The Billinghay Church of England Primary School

Inspection Report Billinghay CofE Primary School

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120515 Unique Reference Number LINCOLNSHIRE LEA LEA 280833 Inspection number 18 January 2006 to 19 January 2006 Inspection dates Mrs. Susan Hall LI Reporting inspector

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

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Fen Road School address Primary Type of school LN4 4HU Voluntary controlled School category 4 to 11 Age range of pupils 01526 860 786 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01526 860 786 Fax number 213 Number on roll Mrs.J Wilson Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs. Dill Westermann-Childs Headteacher 28 February 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 280833 18 January 2006 - 4 to 11 19 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 two Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

This is an averaged size primary school in rural Lincolnshire. Pupils come from a wide range of backgrounds. Many families have limited educational and social experiences. All pupils are of White British heritage. The number eligible for free school meals is below average. With no cooked school meals there is little reason for families to register eligibility. Movement of pupils to and from other schools has been higher than average partly because a local primary closed. More pupils have special educational needs than is average with most having social, emotional and behavioural or moderate learning difficulties or disabilities.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Billinghay CofE Primary School, 18 January 2006 to 19 January 2006

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Grade: 3

The school has made significant improvement in the past year and provides a satisfactory overall quality of education. The inspection findings confirm the school's evaluation of its effectiveness. A pivotal factor in improvement has been the leadership of the headteacher and the involvement of the school in an intensive support programme. This followed a period where the school was slow to respond to issues raised in previous inspections and where standards were too low. There is the capacity to improve further and the school provides satisfactory value for money. Pupils and parents speak well of the school and welcome recent improvements. Standards are below average when children enter the school and they are well below average in the key communication, language and literacy skills. Children make good progress in the Foundation Stage but do not achieve the national targets expected when they enter

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Grade: 3

Year 1. There has been good improvement this year in the standards achieved in national tests especially in mathematics. However, standards are below average overall at the age of seven and eleven and few pupils achieve at the higher levels. Achievement is satisfactory and the rate of progress is improving. Standards in writing, science and information and communication technology (ICT) are often low because the gaps in pupils' learning affect the progress made. Teaching and learning are satisfactory overall and are often good. Pupils, including those encountering family difficulties are well supported by staff and most behave well. The school does not yet make best use of senior staff, subject leaders and the special educational needs co-ordinators' skills in monitoring the quality of work in areas for which they hold responsibility. The attendance of pupils is below average.

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What the school should do to improve further

- Continue to raise standards across the school and particularly in writing, science and ICT by ensuring all pupils are consistently challenged to the highest level. - Extend the involvement of senior staff, subject leaders and the special educational needs co-ordinator in the monitoring of the work of the school to help staff identify specific areas for further improvement. - Work with parents and outside agencies to raise the levels of attendance to at least the national average.

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Grade: 3

Children start school with skills and knowledge which are below expectations in most areas and well below average in communication, language and literacy. Whilst children make mostly good progress in the Foundation Stage they do not achieve all the targets for their age. Standards have been low for a number of years and the progress pupils made as they moved through school was sometimes limited. However, there was considerable improvement in the results attained in the most recent national tests, especially in mathematics. Pupils generally met the targets set for them but only a small proportion achieved above average standards. Inspection findings confirm that 2 Inspection Report: Billinghay CofE Primary School, 18 January 2006 to 19 January 2006 attainment, especially of the older pupils including in writing, science and ICT, is still below average. In the last year the school has rightly identified the raising of standards

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Grade: 3

as its number one priority, but there are gaps in pupils' learning that affect their progress and confidence. Pupils do not develop their writing skills well enough partly because there are not enough opportunities to write in detail in subjects other than English. In science pupils do not plan and carry out their own experiments and record these in their own words often enough. Unreliable computer systems hold back standards in ICT. The progress made by all pupils is satisfactory overall, which matches the school's own evaluation.

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Grade: 2

Pupils' personal development, including their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, is good. They have positive attitudes to school, enjoy their lessons and happily participate in a range of sporting and cultural after school clubs. The school is providing increasing opportunities for them to reflect on and celebrate their own and others' achievements. Pupils have an inadequate understanding of the range of cultures that make up modern society. Behaviour is good and no anti-social behaviour or bullying was seen during the inspection. Pupils play energetically at break times but with an awareness of others so that play is safe. They co-operate well and most have a well established sense of right and wrong. They contribute increasingly to the school community through a range of responsibilities and tasks. For example, the new school council is planning a healthy eating tuck shop after consulting pupils. They are

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Grade: 2

actively involved in the local community, for example through school choir concerts. Pupils know how to stay safe and be healthy and have the recommended amount of physical education each week. They are prepared satisfactorily for adult life and the world of work. Attendance has declined over time. Unauthorised absence is particularly high mainly because of a small number of families taking extended time from school and the school is working hard to improve this.

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Grade: 3

The quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory. Teaching in the Foundation Stage is mostly good and, following recent reorganisation into one unit, meets the needs of the youngest children well. Staff in the Foundation Stage have quickly developed a strong team approach and are keen to improve their planning even further. Across the school pupils are managed well. Teaching in literacy and numeracy is now good and carefully builds the necessary basic skills and attempts to overcome previous gaps in learning. However, in some other subjects activities are not always planned well enough to ensure the best level of challenge for all. In science too much use is made of adult produced materials that do little to encourage pupils to plan their work and develop their own recording skills. Not enough use is made of classroom computers to improve 3 Inspection Report: Billinghay CofE Primary School, 18 January 2006 to 19 January 2006

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Grade: 3

ICT skills or aid learning in other subjects. Overall pupils make satisfactory progress. The school has extensive procedures to check and track the progress pupils make. However, several procedures are relatively recent developments and are not yet making a significant impact on learning. Information is used to set challenging but mostly achievable targets. The school has recognised the need to standardise the marking of pupils' work to inform them more of the areas to improve.

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Grade: 3

Curriculum provision is satisfactory. A major review is being undertaken to develop a more imaginative and relevant curriculum. Staff continue to work hard to ensure that literacy and numeracy activities are meeting the needs of pupils. Science activities do not include enough opportunities for investigative work. Through the school's good programme for personal, social and health education, pupils develop a good understanding of safe and healthy living. A satisfactory range of visits and visitors is used to enhance lessons, such as visits to local places of historical interest as well as visits from, for example, professional theatre groups. Good use is made of facilities and staff from the local secondary school in enhancing the curriculum provision and pupils enjoy working with sports coaches during staff preparation time.

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Grade: 2

Levels of care, support and guidance for pupils are good. Pupils' welfare is important to the headteacher and staff, who actively encourage them to care for each other. Pupils recently arriving, following the closure of a neighbouring school, have been welcomed and successfully integrated. All pupils would benefit from a greater involvement in setting personal learning targets now that teachers have a much clearer record of achievement. Child protection and health and safety procedures meet statutory requirements. Robust measures exist to monitor attendance and appropriate incentives are given in this respect. The assessment of risk within and outside the classroom would benefit from a wider involvement of staff, governors and pupils. There is a strong drive to raise achievement throughout the school and staff work particularly well with parents of children who are vulnerable for a variety of reasons.

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Grade: 2

The newly established breakfast club provides healthy eating and worthwhile activities for early arrivers. However, at lunchtime the atmosphere in the dining hall lacks the warmth of the general school ethos and pupils indicate they would rarely turn to some supervisors if they had a problem.

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Grade: 3

Leadership and management of the school are satisfactory. The headteacher's leadership is calm but well focussed and effective and has been of pivotal importance in the past year following a period of stagnation in school development. The 4 Inspection Report: Billinghay CofE Primary School, 18 January 2006 to 19 January 2006 headteacher has good interpersonal skills that have built the confidence of staff, parents and governors. She has correctly prioritised areas for development and the steps needed to bring about long-term improvements. Her efforts are reaping rewards, but the head recognises that there is more to be achieved. The school has benefited from the intensive support of the local education authority and is well placed to continue the upward trend of improvement. Staff are working hard to increase the involvement of pupils and parents in evaluating the quality of the school's work. The senior management team, subject leaders and the special educational needs coordinator

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Grade: 3

are beginning to develop their roles effectively. The school has developed sound procedures to monitor the quality of planning, teaching and learning to establish how well it is doing and how to improve. However, not all staff are rigorous enough in identifying the steps necessary for further improvement. Governance of the school is good and has developed well in the last year. Governors are now actively holding the school to account for the standards achieved. Financial procedures are carefully managed and the budget is used effectively to promote standards. 5 Inspection Report: Billinghay CofE Primary School, 18 January 2006 to 19 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: Billinghay CofE Primary School, 18 January 2006 to 19 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 3 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 4 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 4 The attendance of learners NA 2 How well learners enjoy their education NA 3 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 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 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 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

Following our visit we would like to let you know what we found out about your school. But first can we say a big thank you for making us feel welcome and for talking to us about the different things that you do at school. It was good to hear how you feel that your teachers listen to you and take good care of you. You probably saw quite a lot of us when we came into classrooms, the school hall and the playground. We have told the staff that you behaved well and they are proud of you. We know that you like school so we have talked with your headteacher and staff about how the school can look at ways of being better. The standards you have reached have not always been as high as they are in most other schools and so the staff will look at ways to help you make quicker progress. Teachers are also going to look at how well you learn in different classes, and to talk to you to see if you are finding learning fun

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

and enjoyable. All the staff want you to do really well. To help you to do your best you need to make sure you come to school regularly and only stay away if you are really poorly. Your headteacher has got some really good ideas to make the school an even better place. You can all play an important part in this by working as hard as you can and being kind and helpful to everyone. It was a pleasure to meet you all.

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