River Primary School

118393 Unique Reference Number Kent LEA 280308 Inspection number 11 January 2006 to 12 January 2006 Inspection dates Ian Hartland HMI Reporting inspector

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

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Lewisham Road School address Primary Type of school Dover Community School category Kent CT17 0PP 4 to 11 Age range of pupils 01304 822516 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01304 829 212 Fax number 406 Number on roll Mr Neil Beverton Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs Lynn Lawrence Headteacher 12 June 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 280308 11 January 2006 - 4 to 11 12 January 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 one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors and two Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

The school is bigger than most primary schools. Most pupils come from River but more pupils are coming from a wider area. Standards on entry are average. The proportion eligible for free school meals is below the national average. The percentage with special educational needs is average. The number of pupils from minority ethnic communities is below average and few have a first language other than English.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: River Primary School, 11 January 2006 to 12 January 2006

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Grade: 3

River Primary provides a satisfactory education for its pupils. The school sees itself in this way and inspectors agree. Provision for children in the Foundation Stage is satisfactory. They reach average standards by the end of the reception year and make sound progress. Pupils leave the school at the end of Year 6 with standards that are average. All pupils, including those with learning difficulties, make satisfactory progress in their learning. Pupils’ personal development is good. Pupils very much enjoy being at school and their behaviour is good. They have positive attitudes and feel safe and valued as individuals. Staff take very good care of pupils. Teaching is satisfactory. Teachers seek to make lessons interesting to ensure pupils learn, but some do not have a clear view of what pupils need to do next to enable them to make rapid progress. Procedures to involve pupils in assessing their own work are more effective in some classes than

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Grade: 3

others. Pupils with learning difficulties receive effective support. The curriculum is satisfactory with good use made of specialist expertise from outside the school. Leadership and management are satisfactory. The newly appointed headteacher has made a very good start, having taken appropriate action to bring about improvements. Some aspects of subject leadership remain undeveloped. Parents hold the school in high regard and are very happy with what it offers. The school uses resources well and provides satisfactory value for money. The school has addressed many, but not all, of the areas for improvement in the last inspection report. Standards have not risen as expected in line with national trends. However, the school believes, and inspectors agree, that under the decisive leadership of the new headteacher, it now has a good capacity to improve.

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What the school should do to improve further

•Ensure staff with subject responsibilities monitor the provision and standards in their subject more effectively and use the findings to improve teaching and raise pupils’ achievement, especially at Key Stage 1. •Develop more consistent procedures for involving pupils in assessing their own progress.

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Grade: 3

Overall, achievement is satisfactory. Children make satisfactory progress in the reception year. Last year they entered Year 1 with broadly average standards. Standards in the 2005 national tests at the end of Year 2 were also broadly average. Girls did significantly better than boys. The scores have declined in recent years, especially in reading and mathematics although results rose marginally in writing. The school recognises the need to arrest this decline and to raise standards, especially for boys. The number of pupils gaining the higher grades in the 2005 tests was below the national average. 2 Inspection Report: River Primary School, 11 January 2006 to 12 January 2006 Pupils enter the junior part of the school with average attainment. At the end of Year 6, results in the 2005 national tests were broadly in line with the national average in English and mathematics but below average in science. In 2005, fewer pupils gained

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Grade: 3

the higher levels of attainment than expected nationally. Pupils are making satisfactory progress overall, but progress in English and mathematics is better than in science. No groups of pupils are significantly underachieving. The school experienced difficulties in meeting all the ambitious statutory targets in 2005. Pupils are not making consistently good progress in lessons, so are not reaching higher standards, because the quality of teaching and assessment is too variable.

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Grade: 2

Personal development is good. In reception, children work and play happily, feeling safe and secure. Pupils enjoy coming to school and respond with interest to their work. Their attendance is better than in most primary schools. They are polite, and their behaviour is very good, both in lessons and around the school. Pupils are confident in speaking and expressing their opinions. Teachers and assistants provide good role models, and relationships between the adults in school and pupils are very good, making pupils secure in their learning environment. Pupils are encouraged to take on responsibilities suitable for their ages, and they make a valuable and active contribution to the life of the school through involvement in the school council, which has representatives from every class. Pupils support and organise fundraising themselves for a number of charities. Older pupils act as ‘buddies’ for children starting school, and as helpers for routine classroom duties. These experiences,

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Grade: 2

as well as the basic skills they learn, help prepare pupils for their future lives and eventual economic well-being. Overall, pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. Moral, social and cultural development is strong, and assemblies contribute to the pupils’ spiritual education. In personal, health and social education, science and physical education, pupils demonstrate their good knowledge of how to stay safe and lead healthy lives.

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Grade: 3

The quality of teaching is satisfactory. Although pupils have made sound progress in recent years, teachers have not measured this carefully enough to have a clear view of what pupils need to do next, to improve at a faster rate and to achieve the high standards of which some of them are capable. Good systems are now being introduced to enable teachers to do this consistently across the school, and to provide pupils with clear guidance on the next steps in their learning. This is also beginning to improve the marking of pupils’ work so that guidance on what they need to do next is clear. 3 Inspection Report: River Primary School, 11 January 2006 to 12 January 2006 Action by the new headteacher is already improving teaching. A Year 2 science lesson was particularly effective because it was made clear to pupils at the outset what they were expected to learn. The teacher provided a variety of practical activities, carefully

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Grade: 3

matched to pupils’ different abilities, which helped make their learning purposeful. As well as the teacher and teaching assistant actively assessing their progress, pupils were also asked to evaluate how well they had learnt. Teaching assistants provide good support in lessons for pupils with special educational needs so that these pupils achieve as well as their classmates.

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Grade: 3

The curriculum meets statutory requirements and is satisfactory. It has some good features which promote pupils’ enjoyment of learning and are much appreciated by parents. Teachers have recently planned a curriculum that makes coherent links between subjects and is underpinned with practical activities. Measures to ensure pupils are provided with suitably challenging work are also now being established. Good use is also made of specialist expertise from outside the school. Year 6 pupils, for example, benefit from lessons taught by a mathematics teacher from a local secondary school. Pupils’ enjoyment and their appreciation of the wider world are fostered through a wide range of visits, school clubs and other experiences. Of particular note are after school clubs at which pupils can enjoy learning Italian or drama, and regular swimming sessions which ensure pupils become competent swimmers and acquire water safety

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Grade: 3

skills. Teachers take active steps to support pupils with particular talents through provision in school or encouragement to join specialist organisations, such as the local gymnastics club.

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Grade: 3

Care for pupils is good, and the school places sound emphasis on supporting and including all pupils. Parents and carers have regular opportunities for meeting teachers to discuss their children’s progress, and they receive regular reports on their children’s achievements. Attendance is satisfactorily monitored. Health and safety procedures are in place and regularly reviewed, and there are appropriate arrangements for child protection; all teachers and assistants, who actively promote pupils’ safety and welfare, are fully familiar with these. Support and guidance for pupils in their academic work is not yet consistent across the school, although pupils with special educational needs receive effective support for the next steps in their learning. Other pupils are not involved enough in identifying and understanding what they need to do to improve. The school works well with relevant external agencies to provide appropriate help for pupils with specific problems.

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Grade: 3

4 Inspection Report: River Primary School, 11 January 2006 to 12 January 2006

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Grade: 3

The recently appointed headteacher has made an impressive start and provides good leadership with a clear view of the direction the school should take. She has re-energised a whole-school drive for improvement and enabled staff to share her vision and to work together to achieve common goals. Staff say that she has given them ‘a new enthusiasm’. A new and highly determined leadership team is emerging. The school evaluates its work accurately. Well planned staff training and good links with advisers and other schools have accelerated and reinforced the improvements taking place. The school recognises that it needs to provide sharply focused strategies to raise pupils’ achievement and has produced suitable plans to enable it to do so. Under the leadership team, it has a good capacity to improve. Appropriate actions have rapidly been introduced to address the variable quality of planning, teaching, assessment and subject leadership across the school. Those with

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Grade: 3

responsibilities are beginning to monitor teaching and standards more effectively but planned improvements are not yet fully embedded across the school. The governing body ensures the school meets all its legal responsibilities. Governors are playing an increasingly active and effective role in improving the work of the school and holding it to account. Parental responses to a recent questionnaire are very positive about the school’s senior leaders and full of praise for the genuine care shown to their children. Almost all parents indicated that their children enjoy school. 5 Inspection Report: River Primary School, 11 January 2006 to 12 January 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: River Primary School, 11 January 2006 to 12 January 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 3 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 2 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 3 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

River Primary School Lewisham Road River Dover Kent CT17 0PP Dear Pupils I am writing on behalf of the team of inspectors who visited your school recently to let you know what we think about the school. Thank you for your help in talking to us about the work you do and telling us what you think about the school. We think your school provides a satisfactory education for you. We also think that your new headteacher is doing a good job. She is working very hard to make the school better so that you can all do as well as possible. We know you enjoy coming to school because you told us, we saw this for ourselves, and your parents agreed. We believe that everyone in your school takes good care of you and you get on very well with each other. You told us that you feel safe and know that there is always someone to talk to if you have a problem. Teachers listen to what you say and the school council makes things happen.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

We saw that you try hard in lessons but we think that you could do even better. Your new headteacher has a lot of good ideas to help you to learn more. Your behaviour is good in lessons and around the school. Your parents are very happy with the school and all that it provides for you, in and out of lessons. The school could do some things better. Teachers need to give you more help in understanding how well you are doing and what you could do to improve. Some teachers who look after subjects need to check more carefully on how well everybody in the school is getting on in their subject. Then they can use the information to help them improve the way they teach you. Yours faithfully Ian Hartland Her Majesty’s Inspector

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