Chase View Community Primary School

Inspection Report Chase View Community Primary School

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134666 Unique Reference Number Staffordshire LEA 282637 Inspection number 10 May 2006 to 11 May 2006 Inspection dates Ian Knight AI Reporting inspector

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

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Hillary Crest School address Primary Type of school Rugeley Community School category WS15 1NE 3 to 11 Age range of pupils 01889 256125 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01889 256125 Fax number 179 Number on roll Mrs Jill Probert Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mr Richard Jordon Headteacher Not applicable Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 282637 10 May 2006 - 3 to 11 11 May 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

Chase View Community Primary is a small new school that was formed by the merger of two other local schools in September 2004. This is its first inspection. It was housed in one of the previous school’s buildings for its first year and transferred to refurbished accommodation on the site of the other previous school in September 2005. It serves an area of considerable socio-economic disadvantage in Rugeley, Staffordshire. Almost all the pupils are White British. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities is a little higher than average. Few pupils speak English as an additional language.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Chase View Community Primary School, 10 May 2006 to 11 May 2006

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Grade: 3

Inspectors and the school agree that it provides a satisfactory quality of education and satisfactory value for money. Standards in the first year following the amalgamation of the two schools were low and were undoubtedly affected by the uncertainty prior to amalgamation and the disruption involved in the formation of a totally new school. Standards observed are now satisfactory. Provision for children in the Nursery and Reception classes is good and as a result they make good progress from a low baseline. When children join Year 1, their attainment is just within the average range. Satisfactory teaching and progress throughout the rest of the school results in attainment that is about average in Year 6, although relatively few pupils gain the higher levels. Pupils say they enjoy coming to school – attendance is above average. They behave well. The school shows a good commitment to the promotion of healthy living and

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Grade: 3

pupils respond well to this. Pastoral care is a strength of the school. The curriculum is good and is enhanced by the provision of Spanish, specialist music tuition, visits, including residential visits, visitors to school and a wide range of extra-curricular clubs. Satisfactory leadership and management have enabled the merged school to operate smoothly. This, together with the improvement in standards this year, shows that the school has a satisfactory capacity for further improvement. Some procedures are still to be put securely in place. These include the rigorous use of assessment results in planning and identifying any variations in progress.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Ensure that assessment and planning are more closely linked so that all pupils, especially the most able, are given work that challenges them to make even faster progress. • Use assessment data to check whether there are differences in the progress made between pupils, classes or subjects, and ensure that all pupils have an equal opportunity to succeed.

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Grade: 3

Achievement in the school is satisfactory. Children enter the Nursery with standards that are below average, especially in their use of language and their personal and social skills. Good provision ensures that they make good progress and their attainment is just average as they enter Year 1. An analysis of the school’s assessment records shows that, whilst standards are just below average in Key Stage 1, pupils make satisfactory progress. This is further consolidated in Key Stage 2, and standards in Year 6 are about average. The school’s data again shows that progress is satisfactory overall in Key Stage 2. In both key stages, this is a better picture than that suggested by the test results in 2005. This was because of the disruption to learning caused by the merger of the two schools. 2 Inspection Report: Chase View Community Primary School, 10 May 2006 to 11 May 2006 Pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities are supported effectively in lessons

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Grade: 3

and have appropriately focused individual education plans. Consequently, they make the same satisfactory progress as their peers. The school is aware that the level of challenge for the most able pupils is patchy, as shown in the relatively small numbers attaining the higher levels in Year 6, especially in science. Nevertheless, there are no groups within the school who underachieve significantly. Targets for future performance are based on realistic assessments of pupils’ likely performance and are appropriately challenging. The school’s data shows that pupils are on course to meet those targets.

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Grade: 3

Pupils’ personal development, including their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, is satisfactory. Attitudes to learning are positive. Pupils say how much they enjoy school, for example, animatedly telling inspectors about the numeracy games they had been using as part of their revision for National Curriculum tests. This enjoyment is reflected in their good attendance. Pupils behave well, relate very well to one another and respect the different preferences of others. However, opportunities for spiritual development, considering questions that amaze and puzzle, or to reflect on learning, are not explicitly planned for. The school works hard to ensure pupils understand safe practices and pupils respond well to this. Pupils are guided to consider the choices they make about food and they often select healthy options for their lunch. Pupils appreciate the school’s high commitment to sport and participation rates are high in the numerous teams and extra-curricular

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Grade: 3

sporting activities, including the ‘Marathon Club’. They make a positive contribution to the school and wider community, describing their impressive fund-raising for charity, the delivery of food to senior citizens and how they helped to make decisions about, for example, the new school uniform and badge. Plans are well advanced to form a school council so that pupils’ contribution to the school can increase. They are prepared for the next stage in their education and through key skills and teamwork for future personal economic well-being.

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Grade: 3

Teaching in the school overall is satisfactory, and good in Nursery and Reception. Staff here respond to children’s weak social and communication skills on entry. They seize opportunities to develop children’s skills by engaging them in activities that involve speaking and listening. For example, Reception children joined in with glee to the chorus of a poem the teacher read. However, independent activities do not always support the lesson’s aims well enough. Throughout the school, teachers know pupils well and use this knowledge to ensure that tasks are appropriately challenging. They provide engaging activities and promote 3 Inspection Report: Chase View Community Primary School, 10 May 2006 to 11 May 2006 pupils’ skills of speaking and listening, for example, when small groups discussed various scenarios involving friction. As a result, pupils enjoy lessons, try hard and make sound progress. Class teachers have a wealth of assessment information about their

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Grade: 3

classes, but this is not always linked closely to the National Curriculum, making progress more difficult to quantify, and is not always in a format that promotes its use in planning. As a result, whilst pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities are supported effectively by teaching assistants, the challenge for the most capable is more patchy. In some lessons, all pupils do the same task with no obvious extensions for the most confident. Pupils’ own knowledge of their learning is developing with the use of short-term targets for improvement.

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Grade: 2

The school’s good curriculum is carefully planned with the pupils’ needs in mind. It ensures that the basic skills of communication, literacy and numeracy are taught progressively throughout the school, including Nursery and Reception. It provides appropriate support for pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities, although the most able are not always challenged beyond their comfort zone. Visitors to school, ‘hands-on’ activities and outside visits, including the highly successful week-long residential visit, add considerable enrichment to the pupils’ experience. The refurbished buildings and grounds provide an attractive environment that encourages learning. The importance of a healthy lifestyle is promoted well through the provision of physical education, swimming and a wide variety of sporting clubs and teams. In addition, the school provides specialist Spanish, music and instrumental tuition. The Spanish lessons were extended to parents and included such diverse

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Grade: 2

activities as Flamenco dancing, hugely enjoyed by pupils and adults alike.

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Grade: 3

The school provides satisfactorily for pupils’ care, guidance and support. Teachers keep adequate records of pupils’ academic progress but systems to ensure that all pupils receive guidance on how to improve are not secure. For example, pupils are not always able to describe how they might improve, but did on occasion talk about targets in literacy and numeracy. Pastoral care of pupils is good. Parents rightly feel that their children are safe and well cared for. Child protection measures are secure throughout the school, are clear and widely understood. Health and safety routines and risk assessments are implemented well. Pupils are taught to be conscious of risks and how to deal with them. The school has effective policies for dealing with bullying. Pupils agree that they have an adult to turn to if they are worried who will listen sympathetically. 4 Inspection Report: Chase View Community Primary School, 10 May 2006 to 11 May 2006

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Grade: 3

The school is led and managed satisfactorily. Strengths of leadership and governance include the smooth merger of two schools and a genuine concern for all members of the school community. That the school is now a cohesive unit is a testament to the commitment of all involved. The improved standards observed compared with those attained in 2005 demonstrate a satisfactory potential for further improvement. Self-evaluation procedures are satisfactory. Parents are consulted through the use of a questionnaire. Consideration of pupils’ views is not yet a regular feature of school self-evaluation, although they were fully involved in choosing the new school’s name, badge and uniform colour. Accurate monitoring of teaching has taken place in some subjects with strengths and areas for development noted. However, it is too early for secure judgements about how effective this is in improving pupils’ progress in the

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Grade: 3

school. Assessment data is not always related to National Curriculum expectations or centrally collated. Its format is not conducive to the easy identification of trends and potential underachievement, nor for comparing progress of different groups in the school. The supportive governing body is still developing its role in monitoring the school’s work and in the development of the satisfactory school development plan. The priorities in the plan are appropriate to the school’s needs and identify what will be done, by whom and at what cost. However, it lacks sharp criteria by which to measure the success of these actions, especially in terms of their positive impact on pupils’ achievement. 5 Inspection Report: Chase View Community Primary School, 10 May 2006 to 11 May 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: Chase View Community Primary School, 10 May 2006 to 11 May 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 2 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 NA 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 3 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development NA 2 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 3 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community NA 3 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 3 How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education NA 3 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 being so welcoming when we visited the school this week. It has been a very busy time for everyone as the two schools came together and you spent a year in a different building before settling down here. We liked your design for the new school badge and your choice of a new school colour. You told us how much you enjoyed school. We were glad to hear how many of you take part in sporting and other healthy activities that the school thinks it’s important to provide. We think it’s a good thing that you have the opportunity to learn Spanish and could see how much you enjoyed the Flamenco dancing session! We’ve asked the school to improve some things so that you can learn even more. We’ve asked it to think about how it can make better use of all the information it has about your work. Some of you, for example, already have targets to help you improve, but the school doesn’t always tell you exactly how well you’re doing and just what you need to do to get better.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

We hope you continue to work hard in the new school and that you all do as well as you possibly can! Yours sincerely Ian Knight Lead Inspector

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