Whitley Chapel Church of England First School

122293 Unique Reference Number Northumberland LEA 281222 Inspection number 2 February 2006 to 2 February 2006 Inspection dates Mrs Barbara Hudson Reporting inspector

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

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Leazes Lane School address First Type of school Whitley Chapel Voluntary aided School category Steel, Hexham NE47 0HB 3 to 9 Age range of pupils 01434 673294 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01434 673294 Fax number 42 Number on roll Rev Andrew Patterson Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Ms Su Adkinson Headteacher 1 November 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 281222 2 February 2006 - 3 to 9 2 February 2006 Inspection Report: Whitley Chapel Church of England First School, 2 February 2006 to 2 February 2006

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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

Whitley Chapel Church of England First School is a very small rural school near Hexham. Twelve of the children attend the nursery for mornings only. When the children start nursery, their attainment overall is at the expected level for their age. All of the children are of white British heritage. Ten per cent of children have learning difficulties and/or disabilities; this is lower than average.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Whitley Chapel Church of England First School, 2 February 2006 to 2 February 2006

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Grade: 1

This is an outstanding school, promoting high standards of pupils’ achievements and personal development through high quality teaching. The inspection judgement is better than the school’s own judgement that it is good. The school provides good value for money when the children’s standards, achievements and the high costs of provision for all small schools are taken into account. The school has significant strengths in all aspects of its work. Children throughout the school achieve very well. The school is very successful at catering for all children, including those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and the higher achievers. Most children achieve standards that are well above average. This is because the teaching is excellent with many outstanding features. Lessons are very interesting and the curriculum is superb, catering exceptionally well for the needs of all children. The quality of provision in the nursery and reception class is excellent. Children achieve

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Grade: 1

very well, becoming very confident learners and standards by the end of reception are above expected levels. The school is excellent at caring, guiding and supporting children and, as a result, their personal development and well-being are outstanding. Leadership and management of the school are excellent. The school has highly effective procedures to evaluate how well it is doing but often underestimates its own quality. The school’s recording of the standards and the progress each child makes could be better set out so that a judgement about children’s achievement is clearer. Successful action has been taken on the issues raised in the last inspection report and the school has the capacity to improve further. Parents and children justifiably hold the school in very high regard.

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What the school should do to improve further

This school has no significant areas for improvement. A minor area is: • to improve the recording system of the standards and the progress each child makes.

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Grade: 1

Children achieve very well in this school. When the children start nursery, their attainment overall is at the expected level for their age. They get an excellent start in the nursery and reception class and continue to make excellent progress throughout the school. When they leave at the age of nine, most pupils achieve standards well above expectations. Standards and children’s progress in reading are exceptionally high. The school has a comprehensive assessment system for all subjects and this shows children are making very good progress across all subjects, not just in reading, writing and mathematics. The children say that they make lots of progress because lessons are fun, very interesting and they learn a lot. 2 Inspection Report: Whitley Chapel Church of England First School, 2 February 2006 to 2 February 2006 Teachers have very high expectations of all children, including higher achievers and

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Grade: 1

those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. Children are set challenging targets that they are confident they will achieve. This is because they feel that the teachers know them very well and would not give them work that is too easy or too difficult to do. Children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities make very good progress because of the caring, supportive and nurturing atmosphere that pervades the school.

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Grade: 1

Children’s personal development is outstanding. Children say they enjoy school very much. They are happy, safe and confident in school and attendance is very good. They work very hard in lessons and cooperate exceptionally well with each other and adults. Behaviour, both in lessons and around the school, is exemplary. Children accept and enjoy having responsibilities and diligently complete their tasks. The school council has been influential in the development of the school. A recent example of their work has been the introduction of compost bins to collect waste from the fruit that they are provided with at playtimes. The school council members represent their class’s views very well. Children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is excellent. The school places a particular emphasis on developing Christian values. The children have many experiences to help them understand that many people in England live in an urban,

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Grade: 1

multicultural society. Children are encouraged to adopt healthy lifestyles. The school encourages the children to consider and contribute to the well-being of others, through significant fundraising and charity work. Children’s basic skills of literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology (ICT) are promoted well, enabling them to be given an excellent start to their middle school career.

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Grade: 1

The lessons observed during the inspection were outstanding. Talking to pupils and looking at some of their work supports the view that teaching and learning are excellent throughout the school, with many outstanding features. As a result, all children achieve very well. The children get an excellent start in the nursery and reception class because the teacher uses every moment to impart knowledge and skills to the children. It is here that the children become very confident learners, and this quest to learn remains with them throughout school because of the very interesting things that they do in lessons. Children respond exceptionally well to teachers’ high expectations of work and behaviour. They listen attentively and concentrate very well, striving to do their best 3 Inspection Report: Whitley Chapel Church of England First School, 2 February 2006 to 2 February 2006 at all times. Teachers know the children exceptionally well and set them work that is

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Grade: 1

very well matched to their individual needs. The marking of children’s work is good overall. It is very good in Years 1 and 2 because the children are shown what they have done well and where they can improve. Classroom assistants are carefully directed and make a positive contribution to the children’s learning.

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Grade: 1

The curriculum is superb. It not only meets statutory requirements, it provides all children with the enthusiasm, motivation and confidence to learn. The school has achieved Arts Mark Gold and evidence within the school shows children enjoying activities such as story writing and telling, poetry, drama, music and a wide range of art. Some of this work involves other schools. Teachers use the local environment, including the very good facilities within the school grounds and community, exceptionally well to support lessons. Many visitors are brought into the school such as Zulu dancers and singers to help children become more aware of the world. Children gain experiences of urban environments through visits to towns, cities and a large primary school in Newcastle. Children have many opportunities to take part in a range of clubs and the school council is actively involved in deciding which clubs are to be

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Grade: 1

Outstanding care, guidance and support are given to all children. All adults have excellent relationships with the children who say they feel safe and can share any worries with an understanding adult. Children are encouraged to care for each other and this is very evident in the classrooms, at playtime and lunchtime. Children in the nursery settle quickly because of the caring and nurturing atmosphere. This results in happy and confident learners. Children know what they can do and are very clear about how they need to improve. The school works exceptionally well with parents and has a very good working partnership with a number of agencies. The school places a strong emphasis on health and safety issues. Child protection is secure and risk assessments are carried out rigorously.

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Grade: 1

The leadership and management of the school are excellent which is better than the school’s own judgement. Positive action has been taken on the issues identified in the last report, particularly in helping children know how they can improve their work. The headteacher has excellent leadership and management qualities. She has helped all of the adults involved in the school to develop their strengths and address their own areas for improvement. This has created a very effective team of teachers, support staff and governors who have worked hard to improve further the already very good 4 Inspection Report: Whitley Chapel Church of England First School, 2 February 2006 to 2 February 2006 standards and provision identified at the last inspection. These adults are correctly proud of their achievements and have well formed plans to increase the effectiveness of this school. The school’s self-evaluation is based both on statistical evidence, which is used

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Grade: 1

appropriately due to the small numbers in each year group, and the collective views of all the adults working in the school, the governors, parents and pupils. The evaluation correctly identifies the strengths and areas for improvement. Due to the small numbers of children in each year group, the standards and progress each child makes could be better set out so that a judgement about children’s achievement is clearer. The areas for development are effectively translated into a school improvement plan, which is carefully monitored by the headteacher and governors and which contributes to the corporate development of the school. The school’s overall judgements are, however, conservative, judging itself to be good whereas it is outstanding. 5 Inspection Report: Whitley Chapel Church of England First School, 2 February 2006 to 2 February 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: Whitley Chapel Church of England First School, 2 February 2006 to 2 February 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 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 1 The attendance of learners NA 1 How well learners enjoy their education NA 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices NA 2 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 2 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 2 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 NA 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

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 0207 421 6800 F 0207 421 6707 Ofsted helpline 08456 404045 Whitley Chapel Church of England First School Leazes Lane Whitley Chapel Steel Hexham Northumberland NE47 0HB 4 February 2006 Dear Children Thank you for your help in the recent inspection of your school. I thought you were polite, friendly and very helpful and I understand why you are very proud of your school. There are many things in your school that are excellent. I have listed below the things that really stick out in my memory: your headteacher and teachers are doing an excellent job taking care of you and helping you to learn you work very hard and you are doing very well in all of your lessons your excellent behaviour helps teachers to do their job your teachers put a lot of effort into making your lessons interesting, enjoyable and fun the enjoyment and the amount you learn from the many visitors who come to your school and

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

the many visits you make to different places. I am also very pleased to tell you that there is nothing of significance wrong with your school. You have a wonderful school and I hope you continue to enjoy your time there. Thank you again for your help. Yours faithfully Barbara Hudson Lead inspector

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