Charles Saer Community Primary School

Inspection Report Fleetwood Charles Saer Community Primary School

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119277 Unique Reference Number Lancashire LEA 280512 Inspection number 3 May 2006 to 4 May 2006 Inspection dates Mr Joe Clark Reporting inspector

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

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Grange Road School address Primary Type of school Fleetwood Community School category Lancashire, FY7 8DD 3 to 11 Age range of pupils 01253 874787 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01253 770311 Fax number 337 Number on roll Mrs Johanna Derry Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mr David Mitchell Headteacher 1 March 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 280512 3 May 2006 - 3 to 11 4 May 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 three Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

Fleetwood Charles Saer Community School is an average size primary school situated in Fleetwood in Lancashire. It has an attached Nursery for 52 children and extended provision for 16 children. The extended provision had a separate inspection in September 2005 and was not part of this inspection. The school is part of the government's Excellence in Cities initiative and is part of the Fleetwood Excellence Cluster of primary schools. When children join Reception their skills and knowledge are below average. Most children come from areas of high social and economic deprivation. The proportion of children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is above average. There are very few children from minority ethnic backgrounds. All children are fluent English speakers.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Fleetwood Charles Saer Community Primary School, 3 May 2006 to 4 May 2006

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Grade: 4

In accordance with section 13 (3) of the Education Act 2005, HMCI is of the opinion that this school requires significant improvement, because it is performing significantly less well than, in all the circumstances, it could reasonably be expected to perform. The school is therefore given a Notice to Improve. Significant improvement is required in relation to attendance and girls’ achievement in Key Stage 2. Although standards at the end of Key Stage 1 are below average, they are rising and children’s progress and achievement are satisfactory. The targets set for the end of Year 6 national tests are not shared with children and fail to provide them with enough challenge or incentive. The results in national tests at the end of Year 6 show that standards are low and girls are underachieving. Consequently the school provides inadequate value for money. In the Foundation Stage (Nursery and Reception) the

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Grade: 4

quality of education and children’s progress are satisfactory. Teaching is satisfactory overall but in Key Stage 2 teaching over time has not resulted in children achieving as well as they could, although there are examples of good teaching and no inadequate teaching was observed by inspectors. Children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities make good progress against their individual learning and behavioural targets. Children make satisfactory progress in their personal development. Their behaviour and attitudes are satisfactory. The school provides a safe and caring environment. Links with other schools and institutions are good. Parents and pupils have positive views about the school. The curriculum adequately meets the needs of learners. Leaders and managers judge the school’s effectiveness to be good. Inspectors disagree because there is underachievement and attendance is below average and falling.

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Grade: 4

Governors support the school well but do not hold it to account for the progress children make in their time at the school. The school was identified by the local authority in 2005 as needing additional support because pupils were not making enough progress in Key Stage 2. With the active cooperation of the headteacher and governors, this support, whilst not yet having had time to make a positive impact on standards, is establishing better planning processes and more robust systems for monitoring and evaluating the school’s work. Leadership and management are satisfactory and inspectors believe that senior and middle managers, and governors, are capable of doing what is needed to bring about improvement. Improvement since the previous inspection has been inadequate.

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What the school should do to improve further

• In order to improve girls’ achievement in Key Stage 2, improve the overall quality of teaching by sharing among all teachers the good teaching and learning practice that exists in the best lessons. • Add greater challenge to the targets children are set in Key Stage 2, share them with children and parents, and establish robust systems for checking on children’s progress towards their accomplishment. 2 Inspection Report: Fleetwood Charles Saer Community Primary School, 3 May 2006 to 4 May 2006 • Halt the decline in attendance and then improve it until attendance is at least average.

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Grade: 4

The standards children attain at the end of Year 6 are too low; whereas boys’ achievement is generally satisfactory, girls’ achievement is inadequate. In 2005, as in the three previous years, national test results at the end of Year 6 were significantly lower than average. In English, despite a rise in the proportion of children attaining national standards, the school’s results were in the bottom 10% of schools nationally. In mathematics, girls’ results were significantly lower than in 2004 and were the lowest recorded in the last five years. Given their attainment on entry to Year 3, this represents underachievement. The targets children are set for their national tests at the end of Year 6 are not challenging enough. Standards in Key Stage 1, particularly in girls’ reading, have risen sharply in the last two years. In 2005, results in national tests at the end of Year 2 were below average, but given children’s below average attainment

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Grade: 4

on entry into Year 1, their achievement was satisfactory. Children enter the Foundation Stage with standards that are below average. They settle well into the routines of school life and make satisfactory progress, but standards by the time they begin Year 1 are still below average. Children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities make good progress against the learning and behavioural targets set out in their individual education plans. Although, the achievement of some pupils on the register was too low in 2005 national tests.

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Grade: 3

The personal development and well-being of children are satisfactory. Most children enjoy the caring and supportive environment the school provides. Children generally feel safe though they say there is bullying in school. Parents, children and outside agencies believe children’s attitudes and behaviour, which are satisfactory, have improved in the last two or three years. From a very high rate, exclusions have fallen this year to a more acceptable level. Children have good opportunities to take on a range of posts of responsibility including buddies and house captains. The Awards scheme helps motivate and reward children. Involvement in the local community, for example, through the activities of the Handbell Group and Dream Scheme involvement, is good. Representatives from local organisations expressed appreciation to inspectors of the closer links the school now has with the local community. There is good provision

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Grade: 3

for children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Involvement in initiatives such as The University of The First Age is helping develop children’s social and teamwork skills. The children have a good understanding of the merits of regular exercise and healthy eating. There is strong support for charities such as the Macmillan Cancer Appeal as well as local community fund-raising events. Children’s low mathematical skills at the end of Year 6, particularly girls’, do not auger well for their future economic well-being. Attendance is below average and falling. 3 Inspection Report: Fleetwood Charles Saer Community Primary School, 3 May 2006 to 4 May 2006

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Grade: 3

The quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory. Although in the past, teaching and learning have been inadequate to help children make sufficient progress, particularly in Key Stage 2, actions taken by the school, in partnership with the local authority, are beginning to remedy the situation. During the inspection, in all lessons the teaching was at least satisfactory and in some lessons, it was good. Teachers are hard-working and committed to improvement but, until recently, have had insufficient professional development on how to raise standards and improve children’s achievement. In lessons where teaching was good, teachers provided children with a variety of interesting activities, and what was going to be learnt was explained well; children participated enthusiastically and good learning took place. The main weakness in teaching is the lack of understanding of assessment levels in Key Stage 2. The school

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Grade: 3

has started to assess and record children’s progress systematically and most children are beginning to become familiar with setting targets for improving their everyday work. However, the children questioned in Year 6 said they did not know the level they were working at, what level they should be aspiring to, and what they needed to do to achieve that higher level. Consequently children, especially higher attaining children, are not being challenged enough. For all children in Key Stage 2 the setting of homework, which is voluntary on the part of children, is inconsistent. Teaching assistants are deployed effectively and make a positive contribution to lessons, helping children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities make good progress against their individual targets.

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Grade: 3

The curriculum is satisfactory overall. It meets all statutory requirements and provides satisfactorily for children’s different learning needs. There is a good programme for personal, social and health education which supports children’s personal development well. The school offers a good variety of extra-curricular activities, particularly in sport, that extend learning and help to promote a healthy lifestyle. A wide range of visitors to school and outside trips and visits, including a residential trip for older children, enhance the curriculum. Planned opportunities for children to use their writing and computing skills in other subjects are limited, and this hampers children’s development of these key skills. The curriculum in the Foundation Stage is satisfactory. There is a good emphasis on developing speaking and listening skills in all areas of learning. Activities are suitably practical to meet the needs of young children.

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Grade: 3

4 Inspection Report: Fleetwood Charles Saer Community Primary School, 3 May 2006 to 4 May 2006

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Grade: 3

The school provides satisfactory care, guidance and support for children. Teachers and other adults, including the Family Learning Mentor are fully committed to children’s welfare. The school is helping pupils develop awareness of healthy lifestyles. Child protection procedures are well established and understood by all staff who have benefited from training. Rigorous risk assessment demonstrates a strong commitment to children’s safety. Most children say they feel safe. Children who have learning difficulties and/or disabilities receive good support. Support for children who are identified as able, gifted or talented is satisfactory, although not enough is done to raise their aspirations through setting and sharing more challenging targets, sharper tracking of progress and informing parents so as to enlist their support. Children with emotional and/or behavioural problems receive good support from a specialist

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Grade: 3

programme to tackle the social and emotional aspects of learning. Children feel that their views are listened to and their concerns addressed. Good links with secondary schools sensitively ease children’s transition to the next step of their education. Children in Year 6 receive inadequate guidance on how well they are doing in relation to national norms and what they need to do to attain higher standards.

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Grade: 3

Leadership and management are satisfactory. Although the school has drawn some inaccurate conclusions from self-evaluation, its leaders recognise that standards have to improve. In recognising the school’s weaknesses and refocusing its priorities, the school’s leaders have demonstrated their capacity to achieve the necessary improvements. The headteacher is a visible and reassuring presence around the school. Since his appointment, his main priorities have been to secure an improvement in pupils’ behaviour and attitudes, ensure the school plays a greater role in the local community, and provide more extra-curricular activities. In these he has been successful. The focus now is on bringing about improvements in standards and achievement. The leadership team provides sound support to the headteacher in the running of the school. Subject leadership is being developed well and has been instrumental in improving standards in Key Stage 1. The provision for pupils with learning difficulties

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Grade: 3

and/or disabilities is well managed. School leaders have readily accepted specialist support from the local authority to help them devise and implement systems for checking on how well the school is doing and what needs to be done to bring about change. However, these measures are new and are not sufficiently embedded in the work of the school to have had a measurable effect on standards or achievement in Key Stage 2. Governance is satisfactory. Governors work hard, are committed to the school and have developed good links with curriculum areas. They support the school well but do not take enough responsibility for the standards children achieve. Financial management is secure and resources are effectively deployed to achieve value for money. Links with 5 Inspection Report: Fleetwood Charles Saer Community Primary School, 3 May 2006 to 4 May 2006 parents and other schools and organisations, particularly in the local community, are

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Grade: 3

good. Improvement since the previous inspection is inadequate. There has not been enough progress in raising standards in Key Stage 2 and attendance has fallen. 6 Inspection Report: Fleetwood Charles Saer Community Primary School, 3 May 2006 to 4 May 2006 .

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Grade: 3

set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 7 Inspection Report: Fleetwood Charles Saer Community Primary School, 3 May 2006 to 4 May 2006

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Inspection judgements

16-19 School Overall Key to judgements: grade 1 is outstanding, grade 2 good, grade 3 satisfactory, and grade 4 inadequate

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Inspection judgements

NA 4 How effective, efficient and inclusive is the provision of education, integrated care and any extended services in meeting the needs of 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 No Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Inspection judgements

Achievement and standards NA 4 How well do learners achieve? NA 4 The standards 1 reached by learners

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Inspection judgements

NA 4 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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Inspection judgements

Personal development and well-being NA 3 How good is the overall personal development and well-being of the learners? NA 2 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development NA 3 The behaviour of learners NA 4 The attendance of learners NA 3 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 4 How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

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Inspection judgements

The quality of provision NA 3 How effective are teaching and learning in meeting the full range of the learners' needs? NA 3 How well do the curriculum and other activities meet the range of needs and interests of learners? NA 3 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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Inspection judgements

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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Annex A

Leadership and management NA 3 How effective are leadership and management in raising achievement 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 4 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 4 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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Annex A

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 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 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

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Annex A

wider community 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

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 0207 421 6800 F 0207 421 6707 Ofsted helpline 08456 404045 Mr David Mitchell Fleetwood Charles Saer Community Primary School Grange Road Fleetwood Lancashire FY7 8DD 08 May 2006 Dear Children, Thank you very much for making us feel so welcome when we came to carry out the inspection of your school recently. We saw you doing lots of interesting and exciting things. We enjoyed talking to you. We think that based on how well you were doing when you started Year 3, you should be doing much better in your national tests at the end of Year 6, especially in English. You do quite well in Nursery and Reception, and in Years 1 and 2, so there is no reason why both boys and girls, but particularly girls, cannot do better at the end of Year 6. Your teachers are working hard at improving the quality of lessons and this is paying off in your making faster progress in Years 1 and 2. Of course, if you are one of the children with

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

poor attendance your learning is bound to suffer. School attendance is not as high as in most schools. If you are not attending regularly you will miss out on the good things the school has to offer. Local people said how much your behaviour outside of school has improved recently and told us about the many good things you do for them: you bell ringers got a special mention! Your teachers and other adults lay on a wide range of school clubs and activities for you. They give you the chance to take on jobs and exercise responsibility just like adults do. Your parents and carers have confidence in the school and support what your headteacher and others are trying to achieve for you. You can do your bit by not having so many days off and always trying your hardest. Good luck! Yours faithfully, Joe Clark Lead inspector

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