Herne View Church of England Primary

GREENFYLDE C of E FIRST SCHOOL

Dates of inspection: 29 February – 1 March 2000

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GREENFYLDE C of E FIRST SCHOOL

Inspection carried out under section 10 of the School Inspections Act 1996 This report may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that all extracts quoted are reproduced verbatim without adaptation and on condition that the source and date thereof are stated.

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GREENFYLDE C of E FIRST SCHOOL

Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the School Inspections Act 1996, the school must provide a copy of this report and/or its summary free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. Greenfylde CE First School - 3

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

School address: Silver Street Ilminster Somerset

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Appropriate authority: The Governing Body

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Name of chair of governors: Mr G Twinberrow

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Date of previous inspection: June 1996 Greenfylde CE First School - 4

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Team members

Mrs P Francis Registered inspector Mr K Parsons Lay inspector Mrs E Gill Team inspector Mr J Warne Team inspector

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Team members

QAA Education Consultants Ltd Herringston Barn Herringston Dorchester Dorset DT2 9PU

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Team members

Any concerns or complaints about the inspection or the report should be raised with the inspection contractor. Complaints that are not satisfactorily resolved by the contractor should be raised with OFSTED by writing to:

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Team members

The Registrar Inspection Quality Division

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Team members

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE Greenfylde CE First School - 5

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PART A: SUMMARY OF THE REPORT 6

Information about the school How good the school is What the school does well What could be improved How the school has improved since its last inspection Standards Pupils’ attitudes and values Teaching and learning Other aspects of the school How well the school is led and managed Parents’ and carers’ views of the school

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WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL 11

In English and mathematics, pupils’ results in National Curriculum tests at age seven are high and standards are above average for pupils aged nine.

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WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL 11

Pupils are very keen to learn, have very good relationships with their teachers and other pupils and are very well behaved.

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WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL 11

Overall, teaching is good and has a positive impact on pupils’ learning and achievement.

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WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL 11

The school makes good provision for pupils with special educational needs.

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WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL 11

Pupils settle quickly into school and there is good provision for four-year-olds.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED 14

The effectiveness of the monitoring of teaching to identify what does or does not work well in lessons to improve learning and standards even further.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED 14

The effectiveness of the monitoring of the impact of school policies to ensure that agreed procedures are put into practice consistently.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED 14

The school’s management of formal procedures for child protection.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

The school is a voluntary controlled Church of England first school for boys and girls aged 4 - 9 years and is about the same size as other primary schools. There are 251 full-time pupils including 24 pupils in the reception class who are under five. The school serves the small country town of Ilminster and admits pupils from the town and the surrounding rural area. Pupils come from mixed social backgrounds and their attainment on entry is broadly average but there are wide variations. Overall in the school, 24 per cent of the pupils have special educational needs; a proportion that is higher than the national average. The proportion of pupils who have a statement of special educational needs, slightly below one per cent, is broadly average. Most pupils are white, and one pupil has English as an additional language, which is a low proportion when compared nationally. Since the previous inspection in 1996, the proportion of pupils who are eligible for free school meals

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

has doubled, however, at ten per cent, it is still below the national average and the proportion of pupils with special educational needs has increased by five per cent.

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HOW GOOD THE SCHOOL IS

This is an effective school, which provides satisfactory value for money and makes good provision for pupils who have special educational needs and for four-year-olds. Across the school, the pupils achieve good standards in all aspects of their education due to the good teaching. The school is well led in the curriculum, with a shared commitment from the staff and governors to improving standards of attainment. There are weaknesses in the management of the school particularly in communication with parents, and in monitoring and evaluating the work of staff.

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What the school does well

• In English and mathematics, pupils’ results in National Curriculum tests at age seven are high and standards are above average for pupils aged nine. • Pupils are very keen to learn, have very good relationships with their teachers and other pupils and are very well behaved. • Overall, teaching is good and has a positive impact on pupils’ learning and achievement. • The school makes good provision for pupils with special educational needs. • Pupils settle quickly into school and there is good provision for four-year-olds.

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What could be improved

• The effectiveness of the monitoring of teaching to identify what does or does not work well in lessons to improve learning and standards even further. • The effectiveness of the monitoring of the impact of school policies to ensure that agreed procedures are put into practice consistently. • The school’s partnership with parents. • The school’s management of formal procedures for child protection. The areas for improvement will form the basis of the governors’ action plan.

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HOW THE SCHOOL HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTION

The school was last inspected in June 1996. Since then, the school has made satisfactory improvement. The improvements in the long-term planning of the curriculum and the school’s successful monitoring of pupils’ performance, including the analyses of national and optional test data, has had a positive impact on the results achieved by its pupils in national tests at the age of seven and on standards attained at nine. They have risen year on year. The very good pupils’ attitudes, values and behaviour have been upheld although opportunities for pupils to undertake responsibility and use their initiative in their personal development have not been improved. The proportion of good and very good teaching has been maintained and the proportion of unsatisfactory teaching has decreased slightly. There are still weaknesses in the partnership with parents and the monitoring of teaching, both key issues from the last inspection. Despite the best efforts of the

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HOW THE SCHOOL HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTION

governing body, the accommodation has not been improved, as the school has been unable to persuade the local education authority to re-build or to re-furbish the building. Greenfylde CE First School - 7

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STANDARDS

The table shows the standards achieved by 7 year olds based on National Curriculum test results.

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Key

Reading C C A A well above average above average A B Writing B B A* A* average below average C D Mathematics E B B B well below average E

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Key

The majority of children in the reception classes attain what is normally expected by the age of five in language and literacy and in numeracy.

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Key

At the age of seven, the National Curriculum test results in 1999 in reading and writing were high in comparison with the national average and when compared with similar schools. The school’s performance in writing was in the top five per cent of schools nationally. Test results in mathematics were above the national average and above average in comparison with similar schools. Inspection evidence shows that in reading, writing and mathematics, the standards of the current Year 2 are in line with the national expectation. The school makes good provision for pupils with special educational needs and there are year groups with larger than average proportions of these pupils and differences in the severity of the special needs. This makes year on year comparison of test results unreliable. However, the improving trend and the findings of the inspection show that high standards have been maintained.

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Key

The work pupils were doing during the inspection confirmed that standards in English and mathematics by the age of nine are above the national expectation. The pupils in Year 4 have made good gains in skills, knowledge and understanding since their test results at seven years of age.

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Key

The school’s targets for raising standards, based on pupils’ individual targets, are realistic and are sufficiently high for each year group.

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Aspect Comment

Attitudes to the school Pupils like coming to school and are very keen to learn. They settle quickly into the reception class when they first start school. They are often reluctant to stop work when they have to.

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Aspect Comment

Behaviour, in and out of classrooms Pupils behave very well in and around the school despite the difficulties of the site. They behave sensibly, are friendly and polite. Exclusions are rare and are managed appropriately.

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Aspect Comment

Personal development and relationships Relationships throughout the school are very good. Pupils work co- operatively in groups and productively on their own. Their personal development is sound but there are insufficient opportunities for them to exercise initiative and to undertake responsibility. Attendance Attendance figures are below the national average for primary schools. Punctuality is good.

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Teaching of pupils: aged up to 5 years aged 5-7 years aged 7-9 years

Greenfylde CE First School - 8 Lessons seen overall Good Good Good Inspectors make judgements about teaching in the range: excellent; very good; good; satisfactory; unsatisfactory; poor; very poor. ‘Satisfactory’ means that the teaching is adequate and strengths outweigh weaknesses.

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Teaching of pupils: aged up to 5 years aged 5-7 years aged 7-9 years

During the inspection 90 per cent of the teaching was judged to be satisfactory or better, 55 per cent was good and a further ten per cent was very good; the remaining ten per cent was unsatisfactory and occurred in English and mathematics in Year 2. Overall in English, teaching was satisfactory and in mathematics was good. The skills of literacy and numeracy are taught well across subjects. The particular strengths in teaching are the effective planning in English and mathematics which enables teachers to meet the needs of all pupils, their high expectations for pupils’ academic standards and behaviour and their very good management of pupils. In most lessons and through the school, pupils, including those with special educational needs, acquire skills, knowledge and understanding at a good rate. Generally pupils work hard and productively at a good pace, are very interested in their lessons and they sustain concentration. In Year 2, when teaching is unsatisfactory, pupils make

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Teaching of pupils: aged up to 5 years aged 5-7 years aged 7-9 years

unsatisfactory progress and do not attain as highly as they should.

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Teaching of pupils: aged up to 5 years aged 5-7 years aged 7-9 years

Pupils’ own knowledge of their learning and ways in which they may improve their work are inconsistent. In Year 3 there are some good examples of teachers’ written marking in English which evaluates work and asks questions to improve it. These examples are rare. In some classes in mathematics, teachers use their pupils’ errors to clarify points and ensure that pupils understand their methods of calculation. In turn, pupils are confident to explain their answers and how they calculated them and are not afraid to try to succeed when they find work difficult. These and similar opportunities for pupils to know how to improve their work, such as in Year 4 where pupils know their targets and teachers discuss these with them, are inconsistent across the school.

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Aspect Comment

The quality and range of the curriculum The curriculum is broad, balanced and relevant and meets statutory requirements. There are effective strategies for teaching literacy and numeracy. There is good provision for the under fives. The provision for extra-curricular activities is unsatisfactory, as there is a limited range of extra-curricular activities after school and at lunchtime.

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Aspect Comment

Provision for pupils with special educational needs The provision for pupils with special educational needs is good due to the work designed for them by their teachers and the extra support given by classroom assistants.

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Aspect Comment

Provision for pupils’ personal, including spiritual, moral, social and cultural development All adults in school provide good role models for pupils. The clear codes for behaviour ensure that pupils develop a very good understanding of their social and moral responsibilities. Sound provision is made for spiritual development and for pupils to appreciate cultural traditions. The daily act of collective worship does not always meet legal requirements.

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Aspect Comment

How well the school cares for its pupils The school takes good care of its pupils. Teachers and classroom assistants know individual pupils very well. The management of the formal procedures for child protection and for ensuring pupils’ health and safety are unsatisfactory. There are weaknesses in the school’s partnership with parents.

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Aspect Comment

Greenfylde CE First School - 9 Leadership and manage- ment by the headteacher and other key staff Overall sound leadership and management. The headteacher, in close co-operation with his deputy head, provides good curricular leadership that imparts a clear educational direction to the school and is focused upon raising standards. There are weaknesses in the management because there are insufficient systems for monitoring whether agreed policies are translated effectively into practice, for example, the marking of pupils’ work, in delegation of tasks and in some aspects of communication. The leadership has not fully addressed the weakness in the teaching in Year 2, identified at the last inspection.

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Aspect Comment

How well the governors fulfil their responsibilities The governing body successfully brings a wealth of expertise to the school; they are committed to its success, are aware of its strengths and most of its weaknesses and give sound strategic leadership to the school.

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Aspect Comment

The school’s evaluation of its performance The school has a general view of its work and a good evaluation of standards across the school. It has not succeeded fully in analysing the strengths and weaknesses in teaching and their impact on learning.

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Aspect Comment

The strategic use of resources Good use is made of staff, of material resources and of the building. The governors are aware of best value principles and target their spending to bring about improvements in standards mainly through the school development plan. The school provides satisfactory value for money.

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What pleases parents most What parents would like to see improved

• The teaching is good. • Children make good progress in school. • Children have the right amount of work to do at home. • The school expects their children to work hard and achieve their best. • Children like school. • The range of activities outside lessons. • The ways in which they are informed about how their children are getting on. • The school’s partnership with parents. • The way the school is led and managed, particularly the communication with parents.

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What pleases parents most What parents would like to see improved

The inspectors agree with parents’ views of the school. The range of activities outside lessons provides limited opportunities for pupils to take part in musical, sporting or other activities. The school gives parents formal opportunities to discuss their children’s progress in the autumn and spring terms but they have to request an opportunity to discuss the child’s annual report in the summer term. The annual report is impersonal and gives limited information on how the child has made progress during the year and there are no opportunities within the report for parents or their children to make a response to it. The school’s partnership with parents is unsatisfactory, as a significant minority of parents perceives the communication from the headteacher and governors to be poor and they feel alienated. For the past two years there has not been a Parents’ and Teachers’ Association because of a disagreement over how finance raised by the Association should be spent.

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What pleases parents most What parents would like to see improved

During the inspection, a meeting was held to overcome these difficulties and to form a new association. Information for parents has improved since the last inspection with the introduction of newsletters, information about the work to be covered each half term and homework. However, the newsletters are not sent out consistently and information to parents in the governors’ annual report is not communicated in a friendly tone and does not fully meet the legal requirements. While the governors have reported on their action plan in their last report to parents, there is insufficient detail for parents to obtain an accurate picture of the improvements the school has made. Greenfylde CE First School - 10

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In English and mathematics, pupils’ results in National Curriculum tests at age seven are high

and standards are above average for pupils aged nine.

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In English and mathematics, pupils’ results in National Curriculum tests at age seven are high

1. By the age of seven, pupils’ test results in 1999 in reading and writing were high in comparison with the national average and with schools with similar intakes. The school’s performance in writing was in the top five per cent of schools nationally. Test results in mathematics were above the national average and above average in comparison with similar schools. Inspection evidence shows that in reading, writing and mathematics, standards at the end of Key Stage 1 are in line with the national expectation. Pupils’ skills in mental arithmetic are good. The school makes good provision for pupils with special educational needs and there are year groups with larger than average proportions of these pupils and differences in the severity of the special needs. This makes year on year comparison of test results unreliable. Current pupils at the end of Year 4 made good gains in skills, knowledge and understanding since their test results at seven years of age. Their

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In English and mathematics, pupils’ results in National Curriculum tests at age seven are high

standards in English and mathematics by the age of nine, are above the national expectation. The school’s improving trend of standards is in line with the national trend.

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In English and mathematics, pupils’ results in National Curriculum tests at age seven are high

2. Most pupils read well by the age of nine; they enjoy books, read fluently and accurately, know how to tackle unfamiliar words and express opinions articulately about the characters and plot. In Year 1, pupils studied a story of ‘Jack and the beanstalk’, which had been jumbled up. With good support from a classroom assistant, they manage to read the text and sequence the parts of the story into the correct order, explaining accurately why one part came before another. In the literacy hour in Year 4, pupils are beginning to understand how to infer meaning from the text when sharing a science fiction book. The teacher’s very good attention to the text enabled them to acquire new knowledge and understanding of gender words, suffixes and syllables.

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In English and mathematics, pupils’ results in National Curriculum tests at age seven are high

3. Writing and speaking skills are usually taught well across the school. In Year 2, pupils know how to write a play for puppets that they intended to perform later in the week. In Year 2, a teacher’s lack of a structure for writing a story and insufficient direct teaching of skills means that pupils achieve a limited amount of writing and do not create interesting, creative stories for their age. In Year 3, pupils learn about writing instructions using a game of snakes and ladders. The teacher challenges the higher attaining pupils and they gain a sound understanding of the way to sequence instructions correctly. Reading and writing are used effectively to support learning across the curriculum. In religious education in Year 3, pupils listened attentively to the story of the parable of the sower and with help from a framework for a story, including key words that would be needed, they wrote the story for themselves. They used the ‘Children’s Bible Story Book’ as reference material to

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In English and mathematics, pupils’ results in National Curriculum tests at age seven are high

help to develop their own story. The higher attaining pupils understood the message of the parable and explained it clearly in their writing. In science in Year R/1, pupils showed good speaking skills when they explained their choice of materials for making a house for the three pigs. They suggested, “Bricks have to be hard to hold up the roof”, “You need a strong roof so the wolf cannot blow it down’ ” and “You need a good roof to keep the rain out; straw might not work”.

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In English and mathematics, pupils’ results in National Curriculum tests at age seven are high

4. In the reception class, the teacher provides many opportunities for children to learn about number. They count objects to ten, and use their knowledge of ‘bigger than’ and ‘less than’ to play a bingo game. In Year 1, pupils are quick to recognise numbers to ten and to count forwards and backwards to 100. They mentally calculate their answers and use the number line on the classroom wall proficiently to answer oral problems set by the teacher. Some pupils in Year 2 are not so quick to calculate mentally due to the unsatisfactory teaching and a few of the high attainers understand place value to a thousand but this knowledge and understanding is insecure for most pupils.

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In English and mathematics, pupils’ results in National Curriculum tests at age seven are high

5. Pupils in Year 3 have a good understanding of the place value of two and three digit numbers and find patterns when making as many numbers as possible from four digits. They explain their strategies clearly and recognise odd and even numbers and which number is the biggest or smallest in a series of numbers. By Year 4, pupils continue to consolidate their skills in mental calculation and have good skills. They count forward and back using negative numbers competently and investigate patterns in multiples of numbers on odd and even grids. Pupils use and apply their knowledge and understanding of numbers to solve a ‘sticky problem’ in the practical context of a post Greenfylde CE First School - 11 office. Many pupils present their findings in a clear and organised way and can explain clearly how they undertook the investigation.

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Pupils are very keen to learn, have very good relationships with their teachers and other

6. Pupils are eager to come to school and are very keen to learn. They listen attentively to their teachers and each other; they show great interest in their work and answer questions and contribute ideas readily. They are often reluctant to stop work when they have to. In Year R/1, pupils were completing art from a discussion of their recent visit to the local church and wanted to continue with the work rather than go out to play. Pupils in Year 4 were keen to complete their investigation into a mathematical problem when it was time for assembly.

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Pupils are very keen to learn, have very good relationships with their teachers and other

7. Accommodation is adequate in terms of space but the school is largely housed in non- permanent classrooms. Whilst this does not inhibit the delivery of the full curriculum, there are difficulties incurred when pupils have to move around the school, especially when the weather is wet or cold. Pupils behave very well in and around the school despite the difficulties of the site. This reflects the opinion of the parents. Pupils move sensibly from their classrooms to other parts of the school and in lessons, pupils are well behaved, are friendly and polite. When pupils are well motivated by the activities they are given, such as a dance lesson in Year 2, their behaviour is excellent. Older pupils realise that rules are needed to help them play together amicably and they have designed posters to illustrate these rules and they are displayed in the classroom. Younger pupils report that there is no bullying and older pupils treat them well. The atmosphere in the dining

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Pupils are very keen to learn, have very good relationships with their teachers and other

room at lunchtime is good; behaviour is very good and there is a quiet, calm ambience in which pupils chat socially to each other. Exclusions are rare, although there have been two in the past year, and they are managed appropriately.

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Pupils are very keen to learn, have very good relationships with their teachers and other

8. The school has a friendly ethos and relationships between pupils and adults and between pupils are very good. Pupils work very well in pairs, small groups and as whole classes. They listen to each other, and respect the opinions of others. Pupils work co-operatively in groups and productively on their own. They show good care and thought for others and willingly help each other. In Year 3 in religious education, a pupil who had finished his work, sat next to a pupil who was having difficulty in reading a text, to help him and in dance in Year 1, pupils were very friendly and helpful to a pupil who fell over.

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Pupils are very keen to learn, have very good relationships with their teachers and other

Overall, teaching is good and has a positive impact on pupils’ learning and achievement.

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Pupils are very keen to learn, have very good relationships with their teachers and other

9. During the inspection most of the teaching was judged to be satisfactory or better; two thirds was good and very good; the remaining ten per cent was unsatisfactory and occurred in English and mathematics in a Year 2 class. Overall in English, teaching was satisfactory and in mathematics was good. The skills of literacy and numeracy are taught well across subjects. In most lessons and through the school, pupils, including those with special educational needs, acquire skills, knowledge and understanding at a good rate.

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Pupils are very keen to learn, have very good relationships with their teachers and other

10. Throughout the school, teachers have good knowledge and understanding of the subjects they teach and make good use of technical vocabulary. As a result pupils learn to use the correct terms and their meanings very effectively. In science in Year R/1, they describe the properties of materials using appropriate vocabulary, in Year 3 in religious education, they use and understand the term ‘parable’ and in mathematics, pupils in most classes learn the correct terms. For example, pupils in Year 4 use and understand such terms as ‘multiples, vertical, horizontal, adjacent and consecutive numbers’. Teachers usually plan their lessons thoroughly in literacy and numeracy and identify precise learning objectives. In the very good lessons, teachers share these objectives and targets with pupils so that they know the aims of the lesson and during the plenary they review pupils’ learning and relate their gains in skills, knowledge and understanding to the objectives. Within their

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Pupils are very keen to learn, have very good relationships with their teachers and other

planning, teachers usually plan work that matches pupils’ prior attainment well. In most lessons, the high attainers are challenged appropriately. In the unsatisfactory teaching in mathematics, pupils were either given work which was undemanding or too difficult, consequently they worked at a slower pace than they should and made limited progress. The good support from classroom assistants ensures that pupils with special educational needs make good progress in their learning. Greenfylde CE First School - 12 11. Teachers have high expectations for academic standards and for pupils’ behaviour shown by the challenge they provide for the high attainers and their skilful questioning which probes pupils’ understanding. In Year 4 in literacy, when pupils were reading the text of a science fiction book, the teacher’s questions about which person on board would be interested in bacteria and viruses promoted pupils’ thinking and brought the response of ‘the biologist’ . Pupils try very hard to succeed.

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Pupils are very keen to learn, have very good relationships with their teachers and other

All teachers and classroom assistants manage pupils very well and enjoy very good relationships with them. Encouragement and praise are used to good effect, which results in pupils who are well motivated and sustain concentration as they move through the school. A very good example was seen in a dance lesson when pupils in Year 2 interpreted the christening party scene from the music of Tschaikovsky’s ‘Sleeping Beauty’. The teacher’s encouragement and reminders about their movements were given quietly and effectively and resulted in pupils who were highly motivated, moved confidently and attained high standards for their age in their interpretation of the music and the story.

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Pupils are very keen to learn, have very good relationships with their teachers and other

12. Teachers teach basic skills well; in religious education in Year 3, the literacy skills of spelling and writing in re-telling a story were well linked to the understanding of a parable. In the reception class, every opportunity was used to reinforce counting and recognition of numbers to five, for example, when children were playing in the sand. The role-play activities in the airport ensured that a good level of language was used. Teachers use a good balance of class teaching, discussion, explanation and activity for pupils. They usually conclude the lesson with a plenary where they check whether pupils have achieved the lesson’s objective. In Year 3 after religious education, the teacher asked the class, “What have you learned today?” and they reviewed all lessons during the day. In Year 1 in science, the teacher emphasised the important teaching points and highlighted the new vocabulary learned.

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Pupils are very keen to learn, have very good relationships with their teachers and other

13. Teachers usually deploy their support staff well and make good use of well-chosen resources to match the objectives of the lesson. In science in Year 1, the teacher chose a suitable range of resources for pupils to investigate materials for the roof of a house for the three little pigs and in Year 2, the teacher chose a seascape by Van Gogh to introduce line and tone in art. Time is used well and lessons proceed at a good pace; often teachers give deadlines to pupils to maintain the pace through the lesson. Pupils respond by working productively at a suitable pace. Teachers make sound use of information and communications technology during their literacy lessons and there are plans to introduce pupils to the Internet but technical problems prevented this work during the inspection.

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Pupils are very keen to learn, have very good relationships with their teachers and other

14. Pupils’ own knowledge of their learning and ways in which they may improve their work are inconsistent. In Year 3 there are some good examples of a teacher’s written marking in English which evaluates work and asks questions to improve it. These examples are rare. In mathematics in most classes, teachers use their pupils’ errors to clarify points and ensure that pupils understand their methods of calculations. In turn, pupils are confident to explain their answers and how they calculate them and are not afraid to try to succeed when they find work difficult. These and similar opportunities for pupils to know how to improve their work, such as in Year 4 where pupils know their targets and teachers discuss these with them, are inconsistent across the school.

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Pupils are very keen to learn, have very good relationships with their teachers and other

The school makes good provision for pupils with special educational needs.

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Pupils are very keen to learn, have very good relationships with their teachers and other

15. Teachers make good provision for pupils with special educational needs. Their effective planning meets the specific needs of these pupils and when a pupil needs extra help, teachers direct support from classroom assistants effectively to pupils who need it most to enable these pupils to make good progress in line with their peers. This is particularly evident in the use of additional materials for literacy when trained classroom assistants work with small groups. The good, detailed individual educational plans for pupils with special educational needs provide programmes of work that are tailored to meet their needs effectively. However, the targets in these plans are descriptions of activities and not objectives, which means that progress cannot be measured. There is clear evidence within the educational plans of the co-ordinator for special educational needs’ good liaison with teachers and parents. Classroom assistants make notes of pupils’ achievements and these

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Pupils are very keen to learn, have very good relationships with their teachers and other

contribute towards the sound quality of the assessments made on these pupils that are regularly reviewed.

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Pupils are very keen to learn, have very good relationships with their teachers and other

16. The co-ordinator for special educational needs is part-time and gives much extra time Greenfylde CE First School - 13 voluntarily to the school. She provides a good lead to staff in the provision for these pupils. She trains and supports teachers and classroom assistants in their work with pupils who have special needs and spends much time with parents and pupils together to train parents to help their own children. Parents who have children with these needs appreciate the support. The school’s register for special educational needs is not always available in school for reference or review.

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Pupils are very keen to learn, have very good relationships with their teachers and other

Pupils settle quickly into school and there is good provision for four-year-olds.

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Pupils are very keen to learn, have very good relationships with their teachers and other

17. Parents agree that the good induction for young children, including the home visits by the co- ordinator for special educational needs, enables their children to settle quickly into school. The majority of four-year-olds in the reception class attain what is normally expected for their age in the areas of learning for children under five.

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Pupils are very keen to learn, have very good relationships with their teachers and other

18. The curricular provision and teaching for the under fives is good. The teacher has secure knowledge and understanding of the needs of the four-year-olds and of the curriculum to meet those needs. She plans the curriculum to ensure that the under fives undertake many practical experiences and makes good use of play to extend learning. The airport role-play area is attractive and realistic and children are able to adopt the roles of airline staff and fly the plane as the pilot, and issue tickets as booking staff. Resources such as dressing up clothes are good and children make up situations and use language creatively as passengers and staff. The teacher plans effectively from the areas of learning for children under five. The strengths in the teaching are the high expectations of children’s behaviour and attainment and the very good management of children, based on very good relationships and a secure discipline.

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Pupils are very keen to learn, have very good relationships with their teachers and other

19. The organisation of the large area is good, children know what is expected of them, know the routines well and become independent very quickly. The teacher deploys her nursery nurse well and there is a good balance of work directed by an adult and time for free exploration. During an afternoon session, two groups of children were exploring the effect of magnets on a variety of objects. One group was testing materials to see whether the magnet attracted them and another group was making a working model of Goldilocks and the three bears’ walk along a path in the forest using the attraction of a magnet on a paper clip. While the adults gave an input of direct teaching to these groups other children were working independently on jigsaws, the computer, the sand tray, the airport and making patterns and a birthday cake with play dough.

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The effectiveness of the monitoring of teaching to identify what does or does not work well in

lessons to improve learning and standards even further.

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The effectiveness of the monitoring of teaching to identify what does or does not work well in

20. The school successfully monitors pupils’ performance and takes effective action in raising standards through its monitoring of teachers’ planning, its analysis of results of baseline assessments, school and National Curriculum tests and monitors and evaluates pupils’ work regularly. From this information, pupils’ progress is tracked and targets are set for each pupil. The school deploys classroom assistants and the time of the co-ordinator for special educational needs to support pupils in Key Stage 1 who need early intervention to raise their literacy and numeracy skills so that they may attain the average level at the age of seven. The work with parents of pupils with special educational needs is undertaken to the same aim. The school has the intention within its school development plan to extend this work to pupils in Key Stage 2 and has successfully tracked pupils’ progress from their test results at seven to predicted levels within optional national tests at

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The effectiveness of the monitoring of teaching to identify what does or does not work well in

eight and nine. To improve the target setting process, the intention is to track pupils’ progress from baseline assessments just after entry to the age of nine. From the individual targets, the school has set realistic targets for pupils’ performance at the end of Year 4 for 2000 and 2001.

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The effectiveness of the monitoring of teaching to identify what does or does not work well in

21. In response to a key issue of the last inspection report, the school has implemented a programme of monitoring of teaching and governors have received regular reports on the results. While targets have been set for individual teachers to improve their performance the monitoring of teaching has not been sufficiently systematic and rigorous and there has been insufficient attention to the impact of teaching on learning. The action taken after the monitoring has not yet eliminated the unsatisfactory teaching, some of which was observed during the inspection. Neither has it revealed the inconsistency in the written marking of pupils’ work, in the quality of the reading records which are Greenfylde CE First School - 14 often not diagnostic nor the degree to which all teachers share individual targets with pupils and use their errors so that pupils may have an increased knowledge of their own learning and know how to

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The effectiveness of the monitoring of teaching to identify what does or does not work well in

improve their own work. Pupils do not have opportunities to respond to the comments in their annual reports to their parents, which would give them another way at the end of each year to evaluate how to improve their work.

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The effectiveness of the monitoring of the impact of school policies to ensure that agreed

procedures are put into practice consistently.

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The effectiveness of the monitoring of the impact of school policies to ensure that agreed

22. The headteacher, in close co-operation with his deputy head, provides good curricular leadership that imparts a clear educational direction to the school and is focused upon raising standards. The school has agreed policies for curriculum and other procedures, such as health and safety, however, not all policies are implemented fully by all staff. There are weaknesses in the management of the school because there are insufficient systems for monitoring whether agreed policies and procedures are translated effectively into practice.

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The effectiveness of the monitoring of the impact of school policies to ensure that agreed

23. In the staff handbook, there is good guidance for the written marking of pupils’ work. In practice, teachers’ marking usually consists of ticks and a word of praise. Good examples where teachers make evaluative comments and ask questions to help pupils improve their work are rare. The school says it believes that all pupils should have individual targets for their work. Pupils in Year 4 have individual targets for improving their work. When asked about them, all pupils knew their own targets and sometimes commented on other pupils’ goals. When pupils in other classes were asked the same questions, few were aware of their own targets. The act of worship within class assemblies does not always meet legal requirements. The register for special educational needs could not be produced and the headteacher did not have a copy. The procedures for completing attendance registers do not meet legal requirements. The reasons for absence are not always recorded correctly,

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The effectiveness of the monitoring of the impact of school policies to ensure that agreed

in many classes absences are not explained and although some lateness is recorded the registers do not reflect the school’s nil rate of unauthorised absence. The incorrect recording of data makes it difficult for the school to make an accurate annual return on attendance to the DfEE. The school has a health and safety policy, however, regular checks have failed to identify risks such as a blocked fire exit in a wooden building, a lack of illuminated exit signs in the hall, a pond without the usual safety mesh and pupils stacking chairs too highly and trying to lift them. While the headteacher delegates these procedures and the checking of them to staff, he does not monitor sufficiently to ensure that the responsibilities are carried out effectively.

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The effectiveness of the monitoring of the impact of school policies to ensure that agreed

24. At the meeting for parents with inspectors and in their responses to the parental questionnaire, a significant minority of parents expressed dissatisfaction over the school’s partnership with parents. Many parents were pleased with the home visits before their children start school. Parents of pupils with special educational needs were very appreciative of the support they have received by the co-ordinator for special educational needs to enable them to help their children at home and with their involvement in the review of their children’s individual educational programmes. All parents were supportive of the teachers and were appreciative of the time given to them by teachers before and after school. A few parents support the school by helping teachers in classrooms during the school day.

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The effectiveness of the monitoring of the impact of school policies to ensure that agreed

25. The dissatisfaction from parents was related to the limited range of extra-curricular activities that the school provides, to the ways in which the school informs them about their children’s progress and to the poor communication with them by the headteacher and governing body, which they feel, alienates them. The range of activities outside lessons is limited to chess and gardening club at lunchtime and pupils in Key Stage 2 rehearse at lunchtime and after school for a musical extravaganza to be performed to parents next term. There are limited opportunities for pupils to take part in sporting or other activities after school.

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The effectiveness of the monitoring of the impact of school policies to ensure that agreed

26. The school gives parents formal opportunities to discuss their children’s progress in the autumn and spring terms but they have to request an opportunity to discuss the child’s annual report in the summer term. The annual report is impersonal and gives limited information on how the child has made progress during the year and sometimes little indication of any future targets for pupils. There are no opportunities within the report for parents or their children to make a response to it. Greenfylde CE First School - 15 27. The school’s partnership with parents is unsatisfactory. For the past two years there has not been a Parents’ and Teachers’ Association due to a disagreement over how finance raised by the Association should be spent. Before and during the inspection, meetings were held to overcome these difficulties and to form a new association. Information for parents has improved since the last

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The effectiveness of the monitoring of the impact of school policies to ensure that agreed

inspection with the introduction of newsletters, information about the work to be covered by the classes each half term and homework. However, the newsletters are not sent out consistently and information to parents in the governors’ annual report is not communicated in a friendly tone and does not fully meet the legal requirements. Parents complained that they did not know how the school had responded to the key issues of the last inspection and they were unsure of how to ask questions at the annual meeting with the governors. While the governors have reported on their action plan in their last report to parents, there is insufficient detail for parents to obtain an accurate picture of the improvements that the school has made.

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The effectiveness of the monitoring of the impact of school policies to ensure that agreed

The school’s management of formal procedures for child protection.

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The effectiveness of the monitoring of the impact of school policies to ensure that agreed

28. The school’s co-ordinator for child protection is a part-time teacher and the headteacher is out of school for one day each week undertaking advisory work for the local education authority. This means that neither of them is sufficiently available to staff if there were an emergency on a day when both were not in school. The duty would pass to the deputy headteacher, which lengthens the chain of responsibility and is unsatisfactory. Greenfylde CE First School - 16

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(1) improve the monitoring of teaching to ensure it is more systematic and rigorous by:

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

focusing on the impact of teaching on learning;

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

by using the information from the monitoring to eliminate unsatisfactory teaching, improve the quality of teachers’ written marking across the school and to share learning targets consistently with all pupils to improve their own knowledge of their work and how they may improve it;

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(2) improve the management of the school by monitoring to ensure that delegated responsibilities are carried out effectively;

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(3) improve the school’s partnership with parents by:

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

providing more regular formal opportunities for parents to discuss their children’s progress with teachers;

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

improving the information in pupils’ annual reports to parents to ensure that parents understand how their children have made progress during the year and how their child may improve in the future;

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

improving the tone and increasing the detail of the governors’ annual report to parents;

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

improving the communication between the parents and the headteacher and governors.

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(4) improve the school’s management of the formal procedures for child protection. Greenfylde CE First School - 17

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Summary of the sources of evidence for the inspection

Number of discussions with staff, governors, other adults and pupils 9

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Summary of teaching observed during the inspection

Excellent Very good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Poor Very Poor

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Summary of teaching observed during the inspection

0 10 55 25 10 0 0 The table gives the percentage of teaching observed in each of the seven categories used to make judgements about lessons.

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Information about the school’s pupils

Pupils on the school’s roll Nursery YR – Y4

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Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils on the school’s roll (FTE for part-time pupils) 251

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Information about the school’s pupils

Number of full-time pupils eligible for free school meals 26 FTE means full-time equivalent.

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Information about the school’s pupils

Special educational needs Nursery YR – Y4

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Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils with statements of special educational needs 2

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Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils on the school’s special educational needs register 61

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Information about the school’s pupils

English as an additional language No of pupils

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Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils with English as an additional language 1

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Information about the school’s pupils

Pupil mobility in the last school year No of pupils

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Information about the school’s pupils

Pupils who joined the school other than at the usual time of first admission 13

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Information about the school’s pupils

Pupils who left the school other than at the usual time of leaving 9

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Attendance

National comparative data 5.4 National comparative data 0.5 Both tables give the percentage of half days (sessions) missed through absence for the latest complete reporting year. Greenfylde CE First School - 18

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1

Number of registered pupils in final year of Key Stage 1 for the latest reporting year 1999 23 31 54

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1

National Curriculum Test/Task Results Reading Writing Mathematics

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1

Boys 21 22 19 Numbers of pupils at NC level 2 and above Girls 28 30 27

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1

Percentage of pupils School 91 (86) 96 (90) 85 (97) at NC level 2 or above National 82 (80) 83 (81) 87 (84)

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1

Teachers’ Assessments English Mathematics Science

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1

Boys 22 22 23 Numbers of pupils at NC level 2 and above Girls 28 30 29

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1

Percentage of pupils School 93 (83) 96 (92) 96 (88) at NC level 2 or above National 82 (81) 86 (85) 87 (86)

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1

Percentages in brackets refer to the year before the latest reporting year.

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Black – Caribbean heritage 1 Black – Caribbean heritage 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Black – African heritage 0 Black – African heritage 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Any other minority ethnic group 1 Other minority ethnic groups This table refers to pupils of compulsory school age only. This table gives the number of exclusions of pupils of compulsory school age, which may be different from the number of pupils excluded. Greenfylde CE First School - 19

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total number of qualified teachers (FTE) 10.2 Financial year 1998/99

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Number of pupils per qualified teacher 24.2

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Education support staff: YR – Y4 Total expenditure 448,942

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total number of education support staff 11 Expenditure per pupil 1,713

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total aggregate hours worked per week 234 Balance brought forward from previous year 31,522

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Teachers and classes Financial information

FTE means full-time equivalent. Balance carried forward to next year 36,845 Greenfylde CE First School - 20

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Percentage of responses in each category

Strongly agree Tend to agree Tend to disagree Strongly disagree Don’t know

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Percentage of responses in each category

My child is making good progress in school. 53 41 5 0 1

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Percentage of responses in each category

Behaviour in the school is good. 31 56 6 2 4

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Percentage of responses in each category

My child gets the right amount of work to do at home. 39 55 2 1 3

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Percentage of responses in each category

I am kept well informed about how my child is getting on. 36 37 21 2 3

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Percentage of responses in each category

I would feel comfortable about approaching the school with questions or a problem. 56 31 10 1 1

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Percentage of responses in each category

The school expects my child to work hard and achieve his or her best. 53 38 2 0 7

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Percentage of responses in each category

The school works closely with parents. 31 45 20 4 1

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Percentage of responses in each category

The school is well led and managed. 26 46 10 12 6

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Percentage of responses in each category

The school is helping my child become mature and responsible. 46 41 3 2 8

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Percentage of responses in each category

The school provides an interesting range of activities outside lessons. 15 25 27 13 20

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Other issues raised by parents

23 parents made further comments on the reverse of the questionnaire form. Most of the opinions expressed are reflected in the questionnaire responses summarised above.

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