The Oaks Community Primary School

Inspection Report The Oaks Community Primary School

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134249 Unique Reference Number Cheshire LEA 282507 Inspection number 8 February 2006 to 9 February 2006 Inspection dates Mr Paul Bamber CfBT Lead Inspector Reporting inspector

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

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Rochester Drive School address Primary Type of school Ellesmere Port Voluntary controlled School category Merseyside CH65 9EX 4 to 11 Age range of pupils 0151 355 2050 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 0151 357 4156 Fax number 147 Number on roll Mrs R Martin Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs M Downey (seconded) Headteacher Not applicable Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 282507 8 February 2006 - 4 to 11 9 February 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 two additional inspectors.

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Description of the school

This is a smaller than average urban school that was formed in 2003 by the amalgamation of two schools. There is a unit for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD). Children are predominantly of white British heritage and from disadvantaged backgrounds. There is a higher than average proportion of children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and those who are vulnerable. There has been a fairly high number of staff and children who have left the school over the last few years. There is a steady decline in numbers on roll with many fewer children in the Reception class, Year 1 and Year 2 than in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6. The school's leadership has been subject to considerable change during this academic year and the headteacher is seconded to the post until July 2006.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: The Oaks Community Primary School, 8 February 2006 to 9 February 2006

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Grade: 4

In accordance with section 13 (3) of the Education Act 2005, HMCI is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school is ineffective and does not offer value for money. Standards and achievement are far too low, the curriculum fails to meet the needs of many children and the quality of teaching and learning is not good enough. Despite the very effective work of the temporary headteacher, the overall quality of leadership and management is inadequate. Children's behaviour is just satisfactory and there is evidence that it has improved since the beginning of this academic year. Although most children have good attitudes to learning, a small minority are not as attentive as they should be or willing to work

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Grade: 4

hard. A strength of the school is the care and support that vulnerable children receive to help them overcome the considerable difficulties they have in conforming to the school's values. This is particularly evident in the good provision in the EBD unit. The quality and standards in the Foundation Stage are satisfactory. Because of shortcomings in the school's management of performance, it has not, until very recently, evaluated its provision accurately enough. The school is not in a position to provide enough evidence that it has the capability to sustain recent improvements.

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What the school should do to improve further

• The school needs to raise standards and achievement in English, mathematics and science throughout the school. • The quality of teaching needs to be consistently good enough to enable the children in Key Stages 1 and 2 to reach much higher standards and to achieve as well as they should. • Improvements to the curriculum are required so that it provides children with more enrichment and meets their needs more specifically. • The school needs to continue to improve and implement the management systems that have recently been introduced, so that performance is better monitored and evaluated in order that many areas of provision are improved. The appointment of a permanent headteacher is key to this improvement.

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Grade: 4

Achievement and standards are far too low. Over the last two years, standards in national tests have been exceptionally low and the achievements of children in Year 6 rank in the lowest five per cent in the country. Targets set for children's performance have been widely missed. Analysis of the school's predictions and of children's work 2 Inspection Report: The Oaks Community Primary School, 8 February 2006 to 9 February 2006 indicates that standards in both Year 2 and in Year 6 are still low. The targets set for performance in the 2006 Year 6 national tests are again likely to be missed by a wide margin. There are serious shortcomings in the children's grasp of the basic skills of reading, writing and number. The reasons for the inadequate standards and achievement are the lack of tracking of the children's progress, limited assessment and some inadequate teaching. The school's performance in enabling children to reach the higher

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Grade: 4

Levels 3 and 5 in national assessments is particularly poor. This means that more-able children also significantly underachieve. Children enter the school with well below average skills. They make satisfactory progress in the Reception class because of adequate teaching and provision. Those children with statements of special educational needs (SEN) in the EBD unit make good progress because of consistently good teaching. Children who have learning difficulties and/or disabilities make similar progress to other children in their class.

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Grade: 3

The children's personal development and well-being is satisfactory. Their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is satisfactory overall. School rules are clear and the recently introduced system of rewards is beginning to motivate children well. Children say 'we enjoy school more now because behaviour is better'. The majority of parents feel that behaviour has improved recently. However, a significant minority still feel it could improve further. Inspectors agree that in some classes children should be better behaved. Eight children were excluded for fixed periods in the last academic year with one permanent exclusion. Attendance is broadly in line with the national average. There is a much higher than average number of unauthorised absences. However, the school is now taking effective action to reduce these. Children know the importance of a healthy diet and appreciate the opportunities they have to exercise.

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Grade: 3

They know about the dangers surrounding drug abuse and how to keep safe. Satisfactory opportunities are available for children to contribute to the school's provision. The recently developed school council is beginning to play an important role in their school community, for example, raising money for additional playground equipment. Children have too little understanding of the richness and diversity of world cultures and this is sometimes reflected in a few children's lack of respect for other's faiths and beliefs.

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Grade: 4

Overall, the quality of teaching and learning and that of assessment is inadequate. Teaching is often not challenging enough and the expectations of the quality and quantity of work are too low, therefore children underachieve. Until very recently, the quality of assessment has been unsatisfactory and rarely used to influence lesson plans. Even now, lessons tend to be planned according to the national strategies or 3 Inspection Report: The Oaks Community Primary School, 8 February 2006 to 9 February 2006 guidance, rather than being based on what teachers know to be the next steps children need to take to make progress in their learning. There is consistently good and sometimes outstanding teaching for children in the EBD unit, who make good progress. Some good teaching was also noted in Reception and in Years 5 and 6. However, there is too much inadequate teaching, especially in the Year 1/ 2 class. In the satisfactory

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Grade: 4

lessons, the strengths marginally outweigh the weaknesses. This results in children's standards and achievements being inadequate in many lessons. Children's learning is unsatisfactory. In some lessons, low-level disruptive behaviour causes teachers to spend too much time correcting this, thus slowing the pace of learning. Children generally enjoy working cooperatively and learn well as a result. However, the history of poor behaviour in classrooms has meant that teachers too infrequently give children opportunities to work in teams on groups tasks, to make choices in their own learning or to assess their own work. Target setting is in the very early stages of making an impact on informing children about how they can improve and children are largely unaware of what their targets are. Throughout the school, teachers maintain good relationships with the children.

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Grade: 4

Although the curriculum broadly meets statutory requirements, it is inadequate in that it does not meet the full range of children's learning needs; neither does it provide them sufficiently with the basic skills of reading, writing and number. Recent changes to planning the curriculum have yet to make a positive impact and consequently work is still not fully matched to children's capabilities. Information and communication technology currently plays an insufficient role in supporting all areas of learning. The needs of children in the Reception class are met satisfactorily. However, the opportunities available for children to extend their learning are hindered by poor facilities in the outdoor area. Provision for children who have learning difficulties and/or disabilities in the EBD unit is good because the curriculum is effective in meeting their needs. Children in the main part of the school with learning difficulties and/or

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Grade: 4

disabilities make satisfactory progress when they have extra support from teaching assistants and overall make similar progress to other children. The range of activities to help foster children's interests outside lessons is inadequate. There are no after-school clubs to promote children's physical and aesthetic development. However, links with the local community are developing and there is a strong programme of residential visits that contributes well to children's personal and social development.

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Grade: 3

Care, guidance and support are satisfactory. The good care and support the vulnerable children receive goes a long way towards developing their personal development and well-being. Good relationships between the children and adults ensure that they have someone to turn to if help is required. Behaviour is monitored closely and incidents of bullying and other forms of harassment are recorded carefully. Recent initiatives 4 Inspection Report: The Oaks Community Primary School, 8 February 2006 to 9 February 2006 to improve behaviour are beginning to have a positive impact. Child protection procedures are thorough. Policies for first-aid and risk assessment are sound. Procedures to monitor health and safety issues need to be more rigorous. Teachers and teaching assistants provide satisfactory support for children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. Well-trained staff support the personal needs of the

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Grade: 3

children in the EBD unit well and provide carefully managed opportunities for them to be appropriately included in school life. The systems to assess and track children's progress are at an early stage of development and to date are insufficiently robust to ensure that children make sufficient progress.

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Grade: 4

The quality of leadership and management is inadequate. There is clear evidence that when the seconded headteacher took up her temporary post in October 2005 many crucial management systems were not in place. The lack of these was contributing significantly to children's poor progress in their learning. Many of these are now in place. However, there has been insufficient time for these to have impacted positively on those aspects of provision that need to be greatly improved. The seconded headteacher, with able support from the recently appointed deputy headteacher, has identified the considerable shortcomings in provision. In close partnership with the local authority and other educational groups, she has begun to implement actions with the potential to bring about improvements. However, with the decision to appoint a new headteacher only just confirmed, there is no guarantee that those improvements

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Grade: 4

will be sustained. The leadership and management of the EBD unit are very good. However, the need for the coordinator to spend so much time in the unit dilutes his effectiveness in managing the provision for children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities in the rest of the school. Although, the staff responsible for leading subjects are committed and enthusiastic, they are under trained and lack the necessary knowledge and skills to enable them to effectively influence improvements in standards and achievements. Performance management systems are at a very early stage of development. As a result, the potential of individual staff members has not been fully utilised nor has there been time to take action to improve the quality of teaching and learning where shortcomings have been identified. Governance has been radically overhauled over the last twelve months and governors are now better organised into relevant

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Grade: 4

committees. However, they are still developing their roles and their overall effectiveness is barely adequate. The school's provision represents unsatisfactory value for money. 5 Inspection Report: The Oaks Community Primary School, 8 February 2006 to 9 February 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: The Oaks Community Primary School, 8 February 2006 to 9 February 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 3 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 4 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation NA No The capacity to make any necessary improvements NA NA Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

NA 4 How well do learners achieve? NA 4 The standards 1 reached by learners

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Achievement and standards

NA 4 How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners NA 4 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

NA 3 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development NA 3 The behaviour of learners NA 3 The attendance of learners NA 3 How well learners enjoy their education NA 3 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices NA 3 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles NA 3 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community NA 4 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 4 How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education NA 4 How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets, through quality assurance and self-review NA 4 How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can NA 4 How effectively and efficiently resources are deployed to achieve value for money NA 4 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

No 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

No There is provision to promote learners’ basic skills No 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 making us so welcome during the two days we spent in your school. We really appreciated the open way in which you chatted to us and let us know so many interesting things about your school. We would like to share with you those things we thought were good about the school and those things we felt it could do better. What we liked most about your school: - how well you are looked after and supported, especially when you are upset or have difficulties - those of you who are in the unit make good progress. We found some important things that could be better: - a lot of you need to be helped more to improve your work - you need more activities out of your classrooms to help you have more interesting experiences and understand more about the world. Thank you for helping us with the inspection of your school. We hope that you continue to enjoy school and do well with your work and carry on trying really hard to improve.

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