Easton Royal Primary School

Inspection Report - Amended Easton Royal Primary School

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126192 Unique Reference Number Wiltshire Local Authority 282072 Inspection number 5 October 2006 Inspection date Christopher Schenk HMI Reporting inspector

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

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The Street School address Primary Type of school Easton Royal Community School category Pewsey SN9 5LZ 4 °11 Age range of pupils 01672 810477 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01672 810477 Fax number 30 Number on roll (school) Shelley Whitehead Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Vivien Swift Headteacher 11 October 1999 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection date Age group 282072 5 October 2006 4 °11

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Amended Report Addendum

Report updated to resolve formatting inconsistency

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Amended Report Addendum

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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Amended Report Addendum

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 one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Schools.

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Description of the school

This primary school serves the village of Easton Royal and is much smaller than average. Two thirds of the pupils come from outside the village by parental choice. All pupils are of White British heritage. None of them is eligible for free school meals. The proportion identified as having learning difficulties or disabilities is about a third of the national average. A building programme is just being completed, giving the school a hall.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Easton Royal Primary School, 5 October 2006

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Grade: 1

"Easton Royal School has been an excellent place for our children to have their primary education ° happy, caring and with high academic and personal standards." This comment from parents is typical of the overwhelmingly positive response to a parents' questionnaire, with a very high return rate of over 95%. The comment shows what it is that makes this school outstandingly effective. It is the combination of exceptionally high academic standards with excellent personal development brought about by outstanding care for each individual pupil in a happy atmosphere where learning is fun. Pupils make particularly good progress in the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 and reach exceptionally high standards by the end of Year 2. Their progress is now sustained in Key Stage 2 and last year they reached exceptionally high standards by the end of Year 6, but these standards are not as long established as those in Key Stage 1. Indeed,

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Grade: 1

the school has demonstrated an outstanding capacity to improve by the way in which standards in Key Stage 2 have been raised over the last two years. Relationships between adults and pupils, and among the pupils themselves, are excellent. The pupils gain a great deal in their personal development from the experience of working and playing together in a small, harmonious community where every child matters. In this small school the pupils are taught in two classes, each of which has a wide range of ages and attainment levels. The teachers are skilled in meeting the diverse needs of their pupils. The lively teaching stimulates and motivates the pupils, who have great enthusiasm for learning. The teaching is underpinned by very careful planning. Any learning difficulties that pupils may have, and any particular gifts or talents, are carefully identified, with an understanding that an individual pupil may have difficulties in some

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Grade: 1

aspects and gifts and talents in others. As a result, pupils are given the right mix of support and challenge. The school exploits the advantages of mixed-age classes, enabling younger pupils to emulate older role models and older pupils to benefit from helping their younger class-mates. Groupings within the classes are flexible so that pupils are able to work at the right level, regardless of age. Teachers' marking is very thorough and gives encouragement as well as suggestions for further improvement. Pupils know the detailed and precise targets they are working towards in their key skills. They are developing good skills in self-assessment. Their progress is carefully tracked and any slowing down is identified early so that something can be done about it. For example, the school recently noticed that pupils at the beginning of Key Stage 2 were not making sufficient progress in their writing skills to

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Grade: 1

build on the high standards they had attained at the end of Key Stage 1. Effective strategies have been put in place to make sure that the impetus is not lost and that writing skills continue to develop well throughout Key Stage 2. 2 Inspection Report: Easton Royal Primary School, 5 October 2006 Pupils are given a good range of interesting things to learn about, and links between subjects are strong. The new hall is of great benefit, enabling more activities to take place, in school time and in clubs. The broad curriculum is very well focused on the pupils' progress in their key skills in literacy and numeracy, which are carefully mapped out in the teachers' planning. The school is beginning to identify the subject-specific skills of other foundation subjects such as art, music, physical education, history and geography, more clearly to ensure steady progress. The headteacher is both an excellent class teacher and an outstandingly effective

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Grade: 1

leader. The careful monitoring and evaluation of teaching, by her and by local authority staff, have played a major part in the improvements that have taken place over the last two years. She has also put in place very effective systems to track progress and identify individual pupils' strengths and weaknesses. The teachers and teaching assistants work together very well as a team, sharing their expertise.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Carry out the plans to identify more clearly the subject-specific skills in foundation subjects so that pupils can make more systematic progress.

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Grade: 1

Achievement is outstanding and standards are exceptionally high. Pupils make particularly good progress in the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 and reach standards at the end of Year 2 that have been consistently above average for the last six years and have usually been exceptionally high. Their progress is sustained in Key Stage 2 and the standards reached at the end of Year 6 have been above average for the last two years and were exceptionally high last year in the three core subjects of English, mathematics and science. Because the school identifies so carefully any learning difficulties and any particular gifts and talents that pupils have, they are all given the support and challenge they need to make their personal achievement outstanding.

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Grade: 1

Personal development and well-being are outstanding. The pupils have a good understanding of how to stay safe and how to be healthy. The excellent attendance, at more than 97% so far this year, demonstrates the pupils' enjoyment of school, which is very evident in the enthusiasm they show in lessons. They make an outstandingly positive contribution to the community. Their high standards in speaking and listening, literacy, numeracy and ICT prepare them well for their future economic well-being and they are given many opportunities to work collaboratively and to display enterprise, for example, when older pupils manage the production of a regular newspaper. The excellent relationships and inspiring assemblies lead to outstanding moral and spiritual development. The pupils also develop tolerance and understanding of other cultures 3 Inspection Report: Easton Royal Primary School, 5 October 2006 through a good programme of global education, though they could be given more

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Grade: 1

opportunities to appreciate the cultural diversity within this country. Their social development benefits from the responsibilities they take on in their small and cohesive community, as well as from their contacts with children of their own age from other schools. As older pupils commented with refreshing honesty, "I like the school because it is small and cheery. You get on well with most of the people in it."

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Grade: 1

The teaching and learning are outstanding. The teaching is lively, engaging the interests of pupils throughout the age range, and making very good use of the time available. The thorough and careful planning that underpins the teaching means that the needs of the wide age and attainment range in each class can be effectively met. The work that the pupils are given is always sufficiently challenging to motivate them, and they are also given the different levels of support that they individually need, so that they can rise to the challenge and meet with success. Teaching assistants make a very good contribution and their particular expertise is well used: one of them, who has substantial pre-school experience, plays an important part in the Foundation Stage; the other, who is a graduate in French, teaches the language throughout the school. The pupils have very positive attitudes to learning. As they commented, "It's a jam-packed day.

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Grade: 1

We do loads of things. Our teachers make the lessons practical, so we can understand."

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Grade: 2

The curriculum is good. It covers all the requirements of the National Curriculum as well as religious education, personal, social, and health education, citizenship and French, which has recently been introduced for all pupils once a week. Good links are made between subjects and play activities are planned thematically. More than a third of the pupils (and two of the staff) are learning to play musical instruments. There are special events, such as a Tudor Day, visits to places of interest, and visitors, including recently a local artist. There are lunch-time and after-school clubs that are well attended. The curriculum is carefully planned to be appropriate for the mixed-age classes and to focus clearly on the pupils' progress in their key skills. The school is beginning to assess progress in subject-specific skills, but this work is not yet sufficiently developed to plan systematically for a progression of skills in all subjects.

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Grade: 1

Care, guidance and support are outstanding because there is a very good blend of pastoral care with detailed academic guidance and well-targeted support. All members of staff know their pupils very well and care for them deeply. Through the thorough 4 Inspection Report: Easton Royal Primary School, 5 October 2006 marking and the very good use of detailed targets, the pupils are given effective and clear guidance about how to improve their work. Because the procedures for identifying the pupils' individual strengths and weaknesses are so well developed, they are given the right measure of support. Pupils ask for support from each other as well as from adults and they are also encouraged to be independent and resilient in their learning. As they commented, "When you get stuck, there's lots of people and things to help you."

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Grade: 1

Leadership and management are outstanding. The headteacher leads by example: she is an excellent class teacher who demands high standards of her pupils, of her staff and of herself. With the help of the local authority, she has put in place very effective procedures for monitoring, evaluating, planning and tracking progress. She has successfully involved all staff in the improvements that have taken place, so that there is a shared set of values and sense of purpose. There are sensible plans to develop the roles of subject leaders in collaboration with nearby schools. The governing body plays a very full part in the life of the school. Finances have been well managed to enable the building project to take place, with considerable sums raised by parents and friends of the school. At the beginning of this school year, the governors, the teachers and the teaching assistants spent a day together, building trust and understanding and

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Grade: 1

developing a vision for the future that includes a fuller role for governors linked to particular subjects and aspects of the curriculum. 5 Inspection Report: Easton Royal Primary School, 5 October 2006 .

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Grade: 1

set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: Easton Royal Primary School, 5 October 2006

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Inspection judgements

School Overall Key to judgements: grade 1 is outstanding, grade 2 good, grade 3 satisfactory, and grade 4 inadequate

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Overall effectiveness

How effective, efficient and inclusive is the provision of education, integrated care and any extended services in meeting the needs of learners? How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? 1 The quality and standards in the Foundation Stage 1 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 1 The capacity to make any necessary improvements Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

1 How well do learners achieve? 1 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 1 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

1 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 1 The behaviour of learners 1 The attendance of learners 1 How well learners enjoy their education 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 1 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

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and interests of learners?

1 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average to below average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low. 7 Inspection Report: Easton Royal Primary School, 5 October 2006

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and supporting all learners?

How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can How effectively and efficiently resources, including staff, are deployed to achieve value for money The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities Yes Do procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements? No Does this school require special measures? No Does this school require a notice to improve? 8 Inspection Report: Easton Royal Primary School, 5 October 2006

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Thank you for your welcome when I came to inspect your school, and particular thanks to the six of you in Years 5 and 6 who had lunch with me and talked to me about the school. I think your school is outstandingly good because you reach very high standards in your work and you get on very well together and have fun. Why is it so good? It is partly because of your teachers and teaching assistants. They make your lessons interesting and enjoyable. They plan them very carefully so that you all make progress. They know what you are good at and what you are not so good at, so they can give you challenges and help you to rise to them. They tell you what they want you to learn and when they mark your work they give you encouragement and praise and they also tell you what you need to do to get even better. It is also partly because of you. You are very enthusiastic and hard-working. You look after each other and behave very well indeed. You are not shy about speaking out and you tell your

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

teachers honestly what you think. You ask for help when you need it, not just from the adults, but also from each other. You are also learning to be independent and to find ways of helping yourself when you get stuck. Your headteacher and governors run the school very well. Before I left the school, I spoke to them and told them what I thought. I asked them to carry on with some work that they have already started, looking at the skills you need in every subject so that they can make sure you develop them well. 9 Inspection Report: Easton Royal Primary School, 5 October 2006

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