Crich Church of England Infant School

Inspection Report Crich C of E Infant School

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112867 Unique Reference Number DERBYSHIRE Local Authority 289444 Inspection number 17 October 2006 Inspection date Sue Hall 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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Bowns Hill School address Infant Type of school Crich, Crich Voluntary controlled School category Matlock, Derbyshire DE4 5DG 4 °7 Age range of pupils

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01773 852165 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils Fax number 40 Number on roll (school) Mrs Sarah Wallis Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs Jean Stinson Headteacher 26 February 2001 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection date Age group 289444 17 October 2006 4 °7 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 an Additional Inspector.

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Description of the school

This is a very small infant school in an attractive rural village in mid-Derbyshire. Almost all the children are from White British backgrounds and speak English as their first language. The proportion that has learning difficulties or disabilities is below the national picture, as is the number entitled to free school meals. The headteacher teaches a class for nearly three quarters of the school week.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Crich C of E Infant School, 17 October 2006

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Grade: 3

This school provides a satisfactory quality of education and has several good features. The whole staff team works extremely closely in supporting each other, the children and their carers so the school feels like an extended family where children are safe and secure. Parents are happy with the school, noting 'the staff are very caring, they take the time to get to know the children and offer suitable encouragement'. The personal development of the children is good. This is because of the school's good individual support and results in children enjoying lessons and school life in general. High quality displays celebrate children's achievements and do much to raise their self-esteem. Their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. The work they do in creative arts supports their cultural development well. Close links with the community and church positively benefit children's understanding of working with

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Grade: 3

others. The school's strong promotion of keeping healthy and safe results in children's good awareness. Behaviour is good overall. It is good in lessons, although not always to the same standard at lunchtime. Children's achievements are satisfactory and they reach standards which are average. They are adequately prepared for the next stage of education and for future life. In the Foundation Stage, children make satisfactory progress and enter Year 1 having met the targets for their age. In Years 1 and 2, children also make satisfactory progress and attain standards which, whilst varying from year to year, are currently average overall. Inspection findings confirm the national assessments made. These show that children do better in writing than in reading and few reach higher levels of attainment. Teaching and learning are satisfactory with some good features. Staff have very warm and supportive relationships with children and offer them lots of encouragement. Most

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Grade: 3

work is suitably planned to meet the needs of the children and is matched adequately to their abilities. However, the teaching of reading is not fully effective because teachers do not spend enough time with groups or individuals identifying what exact skills they need to practise. Leadership and management of the school are satisfactory, though the school judges these to be good. Teamwork is very effective and the dedicated and hardworking headteacher is widely supported by the staff team. Improvement since the last inspection has been satisfactory. The strengths identified previously remain. However, so do elements of less effective areas. The school has developed some procedures to monitor the work of the school and has extensive information about children's achievement. However, the information is not always easily accessible to be used to track progress and identify targets. Occasional monitoring has taken place by senior

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Grade: 3

staff and this has rightly informed some future priorities. However, the staff sometimes find it difficult to step back from day-to-day involvement and at times, the monitoring is not always rigorous enough. Governance of the school is satisfactory. The school provides satisfactory value for money and has a satisfactory capacity to make further improvement. 2 Inspection Report: Crich C of E Infant School, 17 October 2006

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What the school should do to improve further

• Bring the children's achievement in reading in line with that in other subjects. • Extend the opportunities for staff to monitor rigorously the progress children make and the work of the school in order to identify the further steps for improvement.

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Grade: 3

Although there is a wide range of attainment on entry to the school, standards when children are admitted are average overall. However, initial school assessments soon after children are admitted are a little cautious, as are the predictions and the targets staff set for what the children will subsequently achieve. In the Foundation Stage and in Years 1 and 2 children of all abilities achieve satisfactorily, though the school judges achievement to be better than this. In national assessments at the age of seven, standards are currently average, although this varies year on year, partly because the year groups are so small. Children have often done particularly well in writing. However, over several years they have not done as well in reading with fewer achieving the higher levels than in other areas. The school's self-evaluation procedures have correctly identified reading as a key priority for improvement. Staff have carefully considered

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Grade: 3

what needs to be done and have introduced different approaches. Reading results improved in 2006 and the challenge for the school is to build upon these improvements to ensure that future results in reading match those in writing.

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Grade: 2

Personal development is good and children enjoy their time in school. As one parent notes, 'children have a very positive attitude towards school thanks to the ethos of Crich Infants'. There are good links with both village churches and with local organisations, including children contributing to the community magazine. The school gives good messages to all about the importance of a healthy lifestyle and has a walk-to school-award. The Class 1 'Elephant checks' ensure that all are reminded of safety and security at least twice daily. Attendance is good as is the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of children. Overall behaviour has improved since the previous inspection, although this is not as good at lunchtime where staff miss opportunities to support children's social development.

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Grade: 3

The quality of teaching is satisfactory overall and has some good features. Staff have very good relationships with the children and provide them with lots of encouragement. 3 Inspection Report: Crich C of E Infant School, 17 October 2006 Children of all abilities learn at least satisfactorily. There is suitable planning with different work for groups of children of different abilities, including those with learning difficulties. While the level of challenge offered is reasonable overall, a scrutiny of a sample of recent work, and lesson observations indicate that at times more could be expected of children. Writing skills are usually well taught and there are good opportunities to write in subjects other than English. While the teaching of reading is satisfactory, there are not enough activities led by teachers where, in groups or individually, children practise and develop the skills to tackle unfamiliar words or

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Grade: 3

develop an understanding of a wide vocabulary. At times there are insufficient opportunities for children to be involved in all parts of the lesson and they have to sit and listen to others for too long, rather than discuss their ideas and be actively involved.

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Grade: 3

The curriculum is satisfactory. The school is justifiably proud of the good range of activities to support the creative arts. An appropriate emphasis is placed on the development of literacy and numeracy which helps develop skills that will contribute satisfactorily to children's future economic well-being. The school has extended the use of information and communication technology to help improve writing across the subjects. Staff provide suitable opportunities for children to develop investigative and problem solving skills in mathematics and science. The Foundation Stage curriculum is satisfactory and staff plan carefully to provide a range of practical learning activities for the youngest children. However, this is difficult to arrange in a mixed age class and with limited outdoor facilities.

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Grade: 2

The care and guidance of children are good overall with many widely acknowledged strengths in the pastoral care of children. Parents note that over a number of years this has been 'a happy, caring and loving school'. Because staff know the children so well they readily identify when they feel unhappy and there is genuine warmth in the care and support provided including for those with learning difficulties. The information the staff have to check on children's achievements and track how well they are doing is extensive. The information is used at least satisfactorily to aid the planning of future work. At times, however, teachers are unable to make use of the full range of data. This is because it is not always organised in way that makes the information easily retrievable.

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Grade: 3

Leadership and management are satisfactory overall. The inspection readily identifies, as the previous inspection did, that the headteacher works extremely hard as both a class teacher and a school manager. The whole staff team work very closely and are 4 Inspection Report: Crich C of E Infant School, 17 October 2006 widely consulted and involved in all matters including school-improvement planning and decision-making. However, senior staff find it difficult to step back at times from day-to-day practices to identify specific strengths and weaknesses. School self-evaluation is satisfactory overall but a little more generous than inspection findings would support. Some monitoring has taken place and this has enabled the school to identify priorities such as improvement in reading. However, it has not been very wide ranging. Subject leaders and governors have had relatively few formal opportunities to evaluate the work of the school but are very supportive of the school community.

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Grade: 3

5 Inspection Report: Crich C of E Infant School, 17 October 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: Crich C of E Infant School, 17 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? 3 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?

2 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 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: Crich C of E Infant School, 17 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: Crich C of E Infant School, 17 October 2006

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

18 October 2006 Crich C of E Infant School, Bowns Hill, Crich, Matlock, Derbyshire, DE4 5DG Dear Children Firstly thank you very much for looking after me when I visited your school recently. I enjoyed speaking to several of you in lessons, at lunchtime, in the playground and when I talked to the Eco council. I was interested to hear that you particularly enjoy playtimes and that your favourite subject is art. These are the things that I found are good about your school: • the staff like working with you and care for you really well; • the classrooms are bright and interesting with lots of your work on display; and • you have very good relationships with all the adults in school and they give you plenty of praise which makes you feel good about yourself. These are the things that I think could be improved: • teachers could organise more times when they hear you read to find out what you need to improve; and

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

• when grown ups look at lessons and your work they could find more ways to help you make better progress, especially with your reading. Thank you again for being so helpful and friendly when I came to see you. Remember that you can do a lot to help your school improve by trying really hard all the time. Yours sincerely Sue Hall Lead inspector 9 Inspection Report: Crich C of E Infant School, 17 October 2006

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