Holy Apostles' Church of England Primary School

Holy Apostles' Church of England Primary School Inspection report

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115679 Unique Reference Number Gloucestershire Local Authority 290297 Inspection number 17 May 2007 Inspection date Linda Mcgill HMI 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 Voluntary aided School category 4 °11 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 200 School

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The governing body Appropriate authority Christine M Brooker Chair Gareth Davies Headteacher 13 January 2003 Date of previous school inspection Battledown Approach School address Charlton Kings Cheltenham GL52 6QZ

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01242 526858 Telephone number 01242 230128 Fax number

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4 °11 Age group 17 May 2007 Inspection date 290297 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 one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors. During this one-day visit, she met with the headteacher and other senior staff, the chair of the governing body and a group of pupils. She also observed four part-lessons, in partnership with either the headteacher or assistant headteacher. Informal discussions were held with pupils and staff during the day. The school’s perceptive self-evaluation, together with a high number of responses to the parents’ questionnaire, helped shape the inspection and inform the final judgements.

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Description of the school

Holy Apostles' Church of England Primary School is smaller than many schools. It serves a relatively advantaged area and the proportion of pupils who have learning difficulties is lower than average. Attainment on entry to the school is generally above average. Almost all of the pupils are of White British heritage. The school has close links with the local church, and admits pupils from Christian and other faiths, as well as those from non-religious backgrounds. Since the last inspection, the school has experienced an unprecedented period of turbulence in staffing. The situation has now stabilised.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 10 Inspection Report: Holy Apostles' Church of England Primary School, 17 May 2007

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Grade: 1

This is an outstanding school. When asked what she liked most about Holy Apostles' School, one school council member said, 'Everyone gets on with each other and there's lots of friendliness'. The school's positive, Christian ethos enables this to happen but the school also does much more for the pupils. By the time they leave at the end of Year 6, the pupils are mature and confident individuals who have reached high standards in their work and are very well placed to take the next steps in their educational careers. From the time they start in the Reception class, pupils make excellent progress. The pupils reach, and many exceed, the goals that are expected for their learning. Results of assessments at the end of Key Stage 1 have risen steadily since the school was last inspected. This has posed the school the challenge of making sure that the swift pace of learning is maintained across Key Stage 2 so that pupils exceed, rather than reach, the levels expected when their prior

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Grade: 1

attainment is taken into account. The school has been very successful in doing this. A number of factors combine to account for the pupils' outstanding achievement. The pupils themselves have a good deal to offer, and their personal development and well-being are outstanding. Their attitudes to learning are excellent; they are keen and show a thirst for knowledge. They work well together in pairs or small groups, and persevere with their tasks when working independently. Their behaviour is excellent and appropriate for the occasion; assemblies are rightly respectful occasions, lunchtimes are sociable and friendly, and at breaktimes the pupils readily show the exuberant sides of their characters. The teaching is good, with some outstanding features. The teachers are very skilled at asking questions which challenge the pupils to think, help them to express their ideas and opinions and enable them to justify their responses. Information and communication technology is used

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Grade: 1

well to present information, engage the pupils' interest and enable them to participate. Teachers have excellent relationships with their class and expect everyone to do their best. They make sure that pupils are given tasks that match their learning needs and which challenge them appropriately. A few children and parents expressed the wish for still harder work! Occasionally, the pace of learning is a little too slow for the pupils but this is a relatively minor weakness. The curriculum is outstanding because it meets pupils' needs very well and contributes to the high standards they achieve. The care, guidance and support the pupils receive are also outstanding. Procedures for keeping pupils safe are robust and the school promotes pupils' welfare very well. In addition, the pupils are given excellent guidance on what they need to do to improve their work and reach high standards. Pupils spoke knowledgeably about their targets and their eagerness to reach the

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Grade: 1

most challenging ones. They had a good understanding of what they needed to do to get there. This all happens because of the outstanding leadership of the headteacher, chair of governors and other senior staff. They have established a good climate in which the pupils not only thrive but the teachers and other staff are helped to improve their practice and develop their careers. The school has had to manage significant changes in staffing in recent years but has risen well to the occasion and has continued to improve. The school is not content to rest on its laurels, but through its rigorous processes of evaluation accurately identifies those areas to be targeted for further development. Parents' and pupils' views are regularly sought, for example, by means of questionnaires and the school council. The findings show how much the pupils enjoy their time at school and how much parents support its work; however, a small number of parents

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Grade: 1

4 of 10 Inspection Report: Holy Apostles' Church of England Primary School, 17 May 2007 were not sure about the procedures for canvassing and responding to pupils' and parents' views. The school has rightly recognised that this is an aspect of its work which needs a higher profile. There are no significant weaknesses that the school should address and appropriate priorities are set out in the school's management plan. The school has improved very well indeed since its last inspection and gives excellent value for money. Its capacity for further improvement is outstanding.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Make sure that the ways of seeking and taking account of pupils' and parents' opinions about school are well known.

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Grade: 1

The pupils' achievements and the standards of their work are outstanding. From the Reception class onwards, the pupils make excellent progress. Most start school with skills and abilities that are higher than those of a typical four-year-old, but the rate of progress across the school means that pupils build very well on what they know and can do already. This leads to very high standards by the end of Year 6. For example, two thirds of the pupils gained the higher Level 5 in the national tests in English, over half did so in mathematics and nine out of ten gained this level in science. These proportions are around double that which is found nationally. Pupils who have learning difficulties also make excellent progress and reach standards that are much higher than those of similar pupils nationally.

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Grade: 1

The pupils' personal development and well-being, including their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, are outstanding. Attendance levels are very high, pointing to how much the pupils enjoy coming to school. The high level of enjoyment was echoed by the parents, one of whom said, 'Our child has never once suggested that she doesn't want to go to school'. Pupils' behaviour is excellent. Older pupils play enthusiastically with younger ones at breaktimes and look out for them in the playground. Pupils said that there is always someone to turn to if they feel troubled and they were sure that their teachers kept them safe. The pupils have an excellent understanding of healthy lifestyles and take part enthusiastically in physical activity, both in lessons and after-school activities. The school council members are proud to represent their classmates and take their responsibilities very seriously. Some of them assiduously took

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Grade: 1

minutes of their discussion with the inspector so that they could report back to their class. The school provides many other opportunities for pupils to contribute both to the school community and the wider world. Pupils are prepared very well for the next steps in their educational careers, both in terms of their confidence and ability to work co-operatively and the high standards that they achieve.

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Grade: 2

The school accurately evaluates the quality of teaching as good, overall, with some features that are outstanding. Some teachers are exceptionally skilled at asking pupils questions which 5 of 10 Inspection Report: Holy Apostles' Church of England Primary School, 17 May 2007 probe their understanding and encourage them to express opinions or explain their reasoning with confidence. Skilled teaching in the Reception class helps the pupils develop and extend their vocabulary. In a music lesson, for example, they learned the word 'timbre' and showed that they already understood what 'pitch' means. Teachers take care to plan their lessons so that the tasks meet the pupils' learning needs appropriately and give thought to the deployment of teaching assistants. These assistants work very well with small groups of pupils. Pupils who have learning difficulties receive support of a high quality. The school recognises that there

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Grade: 2

are occasional minor weaknesses in teaching, and is working to make sure that teaching becomes consistently outstanding. The pupils are well disposed towards learning. They often respond gleefully to challenges set by their teachers and apply themselves well to their tasks. They are good listeners who work well in co-operation with one another.

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Grade: 1

The curriculum meets the pupils' needs and aspirations very well and enables them to make excellent progress, both academically and in their personal development. There is a wide range of activities for pupils to take part in after school, including many sporting clubs. The pupils spoke with pleasure of plays and productions that they had been involved in. Visits to places of educational interest, visitors to the school and special events such as 'themed weeks' add variety and richness to the curriculum.

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Grade: 1

The procedures for keeping children safe are robust and the fostering of children's welfare is as central to the school's work as is the promotion of their academic progress. Relationships between pupils and adults are warm and friendly. The pupils trust the staff to look after them.

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Grade: 1

Strong leadership from the top has enabled the school to keep on improving since its last inspection. There is a strong drive to keep going and to bring further improvements, for example, by enhancing the provision for music. Working relationships between senior staff and governors are excellent and there is an open and honest culture. The work of the senior team, which includes the chair of governors and the school's finance officer, is clearly focused on improving outcomes for the pupils. Procedures for evaluating the school's performance are rigorous, and the school takes account of the views of parents and pupils when deciding its priorities. Governance is excellent. Skilfully led by the chair, governors play a full part in monitoring and evaluating the impact of initiatives. They have achieved a good balance between supporting the school and challenging it to continue to move forward. 6 of 10 Inspection Report: Holy Apostles' Church of England Primary School, 17 May 2007

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Grade: 1

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 7 of 10 Inspection Report: Holy Apostles' Church of England Primary School, 17 May 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? 1 The quality and standards in the Foundation Stage 1 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 1 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

1 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 1 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 1 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?

1 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. 8 of 10 Inspection Report: Holy Apostles' Church of England Primary School, 17 May 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? 9 of 10 Inspection Report: Holy Apostles' Church of England Primary School, 17 May 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

23 May 2007 Dear Pupils Inspection of Holy Apostles' Church of England Primary School, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL52 6QZ Thank you very much for making me so welcome when I visited your school recently. I really enjoyed meeting and talking to some of you, and watching you at work and in the playground. I'd like to give a special thanks to the school council members who gave up some of their lunchtime to meet me. I'm sure you know that I was inspecting your school so that I can write a report about what your school does well and things that it could do better. It was easy for me to find many things that are excellent about Holy Apostles, but a bit of a challenge for me to find things that need to be improved! I found that your school is a friendly, happy place where everyone is expected to do their best. You and your teachers work very hard. This is helping you to make excellent progress and to reach really high standards in your work. Your headteacher, the chair of governors and other

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

staff are always looking for things which could be done better, and this has meant that the progress you make has improved every year. There is a good plan to make sure that this continues. A few of your parents were not sure about how the school finds out what they, and you, think about your school, or what they do with the information. I have asked that the procedures are made clearer to everyone. You can help by telling your parents about the discussions that happen at the school council meetings. Wishing you good luck for the future, Best wishes, Linda McGill Her Majesty's Inspector 10 of 10 Inspection Report: Holy Apostles' Church of England Primary School, 17 May 2007

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