Amport Church of England Primary School

Inspection Report Amport Church of England Primary School

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116348 Unique Reference Number Hampshire LEA LEA 285344 Inspection number 25 May 2006 to 25 May 2006 Inspection dates Andrew Olive 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 inspect any school in England. The inspection is to be treated as a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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The Green School address Primary Type of school Amport Voluntary aided School category Andover SP11 8BA 4 to 11 Age range of pupils 01264772396 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01264771948 Fax number 82 Number on roll Reverend Chris Pettet Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs Karolyn Grave Headteacher 26 February 2001 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 285344 25 May 2006 - 4 to 11 25 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 one of Her Majesty's Inspectors. The inspector held meetings with the headteacher, individual staff, pupils and the chair of governors, scrutinised a range of documentation and pupil's work and visited every classroom. The school's own self-evaluation document provided critical evidence in shaping inspector's judgements. The receipt of 52 questionnaires from parents further assisted the writing of this report.

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Description of the school

Amport is a small school serving a number of Hampshire villages though half the pupils attending live outside the designated catchment area. The pupils' social circumstances are better than average and very few are entitled to a free school meal. Most pupils are of white British heritage with no pupils speaking English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties or disabilities is in line with the national average.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Amport Church of England Primary School, 25 May 2006 to 25 May 2006

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Grade: 1

Amport Primary School has many very strong aspects and several excellent features. These combine to make an outstanding school that has no significant weaknesses and provides excellent value for money. Parents are very pleased with the progress their children make, and rightly so. As one parent commented, 'Amport is an exemplary school with an extremely dedicated and skilled staff which does all it can to help the children fulfil their potential, not only academically but socially too.' Staff know the pupils exceptionally well and go the extra mile to nurture their gifts and talents. The outstanding quality of the relationships throughout the school and the secure and caring environment helps all pupils to grow in confidence and establish a true sense of well-being and worth. Pupils thoroughly enjoy school, and their extremely positive attitudes, along with very good teaching enable them to achieve exceptionally well.

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Grade: 1

Pupils enter the Reception year with abilities that are slightly above the national average. They make good progress in their first year at school across all the areas of learning. In 2005, the standards reached by pupils at the end of Year 2 were significantly above those expected for pupils of this age. This represented an improvement in performance as results for the previous few years were only in line with national averages. The present level of the pupils' work in Reception and Years 1 and 2, together with the good quality teaching indicate this improved progress is being sustained. In Years 3 to 6, all pupils, including higher attaining pupils and those with learning difficulties, make outstanding progress. By the time the pupils leave the school, their attainment in English, mathematics and science is very high and has been well above the national expectations for the last five years. The pupils' spiritual, moral and social development is outstanding. Their behaviour

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Grade: 1

throughout the school is excellent; they are polite, warm and welcoming to adults and treat each other with great respect. They enjoy school a great deal, as demonstrated by a very good rate of attendance and their impressive attitudes in lessons; the presentation of their work is often excellent. They work together purposefully and display a very high level of commitment to achieving their best. The Ascension Day church service developed the pupils' spiritual understanding excellently; they took a full part in the music, singing and readings and the celebration was indeed uplifting. The pupils spoke of how secure they feel; none had experienced any bullying or had been picked on at the school. They have a high awareness of safety issues and know that there is someone at school to whom they can turn if they feel worried. Child protection procedures are clear and well understood by staff. The pupils are proud of the school and play an important part in contributing to its

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Grade: 1

success. They represent the school impressively in sport and other events; a group taking part with other schools in a solar car challenge on the day of the inspection were delighted that their design had travelled the distance in record time. The school has a high level of involvement in the community. Pupils contribute regularly to local events, with activities such as entertaining the senior citizens at Christmas, running 2 Inspection Report: Amport Church of England Primary School, 25 May 2006 to 25 May 2006 stalls at the village fete and singing and playing instruments in the local church. Although the pupils do contribute to their own school community; for example, through organising 'house' assemblies, the school council could have a more prominent role in being a voice for developments within the school. High quality teaching is the reason the pupils' progress over time is outstanding. The lessons are stimulating and enjoyable and the teachers work hard to ensure they match

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Grade: 1

the wide range of pupils' needs. Teachers engage pupils, set high expectations and, as a result, pupils' concentration and motivation are very good. The performance of all pupils is carefully evaluated and their progress tracked and discussed regularly by the staff. Teaching is then modified; for example, teaching assistants are deployed well to provide flexibility within the groups and to ensure that all pupils receive the support they require. Pupils with learning needs make excellent progress as their needs are very clearly understood and met. The school works closely with outside agencies and parents and ensures the pupils' individual education plans are kept under regular review, though some of the targets for the pupils should be more specific. The teachers provide very helpful feedback to pupils during the lessons, encouraging and continuously assessing the pupils' understanding through perceptive questioning. The

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Grade: 1

marking of the pupils' books, as the school is aware, is not as helpful as it might be. While it is thorough and encouraging, it does not always relate to the purpose of the lesson or make it clear what the pupils need to do to improve. Amport provides a wide curriculum and an excellent range of other activities to support, challenge and engage the pupils. Specialist teaching of subjects such as Religious Education and music enables pupils to gain from teachers' expertise. Music is a particular strength with all pupils having the opportunity to learn the recorder from Year 2 and all of the older pupils taking up another instrument and belonging to the school orchestra. French is taught to the older pupils. The school recognises that some subjects need revising to ensure learning builds steadily in demand and complexity through the school and to ensure the curriculum reflects the diverse cultural nature

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Grade: 1

of British society. The pupils have a good understanding of what constitutes a healthy lifestyle and the importance of eating a balanced diet; they are aware of the need to drink plenty of water and eat healthy snacks at break times. Despite the restricted time to use the hall, the pupils receive an appropriate amount of time for physical education (PE). The curriculum is further enriched by numerous, well-supported clubs and visits, including cycling proficiency and residential trips for pupils in Years 5 and 6. The headteacher knows the school very well and has a clear view about where the school is heading. She has high expectations and has empowered other staff to lead and manage their areas of responsibility successfully. The school is always striving to improve and the whole staff work together as a highly effective team to ensure improvements are implemented successfully. For example, the development of the

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Grade: 1

pupils' investigative and problem solving skills in mathematics has been embraced by all staff and its implementation monitored to positive effect by the subject manager whose helpful feedback has further improved provision. Consequently, the pupils' attitudes towards the subject and their ability to apply their mathematics have improved. Regular monitoring of teaching and learning by the headteacher ensures 3 Inspection Report: Amport Church of England Primary School, 25 May 2006 to 25 May 2006 that the teachers constantly strive to meet the needs of pupils of all abilities. It encourages reflection, so teachers evaluate and improve their own work. Overall the school has an excellent capacity to improve. Governors have a good understanding of the strategic development of the school and are well placed to hold the school to account. The school leadership is responsive to parental opinion; for example, the time allocations at parents' evenings were increased.

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Grade: 1

Several parents expressed their satisfaction with the level of communication between home and school. The whole school community is rightly proud of its excellent school.

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Grade: 1

This is outstanding. 4 Inspection Report: Amport Church of England Primary School, 25 May 2006 to 25 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. 5 Inspection Report: Amport Church of England Primary School, 25 May 2006 to 25 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 1 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 1 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 1 How well do learners achieve? NA 1 The standards 1 reached by learners

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Achievement and standards

NA 1 How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners NA 1 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

NA 1 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 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles NA 2 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community NA 1 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 1 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 1 How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education NA 1 How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets, through quality assurance and self-review NA 1 How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can NA 1 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

Children Thank you for welcoming me so warmly during my visit to your school. I enjoyed talking to you, looking at your work and seeing your lessons and joining you at your church service. I was very pleased to see how much you enjoy lessons and how keen you are to learn. Congratulations to the children who went to Thruxton and won the solar car challenge! I think your school is excellent. This probably does not surprise you, as most of you and your parents think the same! Here are a few of the things I thought were good:* The excellent quality of your work in many subjects but especially so in English, mathematics, science and music.* How much you care for each other inside the classrooms and on the playground and how hard you work at making sure everyone enjoys their time at school. Your behaviour was exceptionally considerate and polite in the classrooms and around the school.* Your teachers and teaching

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

assistants do their jobs very well. They make sure your lessons are interesting and demanding and that you are all able to make excellent progress.* The exciting range of lessons, special weeks, clubs, trips and visits you do while at the school.* How very good your headteacher, staff and governors are, so that your school is always looking carefully at how well you are doing and seeing if there are ways you could do even better. You and your parents are right to be proud of your lovely school. I wish you every success in the future. Keep up the excellent work! Yours sincerely, Andrew Olive Her Majesty's Inspector

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