Swanwick Primary School

Inspection Report Swanwick Primary School

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112500 Unique Reference Number DERBYSHIRE Local Authority 289299 Inspection number 1 °2 November 2006 Inspection dates Lynne Blakelock 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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South Street School address Primary Type of school Swanwick, Swanwick Community School category Alfreton, Derbyshire DE55 1BZ 4 °11 Age range of pupils

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01773 602268 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01773 528305 Fax number 360 Number on roll (school) Mr B Irvine Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Mr I Hamilton Headteacher 2 July 2001 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 289299 1 °2 November 2006 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 three Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

This larger than average primary school serves the village of Swanwick and its surrounding areas. Children start their education with levels of knowledge and skills which are similar to most children nationally. Fewer pupils are entitled to claim free school meals than at other schools and a lower than average number has learning difficulties and disabilities. Most pupils are white British and their first language is English. The school has Investors in People status. It has also achieved the Eco Schools award, the Basic Skills Quality Mark and the Health Promoting Schools award.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Swanwick Primary School, 1 °2 November 2006

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Grade: 3

Swanwick Community Primary School provides a satisfactory standard of education for its pupils. This judgement matches the evaluation made by the school's staff. Pupils are happy here because the headteacher and staff successfully develop them into well rounded young people and care about their welfare. Parents echo this view and are positive about the school. One parent described it as 'a very friendly school with a strong and supportive structure'. Pupils feel safe and well supported because they are looked after well and there are sound procedures in place to protect them. Achievement is good in the Foundation Stage and satisfactory through the rest of the school. This variation stems from teachers' better awareness of children's learning needs in Foundation Stage and the resulting range of activities which interests and challenges the children effectively. The standards that pupils attain from age 4 to 11 are broadly average because teaching

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Grade: 3

and learning are satisfactory overall. In the best lessons, involvement of pupils in their learning and positive relationships between pupils and teachers encourages progress. However, teachers' use of assessment information and their marking of pupils' work are inconsistent. Planning for pupils with different capabilities is not yet thorough or detailed enough, with work not always meeting closely enough pupils learning needs to promote good progress. Similarly, although pupils' have targets, they often do not know how to improve their work. Therefore, whilst pastoral care and guidance are good, academic guidance and the progress pupils make is only satisfactory. Leadership and management of the school are satisfactory. Improvement since the last inspection has been satisfactory. For example, the school has successfully improved pupils' attainment in writing and the more able pupils are beginning to do better than

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Grade: 3

they were. The curriculum is satisfactory across the school and now offers more opportunities for independent learning, problem solving activities and learning through themes, because teachers understand that these engage pupils more. However, the current use of the accommodation, which is often untidily arranged and cluttered, means that more active and creative approaches to teaching and learning cannot yet be introduced. The school's capacity for further improvement is satisfactory because the head and his hard-working senior staff are, rightly, striving to accelerate the pace of change by focusing their monitoring on improving standards and consistency. Governors are involved and supportive, although the questions they ask about the performance of the school are not always direct or regular enough. This is, in part, why the school has been slow to tackle issues about the adequacy and use of the

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Grade: 3

accommodation and the progress made by pupils. Pupils' personal development is good. They respond wholeheartedly to the challenge to eat healthily. At lunchtimes, they make wise choices from a range of delicious healthy eating options, with the packed lunch pupils showing the same commitment to nutritious food. They behave sensibly and know how to keep safe. They relate well to each other so that there is a lot of laughter and fun in the playground. This makes for a happy learning environment so, unsurprisingly, attendance is good. The school is currently seeking further ways to give pupils responsibilities and to develop enterprise 2 Inspection Report: Swanwick Primary School, 1 °2 November 2006 skills, which are currently satisfactory, and has made a good start with the youngest children.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Ensure that school leaders and governors focus their planning improving the consistency of teaching and learning in order to raise standards further • Improve teachers' use of assessment information to inform planning for pupils with different capabilities and to guide pupils on how to improve their work • Make sure that accommodation is used as efficiently and creatively as possible to allow the curriculum to meet the learning needs of all pupils.

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Grade: 3

Children start school with average knowledge and skills. They make good progress in the Foundation Stage and most achieve their early learning targets in all areas. This is because lessons offer exciting challenges. The progress made by pupils of all abilities through the rest of the school, including those with learning difficulties or disabilities, is satisfactory. Overall standards are broadly average, although at the end of Year 2, standards are beginning to nudge above the national average because appropriately challenging targets are being met in most subjects. In writing, good progress has been made across the school by boys and girls. By the end of Year 6, standards in science are above average with English and mathematics in line with the national average. Most pupils make at least the progress that they should and the school has been successful in raising the standards of the more able. For example, more pupils attained

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Grade: 3

higher levels in English last year and surpassed the school's targets at Level 5.

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Grade: 2

Pupils' personal development is good. They enjoy school, behave sensibly and play happily together, sharing quiet time if they wish. Attendance is good, demonstrating positive attitudes to school. Pupils understand fully the benefits of a healthy diet and regular exercise. They respond very well to positions of responsibility from the time that they start here. They work well in teams, as seen in the enthusiastic school council who have ambitious plans to improve the playground environment. Their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good, with pupils having a particularly strong awareness of different faiths and cultures. Pupils are acquiring sound academic and many of the social skills they will need when they gain employment. 3 Inspection Report: Swanwick Primary School, 1 °2 November 2006

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Grade: 3

The quality of teaching is satisfactory. Although there is some good teaching, the proportion is too small to raise standards consistently through the school. Teachers have good subject knowledge. Relationships between teachers and pupils are generally positive. Pupils enjoy their work when it is appropriately challenging but they lose concentration if introductions are too long and too much time is spent listening to the teacher. Teachers give regular opportunities for paired and group discussions that develop speaking and listening skills. All teachers plan their lessons adequately. However, too often, teachers do not use what they know about the pupils to match tasks to their current learning needs or to evaluate their learning and what they need to learn next. Teachers mark work regularly but the quality of guidance towards improvement varies greatly. Some classrooms are cluttered and are not good

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Grade: 3

The curriculum is satisfactory. It provides a full range of activities and is now offering more opportunities, as seen in the recent multi-cultural week, to learn through themes and across subjects. The youngest children, however, would benefit from the wider learning opportunities that a more extensive outdoor curriculum could offer. Pupils particularly enjoy subjects such as music and art because they have opportunities to be involved and to learn for themselves. Computers now enhance learning in lessons. The personal social and health programme enables pupils to take responsibility; for example, in some classes pupils draw up their own set of rules. Provision for pupils with learning difficulties is satisfactory and arrangements for the gifted and talented are increasing. A good range of sporting activities, after-school clubs, a flourishing choir, residential visits and visitors, all extend pupils' learning. However, opportunities

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Grade: 3

for more active approaches to learning, for example to promote literacy, are hampered by constraints imposed by the accommodation, although this has improved since the time of the last inspection.

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Grade: 3

The school provides satisfactory care, guidance and support for pupils, who feel well cared for and are confident about approaching staff with their concerns. Pupils make a sound start in the Foundation Stage because of the careful induction arrangements. Arrangements to ensure the safety and well-being of all pupils meet current requirements. Improving tracking procedures identify the needs of those pupils who find learning hard or have disabilities. Targets are set for learning in some classes, but not enough is done to ensure that pupils know their individual goals or how they can 4 Inspection Report: Swanwick Primary School, 1 °2 November 2006 reach them. Provision for pupils who are gifted or talented is now satisfactory but more attention to these pupils is needed in some lessons. Most parents feel that there are satisfactory opportunities for them to meet the staff and to receive progress reports.

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Grade: 3

The leadership and management are satisfactory. School self-evaluation is frank and shows a sound understanding of strengths and development priorities. The school has clear aims and values. Parents are very happy with the care and interest the headteacher and his staff show to every child in their attempts to develop the whole child. However, the headteacher has not always acted promptly enough in taking action to move the school forward in other areas of its work. The headteacher receives good support from his leadership team and staff value being involved in decision making. Other managers are working hard to increase their effectiveness in their subject areas, although there is still some inconsistency in practice and therefore in results. Governors support the school satisfactorily through their links to subjects. However, they do not ask enough searching questions about the school's work to increase the rate of school improvement.

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Grade: 3

The school provides satisfactory value for money. 5 Inspection Report: Swanwick Primary School, 1 °2 November 2006 .

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Grade: 3

set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: Swanwick Primary School, 1 °2 November 2006

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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 3 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 3 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

3 How well do learners achieve? 3 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 3 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

3 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 2 The behaviour of learners 2 The attendance of learners 2 How well learners enjoy their education 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 3 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?

3 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: Swanwick Primary School, 1 °2 November 2006

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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: Swanwick Primary School, 1 °2 November 2006

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

3 November 2006 Dear Pupils Swanwick Primary School, South Street, Swanwick, Alfreton, Derbyshire, DE55 1BZ I am writing to thank you all for making us feel so welcome when we came to inspect your school. We enjoyed spending time watching you in lessons and at playtime and looking at your work. This letter tells you of the good things we have found out and also how your school can improve. You enjoy school and behave sensibly. You like having opportunities to show how responsible you are. You get on well with each other and with all the staff. It was good to see you eating such healthy food. You try hard in lessons. You particularly enjoy those where you can learn for yourselves. This includes using computers. We know that there are ways in which your school can improve. As a result, we have asked Mr Hamilton, the staff and governors to make careful plans to ensure that you are able to make good progress in all of your lessons. You will make more progress if the work that you are given

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

always matches the level that you could work at. We have therefore asked Mr Hamilton and your teachers to use all the information they have about your progress when they set your work. They will also investigate if the rooms and other spaces in your school are being used as well as they could be. We know that you will work with your teachers to achieve these improvements. We send you our best wishes for the future. Lynne Blakelock Lead inspector 9 Inspection Report: Swanwick Primary School, 1 °2 November 2006

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