Burrowmoor Primary School

Inspection Report Burrowmoor Primary School

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110639 Unique Reference Number CAMBRIDGESHIRE LEA LEA 278476 Inspection number 31 October 2005 to 1 November 2005 Inspection dates Dr. Anna Coyle LI Reporting inspector

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

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Burrowmoor Road School address Primary Type of school PE15 9RP Community School category 5 to 11 Age range of pupils 01354652330 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01354661149 Fax number 914 Number on roll Mr.David Graham Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Ms. Anna Traer-Goffe Headteacher Not applicable Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 278476 31 October 2005 - 5 to 11 1 November 2005 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

Burrowmoor Primary School is a much larger than average school, situated in March, Cambridgeshire. The vast majority of children are of White British descent. A very small number are from Traveller backgrounds and a few speak English as an additional language. The proportion of children with learning difficulties and disabilities is a bit lower than other schools nationally. The range is wide, and includes children with moderate and specific learning difficulties, social, emotional and behavioural needs, hearing, visual and physical disabilities and some on the autistic spectrum. Three children have statements for their needs.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Burrowmoor Primary School, 31 October 2005 to 1 November 2005

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Grade: 3

The overall effectiveness of the school is satisfactory and there are good features in several aspects of provision. The school views itself as being good and, whilst inspectors do not wholly agree, they do find that it provides a supportive and caring environment for its pupils. The majority of parents believe that their views are valued and children say that they enjoy school. The headteacher, deputy and business manager provide a clear lead to staff and work well as a team. Good pastoral care, good behaviour and well-maintained spacious accommodation are strong features of the school. Attainment on entry varies considerably from year to year but is broadly average overall. Children are given a sound start to their education in the reception classes and most achieve the expected goals by the time they move into Year 1. Children make satisfactory progress overall and reach national standards in English, mathematics and science by

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Grade: 3

the end of Year 2 and Year 6. The school's procedures for self-evaluation are satisfactory. However, they are not yet sufficiently precise to help the school evaluate its work accurately and subject leaders do not have clear criteria by which to measure the quality of teaching in lessons. Children are not sufficiently involved in evaluating their own work to help them know exactly what they have done well and what they should do to improve. The school has made sufficient improvement since the last inspection. It provides satisfactory value for money and has sound capacity to continue its development.

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What the school should do to improve further

Improve the accuracy of the school's self-evaluation to gain a clearer picture of how well it is doing and where it needs to improve. Extend the roles of the subject leaders to sharpen up their skills in evaluating teaching and learning to raise standards further. Involve children more closely in the evaluation of their own work so they know what they need to do to improve.

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Grade: 3

Standards are currently average in English, mathematics and science in Years 2 and 6. However, standards have fluctuated since the previous inspection, especially at the end of Year 2 where the test results show particular variations in reading and writing. The school's recent action, taken as a result of a temporary decline in standards, has halted the downward trend and standards are now rising again steadily. The school has correctly identified the need to go on improving children's writing and mathematics. This is having a positive effect on progress in literacy where the most benefit can be seen as a result of the recent intensive focus across the whole school. Children in the reception classes start school with similar skills to those found in most other schools, although their communication and mathematical skills vary on entry. Children make satisfactory progress overall from the time they enter until the end of Year 6. Most

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Grade: 3

2 Inspection Report: Burrowmoor Primary School, 31 October 2005 to 1 November 2005 work hard, and those with learning difficulties and disabilities are closely supported by teaching assistants to help them make sufficient progress.

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Grade: 2

Children's personal development and well-being are good. Children enjoy coming to school and are punctual. Attendance has risen to the national average. Children behave well because they are keen to please and have good relationships with staff and one another. The school council helps them to play an active part in making decisions. For example, they have campaigned to improve the quality of their school dinners. As a result, the meals have improved and more children than previously enjoy eating a healthy cooked lunch. Children learn what to do to stay safe and they understand why healthy food and exercise are important. This is enhanced by a good range of physical activities, including swimming, competitive and fun sports. Children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is satisfactory. They understand why rules are necessary and contribute to making them. They learn about different cultures in lessons, visits

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Grade: 2

to places of interest and from visitors to the school. Children make a good contribution to the local community. They think of others and understand the contribution they can make to others less fortunate than themselves. They raise money regularly for local and international charities, such as the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals. Visitors, such as the police and fire service, give children a good understanding of how society works and of the different jobs people do.

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Grade: 3

Teaching and learning are satisfactory overall, and there is some good teaching. Teachers know the children well and make good use of interactive whiteboards to capture and hold their interest. They make clear to the children how they expect them to behave in lessons so that no time is lost in maintaining discipline. In the best lessons, teachers give children the chance to talk with each other about their work. For example, in a good literacy lesson, children talked about identifying unknown words in a text and how they might work out the meanings. In a good personal, social and health education (PSHE) lesson, Year 3 children discussed the idea of friendship with enthusiasm. Suitable tasks are planned for different ability groups, and conscientious teaching assistants closely support children who find learning hard. Where teaching is satisfactory rather than good the children spend too long listening to the teacher

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Grade: 3

before getting on with their tasks and lessons lack sparkle. The school has satisfactory systems for checking how well children are doing. Teachers use the information carefully in some subjects to group children into sets and they devise individual and group targets for children to aspire to. However, this is not sufficiently consistent throughout the school to ensure that all children are aware of the targets. As a result they are not sufficiently involved in evaluating their own work. 3 Inspection Report: Burrowmoor Primary School, 31 October 2005 to 1 November 2005

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Grade: 3

The school provides a satisfactory range of activities to help children learn. All of the subjects of the National Curriculum are covered. The children have good opportunities to enjoy learning modern foreign languages, such as Italian and French, which are taught alongside topic work. Sufficient time is allocated to each subject and the school enhances children's learning with a satisfactory range of visits to places of interest and visitors to the school. In the reception classes, children have a suitable range of indoor activities and outdoor play.

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Grade: 2

The school provides a caring and supportive environment where children can be happy and confident individuals. The school works effectively with a range of outside agencies to ensure that children receive the support that they need. For example, children who have been identified as having exceptional physical skills attend sporting events at the local secondary school. Parents are pleased with the work of the school and feel that they are consulted and their views are valued. Child protection arrangements are clear and well understood by all staff. Staff and children take pride in, and care for, their school. Health and safety matters are taken seriously and risk assessments are carefully carried out. As a result, the school is safe and secure. Induction arrangements are good, so that children settle quickly, and Year 6 children are well prepared for their move to secondary education. Most children work hard to achieve challenging targets

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Grade: 2

in English and mathematics. However, the feedback children receive on their written work does not always help them know exactly what they have to do to improve.

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Grade: 3

Leadership and management are satisfactory overall. The headteacher provides a clear lead to colleagues and works well with the deputy and the business manager to promote a good sense of teamwork. Together, they provide good support to the staff, several of whom are new and have not yet had time to develop their management roles. After some recent staffing difficulties, the school is now set to improve further with careful guidance from the headteacher, senior staff and governors. The governing body meets all of its statutory requirements well and ensures that the school achieves satisfactory value for money. All of the issues from the previous inspection have been dealt with effectively. The school has satisfactory systems to give an overall picture of how well it is doing and what it could do better. However, the procedures are not sufficiently precise to help staff analyse outcomes and evaluate provision accurately. For example,

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Grade: 3

the lack of clear criteria by which to measure the quality of teaching, learning and the curriculum means that some subject leaders do not have a secure grasp of the strengths and weaknesses in their areas. The leadership of both mathematics and science by just one member of staff is an inappropriate delegation of management responsibilities. 4 Inspection Report: Burrowmoor Primary School, 31 October 2005 to 1 November 2005 .

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

website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 5 Inspection Report: Burrowmoor Primary School, 31 October 2005 to 1 November 2005

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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 2 How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? NA NA The quality and standards in foundation stage NA 3 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 3 How well do learners achieve? NA 3 The standards 1 reached by learners

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Achievement and standards

NA 3 How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners NA 3 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

NA 3 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development NA 2 The behaviour of learners NA 3 The attendance of learners NA 2 How well learners enjoy their education NA 2 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 3 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 3 How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education NA 3 How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets, through quality assurance and self-review NA 3 How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can NA 3 How effectively and efficiently resources are deployed to achieve value for money NA 2 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 NA 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 for being so helpful when we came to inspect your school. We really enjoyed talking to you and seeing you work with your teachers. It was good to see that you listen carefully and behave well in lessons. We think that your school does some things well, but there are a few things it needs to do better. What we liked most about your school - you enjoy school and get on well together - adults take good care of you and make sure that you are safe - the headteacher and the staff work well together as a good team What we have asked your school to do now - get a clearer picture of what the school is doing well and where it needs to improve - help the teachers to lead and manage their subjects better - help you to understand more about how well you are doing in lessons We wish you all every success in the future.

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