Nancledra School

111805 Unique Reference Number Cornwall Local Authority 289056 Inspection number 18 January 2007 Inspection date Laurie Lewin 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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Nancledra School address Primary Type of school Penzance Community School category TR20 8NB 4 °11 Age range of pupils 01736 740409 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01736 740409 Fax number 99 Number on roll (school) Chris Knowles Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Rick Gill Headteacher 1 March 2001 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection date Age group 289056 18 January 2007 4 °11 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 Additional Inspector.

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Description of the school

This is a small village school in a rural area. About half of the pupils come from the immediate area, with the rest travelling from further afield. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties is lower than in most other schools. Most pupils are White British, but a small proportion of pupils come from a range of other minority ethnic backgrounds. No pupils in the school speak English as an additional language. The current headteacher has been in post for just over one year.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Nancledra School, 18 January 2007

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Grade: 2

This is a good school. Excellent curriculum provision and good teaching enable pupils to achieve well and become confident and well rounded individuals by the time they leave Year 6. There is a vibrant atmosphere about the place that stems from the enthusiasm and dedication of the staff. This translates into pupils gaining a positive approach and showing excellent levels of enjoyment with school work. Parents are very happy with the education their children receive and their views are summed up by one who wrote, 'This is the type of school you wish every child could attend'. Children start school with attainment that is at the expected level for their age. Good provision helps them to make good progress and most achieve the early learning goals by the end of the Foundation Stage, and a significant minority of them do better than this. Pupils make sound progress through Years 1 and 2 and achieve average standards

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Grade: 2

by the end of Year 2. Pupils progress well as they move up through the school and achieve above average standards by the end of Year 6. The school has rightly recognised the need to identify the support needs of pupils at an early stage in order to boost progress in Years 1 and 2. A good range of initiatives put in place over the last year is already making a positive impact in this respect. The school provides an exceptionally broad curriculum. A very extensive range of trips, residential visits and extra curricular activities and very full use of the local environment gives high quality enrichment to pupils' learning. As a result of good provision for care, guidance and support, pupils' personal development, including their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. Pupils' behaviour is excellent. Older pupils in particular show a very mature approach. They have a very good knowledge of how to keep themselves safe. Their full

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Grade: 2

involvement in sports activities ensures they have a good knowledge of how to keep themselves fit and healthy. The highly successful 'School Parliament', where pupils consider each others' views gives them an excellent grounding in learning how to contribute to the community. The school has implemented a wide range of good systems to track pupils' progress. It has rightly identified the need to involve pupils in this process to a greater extent so that they know precisely how well they are getting on and what they need to do to improve further. Good leadership and management have helped the school to progress well over recent years. The headteacher has worked very well during his first year in post to provide an atmosphere in which staff work together as a highly effective team. The school accurately evaluates its own performance and has a strong capacity to improve in the future.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Improve pupils' progress in Years 1 and 2 by ensuring that those who need extra support are identified at an early stage. 2 Inspection Report: Nancledra School, 18 January 2007 • Fully involve pupils' in the assessment process so that they gain a clear understanding of how well they are doing and precisely what is needed to help them improve further.

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Grade: 2

Children get off to a very good start in the Foundation Stage because of the wide range of practical experiences they are given to consolidate their understanding. This helps them to make good progress and become independent learners at an early stage. A much stronger emphasis than previously is now placed on identifying individual pupils' specific learning needs as early as possible in Years 1 and 2. This is already making clear inroads into accelerating the progress of these pupils. However, the full impact of the school's initiatives here is yet to be completely realised. Pupils' achievement and attainment continues to improve each year by the end of Year 6. 2006 national test results show a particularly impressive improvement in pupils' achievement in English.

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Grade: 2

'It's great! ….It's lots of fun! ….It's brilliant because of all of the activities and trips we do!' These responses from older pupils sum up the atmosphere around the school. All of the pupils spoken say they feel safe and thoroughly enjoy their time at school. They are well mannered. They become confident, mature and well motivated. Measures instigated over the last year have impacted very successfully on improving attendance to a satisfactory level. A high proportion of absence is caused by families taking holidays during term time. Year 6 pupils talked enthusiastically about their various roles in the 'School Parliament', such as Prime Minister and ministerial positions. It is clear that all individuals have an excellent voice in school affairs through this organisation. Their success in subjects such as English, mathematics and science means pupils have good skills to ensure their future well being. Nonetheless, the school recognises that still

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Grade: 2

more could be done to boost these skills by involving pupils, for example, in enterprise schemes ° to expand their understanding of how businesses run.

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Grade: 2

Good teaching ensures that pupils do well by the time they leave the school. It also ensures that pupils become confident learners because they are so well encouraged by all of the staff. Teachers have very good subject knowledge and their specialist skills are used very effectively to boost learning. High quality lesson preparation and planning ensures that all groups of pupils including those with learning difficulties or 3 Inspection Report: Nancledra School, 18 January 2007 those who are more able are catered for fully. There have been particular improvements made in Years 1 and 2 in this respect. In these year groups the new teaching team has made a very effective start to improving pupils' progress to the same good level as it is for other age groups. However, staff recognise that there still some way to go to ensure full equality in progress is achieved. Teaching assistants provide strong support

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Grade: 2

for the teachers and work very effectively with groups of pupils or individuals.

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Grade: 1

The school's curriculum provision goes well beyond the confines of the National Curriculum with lots of extra activities designed to boost pupils' experiences. For example, the school makes extensive use of visits to places such as The Eden project, The Minack Theatre, The St Ives Tate Gallery and Goonhilly Downs Earth Station. Pupils say that these visits … 'give us lots of inspiration for our work'… and judging by the results of their work they are right! In addition, the extensive programme of extra curricular activities, which includes lots of challenge clubs for the more able, strongly boosts pupils' learning and enjoyment. Personal, social and health education is very well emphasised, for example through the provision of the 'Curriculum For The Social And Emotional Aspects Of Learning'. In recent times the school correctly identified that the needs of pupils with learning difficulties were not being identified

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Grade: 1

at an early enough stage. This has been corrected so that provision for pupils with learning difficulties is now good for all age groups.

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Grade: 2

The school adopts a vigilant approach to ensuring pupils' safety. Child protection procedures are maintained fully. Staff have excellent relationships with the pupils. The very close attention paid to the pastoral needs of all individuals ensures that all of them feel confident and fully encouraged. All pupils spoken to say they have absolutely no reservations about approaching an adult if they have a problem. Parents value the high level of care given to their children. Many of them express the view that the school is very open. They say that staff always listen and act rapidly to resolve any concerns. The school has good systems to track pupils' progress. However, pupils are not given a sufficiently clear view about precisely how well they are achieving and what they need to do to improve to a higher level. The school recognises that this is an important next step in the process of continually striving to drive up pupils'

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Grade: 2

The leadership and management have successfully kept the school firmly on track with improving the quality of education, pupils' achievement and all other areas of provision over the last few years. Strongly established teamwork between the staff, pupils and 4 Inspection Report: Nancledra School, 18 January 2007 the parents is the hallmark of this school. This close working partnership ensures that all parties are closely involved in helping the school develop. The new headteacher has sustained the momentum of the school during his first year in post. He has also injected a fresh approach into many areas. This is helping staff build further on current strengths ° for example, boosting staff skills in monitoring and evaluating the curriculum, teaching and learning. Staff work very well together to develop all subject areas. The school has strong links with other partner organisations. It makes very effective use of these to boost pupils' learning as well as staff training. Governors do

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Grade: 2

a satisfactory job. They are well informed and the chair of governors, in particular, maintains a close liaison with the headteacher and staff. Through the good communication maintained by the headteacher, governors have a reasonably clear view about the school's progress. However, they are not sufficiently involved in the process of evaluating the school's performance. 5 Inspection Report: Nancledra School, 18 January 2007 .

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Grade: 2

set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: Nancledra School, 18 January 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? 2 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?

2 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 1 The behaviour of learners 3 The attendance of learners 1 How well learners enjoy their education 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 2 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. 7 Inspection Report: Nancledra School, 18 January 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? 8 Inspection Report: Nancledra School, 18 January 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

• I am writing to let you know how much I enjoyed coming to visit your school. Thank you for making me so welcome and helping me during the school's inspection. The school is doing a good job. In particular, the staff are especially good at making sure you enjoy your time in school. Here are some other things I noticed: • As a result of the good work of your teachers and the teaching assistants, you achieve well in English, mathematics and science and you reach above average levels by the end of Year 6. • Your behaviour is excellent, you work with lots of enthusiasm in lessons and get on really well with staff. • I was very impressed by how much those of you I spoke to know about the need to keep yourselves fit and healthy. • You have an excellent curriculum and a very good range of extra activities. • The school does a good job of taking care of you so that you always feel safe. • Your school is well led and managed so that it keeps improving and your headteacher and

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

staff work really well together. Your teachers are right to focus on ways of improving the progress of those of you in Years 1 and 2 by giving extra support to those of you who need it. I have also suggested that teachers give you all, throughout the school, a more precise idea about how well you are progressing and the steps that you need to take to improve your work even more. Thank you again for being so helpful and friendly when I came to see you. 9 Inspection Report: Nancledra School, 18 January 2007

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