St Luke's Church of England Primary School

Inspection Report St Luke's Church of England Primary School

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104897 Unique Reference Number Sefton LEA 277249 Inspection number 12 June 2006 to 13 June 2006 Inspection dates Mr Frank Carruthers CfBT Lead Inspector Reporting inspector

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This inspection was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Jubilee Road School address Primary Type of school Formby Voluntary controlled School category Liverpool, Merseyside L37 2HW 4 to 11 Age range of pupils

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01704 872692 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01704 831745 Fax number 406 Number on roll Mr M Brankin Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs Sharon Cowey Headteacher 13 June 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 277249 12 June 2006 - 4 to 11 13 June 2006 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report 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.

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by three Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

This larger than average Church of England Primary School is situated in Formby where there are fewer than average social or economic problems. There are very few children from minority ethnic backgrounds and even fewer who are at the early stages of learning English as an additional language. There are no looked-after children currently on roll. The attainment of the children on entry to the Reception year is broad, being average or slightly above average in most years. The school is resourced to accommodate children with physical difficulties and the proportion of children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is similar to that found in most primary schools. The school has grown in size since the time of the last inspection and inward mobility into the school is above average.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: St Luke's Church of England Primary School, 12 June 2006 to 13 June 2006

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Grade: 2

The school provides a good education and has some outstanding features, especially the quality of the children's personal development and well-being. All other aspects of the school's provision are good, as are leadership and management of the school. These judgements match closely the views of the school. Children achieve well, because of good teaching and standards are above average by the time the children leave school in Year 6. In many years, they are significantly above average. The quality of teaching and learning is good overall. In most lessons, children are challenged well but, in some, the pace of learning does not always challenge the more able and talented children and the children are not always certain about how to improve their work. The quality and standards in the Foundation Stage, that is the two Reception classes, are good and some of the teaching is outstanding, helping the children to make good progress.

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Grade: 2

The school provides a good curriculum and there is an extensive range of extra-curricular and enrichment activities and residential visits, which children take full advantage of. Care, guidance and support of the children are good. Outstanding features are the arrangements for the induction of children into school and the transfer of children to secondary school. Provision for children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is very effective and helps them to achieve well. Governors make an outstanding contribution to the work of the school. The school has made good improvement since the last inspection and has good capacity to improve. The school gives good value for money.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Increase the rigour and pace of learning so that all lessons maximise the achievement of all children, especially the most able and talented. • Develop assessment for learning fully to raise standards further.

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Grade: 2

Children achieve well and standards are above average in Year 6. Standards vary from year to year and are significantly above average in many years. The school is successful in meeting its increasingly challenging targets. Children do well in the Foundation Stage thanks to the good provision. Their attainment on entry is broadly average or slightly above average and it is above average by the end of the Reception year. In Key Stage 1, children who have been at the school the longest achieve well. However, the high inward mobility of children has an impact on standards by the end of Year 2, which are average overall. There is a wide range of attainment of these new arrivals and, though they make good progress, they do not all achieve the expected standards by the end of the year. Good strategies to support 2 Inspection Report: St Luke's Church of England Primary School, 12 June 2006 to 13 June 2006 small groups of children help those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and

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Grade: 2

the very few learning English as an additional language to do well. In Key Stage 2, children achieve well. Standards are above average in English and significantly above average in mathematics and science. Standards are rising in English, especially writing, thanks to a good whole-school focus on this aspect. More children are now achieving at the higher level expected of them. In a minority of lessons in both key stages, however, the pace of learning is not good enough to challenge children, especially the most able.

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Grade: 1

The personal development and well-being of children are outstanding. From the outset, the school successfully fosters children's self-esteem and confidence. Children respond very positively to the staff's high expectations for behaviour and the attractive, orderly environment of the school. They are highly responsible, self-disciplined and considerate. They are proud to receive awards in weekly assemblies and have many opportunities to exercise choice and show responsibility. Children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding. The school's ethos supports children's understanding of community values and there is a good awareness of multicultural issues. Children's enthusiasm for school is reflected in their high levels of attendance and excellent attitudes to learning, which set them up well for their future in school and beyond. Children have a very good appreciation of their own well-being. This is actively

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Grade: 1

promoted by the school in their pursuit of the Healthy Schools Award and School Sport Strategy. Children feel very safe in school and readily bring any concerns to the attention of staff. The school council is effective. Relationships all round are excellent, as reflected in this comment from a Year 5 girl, 'My class would like to propose a posh lunch with staff as a suitable reward'. Parents endorse these positive views.

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Grade: 2

The quality of teaching and learning is good. Teachers' planning is clear and lessons have a good range of activities. Features of the outstanding lessons include an excellent range of activities for the children, quick-fire questioning and high expectations both of children's progress and of presentation of work. In satisfactory lessons, timings are less sharp which slows the pace of learning. Teachers use interactive whiteboards, as well as techniques to promote listening skills well, in order to direct children's learning. They provide children with regular opportunities, for example, through 'talking partners', to develop their ideas. Children do a great deal of independent work. On some occasions, however, this is not monitored closely enough to ensure the more able and talented pupils are challenged. Children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are well supported by staff and challenged by the work they do. The children

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Grade: 2

3 Inspection Report: St Luke's Church of England Primary School, 12 June 2006 to 13 June 2006 are keen to learn, listen and concentrate well. They settle to work quickly and cooperate fully to support each other's learning. They are confident responding to and posing questions. Assessment information, including marking, is used well to track children's progress, to focus appropriate intervention strategies and identify initiatives to raise standards, for example, in writing. It is not yet routinely used as a tool to help children to understand strengths and weaknesses in their work. Children are also not yet fully involved in assessing their own work, recognising their own strengths and weaknesses, in order to improve its quality.

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Grade: 2

The curriculum is good. It is carefully organised and reviewed regularly to ensure progressive learning. There is strong provision for the learning of basic skills in English, mathematics and science, which provide all children with a good foundation for the future. Information and communication technology is now playing an increasing role in children's learning, although there is potential for further use of skills across all subjects. All through the school, children experience interesting activities that stimulate their curiosity. The school caters very successfully for children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and has a range of good enrichment activities for more able and talented pupils. The personal, social and health education programme is regularly updated and helps children gain a good understanding of health and safety and their rights and responsibilities. There is very good uptake of an extensive range of

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Grade: 2

extra-curricular opportunities, especially for older children. During the inspection children were enthused by the 'Travelling Maths Circus'.

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Grade: 2

The school has evaluated care, guidance and support as outstanding but the inspection team judges it as good because some features supporting children's academic progress are not yet fully embedded. The children are well cared for and there are good procedures for health and safety. All members of staff know the children well and the great majority of parents are very supportive of the school. Child protection procedures are in place and possible risks to health and safety are assessed carefully. Arrangements for the transfer of children to secondary school are an outstanding feature, links are excellent and children are extremely well prepared for the next stage of their education. There are excellent procedures for helping children start in the Reception classes or who join the school during the academic year. As a result, new arrivals settle quickly and grow in confidence.

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Grade: 2

Leadership and management of the school are good. The headteacher and deputy headteacher make a strong team and form the core of an effective senior leadership 4 Inspection Report: St Luke's Church of England Primary School, 12 June 2006 to 13 June 2006 team. Professional development, so that innovative practice can be introduced in school, is considered a clear priority for staff and promotes children's learning well. The quality of the school's self-evaluation has improved significantly in recent years and is good. This is helped by the recently introduced tracking procedures, which are not yet fully embedded but already being used to identify challenging targets and where achievement requires extra support, such as the various intervention strategies. As a result, the school's views of its work closely match the judgements of the inspection and there is a good school improvement plan that prioritises standards and

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Grade: 2

achievement. The school canvasses the views of children and parents well in order to include them in school improvement. The school is highly committed to and successful in including vulnerable children, including those with learning difficulties and those with multiple disabilities. Parents warmly appreciate this commitment. Governors make an outstanding contribution to the work of the school, through their close involvement, high degree of knowledgeable support and ability to ask the difficult questions of school leaders. Improvement since the last inspection has been good, especially in the way staff have promoted the school so that it is now one fifth larger than it was in 2000, and in major developments to the buildings and learning resources. Key issues have been addressed satisfactorily. The senior leaders and governors have clear capacity to improve. 5 Inspection Report: St Luke's Church of England Primary School, 12 June 2006 to 13 June 2006

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set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s

website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: St Luke's Church of England Primary School, 12 June 2006 to 13 June 2006

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Overall

Key to judgements: grade 1 is outstanding, grade 2 good, grade 3 satisfactory, and grade 4 inadequate

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learners?

NA 1 How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? NA 2 The quality and standards in foundation stage NA 2 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation NA Yes The capacity to make any necessary improvements NA Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

NA 2 How well do learners achieve? NA 2 The standards 1 reached by learners

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Achievement and standards

NA 2 How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners NA 2 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

NA 1 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development NA 1 The behaviour of learners NA 1 The attendance of learners NA 1 How well learners enjoy their education NA 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices NA 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles NA 2 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community NA 2 How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

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needs and interests of learners?

NA 2 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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needs and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low.

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and supporting all learners?

NA 2 How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education NA 2 How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets, through quality assurance and self-review NA 2 How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can NA 2 How effectively and efficiently resources are deployed to achieve value for money NA 1 The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities NA Yes The adequacy and suitability of staff to ensure that learners are protected

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The extent to which schools enable learners to be healthy

Yes Learners are encouraged and enabled to eat and drink healthily Yes Learners are encouraged and enabled to take regular exercise Yes Learners are discouraged from smoking and substance abuse Yes Learners are educated about sexual health

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The extent to which providers ensure that learners stay safe

Yes Procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements Yes Risk assessment procedures and related staff training are in place Yes Action is taken to reduce anti-social behaviour, such as bullying and racism Yes Learners are taught about key risks and how to deal with them

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The extent to which learners make a positive contribution

Yes Learners are helped to develop stable, positive relationships Yes Learners, individually and collectively, participate in making decisions that affect them Yes Learners are encouraged to initiate, participate in and manage activities in school and the wider community

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The extent to which schools enable learners to achieve economic well-being

Yes There is provision to promote learners’ basic skills Yes Learners have opportunities to develop enterprise skills and work in teams NA Careers education and guidance is provided to all learners in key stage 3 and 4 and the sixth form NA Education for all learners aged 14–19 provides an understanding of employment and the economy

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Thank you very much for your help when we inspected your school. Please pass on our thanks to the other children we met and spoke to while we were at school. We enjoyed our visit very much. Now we want to share with you what we thought about your school. There are many things in your school that you can feel very proud of, for instance: - the staff take good care of you all and teach you well - your attitude to your school work is excellent and it is clear that you really enjoy school - we were impressed with how well you are doing in English, mathematics and science - the staff provide you with great opportunities to enjoy activities after school and to go on residential visits and trips. To make the school even better, we want the staff to make sure they give you challenging work in all lessons. We want them to help you to learn even better by sharing with you how you can make improvements to your work.

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