Tadworth Primary School

Inspection Report Tadworth Primary School

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125296 Unique Reference Number Surrey LEA LEA 281931 Inspection number 21 June 2006 to 22 June 2006 Inspection dates Nicola Davies AI Reporting inspector

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

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Heathcote School address Primary Type of school Tadworth Foundation School category KT20 5RR 4 to 11 Age range of pupils 01737 354541 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01737 373820 Fax number 392 Number on roll Mr Phil Shepherd Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs Judith Constable Headteacher 30 October 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 281931 21 June 2006 - 4 to 11 22 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 three Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

This larger than average primary school is set on the outskirts of the village of Tadworth which it serves. Most pupils are of White British heritage. A small minority of pupils are from other ethnic backgrounds, including a few pupils who join the school at early stages of learning English as an additional language. The current headteacher took up her post in September 2004 at the same time as the school became part of the newly formed North Downs Federation.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Tadworth Primary School, 21 June 2006 to 22 June 2006

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Grade: 2

The school judges itself to be effective and to provide good value for money and the inspection team agrees. The very good learning environment in the Foundation Stage helps children make good progress. Throughout the school, all groups of pupils are achieving well and reaching the challenging targets set for them. Two years ago, standards at the end of Years 2 and 6 were average and progress was not as good as it ought to have been. Since then, the decline has been arrested. Standards are now above average and progress is good. One reason for this success is that the headteacher, all staff and governors have worked well together to identify what they needed to improve and to plan jointly how to do this. However, they have not yet routinely involved parents in evaluating the school's strengths and weaknesses and, as a result, not all feel that the school takes account of their views. Standards of care are consistently high and the school considers the needs of all pupils

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Grade: 2

well. Identifying and addressing key areas of weakness, improving teaching and the very careful tracking of pupils' progress has resulted in good improvements to the progress which pupils make, both academically and socially. The school's monitoring shows that behaviour is improving overall although different approaches to the way teachers manage behaviour mean that this is not yet consistent across the school. The curriculum has been broadened to include more opportunities for creative work, often based on wider 'themes' which pupils enjoy. With the support of parents, the school has made good improvements to its information and communication technology (ICT) equipment although planning for pupils to get the most out of these facilities is an area the school has identified can be improved further. The school has addressed the issues raised in the previous inspection report and this, together with the effectiveness

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Grade: 2

of recent improvements, indicate that it has a good capacity to continue to improve.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Involve all parents in regularly identifying the school's strengths and weaknesses • Improve the consistency of behaviour management • Ensure learning outcomes are clear when pupils use ICT in different subjects.

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Grade: 2

Standards at the start of the Reception class are broadly average. Teaching focuses on meeting the needs of each child whilst developing their capacity to make choices. The result is that children carefully build upon what they already know and make good progress so that most achieve or exceed the learning goals expected by the end of their time there. Pupils continue to make good progress throughout the school. Current pupils are on course to reach above average standards in national assessments in Year 2 as they were last year, with particularly good improvement in writing. In 2005, standards were 2 Inspection Report: Tadworth Primary School, 21 June 2006 to 22 June 2006 above average at the end of Year 6 in English and mathematics and average in science. This year, teachers in Years 3 to 6 have successfully focused on improving progress in writing and science. They have also ensured that more-able girls do better in

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Grade: 2

mathematics. As a result, standards are above average, and pupils have made stronger progress than last year. There are no significant differences between the achievement of different groups of pupils and most reach the realistic and challenging targets set for them.

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Grade: 2

Pupils' personal development and well being is good. Pupils' enjoy coming to school and their attendance is above average. Their behaviour is satisfactory overall because although they generally co-operate well with each other and adults, they do not always listen as well as they could. Pupils' good spiritual, moral, and social development is supported by opportunities they have to understand their own feelings and those of others and to reflect on spiritual aspects in assemblies. Their cultural development is sound and improving as they learn about people different from themselves and have more opportunities to express themselves through art and music. Pupils know about keeping healthy and safe. They enjoy the opportunities they have to keep fit. They often choose healthy school meals and even the youngest pupils are happy to try out healthy snacks such as mini-cucumbers. Pupils feel safe in school and

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Grade: 2

are well aware of potential risks. They enjoy contributing to school life, for example, representing the school in sports competitions or on the school council, singing in the school choir, or helping design a new 'outdoor area' for the school. Older pupils enjoy the responsibilities they have around the school such as designing rules for playground games or as they say 'helping the little ones settle down after lunch'. These experiences, together with their good basic skills, prepare them well for their next steps in education.

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Grade: 2

Teaching and learning are good and have improved over the past two years. As a result pupils now achieve well throughout the school. Many are making up ground lost during a period in which teaching was not as consistently strong as it now is. Teaching in the Foundation Stage successfully develops the youngest children's capacity to make choices and to learn co-operatively with others. The result is that they make good progress. Teaching in Years 1 to 6 is good and results in similarly good progress. Teachers make the aim of each lesson clear and also share 'success criteria' which help pupils to pinpoint what they need to strive to do or learn by the end of each lesson. This is generally working well and pupils say their teachers 'help to make our learning interesting and fun'. Although behaviour is managed effectively in most classes, there 3 Inspection Report: Tadworth Primary School, 21 June 2006 to 22 June 2006

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Grade: 2

are times when the school's expectations are inconsistently applied which means that, at times, pupils take too long to listen or to settle to their work. Skilled teaching assistants work effectively to support pupils with a range of learning difficulties or disabilities.

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Grade: 2

The curriculum covers all subjects and is well balanced. Pupils are making better progress because more time has been given to science, and there are more opportunities for practical activities, for creative thinking and for linking literacy with other subjects. Recently improved resources mean that pupils have more opportunities to develop their ICT skills and to use these in other subjects. However as yet, these opportunities are not planned well enough to ensure that pupils make good progress in developing skills in ICT and other subjects at the same time. The indoor learning environment in the Foundation stage is first class and the planned curriculum imaginatively covers all areas of learning with a good focus on creativity and role play. Each year the normal timetable is suspended so that a andquot;curriculum weekandquot; can take place. andquot;Creativity Week 2006andquot; helped pupils in all years focus on writing on a variety of topics. There are good opportunities beyond

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Grade: 2

lessons from clubs, visits and special events. An enrichment programme led by teaching assistants and parents includes activities such as arts and crafts, calligraphy and swimming and is popular with pupils and parents alike. Pupils particularly enjoy the chance to represent the school in sports teams. During the inspection they won the district sports cup.

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Grade: 2

The quality of care, guidance and support is good. Teachers know their pupils well and pupils feel safe in an environment where bullying and racism are closely monitored. Pupils with learning difficulties or other particular needs are well cared for and make good progress to meet the targets in their individual learning plans. This is because their difficulties are identified at an early stage and the school works well with outside agencies, and the pupils' supportive parents, to help them. The success of their actions is monitored on a regular basis and most achieve as well as the other pupils in the school. Policies and procedures to protect children and ensure their health and safety are made clear to all staff and are carefully implemented. Pupils' work is regularly monitored and marking provides pupils with a good understanding of how well they have done. Pupils are set targets to achieve, although, as yet, not all are aware of their individual

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Grade: 2

targets or the steps that are needed to meet these. 4 Inspection Report: Tadworth Primary School, 21 June 2006 to 22 June 2006

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Grade: 2

Leadership and management are good. The headteacher provides effective leadership focused on improving academic standards and promoting good standards of care for pupils. The school has worked hard over the past two years to develop robust systems which help it accurately identify areas where it performs well and to take effective action on areas which need further improvement. For example, they identified that not all pupils were doing as well as they should so they improved assessment and monitored teaching closely. As a result, current pupils are making good progress. Such successes indicate that the school is well placed to continue to improve. This process of aiming to improve began with a thorough evaluation of the school, including the views of pupils and the many adults involved, including the well-informed governors. As a result, the school has a clear set of priorities and has now developed a system so

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Grade: 2

that all adults in the school are involved with improving, monitoring and evaluating a particular aim. This means that teaching assistants, the leadership team, governors, administrative staff and teachers have a shared understanding of what they want to achieve, how much it will cost, and how they can measure their progress. Despite the good efforts that staff and governors have made to keep parents informed through the school's regular newsletter and its informative website, parents are not yet routinely involved in evaluating the school's strengths and weaknesses. As a result, not all parents feel they have a regular opportunity to comment on aspects of the school which concern them, such as behaviour, which a small minority feel is not yet good enough. 5 Inspection Report: Tadworth Primary School, 21 June 2006 to 22 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: Tadworth Primary School, 21 June 2006 to 22 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 2 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 3 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 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 2 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 us to your school recently. We enjoyed seeing how you worked and talking to many of you, even though it was a busy two days at the school with your sports day and the district sports too. Talking to you is an important way that we find out about the school, so thank you for your help. We don't have space here to tell you everything we found out, but have included some of the main points in this letter. We agree with your teachers that you go to a good school. We were pleased to see the good standards that you reach in your work and especially pleased to see that the progress each of you makes is improving. One of the reasons for this is the way your teachers make very clear what they hope you will learn in each lesson and how you will recognise if you have got this right. We have asked them to double check to see if they are just as clear about what they want you to learn when you are using computers in your work in different subjects. Although you

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

behave quite well, sometimes your teachers need to remind you too often to listen or get on with something they have asked you to do. We have asked them to share their best ideas about helping you to make the most of your time in lessons and we want you to think hard about that too. Your teachers, the other adults in the school and your parents are very keen to make sure you do as well as you can while you are at the school. This is why your headteacher and all the adults in the school spend a lot of time planning how to make improvements. Your parents have lots of interesting ideas about this too which they wrote to us about. Although the school provides your parents with a lot of information and asks their opinions of changes that they have made, we have asked them to think of more ways they can regularly find out what your parents think are the good things about the school and what they think could be improved.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

I'm sure the school will find their ideas as interesting as we did. Well done on winning the athletics cup! Nicola Davies Lead Inspector

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