ recent work with external agencies now means developments are faster paced.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders are vigilant and effective at helping to keep children safe. They work well with external agencies to get the right help at the right time for families.

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Safeguarding

Training ensures that staff are knowledgeable about the risks to children, particularly the local risks their children face. They are vigilant and use the agreed systems for recording and reporting concerns. This means that concerns are acted on in a timely manner.

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Safeguarding

Pupils have a good understanding of safeguarding. They learn about good and bad secrets and who they can talk to if they are worried. They also have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe when using the internet or playing online games.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have not secured the effective implementation of the reading curriculum. Plans for this important aspect of learning are not ambitious enough. This means that too many pupils have not made enough progress in their phonics and reading. Leaders must ensure that the reading curriculum is ambitious and that staff have the subject knowledge to deliver this curriculum effectively so that pupils reach the standard of which they are capable.  The curriculum is not planned with enough detail. As a result, pupils are unable to make good progress in key knowledge or build understanding of important concepts in many subjects. The curriculum needs to be broken down into smaller steps so that teachers can help pupils to secure this knowledge and understanding.  The implementation of the curriculum is inconsistent across classes and subjects. This means that pupils are not learning as well as leaders intend. Leaders need to

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

Primary School, Lyme Regis 27 and 28 April 2022

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ensure that teachers deliver the curriculum as they expect so that pupils can build knowledge and skills well.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View 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. Primary School, Lyme Regis 27 and 28 April 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10211744 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.stmichaelslyme.dorset.sch.uk

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 15 and 16 May 2018, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is a Church of England voluntary aided primary school in the Diocese of Salisbury.  Its last section 48 (Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools) inspection took place in May 2019.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and PE. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum Primary School, Lyme Regis 27 and 28 April 2022

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with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, special educational needs coordinator, curriculum leaders and teaching and support staff.  The lead inspector met with members of the governing body and representatives from the local authority and spoke with a representative from the diocese.  The lead inspector met with the designated safeguarding leader to discuss how they keep pupils safe in school. They considered the school’s recruitment procedures, staff induction and training, records of concerns and their engagement with external agencies. The inspectors also spoke with staff and pupils throughout the inspection.  The lead inspector listened to pupils read to an adult.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school site. In

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addition, they met with pupils informally and formally to hear their views.  Inspectors considered responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, including free-text responses. Inspectors also took into consideration responses to the staff’s and pupils’ surveys.  Inspectors examined a range of documentation provided by the school, including the school’s self-evaluation document, evaluation reports and documentation relating to safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Angela Folland, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Stewart Gale Her Majesty’s Inspector Primary School, Lyme Regis 27 and 28 April 2022

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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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