Morton Primary School

112596 Unique Reference Number DERBYSHIRE LEA LEA 278972 Inspection number 5 June 2006 to 6 June 2006 Inspection dates Mr. David Speakman LI Reporting inspector

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

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Main Road School address Primary Type of school DE55 6HH Community School category 4 to 11 Age range of pupils 01773 872360 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01773 872360 Fax number 86 Number on roll Mr.Paul Tozer Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mr. Edward Dunleavy Headteacher 8 May 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 278972 5 June 2006 - 4 to 11 6 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 an Additional Inspector.

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Description of the school

This smaller than average school takes pupils mainly from the local area. All come from a White British background. The proportion of pupils claiming free school meals is below average. The number of pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities and those with a statement of special educational need is below average. Pupils are taught in mixed-age classes. Attainment on entry is broadly average. The headteacher was absent from school at the time of the inspection.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Morton Primary School, 5 June 2006 to 6 June 2006

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Grade: 3

This is an effective school and there has been satisfactory improvement since the previous inspection. The support and challenge of the governing body and commitment of the staff to improvement mean the school has the capacity to improve further still. The school provides satisfactory value for money. Standards at the end of Reception, Year 2 and Year 6 are average and pupils' achievement is satisfactory. Pupils' personal development is good. Pupils enjoy school and their positive attitudes and good behaviour make the school a comfortable place to be. Pupils are well cared for by staff, but they feel their opinions are not sufficiently listened to and they would like to be given more responsibilities. The quality of teaching is sound. Teachers have some good teaching skills but there are weaknesses in lesson planning. Teachers identify suitable alternative activities for pupils of different ages in mixed age classes, but do not

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Grade: 3

address the needs of pupils of different ability well enough. The school has made a start in tracking achievement as pupils move through the school, but target setting and the use of assessment data to provide challenging activities for pupils of all abilities is inconsistent. The quality of provision in the Foundation Stage is good and the curriculum offered to pupils in Key Stage 1 and 2 is sound. Leadership and management are satisfactory and governors provide good levels of support and challenge; effectively holding the school to account for its performance. Governors recognise that a more shared approach to leadership is needed to take the school forward. The school judged itself to be good whereas inspection findings showed it to be satisfactory. Governors have rightly identified the need to use the expertise of teachers fully so that the school is in a better position to judge its own performance robustly.

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What the school should do to improve further

- Strengthen leadership and management by establishing a shared approach and using the skills and expertise of staff more fully. - Use assessment more effectively to track pupils' progress, identify any underachievement and raise standards. - Improve the quality of teaching by ensuring that lesson activities are matched to the needs of all pupils so they do as well as they can. - Ensure that pupils have more opportunities to have a say in the life of the school.

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Grade: 3

Children enter school with attainment that covers a wide range, but is average overall. The school has noted an increasing proportion starting with poorer academic and personal skills. Children achieve satisfactorily overall in Reception and standards and achievement in personal, social and emotional development are good. Most achieve the goals they are expected to reach by the end of the Foundation Stage. Pupils' achievement in Years 1 and 2 is satisfactory and attainment at the end of Year 2 is average in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils continue to make satisfactory progress so that standards at Year 6 are satisfactory overall. Targets for attainment 2 Inspection Report: Morton Primary School, 5 June 2006 to 6 June 2006 at the end of Year 6 in 2005 were very challenging but due to significant disruption to teaching and class organisation these targets were not met. Targets for the current

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Grade: 3

Year 6 are more realistic and school assessment data suggests satisfactory overall achievement and average standards in English and mathematics. It also indicates that the initiatives implemented to raise standards in writing have been effective and improvement in writing has been good. Pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities achieve satisfactorily.

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Grade: 2

Pupils have positive attitudes to school and learn with enthusiasm. Behaviour is good and sometimes outstanding. Pupils who find good behaviour difficult to achieve respond well to positive encouragement and take a full part in lessons. Pupils enjoy school, as reflected in their attendance, which has improved and is again above average. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. Pupils have a good awareness of how children from other backgrounds live. Their moral and social awareness is good and is reflected in good relationships between pupils of all ages. Pupils know how to stay healthy and engage in healthy eating and opportunities to stay physically fit. They have a good awareness of personal safety and stay safe whilst in school. Pupils do not have enough opportunity to take responsibility and influence what happens in school. There is a school council but meetings are infrequent and their requests are

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Grade: 2

not taken on board. This limits pupils in their ability to develop skills needed to make decisions which affect them. Pupils say they would welcome the chance to make a greater contribution to the life of the school but lack of encouragement disappoints them. For example, the 'playground buddy scheme' did not take off because it lacked support from senior staff. In contrast, the school's work to promote satisfactory literacy and numeracy skills make a sound contribution to pupils' future economic well-being.

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Grade: 3

The quality of teaching is satisfactory. Teachers have good subject knowledge and explain new work clearly so that they become confident learners. Teachers and teaching assistants manage pupils' behaviour well and ensure that lessons proceed without undue disruption. Adults have very good relationships with pupils and each individual is valued. Support for pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities in class is good and teaching assistants make a significant contribution to this. Although the school is developing appropriate assessment systems more could be done to ensure teachers make better use of assessment information to enable all pupils to achieve their best. The setting of targets to inform pupils about what they are aiming for in lessons is inconsistent. These are set for most pupils in literacy and numeracy but older pupils do not recall having targets set for them. Different activities are clearly planned for

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Grade: 3

pupils of different ages taught in the same class but there is not enough attention 3 Inspection Report: Morton Primary School, 5 June 2006 to 6 June 2006 given to matching work to their different ability levels. Higher attaining pupils in particular are not provided with sufficiently challenging activities. Lesson planning often indicates what pupils will do, but not what they are intended to learn or what will be assessed. Pupils are not yet sufficiently involved in the assessment of their own progress.

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Grade: 3

The Foundation Stage curriculum is good and the transition to the National Curriculum is seamless. The curriculum provided for pupils from Year 1 to Year 6 is satisfactory. It is appropriately planned to meet the learning needs of different ages in mixed age classes but there is insufficient attention given to meeting the needs of those capable of higher attainment. Provision for pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities is satisfactory. Personal, social and health education is good. Sex and relationships education and raising pupils' awareness of the use and misuse of drugs and harmful substances are appropriately addressed. Curriculum enrichment is good. There is a wide range of extra-curricular activities, including sport, music, and artistic activities, which meet the preferences of most pupils. Day visits, including those to places of worship to raise pupils' awareness of different cultures, visitors and themed days

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Grade: 3

successfully add interest and enjoyment to learning.

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Grade: 3

Care, guidance and support are satisfactory overall. Staff are committed to the personal welfare of all pupils, who feel safe and supported in all that they do because the school takes good care of them. Child protection arrangements are thorough and all staff are aware of policy and practice. The school is a secure place and procedures to ensure pupils' health and safety are good. Pupils would however, like more to do at break and lunchtimes and would value some playground equipment to help occupy them. Academic support and guidance is an area for the school to develop. The setting of targets for pupils to aim for in their class work is inconsistent. The school has yet to fully develop systems for using assessment data to ensure that all pupils achieve as well as they can and that any potential underachievement is identified at an early stage.

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Grade: 3

Leadership and management are satisfactory. The school has come through a difficult period of contraction and staff turnover, during which time standards fell. Parents were rightly concerned and Year 6 pupils say they have found the last two years difficult. Nevertheless, with the support of the local authority, the school has implemented effective strategies to overcome these difficulties. The school has re-established a fourth class and support groups for pupils in need of extra help. There 4 Inspection Report: Morton Primary School, 5 June 2006 to 6 June 2006 is now a greater degree of rigour in tracking achievement, although there is still more to do in developing the use of assessment information. The role of subject leaders in monitoring and evaluating standards of teaching and learning is underdeveloped. The school has rightly recognised this weakness and has already begun to take steps to remedy the situation. For example the work done to develop the role of the literacy

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Grade: 3

coordinator has successfully enabled her to influence the work done to raise standards. School self-evaluation is satisfactory but the lack of an open and shared approach to school improvement means that opportunities are missed to take the school forward quickly. Nevertheless, the school improvement plan correctly focuses on improving key areas of the school, including leadership and management, teaching and learning and monitoring achievement in order to raise standards. Governors do contribute to school improvement planning and parents' views are considered appropriately. Governors provide good levels of support and have effective means of finding out how the school is doing. Whilst being supportive, they are increasingly challenging the school and rigorously holding it to account for its performance. Improvement since the previous inspection is satisfactory overall but there has been significant

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Grade: 3

improvement recently as a result of the gains made in governance. This, combined with clear plans for future improvement, means the school demonstrates a secure capacity to improve further. 5 Inspection Report: Morton Primary School, 5 June 2006 to 6 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: Morton Primary School, 5 June 2006 to 6 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 3 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 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 2 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development NA 2 The behaviour of learners NA 2 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 3 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 3 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 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 for helping me when I visited your school recently. I enjoyed being there and finding out about you and the things that are going on in your school. It was interesting to talk to you and your teachers and to watch lessons. I noticed that you get on well together and adults in your school care for you. This makes school a safe and comfortable place for you. You clearly enjoy being at school. Your behaviour is good and I saw some excellent behaviour in lessons. You show good attitudes towards school and learning. The staff and the governors are working hard to improve opportunities for learning so that you can all learn the skills you need. I have asked your teachers and governors to look at how they can make things even better. The most important things are: - To give you a greater say in how you would like to see the school improve. - To check more carefully what you do in lessons, including asking you how well you

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

think you are doing, and providing any help you need early on. - To provide you with more challenging activities so you can all do as well as you can. - To give all teachers a greater say in leading the school forward. I wish you all well in the future. Yours truly

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