Ewanrigg Junior School

Inspection Report Ewanrigg Junior School

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112136 Unique Reference Number Cumbria LEA 278859 Inspection number 3 October 2005 to 4 October 2005 Inspection dates Gill Salter-Smith Reporting inspector

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

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Ennerdale Road School address Junior Type of school Maryport Community School category Cumbria, CA15 8HN 7 to 11 Age range of pupils 01900 812330 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01900 812330 Fax number 174 Number on roll Mrs P Nicholson Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Miss Y Craig Headteacher 28 February 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 278859 3 October 2005 - 7 to 11 4 October 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 two additional inspectors.

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Description of the school

Ewanrigg Junior School is a smaller than average urban school. The school is situated in a large area of housing in Maryport, much of which is an area of severe social deprivation. A high proportion of the pupils is eligible for free school meals. More pupils than is usually the case have learning difficulties and/or disabilities and a high proportion of pupils have statements of special educational need. All pupils are of white British backgrounds. The school’s population is very stable. A pre-school breakfast club operates and there is a weekly morning crèche. This provision is not managed by the school but there are close links with it. The school provides some classes for adult learning. A new headteacher has been in post for just over one year.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Ewanrigg Junior School, 3 October 2005 to 4 October 2005

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Grade: 3

Ewanrigg Junior is an improving school and provides a satisfactory quality of education for its pupils. Taking account of their prior attainment, pupils achieve satisfactorily but standards remain significantly below the national average. They are weak for boys and should be much higher for the more able pupils. The strong and dynamic leadership of the new headteacher sets high expectations of pupils and staff in raising standards and the quality of education. Leaders and staff across the school are supportive of the headteacher and committed to the shared goal to, ‘be all that you can.’ Much has been achieved in a short time. Pupils’ enthusiasm for learning and their behaviour are much improved. Pupils enjoy learning, show good behaviour and are cared for effectively. The school is becoming increasingly popular with parents and they are pleased with the way the school works with their children. The school works well with other schools and providers in the local community to

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Grade: 3

support the well-being and achievement of pupils. The school has a good understanding of what it needs to do to improve but many of its recent actions have not yet had the time to have their full effect on raising the quality of teaching and the achievement of pupils beyond that of satisfactory. At present also, staff and management do not have a good enough idea of how well pupils are doing. However, there has been satisfactory improvement since the last inspection and the school has a good capacity to improve further. Value for money is satisfactory.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Raise standards and the achievement especially in writing for boys and in English and mathematics for higher attaining pupils. • Improve the use of assessment and target setting in classrooms so that pupils know how well they are doing and what to do to improve, and that better use is made of the concluding part of lessons to review progress. • Ensure that senior staff carry out systematic checks on the effect of the work of the school on pupils’ achievement and well-being.

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Grade: 3

The school rightly judges standards to be below average and progress to be satisfactory. Pupils’ attainment when they start school in Year 3 is significantly below average. The available data for 2004 and 2005 show that pupils make satisfactory progress as they move through the school, with no significant differences between girls, boys or pupils of different ability. However, overall results in tests taken in Year 6 remain significantly below average. 2 Inspection Report: Ewanrigg Junior School, 3 October 2005 to 4 October 2005

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Grade: 2

The school correctly judges its promotion of pupils’ personal development and well-being to be good. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good overall. Pupils understand that there are others who are needier than themselves. They raise money and send gifts to children in this and other countries. Pupils know that people have different faiths and belong to different cultures. However, they are not aware enough of the culturally mixed society in which we live. Behaviour is consistently good except for a very small minority of pupils who find it difficult to behave well and settle down in lessons. The school recognises this and provides good support for these pupils. Relationships are good and pupils enjoy learning. One boy in Year 4 said, ‘we don’t wait around to do it all in Year 6 and another said, ‘we enjoy lessons because of the teachers’. Pupils know about safety issues and how to follow a healthy lifestyle. Attendance is

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Grade: 2

satisfactory. Nevertheless, the school is working hard to improve attendance and punctuality. Pupils have several skills that will stand them in good stead in the future. They accept responsibility eagerly. They have good attitudes to work and they are improving their skills in information and communication technology (ICT).

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Grade: 3

Teaching and learning are satisfactory overall, with some good teaching in both the upper and the lower school. There is no inadequate teaching. Where teaching is good, pupils work hard, enjoy the lessons and make good progress because what they have to do builds on what they already know or can do, and challenges them to do better. This is particularly true in the upper school when pupils of similar abilities are taught together for numeracy and literacy. The way teachers praise pupils justifiably to boost their confidence is a strong feature of the teaching. Pupils benefit particularly from the way the school uses teaching assistants in classrooms and to teach ICT. Teaching provides many good opportunities for pupils to improve their writing through concentration on improving speaking and listening skills. Pupils regularly discuss their work with each other in a well structured way before reporting back to the teacher or

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Grade: 3

to another group of pupils. Expectations of presentation and handwriting are high and checks on pupils’ writing are carried out each term. Assessment arrangements help teachers to plan work, but pupils are not always aware of what they need to do to improve in the next few days. The weakest part of lessons was the concluding part where teachers help pupils to know what they have learned. This part of the lesson is often rushed and so does not fulfil its purpose. 3 Inspection Report: Ewanrigg Junior School, 3 October 2005 to 4 October 2005

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Grade: 2

The school rightly judges the quality of its curriculum to be good. The curriculum has been revised and meets the needs of all learners well, including showing them how to stay safe and healthy. The pupils build on what they already know and can do in a logical way because the curriculum is planned so as to produce progress. Pupils acquire their good personal, social and citizenship skills through teaching in all subjects. Within the curriculum there are good opportunities to use work from one subject to support learning in another. This was shown in a Year 4 ICT lesson that linked closely to what pupils were learning in science. Pupils also benefit from a wide range of visits, including residential visits. The visits bring learning alive, as shown by work done after a visit to Dove Cottage, the home of the poet William Wordsworth. Pupils are pleased with the wide variety of clubs before, during and after school.

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Grade: 2

The school correctly judges that the care, guidance and support that it provides for pupils are good. All pupils are well cared for and there are good procedures for health and safety. Child protection procedures are fully in place and risk assessments are completed as required. Relationships between staff and pupils are good, helped by the high priority given to personal, social, health and citizenship education. The ‘buddy’ system, where older pupils take care of younger pupils, and the reward system are contributing well to pupils’ enjoyment of morning break and lunchtime. The emphasis on providing good care and support means that the vast majority of pupils feel secure in school and are becoming confident learners.

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Grade: 3

The school judges its leadership and management generously. This judgement rightly reflects the good leadership of the headteacher. However, it does not recognise that, even though recent action taken by the school is leading to improvements, it has not yet had time to raise pupils’ achievement and improve standards overall. Inspection evidence shows leadership and management to be satisfactory. Many indicators of improvement are evident in pupils’ attitudes, their behaviour, the popularity of the school with parents and in the community, the writing seen across the school, and the improved results for higher attaining pupils, in science, for example. The new headteacher, in post for just over a year, provides dynamic and pragmatic leadership which emphasises raising standards and improving the quality of education. The staff are supportive of the headteacher. They are working effectively as a team

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Grade: 3

that is highly committed to pupils’ well-being and achievement. 4 Inspection Report: Ewanrigg Junior School, 3 October 2005 to 4 October 2005 The school has some knowledge of how well it is doing and what needs to be done to improve, but it does not yet have a good enough knowledge of how its plans and activities are affecting the pupils. It is beginning to deal with this. Information gathered through surveys of parents’ and pupils’ views has been acted upon. As a result of the surveys, the school paid good attention to improving pupils’ behaviour and feeling of well-being. School planning guides improvements well, identifying the correct priorities. However, checks on the effect of actions taken on pupils’ achievement are not systematic enough. The governing body is very supportive and holds the school to account well. Finances are carefully managed and recent spending on resources for ICT are helping pupils to

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Grade: 3

learn and improve. 5 Inspection Report: Ewanrigg Junior School, 3 October 2005 to 4 October 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. 6 Inspection Report: Ewanrigg Junior School, 3 October 2005 to 4 October 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 4 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 2 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 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 3 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 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 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

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 0207 421 6800 F 0207 421 6707 www.ofsted.gov.uk Ewanrigg Junior School Ennerdale Road Maryport Cumbria CA15 8HN 5 October 2005 Dear Pupils, Thank you very much for making us feel so welcome in your school. We want to let you know how much we enjoyed talking to you about your school and seeing you at work in lessons. You were all very kind, polite and ready to help. You are rightly proud of your school and we think it is special because: your teachers and other adults in the school work hard and help you to do your best and to be safe and well looked after in school you enjoy learning and behave well you enjoy taking part in an exciting range of extra activities other than lessons you take care of each other well and are willing to take on responsibilities you are making the most of good ICT equipment to help you with your learning you have a headteacher who works very well with all the teachers and other adults to make the

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

school better and help you to do well. There are three things we have asked the school to do to make it even better. The school should: help you reach the highest standards that you possibly can make sure that you know exactly how well you are doing and that you have clear targets that help you to know what to do to improve your work keep checking that you are all, including the teachers and other adults, doing as well as you can to help you to do well and be happy in school. You can help by always trying hard to do your best, continuing to improve your handwriting, and listening very hard to the teachers’ advice on how to improve. Keep up the good work! Yours sincerely Mrs Salter-Smith and Mr Allison

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