Marazion School

111792 Unique Reference Number Cornwall LEA 283215 Inspection number 28 September 2005 to 29 September 2005 Inspection dates Susan Kara HMI Reporting inspector

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This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005 which gives Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools the authority to cause any school to be inspected. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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School Lane School address Primary Type of school Marazion Community School category Cornwall TR17 0DG 4 to 11 Age range of pupils 01736 710618 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01736 710618 Fax number 48 Number on roll Mrs Delyth James Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs Sue Visick Headteacher 10 February 2003 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 283215 28 September 2005 - 4 to 11 29 September 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 two HMIs.

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Description of the school

When Marazion Primary School was inspected in January 2005, it was judged to have serious weaknesses. It is smaller than most primary schools; the roll has fallen since the previous inspection. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities is above the national average. There are no pupils with a statement of special educational need. The social and economic circumstances of many of the pupils are significantly disadvantaged. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is above average. Nearly all of the pupils are of White British origin. The nursery nurse and one of the teachers have left since the last inspection. The current staffing includes one full-time teacher and one part-time supply teacher plus the headteacher and an assistant headteacher seconded to the school for support.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Marazion School, 28 September 2005 to 29 September 2005

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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. Marazion School is inadequate and it does not give sufficient value for money. It is a school where the pupils feel secure but where raising standards has not been the main focus. The school’s aims and values are centred on the pupils being happy and self confident but not on them achieving academic success. Teaching is inadequate because over time the pupils have not made fast enough progress. The curriculum is dull and many of the pupils say they are bored. There are signs of improvement with the class teachers beginning to make changes which should

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Grade: 4

enliven the curriculum and challenge the pupils. The pupils’ ability on entry to the school is low. Provision in the Foundation Stage is satisfactory. Although the pupils make progress, the standards they reach by the end of Year 6 are well below average. Marazion has not been very successful in involving parents/carers in their daughters’ and sons’ education. The pupils’ personal development is satisfactory; they behave sensibly and mix well together. The pupils receive inadequate support and guidance. The school does not have robust procedures for evaluating the quality of its work. The headteacher does not have a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school and what it needs to do to improve. As a consequence the staff are not well led and do not work as an effective team. The headteacher believes the school to be much better than it is. Improvement since the last inspection is inadequate. The headteacher has failed to

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Grade: 4

move the school forward at the pace required. There have been some improvements, such as in the equipment for information and communication technology, which is now adequate, in standards in reading, and in the provision for Years 1 and 2. There has been, however, little or no progress on the issues concerned with raising standards and improving the way information on the pupils’ progress is used to guide the school’s work.

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What the school should do to improve further

In order to ensure rapid improvement in standards and progress the school should: •urgently improve strategic leadership and management •match work more closely to the pupils’ needs based on a rigorous analysis of test results and data about the pupils’ progress •raise expectations through a more aspirational and stimulating curriculum. 2 Inspection Report: Marazion School, 28 September 2005 to 29 September 2005

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Grade: 4

Standards are very low and the pupils’ academic progress is inadequate. Children enter the Foundation Stage with weaker skills than normally found for children of this age. This is particularly true of their speaking and listening skills. Although the pupils’ make progress by the time they leave in Year 6, standards remain well below average. Standards at the end of Key Stage 2 have fallen for the last three years. Recent national test results show that the decline in English has been halted, but standards in mathematics have declined further whereas they have improved slightly in science. As the number of pupils in each cohort is very small these test results have to be treated with caution. The pace of learning, however, is too slow for the pupils to make good enough progress in all subjects. Information provided by the local authority shows that the progress pupils make between Key Stages 1 and 2 is below that seen in other Cornish schools and below

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Grade: 4

that seen nationally. The pupils are not set challenging targets. The school does not have a rigorous system for tracking and analysing the pupils’ achievement and comparing it with the progress pupils make in other schools locally or nationally. The pupils with special educational needs are tracked more carefully and make reasonable progress.

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Grade: 3

The pupils’ attitudes and behaviour throughout the school are satisfactory. The staff manage the pupils’ behaviour effectively. Relationships are good throughout the school. The mixed age classes provide a number of opportunities for the older pupils to help the younger ones, which they do readily. Concerns about the pupils’ behaviour reported by the previous inspection have been resolved. The pupils feel well cared for and report that bullying is infrequent and that it is dealt with well; they are confident in asking an adult for help. Attendance is well below the national figure. Many parents/carers work in tourist related trades and take family holidays during term time. The school has good monitoring procedures and attendance is improving. The pupils are largely passive in lessons, and they complete the tasks they are set with little fuss. However the teachers do not provide enough opportunities for the pupils to manage their own work. The

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Grade: 3

pupils work reasonably well in pairs and small groups when given the opportunity. Some of the pupils were restless in the Key Stage 2 class; this related directly to the lack of challenge in their work. The pupils know right from wrong, they were polite and courteous to visitors and were tolerant of each other. A few of the Year 6 pupils described their role in helping senior citizens at the monthly lunch club but, on the whole, the older pupils are given too few opportunities to take on responsibilities. 3 Inspection Report: Marazion School, 28 September 2005 to 29 September 2005 The provision for moral and social development is sound. There was, however, nothing in classroom display or in lesson plans that indicated that spiritual and multicultural education were features of everyday learning. The school is involved in an interesting project with the local community, gathering memories of the village from the Second

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Grade: 3

World War. This project has the potential to support many aspects of the curriculum for spiritual, moral, social, cultural and citizenship.

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Grade: 4

Overall the quality of teaching is inadequate. Some positive features were seen during the inspection, including good introductions that clearly explained the purpose of the lesson and some good behaviour management. Most of the lessons inspected were satisfactory or better. The pupils’ book work, however, and discussions with them showed that they have not made sufficient progress because the teaching has not been effective enough. The teachers are beginning to assess the pupils’ work more thoroughly but they are not yet rigorous enough in doing so. The school has information about the pupils’ previous achievements but it is not used well enough to inform the teachers lesson planning. As a result, some pupils struggle to understand and complete work in lessons while others finish quickly because it is too easy. The instability in staffing and regrouping of the pupils into one Reception/Key Stage 1 class and one

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Grade: 4

Key Stage 2 class has led to the teaching not building well enough on what pupils know already.

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Grade: 4

The curriculum is inadequately matched to the pupils’ needs, interests and aspirations. The curriculum is dull because there is insufficient whole-school planning to create opportunities for more exciting learning. The school has excellent sports and games facilities that are not being used to their maximum. The outdoor play space is bleak and lacks any imaginative large play equipment. Several subjects do not appear regularly on the timetable because they are taught on a modular basis. The school was unable to demonstrate that sufficient time was given to each subject; for example, religious education was not part of the current timetable and there was no information about what the pupils should learn when this subject is taught. Pupils participate in visits and receive visitors; however, the school did not provide sufficient detail of the curriculum to enable their contribution to be evaluated.

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Grade: 4

The school environment is safe and pupils were confident that they knew where and how to seek help if they needed it. Although the staff have begun to monitor the 4 Inspection Report: Marazion School, 28 September 2005 to 29 September 2005 pupils’ progress more systematically they are not yet involving the pupils in evaluating their own progress. Most of the pupils do not have a clear understanding of their targets. Some marking of the pupils’ books makes clear what the pupils need to do to improve pieces of work. There is, however, no explanation of their targets or of National Curriculum levels either in their books or in classrooms.

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Grade: 4

Leadership and management are inadequate. The headteacher has been too slow to deal with the weaknesses identified by the previous inspection. The plan to improve the school lacks ambition and the measures for success are not sharply focused. The headteacher was unable to describe accurately the current strengths and weaknesses of the school. There has been insufficient observation of teaching by the headteacher and infrequent discussion with the teachers about their work. The headteacher’s weak leadership means that the school lacks direction, with the result that staff are working independently and are having to devise their own procedures, such as checking that they work in similar ways and build on what has gone on before. The governors support the school well; for instance, the chair of the governing body is committed and hard-working. They have a good oversight of the budget and are regular visitors to the classroom. Governors do not get enough information about

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Grade: 4

standards in lessons and in national tests with the result that they are not well placed to help the school improve rapidly. The local authority has given the school significant additional funding, primarily to release the headteacher from her teaching responsibilities. She has not used the time well to ensure that the school makes rapid improvement. The local authority has also provided significant consultant support and has a very clear idea of the actions the school needs to take to ensure improvement. 5 Inspection Report: Marazion School, 28 September 2005 to 29 September 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: Marazion School, 28 September 2005 to 29 September 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 4 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 No 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 3 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

NA 4 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development NA 3 The behaviour of learners NA 4 The attendance of learners NA 4 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 4 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 4 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 NA 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 No Learners, individually and collectively, participate in making decisions that affect them No 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 the warm welcome you gave to me and my colleague during our recent visit to your school. We enjoyed watching you learn and talking to you about your work. Although your school does some things well, there are weaknesses in some important areas which we believe the school needs help to sort out. We have decided that your school needs special measures. The teachers in your school care for you and want you to do well. You told us that you feel safe in school and that you know that you can always get help from an adult if you have a problem. You also told us that there is not much bullying in your school but if it does happen, the teachers quickly deal with it. You are polite and courteous to visitors and we were pleased to hear how some of you in Year 6 are helping at the senior citizens lunch club. These are some of the ways in which your school could improve. Many of you told us that you

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

are bored at school; we would like to see more exciting learning for you. You need to know more about how well you are doing and what you need to do to improve your work. If you are doing work that is right for you and really makes you think, you will learn more quickly and do better at school. You have some excellent spaces to play sports and games and we have asked your school to make sure you have every chance to use and enjoy them.

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