Stonebroom Primary and Nursery School

Inspection Report Stonebroom Primary and Nursery School

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112621 Unique Reference Number DERBYSHIRE Local Authority 289350 Inspection number 11 °12 October 2006 Inspection dates John Brennan 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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High Street School address Primary Type of school Stonebroom, Stonebroom Community School category Alfreton, Derbyshire DE55 6JY 3 °11 Age range of pupils

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01773 872449 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01773 591804 Fax number 171 Number on roll (school) Mr Peter Rhodes Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Mr David Cook Headteacher 12 March 2001 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 289350 11 °12 October 2006 3°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 two Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

This smaller than average school serves a local area characterised by marked social and economic deprivation. Approximately a quarter of pupils are entitled to free school meals, which is above average. Almost all pupils are White British. The percentage of pupils who have learning difficulties and disabilities is average. Children's skills and abilities on entry to school are below average, particularly in language and aspects of number. The school has achieved Investors in People status. It has also received a healthy school award, the Basic Skills Quality Mark and is an Eco school.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Stonebroom Primary and Nursery School, 11 °12 October 2006

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Grade: 2

This is a good school that has improved well and gives good value for money. As one parent noted, and others endorsed, this is a 'happy and successful school.' The school has an accurate view of strengths and weaknesses, the school is well placed to continue to improve. The good leadership of the school is typified by an open and searching attitude. The headteacher leads the way very well, creating a strong sense of team spirit. Other leaders, including governors, play their part well. Training needs are given a high profile. As a result the quality of teaching is good and the work of teaching assistants effective. These have led to improvements in how well pupils achieve and develop. Standards are average but pupils make good progress and achieve well. Writing is well taught with pupils having plenty of opportunities to study the work of well known authors in preparation for their own writing. New approaches have been

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Grade: 2

adopted for promoting speaking and listening but these are inconsistently applied. There are times when teachers successfully help pupils share ideas and express thoughts and feelings. However, there are occasions when pupils have to listen for too long rather than explain thinking or get on with the main task of the lesson. The good care the school takes of pupils can be seen in the prompt support given to pupils who need extra help and the good progress these pupils make. A whole raft of measures has been put in place to reward and encourage good behaviour. Teachers use these well to ensure classrooms are peaceful and productive. As a result of their good personal development pupils leave the school well prepared for the next stages of education. They work hard and take responsibility for their actions. They demonstrate an excellent commitment to eating healthily and taking exercise. Pupils make good efforts to reach

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Grade: 2

their well known improvement targets and take care of their school and the wider environment. They get some sense of the world of work because of the way in which the school advertises and interviews the many pupils who apply for 'jobs' on offer. The good curriculum on offer to pupils includes plentiful opportunities to take part in sport and go on visits. The curriculum in the Foundation Stage is vibrant and helps children do well and enjoy school. Effective curriculum structures ensure progression. Adjustments to the science curriculum have increased opportunities to experiment, resulting in very good progress and above average standards. Some thought has been given to making links between subjects that promote the development of key skills in writing, mathematics and computing. However, much of this is left to individual teacher's discretion and outcomes vary.

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What the school should do to improve further

- Improve the consistency with which teachers promote speaking and listening - Strengthen links between subjects to encourage the thoughtful use of writing, mathematical and computing skills. 2 Inspection Report: Stonebroom Primary and Nursery School, 11 °12 October 2006

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Grade: 2

Standards are average but pupils are achieving well. Children in the Foundation Stage progress well in learning to read, write and count. Despite this a significant proportion are still to reach expected goals especially in writing and number when they start Year 1. Good momentum is maintained through the rest of the school. Pupils who have learning difficulties and disabilities receive prompt help and achieve well. The school has successfully turned its attention to boosting the achievement of higher attaining pupils; these pupils also achieve well. Results in national tests in Year 2 have risen steadily year on year. Although few pupils reached the higher level in writing, this is more a legacy of pupils' skills and abilities on entry to school than weaknesses in the teaching of writing. Results in the national tests in Year 6 have fluctuated somewhat. However, despite a dip in 2005, national and school data shows that pupils achieved

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Grade: 2

well from a lower than usual starting point. Challenging targets have been set and met. Provisional results for 2006 show improvement with pupils continuing to achieve well. The proportion of pupils reaching higher levels has risen significantly. In science over half of the pupils reached the higher level and standards are now above average.

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Grade: 2

The school has pursued awards to aid pupils' personal development with energy. Pupils' understanding of how to live healthy lives is outstanding. They put principle into practice. Many bring healthy lunches, or choose healthy hot meals. They take part in many different sporting activities. Playtimes are active and social occasions. Pupils keen to earn the plethora of rewards on offer and behave well. Pupils clearly enjoy school. As one girl said and many other pupils echoed 'Stonebroom is a great place to be.' Despite this, and the school's best efforts to foster attendance, attendance rates are average. Pupils show a strong sense of responsibility for their work, their school and the wider community. This is indicative of their good moral, social, spiritual and cultural development. They know about basic safety rules and look after each other. The pupils are keen to support the school's efforts on recycling and through the School

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Grade: 2

Council, have a strong say in school development. Links with other countries broaden pupils' cultural horizons. However, their knowledge of multi-cultural issues in Britain is less well developed. Pupils learn good skills to help them in their future lives. This includes the importance of applying and presenting themselves for interview as they respond to advertisements the school places for jobs such as 'reading partners.' 3 Inspection Report: Stonebroom Primary and Nursery School, 11 °12 October 2006

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Grade: 2

Consistent strengths lie in the warm relationships and the gentle manner with which teachers manage pupils. Classrooms are calm and purposeful. Good use is made of interactive whiteboards to make demonstrations clear. Perceptive leadership has equipped teachers with skills well suited to the context of the school, especially in the promoting writing, speaking and listening. Teachers are skilled at using the work of authors to 'model' writing and give pupils ample opportunities to draft and craft their efforts. Helpful marking, linked to clear targets for improvement, gives pupils a clear picture of how to improve their work. However, teachers meet with mixed success in promoting speaking and listening. There are occasions when teachers use techniques such as 'talk partners' and drama to encourage speech and questions which test and deepen pupils' knowledge. However, there are equally occasions when teachers talk

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Grade: 2

for too long without involving enough pupils and leaving too little time for follow up work.

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Grade: 2

The curriculum in the Foundation stage, especially in the Nursery, is engaging and achieves a good balance between child and adult learning and between learning indoors and out. There are many good clubs and other activities to make school life appealing, especially in sport. These are popular and well attended. Pupils go on lots of visits and are bursting with what they find out from trips to places such as the Magna science centre. Pupils say they enjoy special days and projects about people from other countries such as India and the recent addition of French to the curriculum. These further enliven the curriculum. The latter includes opportunities to e-mail French 'keyboard pals.' Whilst there are examples such as this for pupils to use key skills such as computing in imaginative ways, practice is inconsistent. The thoughtful combining of computing, writing and mathematics skills with other subjects is not well defined

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Grade: 2

and results in a rather piecemeal approach. A thorough programme for pupils' personal development forms a prominent part of pupils' learning.

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Grade: 2

Committed, well trained staff make sure that pupils are protected, safeguarded and looked after well. Pupils say they are not bullied, and know who to talk to if they have any personal problems. The progress of all pupils is carefully checked, ensuring that prompt support is provided. Well qualified and skilled teaching assistants make a strong contribution to how well pupils' progress. Those with learning difficulties or disabilities are well supported with specialist equipment or extra lessons when learning needs a boost. Emotionally vulnerable pupils receive sensitive advice which helps them make 4 Inspection Report: Stonebroom Primary and Nursery School, 11 °12 October 2006 the most of school. Close links with local secondary schools provide for joint projects for higher attaining pupils.

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Grade: 2

The headteacher's desire to create what he describes as an 'open culture' is paying dividends. This is a school with ambition and one that asks searching questions of itself. The very good leadership of the headteacher is at the heart of this. Carefully considered management systems turn vision into reality. Central to this is an innovative training file for all staff. Teachers reflect on their practice with candour, enabling the school to identify individual and whole school training needs. The readiness with which the school seeks and acts on the views of parents and pupils adds to the sense of team. Parents have every confidence in the school. Governors carry out their duties well. Financial planning, a weakness of the last inspection is thorough. Budgetary implications of fluctuating pupil numbers have been promptly acted upon. The school is outward looking in seeking partnerships that fit with key needs. The Primary Leadership

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Grade: 2

Programme has equipped other leaders with essential management skills. Work with neighbouring schools has led to key improvements in teaching writing. The school is rigorous in its analysis of performance and monitors teaching and learning closely, especially in English, mathematics and science. However, other subjects are not as closely monitored and are reviewed a on rota basis rather than in order of need. Their contribution to school improvement is not as well defined within an otherwise well directed and clearly written development plan. 5 Inspection Report: Stonebroom Primary and Nursery School, 11 °12 October 2006 .

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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: Stonebroom Primary and Nursery School, 11 °12 October 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 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? 3 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 2 The behaviour of learners 3 The attendance of learners 2 How well learners enjoy their education 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 2 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: Stonebroom Primary and Nursery School, 11 °12 October 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: Stonebroom Primary and Nursery School, 11 °12 October 2006

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

13 October 13 2006 Dear Children Stonebroom Primary and Nursery School, High Street, Stonebroom, Alfreton, Derbyshire, DE55 6JY Thank you for your help when we visited your school recently. We really enjoyed our visit because everyone was so helpful and friendly. It was like visiting one big happy family. We would like to share with you what we thought about your school. The headteacher, staff and governors have worked very hard to make your school a good place to be. You play your part and have many good ideas for making the school better still. We were really impressed with how many of you eat healthy foods and how many of you take part in sport. You play well with each other and behave well. We could see how well those of you who had successfully applied for the jobs the school advertises were doing. Keep your eye on the notice board, I'm sure there will be more jobs coming along. You took part in lessons

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

well. Many of you know your targets and we could see how much you tried to achieve them. Good luck with these in the future. We saw how much you enjoyed sharing your ideas with your friends or with the teacher and how much this helped you join in lessons. We have asked the school to make sure that as many lessons as possible are like this because we did see some lessons when you were not given as many opportunities to talk and had to listen for too long. You write in some really interesting ways in English lessons and are doing well with your mathematics and in using computers. We did see you making good use of these in subjects like history and you told how much this made you think. We really liked the writing on the Aztecs that those of you in Years 4 and 5 did. We think you could work like this more often and have asked the school to look into this. Thank you once again. John Brennan Lead inspector

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

9 Inspection Report: Stonebroom Primary and Nursery School, 11 °12 October 2006

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