St Andrew's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Laverstock

Inspection Report St Andrew's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Laverstock

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126405 Unique Reference Number Wiltshire LEA 282106 Inspection number 19 June 2006 to 19 June 2006 Inspection dates Lorna Brackstone AI Reporting inspector

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

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16 Church Road School address Primary Type of school Laverstock Voluntary aided School category Salisbury, Wiltshire SP1 1QX 4 to 11 Age range of pupils 01722 503590 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01722 503590 Fax number 149 Number on roll Mr A D Hall Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs Karen Walker Headteacher 20 March 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 282106 19 June 2006 - 4 to 11 19 June 2006 Inspection Report: St Andrew's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Laverstock, 19 June 2006 to 19 June 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 two Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

St Andrew’s is a small primary school in the village of Laverstock, two miles from the city of Salisbury, where most housing is privately owned. The number of pupils eligible for free school meals is below the national average, as is the proportion of pupils with learning difficulties. When the children start school, their attainment is as expected for their age.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: St Andrew's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Laverstock, 19 June 2006 to 19 June

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Grade: 3

St Andrew’s overall effectiveness is satisfactory, although it has some outstanding features. The school has a strong sense of community and within an atmosphere of mutual respect pupils are cherished. Their personal development is outstanding and they behave both sensibly and responsibly around the school. Pupils enthusiastically contribute to the school and wider village community. Good links have been established with the neighbouring secondary schools. Pupils and staff get on very well together and there is a strong emphasis on care in each class. Children’s progress and the quality of provision in the Foundation Stage are satisfactory, as they are in Years 1 to 6. Teaching throughout the school is satisfactory, with some good features, including brisk pace, high expectations of behaviour and the use of interesting resources. However, although the pupils attain average standards overall, the proportion reaching higher levels is not as good as it

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Grade: 3

could be. This is because information from the assessment of pupils’ progress is not always used to set challenging work. Teachers do not have high enough expectations of what the more able pupils should achieve, and the individual targets for pupils with learning difficulties are not specific enough to ensure that they make good progress. A good range of well-supported extra-curricular activities enriches the satisfactory curriculum. The headteacher’s enthusiasm and the involvement of the whole staff provide a team who are committed to further improvement. The supportive governors are developing a deeper awareness of how to check and challenge school developments. The school knows itself well and accurately evaluates its own effectiveness as satisfactory. The school is keen to improve and is well placed to do so. It provides satisfactory value for money.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Raise the quality of teaching by setting work in lessons that ensures all groups of pupils make good progress, but especially those who are more able. • Make sure that the data gathered on pupils’ progress is used rigorously to set challenging targets. • Implement individual education plans for pupils with learning difficulties that are fully up to date and have short, manageable targets that can be realistically measured over time.

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Grade: 3

Achievement and standards are satisfactory. Children enter school with average standards, and satisfactory progress in Reception ensures average standards by the time they start in Year 1. Test results at the end of Year 2 and Year 6 are in line with national averages. Although pupils make satisfactory progress throughout the school 2 Inspection Report: St Andrew's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Laverstock, 19 June 2006 to 19 June and meet the targets set, some of the more able pupils are not challenged enough to achieve the higher levels of which they are capable. Pupils who are gifted and talented in music, drama, dance, art and PE achieve satisfactorily because they are given access to a range of activities beyond the school. Those pupils who have learning difficulties make satisfactory progress because they are given individual support in class.

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Grade: 1

Personal development and well-being are outstanding. This is an extremely high priority for the school and relationships are a key feature of the exceptional personal development of the pupils. Behaviour is exemplary in and around school. They are extremely caring towards each other and very effectively support each other in lessons and in the playground. For example, in one class, a child was eager to support a friend who was late for school and commented ‘Come along, there’s nothing to worry about’. Overall, pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good, with outstanding features in moral and social development. Attendance is good. Pupils are fully aware of safe practices and the need for a healthy lifestyle. They explained how school lunches have improved and the provision for physical activities, both during school and as extra-curricular activities, helps them keep fit. Pupils’

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Grade: 1

contribution to the community is outstanding. The school council is very positive about the extent to which their ideas are valued and often implemented. Many are keen to take on responsibilities; these include being special helpers and playground friends to support younger pupils at playtimes. Pupils are involved in community events and fund-raising activities. Pupils recently raised money to enable them to visit the theatre, by washing cars within the local village. A visit to the local newspaper office motivated them to produce their own newspaper. There are also many opportunities for pupils to work together in teams and through competitive sporting activities. Consequently, this prepares pupils well for their future economic well-being.

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Grade: 3

The quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory. Teachers establish positive relationships with the pupils, and expectations of behaviour are high. Teaching moves along at a brisk pace and questions are targeted to meet the needs of the mixed year groups. Learning is made interesting because the teachers use interesting resources and plan practical activities. Teaching assistants support pupils with learning difficulties well. Teachers mark pupils’ work regularly and pupils appreciate the value that teachers place on their work. Although teachers explain how the pupils can improve their work, it is not made clear enough how these improvements will relate to attaining higher 3 Inspection Report: St Andrew's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Laverstock, 19 June 2006 to 19 June standards. Also, teachers’ expectations are not high enough and, consequently, they do not always set sufficiently challenging tasks in lessons. Too much use is made of

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Grade: 3

worksheets that do not provide sufficient opportunities for the pupils to extend their thinking through investigative work and longer pieces of writing.

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Grade: 3

The curriculum is satisfactory. Subjects are linked together and this makes the pupils’ learning more meaningful. For example, pupils studying minibeasts used this theme for developing literacy, numeracy and science skills. However, basic skills are not always extended as much as they could be because the planned activities are not always challenging enough for all the pupils. Whilst pupils with learning difficulties are supported satisfactorily in classrooms, their individual education plans do not provide clear guidance on how small steps of progress can be made. The gifted and talented pupils benefit from an interesting range of activities organised at one of the three neighbouring secondary schools. Personal, social, health and emotional education is good, ensuring that the pupils are effectively prepared to live healthily and safely. Opportunities for additional learning out of class are very good, and enrich and extend

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Grade: 3

the experiences of the pupils. Many pupils consider this to be the best part of school life and talk very positively about the sporting and musical activities they are involved in.

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Grade: 3

Care, guidance and support are satisfactory overall. The pastoral care provided for the pupils is very good. Staff know the pupils and their families extremely well and there is a high level of commitment from all adults. There are good procedures for child protection and risk assessments are carried out regularly. The school makes effective use of outside agencies to provide support for those pupils with learning difficulties. However, guidance through the targets on their individual education plans is not always up to date and specific enough to enable them to make good progress. Whilst data is used to track progress, identify pupils with learning needs and set targets, this is not done rigorously enough to ensure that pupils of all abilities, particularly the more able pupils, can achieve well. In discussions with pupils, most know how to improve their work in the short term through teachers’ marking. However,

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Grade: 3

they are not clear about the expected levels in English, mathematics and science; as a result, they do not always know what they need to do to reach the next step in their learning. 4 Inspection Report: St Andrew's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Laverstock, 19 June 2006 to 19 June

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Grade: 3

Leadership and management are satisfactory. The good leadership of the headteacher has created an energetic team who, as one parent explained, encourage the pupils to have a ‘love and desire to learn’. The impact is clear in the outstanding level of pupils’ personal development and well-being. The headteacher is focused on raising pupil achievement and she has collected detailed information to track pupil progress through the school and monitored teaching carefully. Subject leaders have a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of their areas of responsibility and have started to share this information with the staff through meetings and discussions, but as yet the resulting plans are not being used rigorously enough to ensure that, for instance, the more capable pupils are fully challenged. The school takes due account of the views of parents and pupils, and has the full confidence of the vast majority of its parents. Governors support the school very well,

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Grade: 3

are well informed by the headteacher and are beginning to develop more secure systems for challenging the senior staff and holding them to account for the quality of education provided by the school. The school has made good progress in remedying the weaknesses identified in the last inspection and has good capacity to improve further. 5 Inspection Report: St Andrew's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Laverstock, 19 June 2006 to 19 June .

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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: St Andrew's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Laverstock, 19 June 2006 to 19 June

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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 3 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 1 The behaviour of learners NA 2 The attendance of learners NA 1 How well learners enjoy their education NA 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices NA 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles NA 1 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 3 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 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

Thank you for the part you played in the inspection of your school. We very much enjoyed meeting you and getting to know your school. What your school does well: all the adults take good care of you and you have an excellent understanding of how to keep healthy and safe you enjoy school because there are lots of interesting activities organised for after school your behaviour is outstanding and you work very well together. What we have asked the school to do to make it better: help all of you to do your best by setting work that fully matches your capabilities ensure teachers use the information they collect on your progress so that they can help you get better at your work make sure that all pupils who have learning difficulties have individual targets that make sense to them.

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