Howick Church Endowed Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Howick Church Endowed Primary School Liverpool Road, Penwortham, Preston, Lancashire PR1 0NB

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Outcome

Howick Church Endowed Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe in school and they make many friends. They said that attending Howick feels like being part of a family and makes them happy. Pupils relish learning in their classrooms and in the school’s attractive woodland area. Children in the Reception class settle confidently because of the caring, supportive relationships that staff establish quickly with them.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), gain much valuable new knowledge from their lessons, as well as from an array of wider activities, including ‘quidditch’. Pupils learn successfully and achieve well, including in reading and mathematics. This is because staff have high expectations of pupils’ learning. Pupils particularly enjoy opportunities for gardening, as well as their trips, such as to a residential outdoor education centre.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ behaviour around the school premises, including in classrooms and outdoors, is sensible, thoughtful and kind. They treat resources with care. Older pupils enjoy their roles as prefects, helping other pupils to feel settled at school. Pupils listen well to staff and are welcoming to visitors. They meet staff’s high expectations for their behaviour. Pupils said that leaders and staff resolve bullying quickly and effectively.

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

Leaders have carefully considered the knowledge that they want pupils to learn. They have also identified the order in which staff should teach important information. They make sure that the curriculum in early years meets the requirements of the early years foundation stage framework. The well-planned early years curriculum gives children in Reception Year a successful start to their schooling. As well as accurately identifying the additional needs of pupils with SEND, staff carefully adapt how they deliver the curriculum to these pupils. For example, they often teach information to pupils with SEND in smaller chunks so that they learn the same high-quality curriculum as other pupils. 5 May 2022

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Staff use assessment strategies effectively to check that pupils remember previous learning. They also successfully address pupils’ misconceptions. Leaders ensure that staff pinpoint and teach the knowledge that pupils may have missed or forgotten because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Low-level disruption in classrooms is rare, meaning that staff can give their full attention to teaching the curriculum and so that pupils can focus on their work.

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Mostly, staff design activities that are well matched to the aims of the curriculum. This means that much of the time, pupils learn a wide range of knowledge across different subjects. Pupils learn essential new vocabulary in subjects such as mathematics, which is important for their future lives. They can also explain the meaning of fascinating new words that they encounter in fiction books, such as ‘distraught’ and ‘inconsolable’. However, in a minority of curriculum areas, teachers do not prepare the most appropriate activities to aid pupils’ learning. This is because some staff have not had sufficient training to develop their own subject knowledge and expertise in these subject areas. On occasions, this results in some pupils learning less well.

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Leaders have made early reading a priority. They have trained staff and developed resources so that a clear programme of phonics teaching starts early in Reception Year. This enables pupils to have a strong foundation in their learning and to start Year 1 ready to continue with their early reading. The books that staff select for pupils to practise their reading match the sounds that pupils know. Staff appropriately identify those pupils who are not keeping pace with the school’s phonics programme and provide these pupils with extra help each week. As a result, pupils become confident, fluent readers. Despite pupils’ success with reading, leaders are striving to improve pupils’ reading even further by moving to a new phonics programme.

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Leaders have invested in new fiction and non-fiction books throughout the school. They have established reading as a fun, celebratory, competitive part of school life. Pupils enjoy reading. Pupils said that staff help them to become better readers and that the wide choice of books available at school matches their interests. In each class, including the Reception class, staff set out books thoughtfully to entice pupils to want to read.

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Leaders shape the curriculum carefully to teach pupils about the differences between people. Staff teach pupils to respect different cultures. They also develop pupils’ social skills, for instance through the recent whole-school trip to watch a pantomime of ‘Sleeping beauty’. Leaders make sure that pupils understand the importance of key world events, such as the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) in Glasgow. This helps pupils to have a well-developed respect for the environment and to understand their responsibilities as global citizens, such as the need to recycle plastic. Pupils learn the importance of generosity, for example towards people who use food banks.

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Leaders and governors are ambitious for the education of all pupils at the school. They have a clear understanding of the school’s curriculum and the work of the staff. They are pursuing well-thought-out priorities to improve the school. Members of the governing body support and challenge leaders’ work, including in the school’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff said that they are happy to work at this school. 5 May 2022

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders ensure that staff access annual training on safeguarding. Staff and leaders carefully record any concerns about pupils’ safety and well-being. Leaders act on potential safeguarding issues quickly. They link with other professionals when needed. Staff teach pupils how to stay safe in a variety of situations, such as learning about appropriate use of social media and the internet. Governors keep a close check on the leaders’ and staff’s work to safeguard pupils.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In a small number of curriculum areas, staff’s subject knowledge is not as secure as it should be. This hinders some pupils’ learning. Leaders should ensure that all teaching staff are trained to have the subject knowledge that they need to deliver these areas of the curriculum effectively.

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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 outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, 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 deem the section 8 inspection as section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the second section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in December 2012.

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How can I feed back my views?

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 . 5 May 2022

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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. 5 May 2022

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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Date of previous inspection

7 February 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Several staff, including the headteacher, are new to the school since the previous inspection. The chair of governors is also newly appointed.  Leaders do not make use of alternative provision.  The most recent section 48 inspection was conducted in February 2016.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school had received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders, and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors held discussions with the headteacher, other leaders, subject leaders and members of staff. They spoke with five members of the governing body, including the chair of governors. Inspectors spoke by telephone to an officer from the local authority and met with a representative of the Diocese of Blackburn.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in classrooms and during breaktimes and at lunchtimes. They spoke with different groups of pupils to discuss their views of school, 5 May 2022

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and of their learning and behaviour and safety. There were no responses to the pupil survey.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in early reading, mathematics and design and technology. For each deep dive, inspectors met with subject leaders, looked at curriculum information, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. An inspector also observed some pupils from Years 1 and 2 reading to a member of staff.  Inspectors considered the views of parents and carers submitted through Ofsted Parent View, including free-text responses. An inspector spoke with one parent by telephone and spoke with other parents at the school gate. The lead inspector considered correspondence from parents to Ofsted about the work of the school.  Inspectors spoke with staff about their work and considered responses from staff to an Ofsted survey.

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 Inspectors considered a range of information about the safeguarding of pupils, including leaders’ checks on staff’s suitability to work with pupils.

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Inspection team

Tim Vaughan, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Keith Pullen Ofsted Inspector 5 May 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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