Selborne Church of England Primary School

Inspection Report Selborne Church of England Primary School

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116399 Unique Reference Number Hampshire Local Authority 279815 Inspection number 6 °7 November 2006 Inspection dates George Rayner Reporting inspector

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

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School lane School address Primary Type of school Selborne Voluntary aided School category Alton GU34 3JA 4 °11 Age range of pupils 01420511213 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01420511213 Fax number 88 Number on roll (school) Mr John Britton Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs Lynne Hignett Headteacher 22 November 1999 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 279815 6 °7 November 2006 4°11 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 school is much smaller than most. Because of this standards on entry can fluctuate but in most years they are above what is normally expected. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities is currently above average, although it has been below average in previous years. Although there is some diversity in the socio-economic circumstances of pupils, these are generally advantaged. The great majority of pupils are of White British ethnicity and none are at an early stage of speaking English. The school values its denominational status and small size for their contribution to its ethos and sense of community. The headteacher joined the school just under a year ago.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Selborne Church of England Primary School, 6 °7 November 2006

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Grade: 2

This is a good school. Parents agree and they say that their children are happy and make good progress. The staff make good use of the school's small size to make it a caring, close-knit community in which pupils flourish. Pupils say emphatically that they enjoy school. They show this by their willingness to join in and their enthusiastic comments about their teachers, who they say, '...work very hard to make our lessons fun.' They readily take roles that contribute to school life and join in with community activities. Pupils live active lives, know how to keep safe and understand why a healthy diet is important. Teachers encourage pupils to be thoughtful and reflective and this contributes well to their good spirituality. They do not provide enough opportunities however, for pupils to develop a good awareness of different cultures. Teaching and learning are good and the curriculum provides a good range of stimulating

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Grade: 2

activities. Consequently, pupils achieve well to reach well above average standards by the end of Year 6. Quality and standards in the Foundation Stage are good. There, teaching is well geared to the way in which very young children learn, so that they make good progress. By the time they move into Year 1, most exceed the goals normally expected of five-year-olds. In Years 1 to 6, achievement is best in mathematics and science, where it is very good. This is because teachers are very good at providing challenging work and helping pupils to carry it out successfully. Although standards in English are above average and pupils make good progress in their reading and speaking skills, their writing is weaker than their other areas of learning. Teachers provide an appropriate range of writing tasks that help pupils to make satisfactory progress. However, these and the guidance that teachers give to pupils, do not match

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Grade: 2

well enough the steps that need to be taken for good progress. Leadership and management are good. The school's good self-evaluation has given it an accurate picture of its performance and where it can improve. The headteacher has a very clear view of the way forward. Staff working at all levels are supporting her well in this. The impact is being seen in improved provision, standards and achievement. This shows that the school has a good capacity for improvement.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Make tasks and the guidance that teachers give to pupils more helpful in improving their writing standards. • Provide more opportunities for pupils to improve their awareness of other cultures.

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Grade: 2

Children make good progress in the Foundation Stage because they have many opportunities to learn by playing and exploring. This helps them to see learning as an enjoyable experience that they love taking part in. It also helps them to become independent learners and think for themselves. 2 Inspection Report: Selborne Church of England Primary School, 6 °7 November 2006 Pupils continue to achieve well in Years 1 to 6. In mathematics, pupils are good at working out for themselves how to solve problems and sharing their ideas with each other. In science, pupils have good skills in carrying out their own experiments. These approaches help pupils to succeed in reaching well above average standards in both subjects. Pupils achieve well in speaking, listening and reading, but just satisfactorily in writing. The school ensures that no group of pupils achieves less well than the others. For example, pupils with learning difficulties make good progress because

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Grade: 2

teachers plan effectively for their needs and support assistants help to provide good additional help.

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Grade: 2

Pupils' personal development and well-being are good, as is their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. They behave well and work hard. Pupils show good respect for adults and for each other. In a mixed group discussion, older pupils made sure that younger ones had many opportunities to speak and they listened to them courteously, which improved the younger ones' confidence. Pupils take their responsibilities as school councillors and house captains very seriously. They are eager to help others less fortunate than themselves, willingly taking part in charity activities for organisations such as the National Children's Homes. Often they come up with their own ideas for these and talked proudly of organising a charity talent competition. A few pupils find it difficult to keep up their good behaviour when they are not being closely supervised, but respond well when adults remind them. Attendance is

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Grade: 2

satisfactory and punctuality is good. Pupils' good spiritual development is apparent in their thoughtful reflection during shared worship, lessons and other activities. Pupils have a good understanding of their own culture through involvement in the local community and the school's relationship with the church. They are interested in other cultures, as shown when they talked about an activity in which they learned about Judaism. However, their overall understanding of other cultures is weak. Children adapt well to change and take responsibilities sensibly, as they showed when helping to select the new deputy headteacher. These positive attitudes, along with their good basic skills, mean they are well prepared for their future lives and economic well-being.

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Grade: 2

Teaching and learning are good. Teachers promote good relationships that encourage pupils to be willing, active learners. They do this by planning exciting activities that strongly encourage pupils to take part and enjoy their learning. In an English lesson, in which some pupils acted as witnesses who had seen a fire and others interviewed them, all prepared themselves well and showed considerable enjoyment and 3 Inspection Report: Selborne Church of England Primary School, 6 °7 November 2006 involvement. Teachers often use interactive whiteboards very well to involve pupils and the pupils say they really enjoy this. Teachers successfully encourage pupils to think for themselves and share their ideas with each other for example, in a mathematics lesson when they discussed different ways in which they might solve a problem. As well as deepening their subject understanding, this greatly improves their independence

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Grade: 2

and their ability to see things from different points of view. Teachers often ask questions that encourage pupils to think, but sometimes reduce the effectiveness by not allowing enough thinking time. Teachers mark work regularly and in a way that encourages pupils. They often suggest ways pupils could present their work better, but do not give enough guidance on how to improve writing skills.

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Grade: 2

The curriculum is good. Weaknesses in accommodation reduced the quality of provision for physical education, information and communication technology and the Foundation Stage at the time of the last inspection. Governors have played a leading role in driving forward improvements that have very successfully addressed these, so that provision is now good in each area. Visiting experts teach art and music and the pupils say they greatly enjoy these lessons. The school is aware that a modern language would further improve provision and plans to introduce one are at an advanced stage. However, pupils do not have enough opportunities to improve their writing in a range of contexts in different subjects. Provision for personal, social and health education is generally good. School trips, visitors to the school and a variety of well-attended clubs, provide good enrichment.

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Grade: 2

Care, guidance and support are good. Pupils know to whom they can turn if they need help. They know they are well cared for and this contributes well to their confidence and happiness. The school has recently identified areas in which it needed to improve its procedures for child protection and has pursued these with vigour, so that these are all now all effective. It acknowledges that some parents have legitimate concerns about road safety outside the school. Although it has limited control over this, it is working conscientiously with the local authority and traffic action group to seek remedies. Procedures for tracking and guiding pupils' progress are systematic and effective. The results are used well to support learning, and this contributes significantly to good achievement. The school believes this could be even better if parents were more involved. Plans for this are well in hand, starting with a workshop to help parents to

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Grade: 2

guide their children in making progress in mathematics. 4 Inspection Report: Selborne Church of England Primary School, 6 °7 November 2006

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Grade: 2

Good leadership and management have resulted in good teaching, an interesting curriculum and strong pastoral care. These have led to positive outcomes in pupils' good achievement and personal development. Since her appointment less than a year ago, the headteacher has quickly come to understand where the school can build further upon its strengths and where it needs to improve. She is already providing very good leadership. As a result, there is a strong sense of shared commitment and direction among staff and governors. Subject leaders report that they feel more involved in leading their subjects forward. Governors have worked conscientiously to ensure they challenge and guide the school well, by streamlining their committee structure, taking part in training and introducing a procedure to ensure they visit regularly. Systematic and effective self-evaluation includes analysis of results and surveys of

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Grade: 2

the views of parents and pupils. The school has made good use of links to other organisations to help its drive for improvement. For example, it uses the guidance it receives from local authority advisers, and the opportunities to share good practice in the local small schools network, to support improvements. 5 Inspection Report: Selborne Church of England Primary School, 6 °7 November 2006 .

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Grade: 2

set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: Selborne Church of England Primary School, 6 °7 November 2006

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Inspection judgements

School Overall Key to judgements: grade 1 is outstanding, grade 2 good, grade 3 satisfactory, and grade 4 inadequate

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Overall effectiveness

How effective, efficient and inclusive is the provision of education, integrated care and any extended services in meeting the needs of learners? How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? 2 The quality and standards in the Foundation Stage 2 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 2 The capacity to make any necessary improvements Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

2 How well do learners achieve? 2 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 2 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

2 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 2 The behaviour of learners 3 The attendance of learners 2 How well learners enjoy their education 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 2 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

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and interests of learners?

2 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average to below average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low. 7 Inspection Report: Selborne Church of England Primary School, 6 °7 November 2006

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and supporting all learners?

How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can How effectively and efficiently resources, including staff, are deployed to achieve value for money The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities Yes Do procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements? No Does this school require special measures? No Does this school require a notice to improve? 8 Inspection Report: Selborne Church of England Primary School, 6 °7 November 2006

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Thank you for welcoming me to your school recently. I was able to see that yours is a good school. It was good to see that you all get on so well together and enjoy school. The grown ups make sure that being in such a small school works well for you, by making it like a family. Because of this, you all care for each other very well. This helps you to feel safe, be confident and grow up well. Your good behaviour and willingness to work hard helps your teachers a lot. Some of you told me that you are well taught and that your teachers work hard to make lessons enjoyable. I was able to see that you are right. You have lots of opportunities to take part in activities that are fun, but which help you to learn well. Some of you told me that you really like the way teachers let you use the interactive whiteboards so often. Teachers help you to think for yourselves. Because you are well taught and work hard you do well in most of your

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

learning. You do very well in mathematics and science because the teachers give you difficult things to do, but make sure that you have the help that you need to do them successfully. You do not make as much progress in writing as in your other learning. This is because teachers are not as good as they are in other subjects at planning the best work and telling you what you need to do to improve your skills. The grown ups have worked hard to improve the school buildings, so that you now have enough room for using computers, doing PE and for the Reception class. Some of you told me you were very grateful for this. It was good to see that you help your school so much by doing things like being on the school council, as house captains and by helping to choose the new deputy headteacher. You also help other people by doing a lot of charity work. I know that you are interested in learning about the lives of people in other places and have asked the school to

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

give you more opportunities to do this. Very well done to you all and very best wishes for the future. George RaynerLead inspector 9 Inspection Report: Selborne Church of England Primary School, 6 °7 November 2006

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