Creech St Michael Church of England Primary SchoolOfsted inspection, 23 May 2006

Inspection Report Creech St Michael Church of England Primary School

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123793 Unique Reference Number Somerset LEA 281562 Inspection number 22 May 2006 to 23 May 2006 Inspection dates Patricia Pothecary AI Reporting inspector

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

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Hyde Lane School address Primary Type of school Creech St Michael Voluntary controlled School category Taunton, Somerset TA3 5QQ 4 to 11 Age range of pupils 01823 442898 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01823 444002 Fax number 219 Number on roll Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mr Edward Gregory Headteacher 10 January 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 281562 22 May 2006 - 4 to 11 23 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 two Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

Creech St Michael is an average-sized school for junior, infant and reception aged pupils. A below-average proportion of pupils have learning difficulties, mainly specific learning difficulties. Almost all pupils are of White British origin.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Creech St Michael Church of England Primary School, 22 May 2006 to 23 May 2006

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Grade: 3

Creech St Michael provides a sound quality of education and satisfactory value for money. This view matches that of the school’s leadership. Pupils’ progress and achievement are satisfactory overall in all age groups, including the Foundation Stage. Several groups of pupils are now making good progress but, although improved significantly, there is still some underachievement, especially in written work and for pupils with higher ability, in all age groups. The quality of teaching is satisfactory, but an increasing number of lessons are good. Inconsistencies in teachers’ use of assessment and in planning for pupils’ different needs are the main reasons progress is slow for some. Pupils are well cared for and develop good personal skills; they evidently enjoy school. There is a wide range of interesting activities to enrich pupils’ growing understanding, and outstanding provision to help them keep healthy. Provision in the

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Grade: 3

Foundation Stage is equally satisfactory. Leadership and management are satisfactory. Improvement since the last inspection has been steady. Senior leaders have accurately identified and acted upon what needs to be done to raise standards and this is beginning to have an impact. They have overcome significant barriers to improvement in recent years and kept the school moving steadily forward. Managers do not, however, monitor the work of teachers sufficiently rigorously or involve enough staff in the process to increase the pace of change.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Raise achievement for all pupils by improving the quality and consistency of teaching, assessment and planning for learning. • Improve the way leadership drives school improvement by monitoring the work of teachers more rigorously and by involving more managers in the process.

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Grade: 3

Standards in all subjects are broadly average by the end of Year 2 and Year 6 and pupils make steady progress from average attainment on entry. Achievement is satisfactory overall in all age groups and most pupils meet appropriate targets. Pupils in Reception meet expected levels in their early learning goals. Pupils with learning difficulties make steady progress overall, and good progress in reading. In some lessons the most and least able pupils do not progress as well as expected, because work is not matched well enough to their needs. However, this year, there has been a significant improvement in the number of higher-ability pupils aged 7 and 11 reaching National Curriculum levels above what is normally expected. The mixed Year 2 and 3 groups are working well and pupils of all abilities are making at least satisfactory and sometimes good progress in these classes. The majority of pupils in Year 5 make significantly

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Grade: 3

good progress. The underachievement in writing is still evident, but there is noticeable improvement since last year. 2 Inspection Report: Creech St Michael Church of England Primary School, 22 May 2006 to 23 May 2006

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Grade: 2

The good personal development and wellbeing of pupils is clearly evident in their enjoyment of school and above-average attendance. The great majority of parents are pleased with the way their children enjoy school and grow in confidence. Pupils’ good behaviour is responsible and considerate; they conduct themselves well in and out of lessons and look after each other. Behaviour has improved greatly this year, with little bullying and no exclusions. Pupils say that they feel ‘very safe’ and they know who to turn to if they need help. Pupils show an exceptional understanding of how to keep healthy; they take part in plenty of sport, choose healthy lunches and always seem to be eating fruit or drinking water. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. Pupils understand and respect how others live, worship and celebrate and took part with great enthusiasm in all the exciting activities about

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Grade: 2

South America during the inspection. Pupils contribute well to the school and wider community, entertaining local residents, helping to plan the environmental area or leading fitness sessions, for example. Pupils develop good personal and life skills and satisfactory basic skills in preparation for the next stage of their education.

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Grade: 3

Satisfactory teaching is leading to satisfactory learning in most classes. Teaching is improving; there is a core of good teaching and most teachers teach well some of the time. In good lessons the work is planned well so that pupils of all abilities reach challenging targets and make good progress. In all lessons relationships with pupils are good and pupils generally behave well and work hard. Pupils are often helped to work independently and collaborate with others effectively. Teaching assistants contribute well to the work of lowerability pupils, especially those with learning difficulties. The use of assessment to plan what each child should learn next is improving but this is inconsistent, which is why, in some lessons, pupils do not learn enough, especially those of higher and lower abilities. In the mixed-age classes, careful assessment is used to match work closely to each pupil’s needs, which is why pupils

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Grade: 3

of all abilities do well in these classes. There is good use of homework, but not all books are marked regularly, which means that some pupils do not know how well they have done, and a few lose motivation.

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Grade: 3

The satisfactory curriculum helps pupils, including those in reception, to build systematically on what they have learned before. It generally meets pupils’ different needs, especially in the mixed Year 2/3 classes where a revised curriculum is being trialled. In other classes the content does not always capture the different interests 3 Inspection Report: Creech St Michael Church of England Primary School, 22 May 2006 to 23 May 2006 of pupils, which the school is seeking to address. The opportunities for pupils to develop literacy and numeracy skills in all subjects are too few to help pupils make faster progress in these key skills. The curriculum is strongly enriched with a breakfast club, after-school activities, plenty of sport and an emphasis on the performing arts and music. The current South American theme, with visitors from Guatamala and Mexico and activities such as cooking ‘fajitas’ and the Rio carnival dancing,

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Grade: 3

demonstrates how well curriculum enrichment is used to bring subjects alive. The school provides an excellent range of opportunities for teaching pupils how to be healthy.

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Grade: 2

Pupils are well cared for, guided and supported and their good personal development is central to work of the school. Systems to ensure pupils’ safety, including child protection procedures, are secure and robust. Care and guidance for pupils with learning difficulties is well organised. The school has begun to develop a detailed system to track the progress of each pupil so that they can be helped to reach or exceed the expected levels for their age or ability. This already enables the school to target pupils who are falling behind and give them extra support. Although the use of this information is much improved recently, it is recognised that intervention is still not frequent enough in several classes to raise standards more quickly, particularly for the most able pupils. Pupils know what their targets are and are clear about what they need to do to improve, and parents are involved well in the process.

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Grade: 3

The satisfactory quality of leadership and management is leading to continuous and gradual improvement. Senior staff have a very accurate understanding of what needs to be done and have successfully begun improving key areas, such as the progress of girls with high ability. The governors and headteacher have been required to spend significant amounts of time in recent years dealing with issues not directly connected with the day-to-day running of the school. This has slowed the pace at which actions to improve pupils’ learning have taken place. These issues are now largely resolved and the school does have the capacity to continue improving. The procedures for self-evaluation are greatly improved since the last inspection and the views of parents, pupils and the local authority are acted upon effectively. School leaders do a very good job of monitoring and evaluating the bigger picture. They do not, however, monitor

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Grade: 3

the work of all teachers closely enough to ensure a consistently high quality of teaching, curriculum and pupil progress. Not enough managers are involved in this work as a team, to speed up the pace of change, an issue which the school plans to address. The school has good links with local schools, the local authority and educational groups and services to seek the best possible opportunities for pupils. 4 Inspection Report: Creech St Michael Church of England Primary School, 22 May 2006 to 23 May 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. 5 Inspection Report: Creech St Michael Church of England Primary School, 22 May 2006 to 23 May 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 NA 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 1 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 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

Dear Pupils, Thank you for being so helpful and welcoming to us when we visited Creech St Michael; we enjoyed the time we spent with you very much. We can see why you find the school such a good place to learn. We also enjoyed meeting the staff and joining you for lunch and some of your lessons. Here are some of your school’s highlights: • The mature way you behave, help others and work so hard in lessons. • How well you understand how to keep yourselves healthy. • The large number of interesting activities on offer for you. • The way the staff really care for you and keep you safe. What we have asked the school to improve further: • Help you to learn even more by making more of your lessons as good as the best. • Ask all managers to check more often on how well the work you are given to do is helping you to learn. This is to help senior staff improve things more quickly. We wish you all the very best in the future. Yours

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