Coberley Church of England Primary School

Inspection Report Coberley Church of England Primary School

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115617 Unique Reference Number Gloucestershire LEA 279635 Inspection number 26 June 2006 to 26 June 2006 Inspection dates Patricia Pothecary AI Reporting inspector

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

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Coberley School address Primary Type of school Cheltenham Voluntary controlled School category Gloucestershire GL53 9QZ 4 to 11 Age range of pupils 01242 870366 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01242 870347 Fax number 68 Number on roll Mr C Pooley Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs Eunice Brown Headteacher 26 January 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 279635 26 June 2006 - 4 to 11 26 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 two Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

Coberley is a very small rural school with only three classes. There are only three pupils in Year 6. The school has a very low proportion of pupils with learning difficulties. Very few pupils are from ethnic groups other than White British. Many pupils come from socially advantaged families and have above average attainment on entry to the school. Up to a third of pupils, in most year groups, join or leave the school each year. The school has had an acting headteacher since September 2005 who teaches three and a half days.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Coberley Church of England Primary School, 26 June 2006 to 26 June 2006

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Grade: 2

Coberley is an effective school, offering a good quality of education. The school has come to the same conclusion. Parents believe that ‘Coberley provides a very special kind of education, where children thrive’. The school offers good value for money. The Reception class provides well for children, preparing them effectively for entry to Year 1 with above average standards. Pupils usually enter the school with above average attainment and now make good progress in all age groups. The school has been through a period of decline, since the last inspection, to the extent that pupils in the oldest class were not doing as well as they should. However, there has been a change of leadership during the last nine months leading to some rapid improvement, and pupils in this class are now catching up very fast. Good and skilled teaching is one reason why the pupils do well, particularly in the top class, where recent progress has been

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Grade: 2

outstanding. Information and communication technology (ICT) is the only core subject where pupils are now making satisfactory rather than good progress, although this is improving. Pupils develop good personal skills because of a rich curriculum and the good care and guidance they receive. Leadership and management are good and the acting headteacher has done an excellent job in re-directing and focusing the school on key areas for improvement. Close monitoring of pupils’ progress has been used effectively to support this work. This monitoring is not yet extended to every year group, however, and so does not ensure that all pupils are on track to meet their targets every year. The school has good capacity to continue improving.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Monitor the progress of pupils in every year group to develop planning that will ensure that all pupils reach suitably challenging targets by the end of each year. • Improve the quality of teaching and learning in ICT through improved assessment and target-setting and greater use in other subjects.

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Grade: 2

Standards are, at the very least, above average in most age groups with the exception of Year 5 where they are broadly average. Children usually enter the school with above average attainment, although, with small year groups and high inward mobility, there are marked variations from year to year. By the end of Year 2, standards are usually well above national averages. Pupils in all age groups, including Reception, and those with learning difficulties, now make good progress towards challenging targets and achieve well. The picture has improved rapidly in the last nine months for pupils in the top class, which contains Years 4, 5 and 6. They had begun to lose ground and were not making adequate progress until the end of the autumn term 2005. The amount of progress now being made in this group, especially for those in Year 5, is exceptional. This improvement is largely as a result of careful monitoring, high expectations, skilled

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Grade: 2

teaching and hence improved motivation. Pupils’ achievement and progress in 2 Inspection Report: Coberley Church of England Primary School, 26 June 2006 to 26 June 2006 mathematics, science and English, especially reading, are now good throughout the school. In ICT, pupils were making inadequate progress until recently, but, with gradually improving teaching, progress is now satisfactory.

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Grade: 2

Pupils’ good personal development and well-being are evident in the way pupils clearly enjoy what they do and are proud of their achievements. Pupils and their parents are very positive about the school, appreciating its small size and family atmosphere. Attendance is satisfactory. The irregular attendance of a few is dealt with well individually; however, there are no whole-school initiatives to promote and encourage good attendance. Pupils behave well; there is little bullying and pupils are very supportive of one another. Parents report a ‘polite and caring environment’. Pupils make a sound contribution to the school and local community. They support several activities in the small village of Coberley and have helped to design the very attractive school grounds. However, there are more limited opportunities for pupils to take on responsibilities within school, although the school has plans to introduce a school council. Very good development

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Grade: 2

of teamwork, enterprise, social and basic skills prepares pupils very well for their future work. The work undertaken to support an African school girl is especially effective in helping pupils learn how to run events and make money. They show a good understanding of the need to eat healthily and keep fit, for example by taking part in plenty of outdoor activity and growing their own vegetables. Pupils are also very sensible in showing an awareness of how to behave safely in lessons and around the school. Pupils spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good overall. The school has a strong musical tradition. Pupils are enabled to develop a very good understanding of life in other countries and appreciate others’ values and beliefs. However, pupils are not well supported in developing an understanding of the multicultural nature of British society and this has not improved since the last inspection.

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Grade: 2

Teaching is consistently good in all three classes and so pupils of all ages and abilities learn well and this represents an improvement. Pupils with learning difficulties do equally well. Teachers have a good range of skills in all subjects except for ICT, where satisfactory skills, especially in assessment and target-setting are still being developed. There is improved use of a variety of interesting activities to make lessons lively and keep pupils engaged. Teaching assistants contribute in a skilled way to the good learning taking place. Newly introduced assessment ensures that learning is built on systematically from lesson to lesson and pupils know what they must do to improve. 3 Inspection Report: Coberley Church of England Primary School, 26 June 2006 to 26 June 2006 Teachers know that many pupils are quite able and so the staff have high expectations of them. However, management has identified that teachers’ questioning for developing

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Grade: 2

higher order thinking skills is still not used often enough in some lessons. There has been considerable improvement in the quality of teaching in the top class recently, resulting in some outstanding progress. Pupils who had become demotivated are now very keen to learn and are doing very well in this group.

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Grade: 2

The good curriculum meets the needs and interests of pupils in the mixed-age and ability classes well, regardless of their difficulties or differences. It builds learning systematically from one year to the next and prepares pupils well for the next stage of their education. There are good opportunities for developing literacy and numeracy in all subjects, but ICT is only used to support learning in a few. Provision in ICT is a priority and is improving. The good Reception curriculum is also improved with new outdoor learning facilities. There is good provision for helping pupils to learn how to keep safe and be healthy, although personal, social and health education lacks systematic planning from one year to the next, which the school plans to address. Pupils enjoy a good and rich range of activities, particularly for sport, music and performance. Older pupils appreciate their annual residential visit which broadens

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Grade: 2

their experiences and helps them to develop independence and learn how to manage money.

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Grade: 2

The care, guidance and support provided for pupils are good, helping them to keep safe, develop good personal skills and, more recently, make better progress. Child protection procedures and other safeguards are securely in place. High expectations of behaviour and good relationships throughout the school enable pupils to work and play together productively and feel safe, without fear of bullying. In this small school each teacher knows the pupils and their achievements very well, assessing and guiding them carefully to reach suitably high standards except, until recently, in ICT. This work is supported well, for pupils aged 5 to 7, and 10 to 11 and for those with learning difficulties, by a newly developed system for tracking individual progress. This is leading to even sharper assessment and targets and some outstanding progress in those groups. Parents are involved well in the process. Pupils are guided soundly towards the next stage of their education, although the

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Grade: 2

high number of nursery and secondary schools linked to the school makes high quality procedures for transition quite difficult to manage. 4 Inspection Report: Coberley Church of England Primary School, 26 June 2006 to 26 June 2006

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Grade: 2

Leadership and management are good overall and have turned around a school in decline. The acting headteacher, well supported by good governance and the local authority, has overseen some outstanding improvements in a very short space of time. Parents are very appreciative of the good work that is now being undertaken and not one negative comment was received from parents. Parents had been removing their children previously because of their concerns. School self-evaluation is now good, with suitable consultation with parents and pupils and improving involvement of subject leaders in the process. The school has used the information gathered to identify accurately the most important priorities for development and has acted swiftly to reverse a drop in standards. The acting headteacher has a clear idea of how to bring about improvements. These have included: much improved school grounds; well-advanced plans for increased accommodation and a separate Year 6 class; improved

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Grade: 2

motivation amongst pupils and staff; and better planning to encourage achievement in reading, writing and mathematics. Newly evolved systems to monitor how well pupils are doing have focused on Years 1 to 2 and Years 5 to 6. This is not yet sufficient to ensure that pupils, in every year group, make suitable progress each year. Although progress and equal opportunities are currently good for all pupils, the system does not provide enough information for management or governors to be secure in the knowledge that pupils aged 8 and 9 are on track to do well and that good progress is being sustained. The school is already planning to extend this system as a logical next step. The school has demonstrated a good capacity to continue improving. 5 Inspection Report: Coberley Church of England Primary School, 26 June 2006 to 26 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: Coberley Church of England Primary School, 26 June 2006 to 26 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 2 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 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 3 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 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 being so helpful and welcoming to us when we visited your school. We enjoyed the time we spent with you very much. We can see why you find Coberley such a good place to learn. We have judged it to be a good school. We especially enjoyed meeting the staff and joining you for lunch and some of your lessons. Here are some of your school’s highlights: How much you learn and how much you enjoy your work The way in which your teachers help you do well and make good progress Your good behaviour, the way you help others and work so hard Improvements to the school grounds that you have helped to design The way you try to keep healthy by exercising and eating good food A good variety of interesting subjects and activities that you undertake The way the staff really care for you and guide you in your work The way senior staff work hard to keep improving the school. What we have asked the school to do to improve even more:

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Monitor carefully the progress of each one of you every year to make sure that you are keeping up and are doing as well as you can Improve the way information and communication technology (ICT) is taught and assessed so that more suitable targets can be set to help you learn more. We wish you all the very best for the future and for the hard work you will do to help the school in making these improvements.

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