Froxfield Church of England Primary and Pre-School

Inspection Report Froxfield Church of England Infant School

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116289 Unique Reference Number Hampshire LEA LEA 279783 Inspection number 3 October 2005 to 3 October 2005 Inspection dates George Rayner AI Reporting inspector

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

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High Cross School address Infant Type of school Froxfield Voluntary controlled School category Petersfield, Hampshire GU32 1EG 4 to 7 Age range of pupils

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01730827251 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01730827251 Fax number 36 Number on roll Mrs R Reed Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs L Chester Headteacher 6 March 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 279783 3 October 2005 - 4 to 7 3 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 one additional inspector.

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Description of the school

The school is very small. It can take a maximum of 45 pupils and currently has 36 on roll. It has a rural location in what is recognised as an area of outstanding natural beauty. The school is situated in a very small hamlet and many of its children come from surrounding villages and the nearest town, Petersfield. Children are taught in two classes, with the Foundation Stage in one and older ones in the other. The school is located in an area of social and economic advantage. The vast majority of pupils are of white British origin, with none identified as having a first language other than English. The percentage with special educational needs is very low, with no child currently having a statement.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Froxfield Church of England Infant School, 3 October 2005 to 3 October 2005

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Grade: 1

The school's view is that it is very effective. The inspection indicates that it underestimates itself a little, as it is highly effective. The achievement of the great majority of children, who reach very high standards by the end of Year 2, is outstanding. The outstanding teaching and curriculum make a very significant contribution to this. The school succeeds extremely well in making the most of its lovely countryside setting and small size, while still providing a broad, balanced and very effective curriculum. Leadership is highly committed, decisive and knowledgeable. The partnership between leaders, staff, governors and parents is highly effective in providing a secure environment in which children can flourish. The children play a full part through their excellent behaviour and attitudes to work. The school provides very good value for money and has a clear capacity for yet further improvement.

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What the school should do to improve further

The school does not have any major weaknesses and has correctly identified areas in which it could be even better:* Continue to improve procedures for tracking children's progress through the foundation stage and into Year 1* Continue to work on improving children's standards in writing

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Grade: 1

In 2004 children started the Foundation Stage with standards that were above average. This year they are much closer to average. After making very good progress, last year's children quickly reached well above average standards. All cope well with all parts of their learning. The brightest are able to do work in mathematics that is normally aimed at children in Year 2.In years 1 and 2 children make outstanding progress. By the end of Year 2 all succeed in reaching the expected standard in all parts of their learning. In reading and mathematics, most reach considerably higher standards than expected. Although many children do extremely well in writing, the standards here are not quite so strong. The school's results show that boys and girls usually do as well as each other.

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Grade: 1

Spiritual, moral and social development are outstanding. The school's close relationship with the village church is a powerful factor in its commitment to these. Children are strongly encouraged to understand right and wrong, co-operate with each other and adults and reflect upon their experiences. Froxfield is developing links with a Ghanaian school and has sent some older, but serviceable, computers there. African musicians visit the school and such activities as Red Nose Day effectively raise awareness. Attitudes and behaviour are excellent. Children work hard, show interest and co-operate 2 Inspection Report: Froxfield Church of England Infant School, 3 October 2005 to 3 October 2005 very well together. The school values pupils' opinions. It has surveyed their views on many matters, consulting them when for example, choosing colour schemes during redecoration. Attendance is better than the primary school average. The school strongly

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Grade: 1

encourages children to eat healthily and take exercise. All food is cooked on the premises and full use is made of the small size and rural location to successfully promote a 'home-cooked', appetising, wholesome, diet with a good selection of vegetables. There is a basket of fruit, much of it locally produced, from which children are encouraged to take what they want.

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Grade: 1

Teaching and learning contribute very significantly to pupils' high standards. In the Foundation Stage, activities are carefully planned to match age and needs. This was seen in a numeracy lesson about shapes. Teaching very effectively checked and built upon children's existing knowledge, provided opportunities for them to participate in exploring shapes and strongly focused upon the development of specialist vocabulary. Teachers set clear and high expectations on how children should behave in class. When, in their enthusiasm, children cannot resist shouting out answers, this is corrected emphatically, but sensitively. When children work in small groups, tasks are well selected to match abilities. In most lessons, learning benefits from a high proportion of adults to children. Classroom assistants and volunteers support teachers in providing a high level of guidance for individual work and the headteacher often adds a helping hand.

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Grade: 1

Occasionally, this reduces children's opportunities to work independently, or make their own choices. This happened when children were allowed to do written work that was too similar to some previously demonstrated by the teacher, rather than having to think of their own examples. Computers contributed effectively to every classroom-based lesson inspected. In each lesson, children used computers to enhance the presentation of their work and the interactive whiteboard was used to make learning more stimulating and challenging. For example, foundation stage children had to identify shapes as they were gradually revealed and were delighted when they got these right.

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Grade: 1

The school succeeds in providing, in spite of its small size, a broad and balanced curriculum, enhanced by some very strong features. Visiting specialists give lessons in French, physical education and music. Links with nationally renowned experts have been invaluable in advising the school on designing a challenging curriculum for gifted and talented children. Very good use is made of experts in other fields to further enrich the curriculum through visits to conduct topic days on activities such as cookery and art. The school has addressed weaknesses identified by the previous inspection. Children in the Foundation Stage now have good opportunities to improve their knowledge 3 Inspection Report: Froxfield Church of England Infant School, 3 October 2005 to 3 October 2005 and understanding of the world. There are much better planned activities for improving physical strength and capability. Computer resources have been significantly improved

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Grade: 1

and lessons in which children carry out design tasks are now much more frequent. Most pupils take part in after-school activities, for example swimming and tennis with professional coaches.

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Grade: 1

The school provides a high standard of care and guidance for its pupils, who benefit greatly from being part of a highly caring, secure and close-knit community. Systems to ensure safety are carefully organised. All teachers are trained in child protection, first aid and safety on school trips. Individual members of staff have qualifications to identify and help vulnerable children and those who are dyslexic. An extremely close relationship between staff and parents and carers ensures a very effective partnership in knowing about any problems children may have and helping to overcome these. Children are strongly encouraged to take pride in their work and to celebrate their achievements through a 'tree of achievement' and celebration assemblies in which those who do well academically, socially or in activities outside school, are recognised. There is genuine commitment to the well-being and success of every child. A detailed

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Grade: 1

portfolio for each pupil shows their progress and regularly reviews this to identify any who are not reaching expected standards.

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Grade: 1

The headteacher leads with a very strong dedication to excellence in all areas of the school's work. The quality of teamwork between all other staff is amply demonstrated by the success with which the school maintained its standards and ethos during an extended period when the headteacher was absent through illness. In spite of its successes, nobody in the school is complacent. This led for example, to a determination to improve writing standards which, although high, do not quite match those in reading or mathematics. Governors make a very significant contribution to the life and success of the school. All are highly committed to the children and records of their visits show that they are very regular, familiar and helpful visitors. The school has very good systems for identifying individual children's starting points, so that their progress can be monitored and supported. It acknowledges though, that these do not yet provide

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Grade: 1

a fully coherent basis for analysing overall standards of years or other groups. It is investigating computer-based systems as a means of improving this. Regular, rigorous monitoring and evaluation of lessons is carried out by the headteacher and local authority inspectors. Governors are also strongly involved in monitoring through links with subject areas, involving regular, formal, lesson observations. Parents contribute strongly to the school's work through their association, 'The Friends of Froxfield'. They are highly complimentary about it. A high proportion returned questionnaires and these were overwhelmingly favourable. Additional comments were noticeably rich in words like 'wonderful', 'idyllic', 'superb'; and 'excellent'. One parent said that all of 4 Inspection Report: Froxfield Church of England Infant School, 3 October 2005 to 3 October 2005 her children had been through the school, all had flourished and none had wanted to

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Grade: 1

leave. 5 Inspection Report: Froxfield Church of England Infant School, 3 October 2005 to 3 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: Froxfield Church of England Infant School, 3 October 2005 to 3 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 1 How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? NA 1 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 1 How well do learners achieve? NA 1 The standards 1 reached by learners

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Achievement and standards

NA 1 How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners NA 1 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 2 The attendance of learners NA 1 How well learners enjoy their education NA 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices NA 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles NA 1 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community NA 1 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 1 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 1 How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education NA 1 How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets, through quality assurance and self-review NA 1 How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can NA 1 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 for being so friendly and helpful when I visited your school. I really enjoyed my visit. It was good to see that you are so happy and like your school so much. Some of you told me that you love coming to school because the children and teachers are so nice. My visit showed me that you are doing very well indeed in reading and using numbers and almost as well in writing. You help your teachers very much by behaving very well. I know that you will work hard to help your teachers as they try to make writing as good as the other things. Your headteacher and teachers have worked very hard to give you lots of interesting things to do. You have some very good computers to help you make your work even better. Other people often visit the school to help them. You clearly enjoy it when they show you how to do things like sports and making models and food.All of the grown-ups in the school care for you very

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

much. They work hard together to make sure that you are happy and safe and that the school and playground are lovely places to be in. They told me how much they like the way you often help. The headteacher was very proud that you chose the lovely, bright colours for your toilets. One of the nicest things is how much your parents and other grown-ups who look after you love the school and help it so much. Well done to you all and good luck for the future.

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