Clandon CofE Aided Primary School

Inspection Report Clandon CofE Aided Infant School

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125199 Unique Reference Number Surrey LEA LEA 281914 Inspection number 14 June 2006 to 14 June 2006 Inspection dates George Rayner AI Reporting inspector

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

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The Street School address Infant Type of school West Clandon Voluntary aided School category Guildford GU4 7ST 4 to 7 Age range of pupils 01483 222442 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01483 225242 Fax number 49 Number on roll Reverend B Preece Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs P A Hopkinson Headteacher 3 July 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 281914 14 June 2006 - 4 to 7 14 June 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 an Additional Inspector.

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Description of the school

This school is much smaller than most. It principally serves the villages of East and West Clandon, just outside Guildford. In addition several pupils come from other villages and parts of Guildford. Standards on entry are above average in literacy and numeracy and average in personal and social skills. The socio-economic circumstances of pupils are generally advantaged. The small size of the school means that the characteristics of its pupils can vary considerably from year to year. Currently the proportion with learning difficulties and disabilities is below average, but they were average and above average in the two previous years. The proportions of pupils from ethnic minorities, or at an early stage of speaking English, are low. The school values its denominational nature and small size.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Clandon CofE Aided Infant School, 14 June 2006 to 14 June 2006

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Grade: 2

The school judges its overall effectiveness as satisfactory. The inspection has shown that this is a modest view, because its overall effectiveness is good. Quality and standards in the Foundation Stage are good. The school gives good value for money. The very positive responses of parents and carers show that they share these views. Pupils achieve well and Year 2 standards are comfortably above average. The school effectively nurtures a love of reading and ensures that pupils have a good foundation in mathematics skills and concepts. Because pupils have limited opportunities to write at length in a variety of contexts, the achievement of higher attaining pupils is least strong in writing. Pupils' personal development is good. They benefit greatly from the family-like nature and denominational character of the school to make very good progress in their social, moral and spiritual development. They do not have enough opportunities to develop

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Grade: 2

their awareness of other cultures, however. Good teaching is well geared to the needs of all children and varied and stimulating lessons usually ensure that pupils are motivated to learn well. The good curriculum is significantly enhanced by specialist teaching of French, music and physical education - and by the school having its own swimming pool. Excellent pastoral care means that the school is a very happy and secure community. Improving assessment procedures are providing good academic support and guidance for pupils. The school is well led and managed. Teamwork and the willing sharing of responsibilities among staff and governors contribute strongly. The school effectively evaluates its performance. It has succeeded well in maintaining and building upon strengths identified in the last inspection. This shows that it has a good capacity for continued improvement.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Improve the achievement of higher attaining pupils in writing, so that it matches that in their other subjects • Provide more opportunities for pupils to learn about other cultures.

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Grade: 2

Pupils meet challenging targets to achieve well and reach standards that are securely above average by Year 2. In the Reception class, teachers effectively support children in developing the personal and social skills necessary to become good learners. This gives them a strong foundation on which to make strong progress in Years 1 and 2. Standards are best in reading and mathematics, in which they are well above average. Due to enhanced effectiveness in teaching mathematics skills and concepts, standards have significantly improved in this subject during the last five years. The school nurtures 2 Inspection Report: Clandon CofE Aided Infant School, 14 June 2006 to 14 June 2006 a love of reading by providing stimulating resources and enjoyable activities, such as the Book Week. This has ensured that reading standards have been maintained at the high levels of the last inspection. Higher attaining pupils have only limited opportunities

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Grade: 2

to write at length in a variety of contexts, so that their achievement, as shown by the proportion reaching Level 3, is satisfactory in this area. Other than this, there is no significant variation in the achievement of different groups. The school quickly identifies pupils with learning difficulties and those capable of the highest attainment, to ensure effective support and challenge. The support that parents give, for example, by listening to their children read, makes a valuable contribution to their achievement and is greatly appreciated by the school.

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Grade: 2

Pupils' personal development and well-being are good. They show strong moral and social development through their good behaviour and willingness to work together and share resources. Spiritual development is very good. The denominational nature of the school exerts a powerful influence on this and pupils respond by being thoughtful, respectful to others and understanding of their opinions. Close relationships with the church and village ensure that pupils develop good awareness of their own culture. Although there are some opportunities to learn about other cultures, there is a need to develop these as they are not as strong. Pupils say emphatically that they love the school and enjoy being here. One girl said, 'I'm often sad when the weekend comes.' They demonstrate their enjoyment in their enthusiasm during lessons and willingness to work hard. Attendance levels are average. Because of the size of the school, the rate is particularly susceptible to quite small

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Grade: 2

numbers of children being taken on holiday during term-time and the school is working to encourage parents to minimise this as far as possible. Pupils have a good understanding of the importance of good diet and exercise. They enjoy the tasty and healthy school meals and are particularly enthusiastic that the school has its own outdoor swimming pool. Pupils contribute well to school society - for example, when they work together to draw up rules, act as buddies for younger children, or take part in the school council. They are happy that, in a small school, they all have to play an active role. Pupils gladly participate in church and village celebrations and charity events. The school is aware that even more could be done to provide for their future economic well-being. It is moving forward well on this by becoming involved in the primary Young Enterprise Initiative. 3 Inspection Report: Clandon CofE Aided Infant School, 14 June 2006 to 14 June 2006

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Grade: 2

Teaching and learning are good. Lessons in the Reception class are well geared to the way in which very young children learn. A good variety of tasks stimulates them to play, experiment and find things out and to improve their social skills by learning to work productively together. As a result, children make good progress in developing their skills, confidence and the maturity to work without constant supervision. In Years 1 and 2, lessons are well planned and managed to ensure that all needs are mostly catered for, and that learning has good pace. However, higher attaining pupils do not have enough opportunities to write at length. Teamwork between teachers and support staff effectively ensures that all pupils receive the support and guidance that they need. Lessons generally succeed well in engaging pupils through interesting and varied activities. Encouraging marking of work promotes motivation. It mostly gives

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Grade: 2

helpful guidance on how pupils can improve their work, although this is not fully consistent.

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Grade: 2

The curriculum has good balance and breadth. A particular strength is the innovative approach to covering lessons while teachers take their entitlement of time away from classes. The school employs specialists to provide, in addition to all the required areas, good quality lessons in French, music and physical education. The physical education opportunities benefit greatly from the school having its own swimming pool. The school has equipped itself well with information and communication technology (ICT) resources, so that pupils have regular opportunities to develop their capability and use computers to enhance their learning in other subjects. Provision for personal development is good. The school has found that, because of its size and the fact that many pupils travel some distance, it has not been able to attract sufficient numbers to make after-school clubs viable. In collaboration with other schools, it is investigating whether these can

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Grade: 2

be jointly offered. There are nevertheless, several good enrichment activities, for example when visitors come from the local police and fire services to contribute to pupils' learning about health and safety. Pupils frequently visit interesting places and enjoy activities in the parish church. This contributes well to their learning about their own culture, but they need more opportunities to learn about other cultures.

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Grade: 2

The school makes excellent use of its small size and particular nature as a faith school to provide a very high level of pastoral care and a very happy and secure community. 4 Inspection Report: Clandon CofE Aided Infant School, 14 June 2006 to 14 June 2006 Several parents wrote of how highly they regard the way in which their children are valued as individuals and flourish in consequence. One wrote that the school is, 'a perfect and gentle start to school life.' Child protection procedures are in place and risk assessments are conscientiously carried out. The school has worked effectively to improve its procedures for tracking pupils' progress and use records to ensure that all achieve well. All pupils in Years 1 and 2 have their own personal targets. In a conversation, a group showed that they know these and understand how to use them to improve their work.

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Grade: 2

The school is well led and managed. The headteacher leads with vision and efficiency. She effectively uses her significant teaching commitment as an opportunity to provide a lead to colleagues in demonstrating good practice. Because of the small size of the staff, much responsibility falls upon the shoulders of the headteacher. Leadership has effectively met this challenge through astute appointments that have created a staff team with considerable willingness and capability to share responsibilities. The school is planning to build on this further by extending the role of subject leaders. Governors are very involved in the life of the school and contribute well to its leadership. The school has made good use of advisory services of both the local authority and the diocese to guide and train staff and support it in evaluating its effectiveness. Monitoring of teaching and learning is systematic and rigorous and the school ensures

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Grade: 2

that it seeks the views of parents and acts upon them. This approach to self-evaluation has given the school a generally accurate, although in some respects modest, view of its quality and performance. Leadership has ensured that the school has improved well, with strengths either maintained or further built upon. This has ensured that, although standards can fluctuate in some years due to the exaggerated impact of even slight changes in the statistics of a small school, they have generally improved. This track record demonstrates that the leadership has a good capacity for further improvement. 5 Inspection Report: Clandon CofE Aided Infant School, 14 June 2006 to 14 June 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: Clandon CofE Aided Infant School, 14 June 2006 to 14 June 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 2 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 2 How well do learners achieve? NA 2 The standards 1 reached by learners

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Achievement and standards

NA 2 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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learners?

NA 2 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development NA 2 The behaviour of learners NA 3 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 2 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 2 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 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

Pupils Thank you for welcoming me to your school. I really enjoyed my visit. I was able to find out that yours is a good school. You succeed well in your learning, especially in reading and mathematics. This is because the school is very good at helping you to love reading and giving you the skills for mathematics. Most lessons are interesting. Teachers and the other adults usually make sure that work is right for everybody and that you all get any extra help that you need. Although most of you do quite well at writing, a few could do even better. To make this happen, teachers need to give you more chances to practise writing in an interesting way about lots of different things. One reason that you do well is that you help a lot by behaving well and working hard. You are kind to each other and help to make your school a safe and happy family. Many of you told me that you love your school and you showed this by the way in which you join in. You told

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

me that you especially like your swimming pool. It was good to see some of you really enjoying learning to swim and be safe in the water. You also play a good part in activities in the church and village. The school needs to give you more opportunities to learn about life in other places, though. Your parents and the other grown ups at home also help you to do well by listening to you read and supporting you in other ways when you work at home. The school is very grateful for this. Your parents can help the school even more by making sure you take as little time off as possible for things like holidays.The headteacher, staff and governors work very hard as a team and run the school well. They are making sure that it will continue to be a good school. Well done to you all and very best wishes. George Rayner Lead Inspector

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