Lanchester Endowed Parochial Primary School

Inspection Report Lanchester Endowed Parochial Primary School

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131168 Unique Reference Number Durham LEA 282177 Inspection number 31 October 2005 to 1 November 2005 Inspection dates Margaret Shepherd Reporting inspector

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

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Front Street School address Primary Type of school Lanchester Voluntary controlled School category Durham, County Durham 3 to 11 Age range of pupils 01207 520436 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01207 521432 Fax number 300 Number on roll Canon Peter Waterhouse Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs Jane Davis Headteacher 1 May 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 282177 31 October 2005 - 3 to 11 1 November 2005 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 a team of three additional inspectors.

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Description of the school

Lanchester Endowed Parochial Primary School serves the village of Lanchester and surrounding outlying areas. The school is a result of an amalgamation of separate nursery, infant and junior schools. The different buildings were joined together by corridors. There are fewer children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities than usual but the proportion of children with statements of special educational need is broadly average. There are fewer children entitled to free school meals than usual. All pupils are of white British heritage. Children enter the nursery on a part time basis with standards overall above the expected level. Some children leave the school at the end of the nursery year. A minority of children do not attend the nursery school and join the school at the beginning of reception. At the time of the inspection, the headteacher had only been in post for half a term and many of the coordinators had

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Description of the school

taken up new responsibilities for the same length of time.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Lanchester Endowed Parochial Primary School, 31 October 2005 to 1 November 2005

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Grade: 2

This is a good school. The school judges itself this way and the inspectors agree. It provides good value for money. Children make a good start in nursery and reception, with particularly good progress in reading in reception. Achievement is good through the school with consistently higher standards over time than expected by Year 6. The exception is in mathematics in the infant classes where children’s progress slows. Children’s personal development is good and their behaviour is particularly good. Teaching is good. The school provides a stimulating curriculum, which is particularly rich in art and design and design and technology. Care and welfare are good. The accommodation is spacious but is not well suited to all learners’ needs. Leadership and management are good. The headteacher has a very clear vision and has made a very good start in improving standards and personal development even further. Governors

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Grade: 2

play an important role in maintaining continuity across the changes in the school. Coordinators are very enthusiastic. The school has a good capacity to improve. Improvement since the previous inspection is good.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Increase progress in mathematics in infant classes by carrying out and monitoring the actions identified in the new numeracy development plan. • Improve the design of the accommodation to suit the needs of all learners.

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Grade: 2

Standards are higher than average and achievement is good overall. This confirms the school’s own judgements. Children make a good start in the nursery and reception. Reception children make particularly good progress in reading and gain a great love of stories together with a very good knowledge of different letter sounds. Progress in English and science is good in the infant classes, with more children achieving consistently well across the different levels. In contrast, children do not achieve well enough in mathematics. Despite children entering the school with higher standards than expected, by the end of Year 2 children are only matching national standards. The school has identified this weakness and has produced a clear action plan in order to raise standards in mathematics to match the other subjects. Achievement is good in the junior classes. The gains children make between standards in Year 2 and Year 6 are higher than average. Children make up for the ground that

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Grade: 2

they lost in mathematics. Boys achieve significantly better than average. Standards are higher than expected in art and design and design and technology. Learners meet the consistently challenging targets that the school sets for them. There was a weakness in target setting in mathematics in the infant classes but this has now been addressed effectively. The school sets a high priority on progress of children with 2 Inspection Report: Lanchester Endowed Parochial Primary School, 31 October 2005 to 1 November 2005 learning difficulties and/or disabilities and they achieve well. More able children achieve well in the junior classes and in English and science in the infant classes. More able infant children achieve well in mathematics in the new sessions outside of the main classroom but do not achieve well enough in whole class lessons.

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Grade: 2

The school judges this as good and the inspectors agree. Children make a very good start in the nursery and reception, learning to work and play harmoniously together and gaining skills of independence. Relationships across the school are very good. Children have very positive attitudes to their work and try their best in lessons. They behave very well both in their classrooms and around the school, moving through the many long corridors very sensibly and safely. They have a very good understanding of right and wrong and respect each other’s views. Attendance rates are satisfactory. Children have a strong sense of their role in both the school and the village community. For example, they took great pride in making a guy in their art club for the village bonfire on Guy Fawkes night. Children take their responsibilities seriously and thoroughly enjoy carrying out different tasks throughout the school. The school council

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Grade: 2

is very effective. Children develop a good understanding of citizenship from its work. They develop a good understanding of economic awareness through opportunities, such as costing out materials for design and technology. Children have a very good understanding of healthy lifestyles and of keeping safe. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. Children respond well to the strong Christian ethos of the school. They show great sensitivity in their responses in different occasions, such as in assemblies, during story telling or when other children are showing their work to the class.

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Grade: 2

The quality of teaching and learning is good. This judgement agrees with the school’s own self-assessment. Teachers work closely with teaching assistants to support children across different aspects of the lessons. Teachers provide good support for children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and organise their learning carefully to match their needs. Children with statements of special educational need receive well focused support from classroom assistants. Assessment procedures for checking pupils’ progress are good. Teachers plan carefully for more able children to provide challenging activities, apart from mathematics in infant classes, where expectations are not consistently high enough in lessons. In contrast, there are high expectations in English and science and children are expected to produce well organised and imaginative work, such as creating an advertisement for a lost multi-coloured cat.

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Grade: 2

3 Inspection Report: Lanchester Endowed Parochial Primary School, 31 October 2005 to 1 November 2005 Teachers manage behaviour very well through a combination of very good relationships and a clear outline of their expectations. The reception and nursery staff organise activities carefully to extend personal, social and emotional development. The teaching of reading in reception is outstanding and combines the teaching of technical skills very skilfully with an appreciation of stories.

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Grade: 2

The school judges this as good and the inspectors agree. The curriculum is rich and stimulating and meets statutory requirements. The use of the creativity weeks provides very good opportunities for enriching the curriculum. The whole school focus in these weeks works very well. For example, the school was filled with wonderful dragons of all shapes and sizes as a result of one of these weeks based on a visit to an oriental museum. The school uses the swimming pool on its site well and all children learn to swim. French is a valuable addition in the curriculum. There is a wide range of extra-curricular activities and these are well attended. Parents and children really appreciate this facility. The reception and nursery plan well together to provide a relevant curriculum across their age groups. However, the physical separation between the two teaching areas reduces opportunities for children to benefit from each other’s

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Grade: 2

curriculum and resources. The school organises the curriculum for children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities very carefully.

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Grade: 2

The quality of care, guidance and support is good. Inspectors agree with the school’s own judgement of its provision. Staff are fully committed to caring for children. Teachers and support staff are well aware of different children’s needs. The school provides a generally safe environment. It considers issues of safety carefully, such as risk assessments, particularly in the challenges of the accommodation, with its different playgrounds and range of steps and corridors. There is a clear focus on promoting healthy living, such as the provision of fruit throughout the school. There are good quality systems in place to support vulnerable children. The school works well with parents and values their views. Parents appreciate this. A typical comment was ‘a friendly happy place…with a feeling of community, equality, with measures to improve daily life’.

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Grade: 2

Leadership and management are good. Despite the short time that the headteacher has been in her post, she has gained the confidence of children, teachers, governors and parents. She has high aspirations for raising standards even further and extending children’s personal development and well-being even more. The management of changes that she has carried out this term has been very effective. The newly formed 4 Inspection Report: Lanchester Endowed Parochial Primary School, 31 October 2005 to 1 November 2005 senior leadership team are already operating efficiently. Coordinators are very enthusiastic about their roles and responsibilities. They approach innovations with relish. The special educational needs coordinator and numeracy coordinators have made a particularly good start in identifying improvements and implementing innovations. Governors play an important role in providing continuity over time,

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Grade: 2

particularly across the current changes. They greatly value the role of the school in the village community. There is a clear commitment from leaders and managers to making sure all children are fully included in the school’s work. The accommodation is spacious overall but there is much wasted space which is not suitable for children to use, such as the small size of the library and inappropriate siting of the toilets. The school’s self-evaluation is good. It values parents’ and children’s views and acts on their suggestions. The school has a good capacity to improve due to the very positive attitudes of the staff, the vision and determination of the headteacher and the support of governors and parents. 5 Inspection Report: Lanchester Endowed Parochial Primary School, 31 October 2005 to 1 November 2005 .

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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: Lanchester Endowed Parochial Primary School, 31 October 2005 to 1 November 2005

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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 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 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

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 0207 421 6800 F 0207 421 6707 www.ofsted.gov.uk Lanchester Endowed Parochial Primary School Front Street Lanchester Durham County Durham DH7 0HU 2 November 2005 Dear Children, Thank you very much for welcoming us into your school. We really enjoyed talking to you and looking at your work. The best things about your school are: the quality of your work and the good progress you make through the school your very good behaviour, particularly the way that you move around the school the way that you try your best to produce good work in lessons the way that you respond to the spiritual opportunities in assemblies or when you are listening to stories the way that you take responsibility and all the different things you do in the village community – your guy for the bonfire was really lifelike! your teachers and other staff, who work so well together your very interesting curriculum, particularly the creativity weeks – your dragons were wonderful

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

all the extra activities you have after school the way that all the school staff look after you and keep you safe your new headteacher, who has already done lots of new things to make your school even better your enthusiastic teachers who lead and manage different responsibilities through the school your governors, who have worked hard for you for such a long time. One of the things that we have asked your school to do is to help you make better progress in mathematics in the infant classes. The other thing we have asked is to make improvements to the buildings so that you have more variety in where and how you learn. Best wishes,

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Annex B

Maggi Shepherd, David Earley, Joan Lock Lead inspector and team inspectors Annex B

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