Cassop Primary School

CASSOP PRIMARY SCHOOL

Dates of inspection: 18 th – 19 th November 2002

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CASSOP PRIMARY SCHOOL

Short inspection carried out under section 10 of the School Inspections Act 1996 Cassop Primary School - ii

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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 D Wilkinson

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Date of previous inspection: February 1998

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

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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INFORMATION ABOUT THE 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. Cassop Primary School - iii

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Team members

2810 Mrs C McBride Registered inspector 11084 Mrs J Hughes Lay inspector 1065 Mr J Hagan Team inspector

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Team members

Primary Associates Limited Suite 13 West Lancashire Technology Management Centre Moss Lane View Skelmersdale WN8 9TN

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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 Complaints Manager Inspection Quality Division

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Team members

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE Cassop Primary School - iv

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PART A: SUMMARY OF THE REPORT 1

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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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

The school is situated midway between two former mining villages about 7 miles from the city of Durham. These are long established, tightly knit communities, which now experience limited employment opportunities, public transport and amenities. Its intake is from predominantly white British families, and with 82 pupils on roll between the ages of 5 and 11 years, it is smaller than most primary schools. Pupils are taught in four mixed age classes. Although there are very uneven numbers of boys or girls in some classes, on roll overall they balance out equally. Compared to most schools an average number of pupils are eligible to claim to free school meals. The proportion of pupils in the school with special educational needs is about the same as in other primary schools, but fewer than usual have statements. Most have been identified as having specific learning difficulties, mainly of a dyslexic type.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

When they start school, the majority of children are not attaining as much as most children of the same age.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

The school has achieved national recognition as a leading school in the teaching of environmental education. It is powered by a wind turbine and also houses a community recycling centre. Its other work has been acknowledged by awards including an Arts Mark Gold Award in 2002, and a Basic Skills Agency Quality Mark re-awarded in 2002. One teacher has advanced skill status, one in the arts. Another is recognised as a leading mathematics teacher within the local education authority. They regularly use their expertise to support teachers in other schools.

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HOW GOOD THE SCHOOL IS

This is a very good school with some excellent features, including outstanding provision for environmental education, the arts and pupils’ personal development. All pupils achieve well and standards are above average. There is high quality teaching throughout the school and the curriculum motivates pupils really well because it is rich and exciting. The leadership and management of the headteacher are excellent, and he is supported well by staff and governors in providing a terrific ethos for learning. Although the cost of running this small school is high, it gives very good value for money because it is such a strong source of support and inspiration for its local community.

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What the school does well

• Children achieve particularly well in mathematics; • The headteacher’s leadership results in outstanding provision for environmental education; • The arts curriculum is vibrant and exciting; • Everyone benefits from the school’s excellent environment for learning.

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What could be improved

The few minor issues identified as areas for improvement already form part of the school’s own development plan. 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 last inspection was in February 1998. Since then the school has improved at a good pace. Reading standards have improved year on year, and writing also shows a better picture. Provision for information and communication technology (ICT) has been strengthened through better teaching, more resources and wider use in other subjects. Collective worship is now very good, and children have regular, meaningful opportunities to reflect on their thoughts and feelings. The school is well placed to maintain its success. Led by the headteacher, it never settles for the ordinary or mundane and is always looking for ways to improve in everything that it does. Cassop Primary School - 2

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STANDARDS

In schools where there are 10 or fewer pupils taking the national tests for 11-year-olds, no results are published. The data drawn from such small numbers is not reliable enough to show comparisons with other schools.

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STANDARDS

By the end of their year in the reception class, most children have reached the expected goals for this age in all areas of learning, and throughout the rest of the school they all achieve really well. At the ages of 7 and 11 years, inspection findings show that many are reaching above average standards in reading, writing, mathematics and science. Pupils with special educational needs make very good gains and achieve well in relation to their difficulties. Higher attainers and those with exceptional gifts or talents make good progress. Speaking and listening skills are a real strength of children’s work at both key stages and they are particularly good at explaining things. Another strong area of achievement is in mathematics where most pupils reach above average standards in mental calculation and problem solving.

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STANDARDS

Standards are very high in environmental studies, and the oldest pupils know much more than most children their age about local and global conservation issues. Some work seen here is of outstanding quality. In all areas of learning, pupils throughout the school are good at investigating and finding things out for themselves. In art, music and drama, pupils excel and achieve a great deal in their creative work; standards in these aspects are well above average.

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STANDARDS

The school sets challenging targets for itself in all areas of work and consistently achieves well against them.

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Aspect Comment

Attitudes to the school Pupils show an excellent response to school. Their levels of motivation; concentration and interest are outstanding. They love coming to school and find it an exciting, challenging place to be.

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Aspect Comment

Behaviour, in and out of classrooms This is very good at all times. Pupils are courteous and considerate to others and they take delight and pride in showing off their school to visitors.

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Aspect Comment

Personal development and relationships Relationships are excellent. Pupils gain great confidence and show an increasing level of initiative and maturity because they feel valued and are given responsibility.

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Aspect Comment

Attendance Below the national average. This is an improving picture but despite the school’s commendable efforts, the problem persists because many families take holidays during term time.

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Aspect Comment

Pupils make great strides in their personal development and respond really well to the school’s provision. They blossom as good ‘all rounders’ who thoroughly enjoy their work and get on well together.

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Teaching of pupils in: Nursery and Reception Years 1 – 2 Years 3 – 6

Quality of teaching Very good Very good Very good

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Teaching of pupils in: Nursery and Reception Years 1 – 2 Years 3 – 6

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. Cassop Primary School - 3 The very good rate of learning throughout the school owes much to the high quality of teaching, some of which is excellent. Pupils are really enthusiastic about their lessons and keen to start work because they are busy and interested from start to finish. They become used to giving explanations or putting forward a point of view because teachers pepper each lesson with questions that make them think hard and come up with answers for themselves. Pupils quickly become independent and learn how to search for information or find answers to problems. Teachers help them to do this by ensuring that they regularly use ICT or the school’s extensive resource of books and artefacts. The busy atmosphere in

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Teaching of pupils in: Nursery and Reception Years 1 – 2 Years 3 – 6

each classroom is maintained through careful lesson organisation. Teachers are very skilled at helping children to maintain concentration by breaking up lessons with a series of mini activities, so that they are not sitting listening or doing the same task for too long. These approaches work well especially where there are classes with many more boys than girls.

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Teaching of pupils in: Nursery and Reception Years 1 – 2 Years 3 – 6

Numeracy is taught particularly well. All teachers have good subject knowledge and their high expectations of what pupils should achieve pushes each child on hard. The variety of games and puzzles that they use grabs pupils’ interests and sharpens their skills of calculation and problem solving. Literacy is also taught well. Pupils have plenty of chances to develop their skills because teachers carefully plan lessons in other subjects so that work includes purposeful reading and writing. Teachers set writing tasks that enable pupils to draw from their own experiences, and they are therefore able to set about this work with confidence.

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Teaching of pupils in: Nursery and Reception Years 1 – 2 Years 3 – 6

Pupils with special educational needs progress well because they are given good support. Although they undertake the same work as the rest of the class, lessons are carefully adapted to challenge them at the right level. More able pupils are extended to their limits because teachers often set them really difficult tasks and expect them to produce a higher quality of work than the rest of the class.

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Teaching of pupils in: Nursery and Reception Years 1 – 2 Years 3 – 6

Classrooms are alive with colourful, informative displays, which celebrate pupils’ achievements or provide them with reminders about facts or rules for work. The whole school is a stimulating environment where pupils see reasons to be proud of themselves and constantly find inspiration.

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Aspect Comment

The quality and range of the curriculum This is of very high quality. The school provides a rich variety of stimulating learning experiences. It is very strong in promoting pupils’ creative and expressive development and their skills to investigate and find things out for themselves.

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Aspect Comment

Provision for pupils with special educational needs These pupils receive very good support and have access to the same rich, diverse learning opportunities as everyone else. Work is carefully matched to their needs and lessons are adapted so that they cope well.

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Aspect Comment

Provision for pupils’ personal, including spiritual, moral, social and cultural development This is excellent. The school values children as individuals and provides a challenging, yet supportive climate where they can flourish. Children have many opportunities to express their creativity and to grow in respect for others and the world around them. The school’s strong arts curriculum and programme of visits promotes their learning about other cultures really well.

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Aspect Comment

How well the school cares for its pupils Very good. Pupils are cared for extremely well. Staff use their very good relationships with pupils to support them and help them to gain maximum benefit from school.

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Aspect Comment

The school is strongly committed to offering pupils the widest range of learning opportunities possible. This is reflected in the number of chances that they have to undertake practical activities and experience things at first hand. The progress and welfare of each child is very carefully monitored. Cassop Primary School - 4

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Aspect Comment

Leadership and management by the headteacher and other key staff The headteacher’s leadership and management are excellent. The drive and encouragement that he offers the school and community have been at the forefront of its success for many years. Key staff lead well by setting a very good example through their high quality teaching and in the way that they develop their areas of responsibility.

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Aspect Comment

How well the governors fulfil their responsibilities Very good. Governors are very supportive and involved in the work of the school, where most attended as children. They use their different contacts and skills to good advantage. They know their school well and take a keen interest in its performance and rate of development.

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Aspect Comment

The school’s evaluation of its performance Very good. The school knows its own strengths and weaknesses well. It shows a good rate of improvement because strengths are identified and built upon, and weaknesses are vigorously addressed.

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Aspect Comment

The strategic use of resources Very good. The school makes the most of its financial resources. It also gains maximum benefit from its extensive collection of local history resources and artefacts to develop the community’s knowledge of its cultural history and heritage.

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Aspect Comment

The headteacher, staff and governors never settle for anything less than the best. They seek the views of pupils and parents, and challenge themselves and the children to excel in everything that they do. The school is good at promoting tolerance and respect for others and has an effective policy for racial equality.

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What pleases parents most What parents would like to see improved

• The school expects pupils to work hard and they make good progress; • Teaching is good; • The school is well led and managed; • Pupils become mature and responsible. • A few parents expressed concerns about the progress of children being taught in mixed age classes.

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What pleases parents most What parents would like to see improved

Inspection findings show that the parents’ overwhelmingly positive view of the school is entirely justified. The consistently high quality of teaching ensures that pupils never make less than good, and at times very good, progress in each class. Work is matched well to each child’s needs, and offers the right degree of challenge. Cassop Primary School - 5

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Children achieve particularly well in mathematics

1. This has been the most successful area of the school’s performance over the last few years. All teaching is of high quality and some of it is excellent. Teachers are very skilled, have very good subject knowledge, and two of them have undertaken advanced training in the teaching of mathematics. They generate a keen interest in pupils because they are really enthusiastic about teaching all aspects and this spills over into lessons. The challenge of the work is always high but pupils love it and launch into lessons at a great pace, relishing their tasks.

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Children achieve particularly well in mathematics

2. Another reason why pupils enjoy their work so much is because they are actively involved all the time with practical tasks, and there is a real purpose to everything that they do. They recognise the relevance of mathematics because the teachers find ways of relating what they are learning to everyday problems or situations. In a lesson with Year 3 and 4 pupils for example, they reinforced their knowledge about tallying by using this counting method to add up their house point scores. In each lesson, teachers present them with problems or puzzles to solve, and also include many investigations. This makes for exciting learning, and often pupils are so intent on what they are doing, that they have to be reminded more than once to stop when the teacher needs to finish a lesson.

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Children achieve particularly well in mathematics

3. The teachers’ high expectations have led to many pupils reaching higher standards than usually seen in primary schools. A lot of ground is covered in lessons and they produce a great volume of work. They have a better than average knowledge of mathematical vocabulary for their age. For example, pupils in Year 1 know what ’divide’ and ‘double’ mean; in Year 4 pupils refer confidently to ‘frequency tables’; and in the Year 5 and 6 class they use the terms ‘vertex’ and ‘equilateral’ when describing their work with shape. Pupils are introduced to more advanced work than they might normally be expected to encounter. Decimals for instance, are introduced from an early stage, and Year 1 pupils are asked to use correct decimal notation when working on money problems. In Years 5 and 6, pupils readily convert fractions to decimals and work with six digit numbers. Excellent classroom displays help to reinforce mathematical vocabulary or rules, and children can often be seen glancing

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Children achieve particularly well in mathematics

at them to remind themselves of a particular point.

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Children achieve particularly well in mathematics

4. The school’s approach to teaching is to help pupils to learn a vast array of strategies for calculating, and encouraging them to explain how they have worked out answers. A striking feature of lessons is the confidence with which all pupils will talk about their working out. Equally striking is the attention that other pupils pay to this, and the suggestions that they make to add yet more ideas. In a Year 1 and 2 class lesson, for example, pupils helped each other out with suggestions about how they could double the numbers shown on dice. As one boy explained how the numbers doubled up to 40, another child suggested that he could have arrived at the same answer by counting on in tens.

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Children achieve particularly well in mathematics

5. This same lesson also typified the way in which teachers throughout the school use resources very effectively to support pupils with special educational needs. The dice used in this case varied according to the attainment level of the children, so that those with weaker numeracy skills had dice with smaller numbers on them. Cassop Primary School - 6 6. Much of the success of the school is rooted in the way that mathematics is integrated most lessons and children are called upon to use their skills constantly. In a Year 5 and 6 class science lesson, pupils typically applied their knowledge to measuring their pulse rate by timing it for 15 seconds and then calculating the rate for one minute. The school’s extensive work in environmental studies also provides a wealth of opportunities for pupils to use their mathematical knowledge during field work, as they measure distances, heights and make other calculations such as wind speed.

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education

7. The infectious enthusiasm and inspirational leadership of the head over many years has established the school as a long-standing, nationally recognised centre of excellence in this field. The high quality of work is integral to the school’s wider success because it provides a real focus for many of the exciting activities that stimulate pupils’ learning and bring other subjects to life. Throughout their time at school, all pupils have opportunities to take part in extensive field study work, including residential visits to places as far away as the south coast of England.

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education

8. The school uses environmental studies as a springboard for further work by giving pupils a vast resource of experience that can be drawn upon for inspiration. Pupils in Years 5 and 6 for example, used it to fire some impressive creative writing with the theme ‘Mother Earth talks to her children.’ One girl wrote: ‘Children of the earth, what are you doing to me? I gave you a precious gift and it is slowly being ruined. Why??? You keep throwing litter that covers my skin. Why not reuse or recycle things? Factories make black smoke appear in the air. It is time to do the important things like looking after nature and the people of the world. I’m telling you before it is too late for the future.’

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education

9. Pupils reach very high standards in the level of knowledge and understanding they have about local and global environmental issues and sustainability. This is achieved through exciting and adventurous projects. Cassop took part, for example, in an online Internet debate about oil spillage. This involved pupils in Years 5 and 6 using email to contact representatives from the oil industry with questions and presenting balanced arguments in a report. The outstanding quality of their work was recognised by an award from the World Wildlife Fund, and they were invited to take part in a session of ‘The Children’s Parliament‘ at the House of Commons. Here they made a presentation, voiced their opinions and questioned a panel on issues about oil spillage and damage to the environment.

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education

10. Nearer to home, the school successfully fosters pupils’ appreciation of the unique geology of the local environment and instils in them a strong sense of pride in how special it is. From the earliest years, pupils undertake practical tasks in the management of conservation. For example, they collect and plant wild flower seeds and also plant trees. Pupils grow their own organic vegetables, which are either prepared by the school cook for them to eat or they are distributed to elderly local people at harvest time. The two local villages bordering the school are used for geography work and the school’s own grounds provide an excellent resource for science work.

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education

11. The wind turbine powering the school is used to full effect in giving pupils an excellent knowledge of energy production. Even more impressive is that in discussion, many of the older pupils show a strong understanding about the links between the local and global issues of energy production. Pupils from the school have made presentations Cassop Primary School - 7 to county councillors about the turbine and shared a great deal of scientific facts about energy production through computer presentations.

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education

12. The school adopts a forceful and positive approach to its teaching about the environment. It leans heavily on the side of seeking solutions, rather than reinforcing pupils’ sense of helplessness in the face of the enormity of global issues. It sees its main task as empowering pupils as future citizens who feel that they, and their community, can contribute to sustaining the environment. Pupils show a keen awareness about this. For example, aside from some of the school’s larger scale projects, they are regularly seen with their parents for example, making use of the school’s recycling centre.

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The arts curriculum is vibrant and exciting

13. The strong links between the arts curriculum and everything else that the school does are what makes this aspect of its work so successful. The school provides a rich environment, which pupils themselves have helped to form. The grounds for instance, contain many of their ideas and designs such as the wrought iron gates to the pond, shaped like a mayfly. The story telling chair fashioned from a hollowed out tree trunk is another example of how teachers have fuelled pupils’ imaginations and shown them that their ideas can be realised in practice.

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The arts curriculum is vibrant and exciting

14. The school’s work with artists in residence produces some adventurous and stunning work, often on a large scale. Having visited a Tudor house in a nearby city, the Year 5 and 6 pupils set about copying the patterns and style of decoration seen in the building. They designed their own Tudor chairs in unusual materials to show carving and relief. A frieze entitled ‘Spirits of the Harvey Seam’ featuring life-size figures of miners working in a pit, covers two walls of the library. It draws from the pupils’ own mining heritage and culture to provide inspiration for them. The work of a local artist, and an ex-miner himself, inspired this outstanding project. Describing the way he felt as he did the work, one boy wrote, ‘Drawing round your partner was best because when you curled up it felt like you were down the mine.’

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The arts curriculum is vibrant and exciting

15. Live events, such as the recently held ‘Pit Day’ further strengthen the pupils’ links with their past and provide a strong stimulus for work in poetry, dramatisations and music. The school’s huge collection of mining artefacts, its artwork, sculpture resource and musical instruments are all used to maximum effect in provoking pupils’ thought and creative ideas. Youth hostelling and residential visits, open to all pupils at some time in their school life, provide a rich source of inspiration for poetry, painting, sketching, photography and story telling,

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The arts curriculum is vibrant and exciting

16. As with everything else that they do, teachers base work in the arts on pupils’ interests or experiences. Year 5 and 6 pupils for example visited a local medieval priory. Having studied the architecture and masonry, they returned to school and made nightlights and moneyboxes, which were designed to be sold in the priory’s gift shop. These carefully reflected the textures, colours and shapes of the ruined building, and were produced to such a high standards as to be useable objects.

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The arts curriculum is vibrant and exciting

17. Pupils develop a strong appreciation of ‘live’ theatre and performance events because the school makes adventurous choices and provides such a wide variety of opportunities for them to experience this in many forms. One project involving the youngest pupils started with them working alongside two performance artists. Firstly, they collected the children’s ideas about their interests and feelings. This was followed by several sessions developing stories, and making sound and picture Cassop Primary School - 8 material for an installation of a house. The children went from room to room watching and interacting with the performance artists using mime and dance. The project spilled over into much of the other work of the class and gave rise to creative and expressive writing, speaking and artwork for a long time afterwards.

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The arts curriculum is vibrant and exciting

18. The children’s personal development benefits hugely from the arts curriculum, particularly in their understanding and appreciation of other people’s lives and values. Year 5 and 6 pupils worked with a dance company involved in a mentoring programme for adults with learning difficulties work. Work with a drama consultant led the same class to a deeper understanding of the plight of refugees.

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The arts curriculum is vibrant and exciting

19. In the same way as in its environmental work, the school’s approach helps children to look outwards, beyond their own locality, and to carry their experiences forward to later life. Through planning work carefully, teachers choose visits or experiences that the pupils can repeat on their own at a later date. They arouse their interest and enthusiasm for local attractions or those within easy reach of the locality such as museums, art galleries and theatres.

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Everyone benefits from the school’s excellent environment for learning

20. Its adventurous approach to helping pupils learn is summed up in the school’s stated aim that ‘ Real enjoyment can come through achievement’. Relationships between all members of the school community are excellent and pupils thrive so well because of the trust and respect between themselves and their teachers. They know that they are valued and that the teachers expect them to achieve by doing their very best at all times. ‘I can’t’ is not a phrase heard often in the school because teachers generate such enthusiasm that pupils are always keen to ‘have a go’ at any activity. Lessons are always a forum for genuine debate prompted by teachers constantly prompting pupils and asking, ‘Why do you think that might be?’ or ‘How has that happened?’

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Everyone benefits from the school’s excellent environment for learning

21. The vibrant and fascinating displays of pupils’ work in classrooms provide a constant reflection not just on what they did, but also about how they did it and what they felt about the experience. There are thoughtful and really uplifting moments of quiet when the teacher and class seem to be drawing breath and considering something that has just happened or been said. The short, meaningful acts of collective worship in classes draw everyone together well at the end of each day to focus on special feelings.

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Everyone benefits from the school’s excellent environment for learning

22. Staff use an imaginative and pragmatic approach in their attempts to help as many pupils as possible enjoy a worthwhile social experience from after school activities. They will often set up projects for a short duration, which target specific groups of pupils. One such project involved a day’s visit to Edinburgh followed by six evening sessions of art and creative work after school.

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Everyone benefits from the school’s excellent environment for learning

23. The staff’s own personal and professional development benefit from the school’s excellent climate for learning, and this in turn feeds back to the school. In the past two years the headteacher and two members of staff have made educational visits to different countries. Following one visit to Kenya, the headteacher wrote a lively and absorbing programme of geography work for the older pupils. He was able to bring this to life with many photographs, artefacts and transcripts of conversations with local tribesmen. This has proved to be a popular topic, which is enriching pupils’ knowledge of a village in very different circumstances to their own. Since returning from a recent visit to Australia, the two Key Stage 1 teachers have introduced new ideas into the teaching of mathematics through games. The benefits are being Cassop Primary School - 9 noticed already as pupils are becoming sharper at mental calculation through playing

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Everyone benefits from the school’s excellent environment for learning

24. The school also looks outwards and shares its expertise. One of the staff, a leading numeracy teacher, visits other schools to help improve their practice in teaching mathematics. The headteacher and staff share their wealth of knowledge and expertise through writing publications and placing information on the Internet. Visitors are often attracted to the school to learn from aspects such as its teaching of environmental studies.

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Everyone benefits from the school’s excellent environment for learning

25. The tremendous resource of mining artefacts and photographs of local life which are housed in the school, have an immediate relevance to pupils and their families. Pupils can talk about how the pit was closed and how some of their grandparents worked there. Photographs feature people known to the children and their parents. About 70 per cent of pupils follow generations of their family into the school and the headteacher has taught nearly half of the present parents. Artwork done by parents when they were children at the school is featured among displays alongside that of their own children. Staff often leave the school then return to work there in a different role. The previous secretary for example, now works as a support assistant. All these things cement the pupils’ and community’s feelings of continuity with the past and its relevance to the present.

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Everyone benefits from the school’s excellent environment for learning

26. The school is not locked in its past however, and its involvement in campaigning and actively promoting the regeneration of the area is significant. Successful ventures such as the making of a nature reserve from the reclaimed pit heap have boosted village morale and enjoyment in the environment. Cassop has a well-deserved reputation for its impressive work because it is continually moving ahead and the staff always have new ideas in the pipeline. Projects enjoy a very long life and benefit many pupils because practical steps are taken to build them into current work. The wind turbine is a good example of this as each year group at some point, experiences an in-depth study of the power source. The pupils make and test their own mini turbines as part of a ‘Neighbourhood Engineers’ project, and they study the structure and the effect of forces on them.

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Everyone benefits from the school’s excellent environment for learning

27. Members of the community take part in the annual flower walk organised by the school. They join groups of pupils in following a nature trail in the locality and recording the huge variety of wild plants and flowers found there. Led with great determination by the headteacher and staff, other community events are started. Last year a carnival event involving the community in designing and making art saw a growing interest from parents. After the school’s ‘kick start’ it has now has been taken over by the community themselves.

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Everyone benefits from the school’s excellent environment for learning

28. Much work undertaken by the school reinforces the community’s pride in its past, give it a strong focus for the present and sets aspirations for its future. Cassop Primary School - 10

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

29. The school should continue to address the few, minor areas of weakness it has identified through the action set out in its own development plan. As there are no key issues, the school should send Ofsted its school development plan. Cassop Primary School - 11

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Summary of the sources of evidence for the inspection

Number of discussions with staff, governors, other adults and pupils 7

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Summary of teaching observed during the inspection

Excellent Very good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactor y Poor Very Poor

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Summary of teaching observed during the inspection

The table gives the number and percentage of lessons observed in each of the seven categories used to make judgements about teaching. [When the total number is substantially less than 100, add] Care should be taken when interpreting these percentages as each lesson represents more than one [two, three, etc] percentage point[s]. [Where the total is close to or greater than 100, use only the first sentence.]

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Information about the school’s pupils

Pupils on the school’s roll Nursery YR – Y6

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Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils on the school’s roll (FTE for part-time pupils) 0 83

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Information about the school’s pupils

Number of full-time pupils known to be eligible for free school meals 0 14

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Information about the school’s pupils

Special educational needs Nursery YR – Y6

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Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils with statements of special educational needs 0 2

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Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils on the school’s special educational needs register 0 22

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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 0

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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 11

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Information about the school’s pupils

Pupils who left the school other than at the usual time of leaving 7

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Attendance

National comparative data 5.4 National comparative data 0.5

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Attendance

Both tables give the percentage of half days (sessions) missed through absence for the latest complete reporting year. Cassop Primary School - 12

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

Number of registered pupils in final year of Key Stage 1 for the latest reporting year 2001/2 7 4 11

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

National Curriculum Test/Task Results Reading Writing Mathematics

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

Percentage of pupils School 91 (100) 82 (100) 100 (100) at NC level 2 or above National 84 (84) 86 (86) 90 (91)

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

Teachers’ Assessments English Mathematics Science

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

Percentage of pupils School 73 (100) 91 (100) 91 (100) at NC level 2 or above National 85 (85) 89 (89) 89 (89)

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

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

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

Results are only published where there are 10 or more pupils who took National Curriculum tests. In the 2001/2 Year 2 group there were fewer than 10 boys or girls, but more than 10 pupils in total.

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

In the Year 6 group there were only 9 pupils, and therefore results are not pub;lished.

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Categories used in the Annual School Census No of pupils on roll Number of fixed period exclusions Number of permanent exclusions

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

White – any other White background 0 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Mixed – any other mixed background 1 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Asian or Asian British - Pakistani 0 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Asian or Asian British – Bangladeshi 0 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Asian or Asian British – any other Asian background 0 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Black or Black British – Caribbean 0 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Black or Black British – any other Black background 0 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

No ethnic group recorded 0 0 0 Cassop Primary School - 13 The table refers to pupils of compulsory school age only. It gives the number of exclusions, which may be different from the number of pupils excluded. Cassop Primary School - 14

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total number of qualified teachers (FTE) 5.2 Financial year 2001-2

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Number of pupils per qualified teacher 15.8

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Education support staff: YR – Y6 Total income 283950

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total number of education support staff 4 Total expenditure 271926

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total aggregate hours worked per week 95 Expenditure per pupil 3357

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Teachers and classes Financial information

FTE means full-time equivalent. Balance brought forward from previous year 35128

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Balance carried forward to next year 12024

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Recruitment of teachers

Number of teachers who left the school during the last two years 0.4

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Recruitment of teachers

Number of teachers appointed to the school during the last two years 0.4

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Recruitment of teachers

Total number of vacant teaching posts (FTE) 0

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Recruitment of teachers

Number of vacancies filled by teachers on temporary contract of a term or more (FTE) 0

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Recruitment of teachers

Number of unfilled vacancies or vacancies filled by teachers on temporary contract of less than one term (FTE) 0

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Recruitment of teachers

FTE means full-time equivalent. Cassop Primary School - 15

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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. 84 16 0 0 0

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Percentage of responses in each category

Behaviour in the school is good. 67 28 2 2 2

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Percentage of responses in each category

My child gets the right amount of work to do at home. 60 32 5 2 2

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Percentage of responses in each category

I am kept well informed about how my child is getting on. 77 18 5 0 0

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Percentage of responses in each category

I would feel comfortable about approaching the school with questions or a problem. 81 11 2 7 0

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Percentage of responses in each category

The school expects my child to work hard and achieve his or her best. 79 21 0 0 0

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Percentage of responses in each category

The school works closely with parents. 77 18 5 0 0

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Percentage of responses in each category

The school is well led and managed. 74 25 2 0 0

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Percentage of responses in each category

The school is helping my child become mature and responsible. 68 32 0 0 0

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Percentage of responses in each category

The school provides an interesting range of activities outside lessons. 46 30 9 5 11

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Percentage of responses in each category

Percentages are rounded to the nearest integer and may not total 100.

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