Little Kingshill Combined School

Little Kingshill Combined School Inspection report

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110244 Unique Reference Number Buckinghamshire Local Authority 288612 Inspection number 25 °26 June 2007 Inspection dates Pritiben Patel Reporting inspector

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

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Primary Type of school Community School category 3 °11 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 245 School

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The governing body Appropriate authority Mr C Bowser Chair Mrs J Hall Headteacher 26 March 2001 Date of previous school inspection Windsor Lane School address Little Kingshill Great Missenden HP16 0DZ

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01494 863744 Telephone number 01494 862488 Fax number

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3 °11 Age group 25 °26 June 2007 Inspection dates 288612 Inspection number .

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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

Little Kingshill is an average size primary school. The majority of pupils are of White British origin with a small percentage from other backgrounds. Pupils are from relatively advantaged backgrounds. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities including those with a statement of special educational need is significantly below average. There is high staff turnover. The present headteacher is retiring in July.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 11 Inspection Report: Little Kingshill Combined School, 25 °26 June 2007

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Grade: 2

Little Kingshill is a good school with outstanding features and the overwhelming majority of parents agree. Leadership and management are good. The headteacher, ably supported by the deputy, together provide strong leadership for the school. They have successfully ensured that pupils achieve well through a time of staff changes. They have addressed areas from the last inspection, such as standards in information and communication technology (ICT), as well as improving outdoor accommodation and resources for Reception children. Governors provide good support and challenge to the school and play an active role in the planning and in evaluating school improvement. Children currently start school with levels of skills and understanding generally expected for their age, although many have better than expected skills in communication, language and literacy. Provision in the Foundation Stage is good, consequently children make good progress

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Grade: 2

and attain above average standards at the start of Year 1. Pupils continue to make good progress and attain exceptionally high standards by the end of Year 2 and 6. Achievement is good but some boys in Years 1 and 2 are not reaching the high standards they should in writing. Personal development and well-being are outstanding. A governor explained how due to the headteacher's strong focus and commitment to her pupils, 'This is a happy, friendly school where all feel safe.' Pupils have highly positive attitudes, an outstanding enjoyment of school and their behaviour is exemplary. Social, moral, spiritual and cultural development, along with pupils' understanding about safe practices and contribution to the community are all outstanding. Pupils' adoption of healthy lifestyles is also outstanding as a result of the school's no chocolate and fizzy drinks policy. The curriculum, including extra-curricular provision, is good. The curriculum is being further

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Grade: 2

developed so that links between subjects make learning more relevant and meaningful for pupils. Pupils' preparation for the next stage of their education is excellent as demonstrated by their outstanding attainment of basic skills. Teaching and learning are good. Relationships between pupils and teachers are productive. The teachers use the interactive whiteboards to engage pupils and make good use of targets to focus pupils' learning. However, inconsistencies in marking mean that pupils do not always know what they need to do to improve. The care, guidance and support provided for pupils are good overall. Pastoral support is a particularly strong feature. Pupils with learning difficulties or disabilities make good progress due to the good support they receive. Pupils know their targets but are not always clear about how to improve further. The school has good links with secondary schools to ease transition

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Grade: 2

as well as with external agencies, in order to meet pupils' needs.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Improve standards in writing, particularly for higher attaining boys at Key Stage 1. • Make teachers' marking more consistent so that all pupils are clear about how to improve their work. 4 of 11 Inspection Report: Little Kingshill Combined School, 25 °26 June 2007

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Grade: 2

Most pupils enter the nursery with the skills, knowledge and understanding usually expected for children of this age. Their language and communication skills often exceed expectations. By the time they start Year 1 pupils have made good progress, become more independent and their attainment is above average. Standards at the end of Years 2 and 6 are exceptionally high in English, mathematics and science and the school's tracking records show that generally pupils make consistently good progress across Key Stages 1 and 2. These records show clearly that some, particularly higher attaining boys, are not doing as well as they could in writing in Years 1 and 2. To tackle this, the school has begun to offer them more opportunities to discuss their ideas about what they want to write, and how it should be planned before they begin the process of committing their ideas to paper. As a result writing is beginning to improve. The school's records show that pupils

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Grade: 2

with learning difficulties or disabilities make good progress in line with their peers.

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Grade: 1

Personal development and well-being, including social, moral, spiritual and cultural development are outstanding. Pupils' knowledge and understanding about different cultures is excellent as demonstrated in a vast range of their work, such as models of Ganesh, displays about the Taj Mahal and Exploring Africa. Pupils explain how they really enjoy school very much and this is reflected in their good attendance. Relationships are very positive and behaviour is excellent in class and around the school. The school council and house captains make a very valuable contribution to the life of the school. Pupils are keen to help each other, for example pupils help those at the 'Buddy Bus Stop' who are in need of a friend. This along with their extensive charity work helps to promote the caring, family atmosphere of the school. Pupils feel safe and say bullying is rare, but if it occurs it is quickly resolved. Pupils' adoption of healthy lifestyles

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Grade: 1

is outstanding. They enjoy fruit at break times and take part in a wide range of physical activities. Pupils' exceptionally high standards and excellent transition work ensures that their preparation for the next stage of their education is outstanding.

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Grade: 2

The quality of teaching and learning is good. Relationships between teachers and pupils are highly positive and encouraging, and consequently pupils explore their ideas openly and confidently in lessons. Lessons have clear objectives for the learning to take place and pupils know what is expected of them. Teachers make good use of questioning and discussion to challenge pupils in their thinking. Pupils demonstrate a mature response to working with their 'talk partners'. For example inspectors observed pupils developing ideas in detail, through discussion, before committing them to paper. This resulted in better quality writing, particularly for boys. Teachers make good use of interactive whiteboards to engage pupils and increasingly offer them examples of how to plan their written work in an effort to raise standards. Teaching and learning in the Foundation Stage is good and teachers plan carefully to meet the

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Grade: 2

needs of children. 5 of 11 Inspection Report: Little Kingshill Combined School, 25 °26 June 2007 Although marking is done regularly and celebrates pupils' success in their work, it does not always offer enough advice on what they need to do in order to make the next steps in their learning.

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Grade: 2

The curriculum is mainly subject based although geography and history are taught through topics. The school has worked hard to make Geography and History more interesting for pupils, who had earlier identified these subjects as being less interesting than others. Interesting links between subjects have been recently established so that literacy and ICT skills are now taught and developed in other subjects. Project work has been successfully introduced in Years 5 and 6 to develop pupils' skills and provide pupils with more opportunities and independence to pursue their own areas of interest. Enrichment opportunities such as Arts Week and World Week have a very positive impact on pupils' personal development and enjoyment. The curriculum is enhanced by a wide range of clubs such as table tennis, French and athletics. A range of extra-curricular opportunities, such as visits to an activity centre and orienteering

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Grade: 2

activities, develop good team work skills as well as pupils' confidence. The school is working effectively to improve boys' writing by providing more speaking and listening activities. The Foundation Stage curriculum is good and children have a good balance of free-choice activities as well as those directed by the teacher.

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Grade: 2

The pastoral support offered to pupils is good and a strong feature of the school's work. The school, and especially the headteacher, has a thorough knowledge of the circumstances and needs of each pupil and a strong commitment to supporting them and their families. When these needs require the support of outside agencies, the school brings in a comprehensive range of help. Good records are maintained so that emerging causes of concern are clearly documented. The academic guidance which pupils receive requires further development, because although pupils know their targets and are perfectly capable of tracking their own progress, they are unsure about what they need to do in order to meet them. There are good procedures to keep pupils safe and to check the suitability of all adults working in the school.

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Grade: 2

Senior leaders have coped well with staff turnover and have maintained exceptionally high standards and the good quality of teaching by supporting new staff very well, through a strong team work approach. They have also had a positive impact on the curriculum by improving enrichment opportunities in history and geography and establishing stronger links between subjects, which are now meeting the needs of pupils more closely. The school is working towards greater clarity of roles and responsibilities for senior managers to further improve their effectiveness. Some members of the senior management team are relatively new to their roles but are working very well. Literacy and numeracy leaders play an active role in the development of the school and monitor teaching and learning as well as standards, through scrutiny of the 6 of 11 Inspection Report: Little Kingshill Combined School, 25 °26 June 2007 pupils' work. The literacy leader has used these opportunities to good effect when monitoring

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Grade: 2

the improvement in boys' writing. The school is now putting plans together to extend the role of the science leader. The school's self evaluation is good and targets are challenging. Leaders at all levels support each other very well and are clearly focused on raising pupils' achievements further. They know the school's strengths and areas for development and plan carefully to address any shortcomings. Governors are involved in checking on the school's work and contribute well to the school's good capacity to make further improvement. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: Little Kingshill Combined School, 25 °26 June 2007 .

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Grade: 2

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 8 of 11 Inspection Report: Little Kingshill Combined School, 25 °26 June 2007

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Inspection judgements

School Overall Key to judgements: grade 1 is outstanding, grade 2 good, grade 3 satisfactory, and grade 4 inadequate

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Overall effectiveness

How effective, efficient and inclusive is the provision of education, integrated care and any extended services in meeting the needs of learners? How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? 2 The quality and standards in the Foundation Stage 2 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 2 The capacity to make any necessary improvements Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

2 How well do learners achieve? 1 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 2 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

1 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 1 The behaviour of learners 2 The attendance of learners 1 How well learners enjoy their education 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 1 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

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and interests of learners?

2 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average to below average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low. 9 of 11 Inspection Report: Little Kingshill Combined School, 25 °26 June 2007

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and supporting all learners?

How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can How effectively and efficiently resources, including staff, are deployed to achieve value for money The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities Yes Do procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements? No Does this school require special measures? No Does this school require a notice to improve? 10 of 11 Inspection Report: Little Kingshill Combined School, 25 °26 June 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

9 July 2007 Dear Pupils Inspection of Little Kingshill Combined School,Great Missenden,HP16 0DZ On behalf of the inspectors I would like to thank you very much for being helpful when we came to visit your school. We really enjoyed meeting you, talking to you and looking at your work. You go to a good school with outstanding features. Here are the main reasons for this judgement. • You make good progress and attain very high results in tests because you have good teaching and a good curriculum. • You get on very well with each other and your teachers and as a result your behaviour is outstanding. • Your outstanding enjoyment of school results in good attendance. • The adults in your school make sure that you are very safe, happy and very well looked after. • The headteacher, governors and staff work very hard on your behalf. Even in a good school like yours things can be improved. We believe more boys are capable of

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

reaching high standards in writing by the end of Year 2. We have asked your teachers to tell you, through their marking, what you should do to improve your work and your learning. I am sure that you will rise to this challenge and continue to work as hard as you can! With best wishes for your future success, Pritiben PatelLead Inspector 11 of 11 Inspection Report: Little Kingshill Combined School, 25 °26 June 2007

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