Claverley CofE Primary School

Inspection Report - Amended Claverley CofE Primary School

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123539 Unique Reference Number Shropshire Local Authority 292704 Inspection number 20 September 2006 Inspection date Ian Knight 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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Aston Lane School address Primary Type of school Claverley Voluntary aided School category Wolverhampton WV5 7DX 4 °11 Age range of pupils 01746 710636 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01746 710636 Fax number 123 Number on roll (school) Simon Cordell Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Sarah Mostyn Headteacher 4 June 2006 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection date Age group 292704 20 September 2006 4 °11

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Amended Report Addendum

Report updated to resolve formatting inconsistency

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Amended Report Addendum

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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Amended Report Addendum

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 small church school serves the village of Claverley and the surrounding area, one of socio-economic advantage. Almost all pupils are White British, and all are fluent in English. Very few pupils are identified as having learning difficulties or disabilities. No pupils are known to be eligible for free school meals. A new headteacher took up post at Easter 2006.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Claverley CofE Primary School, 20 September 2006

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Grade: 2

'A really lovely community based school,' wrote one parent of Claverley, 'the ethos of this kind, caring school … is perfect for nurturing our child'. Inspectors agree that this good school nurtures its pupils by providing outstanding pastoral care and academic guidance for them. As a result, pupils say how much they enjoy coming to school, behave outstandingly well and have a good understanding of how well they are doing and what they need to do next. Children enter the Reception year with higher standards than usual. In the past, staffing difficulties have hindered the development of the curriculum for the youngest children. Staffing is now stable and improvements made under the leadership of the new headteacher and her deputy mean that these children are now provided for satisfactorily within a class shared with pupils from Year 1. The school recognises that children's achievement would be good rather than satisfactory if there were a better balance

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Grade: 2

between adult-led activities and those which children choose themselves. Pupils enter Year 1 with standards above national expectations, especially in their skills of language and mathematics and their personal, social and emotional development. Teaching of Reception children is now good and children make good progress in their lessons. Good teaching, based on mutual respect and a genuine desire to learn, continues in the rest of the school and enables pupils to make good progress. As a result, pupils achieve well and reach standards which are exceptionally high by the end of Year 6. Teachers already match tasks to the needs of individuals and a good system of ongoing assessment to improve this even further is being implemented. Teachers use questioning well, which enables pupils to reflect on their performance and improve their work further. The headteacher has been in post only since Easter, but has already identified strengths

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Grade: 2

and areas for development, whilst continuing developments already set in motion. One outcome is the massive improvement in the number of pupils gaining the highest levels in National Curriculum tests in science and also, following a whole-school focus, in English. The focus has now moved to mathematics to ensure that all of the most capable achieve their true potential within the context of extremely high standards. Teamwork is strong and staff have willingly risen to the challenge, for example, of helping pupils to know what they are to learn and to develop the skills of assessing their own work based on rigorous targets for improvement. However, the effectiveness of self-evaluation is satisfactory because the rigorous tracking of pupils' progress is only now being implemented, monitoring activities are not always recorded formally for future reference and the school improvement plan is not prioritised clearly.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Give Reception children more opportunities to choose their own activities so that they develop greater independent learning skills. • Strengthen the self-evaluation systems so that areas for improvement and the actions needed to raise standards further are quickly identified. 2 Inspection Report: Claverley CofE Primary School, 20 September 2006

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Grade: 2

Standards in Year 6 are exceptionally high. This is better than the picture from the 2005 National Curriculum tests because the number of pupils gaining the higher levels leapt. This was especially so in English, following a whole-school focus started in 2004. Children enter Reception with skills and abilities which are above national expectations and achieve satisfactorily. They do well in language, mathematics and in their personal, social and emotional development. Recent improvements in provision mean that they now make good progress in lessons. Standards in Key Stage 1 are well above average. Pupils in Key Stages 1 and 2 achieve well. The school is beginning to identify pupils with particular gifts and talents and provides effectively for them, reflected in the high proportion gaining the higher levels. Pupils with learning difficulties have well-written individual plans. They are supported effectively and make the same good progress as their peers.

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Grade: 1

Standards in Year 6 are exceptionally high. This is better than the picture from the 2005 National Curriculum tests because the number of pupils gaining the higher levels leapt. This was especially so in English, following a whole-school focus started in 2004. Children enter Reception with skills and abilities which are above national expectations and achieve satisfactorily. They do well in language, mathematics and in their personal, social and emotional development. Recent improvements in provision mean that they now make good progress in lessons. Standards in Key Stage 1 are well above average. Pupils in Key Stages 1 and 2 achieve well. The school is beginning to identify pupils with particular gifts and talents and provides effectively for them, reflected in the high proportion gaining the higher levels. Pupils with learning difficulties have well-written individual plans. They are supported effectively and make the same good progress as their peers.

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Grade: 2

Teaching and learning throughout the school are good. Teachers make good use of questions that do not have a simple answer, listen closely to pupils' responses and then develop a conversation that deepens pupils' understanding. In a drive to improve pupils' achievement further, teachers are beginning to make better use of assessment results to plan lessons which offer pupils more challenge in their work. Pupils are very responsive to this, saying they 'haven't ever had a piece of work that was too easy', 3 Inspection Report: Claverley CofE Primary School, 20 September 2006 and their exemplary behaviour means that lessons can proceed at a good pace. A strength of teaching is the way that sessions at the end of lessons are used to really focus on what pupils have learned. In one typical lesson seen, pupils read aloud their writing. It was then constructively criticised by themselves and other pupils to see how

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Grade: 2

well they had completed the task. In all classes, pupils frankly assess their own performance and identify what they could do better.

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Grade: 2

The curriculum is good. It is broad and balanced and provides an exciting range of activities and clubs out of school. The school has successfully focused on providing different levels of work for pupils working in mixed-age classes. This enables all groups to make good progress. The Foundation Stage provides a satisfactory curriculum, with some good aspects, for example, in activities led by the teacher. However, the balance between them and those chosen by children is not yet planned carefully enough. Links with nursery settings and secondary schools are good.

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Grade: 1

The school provides outstanding care, guidance and support for pupils, which is much appreciated by parents. Staff know pupils well and pupils trust them implicitly to keep them safe. Pupils with difficulties and disabilities are well supported with their learning whilst those with special gifts and talents are beginning to be developed successfully in a range of interests, such as music, dance and sport. Pastoral care is outstanding. In particular, pupils value the opportunity to talk to the vicar in confidence through the 'listening ear'. Well-focused guidance ensures pupils know exactly how well they are doing in lessons, understand the targets set for their learning and know how to improve their work.

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Grade: 2

The new headteacher and her senior team are providing good leadership and management for the school. A clear vision for the school is shared by staff, all of whom are rising to the challenge of improving achievement further. A number of improvements, some started prior to her appointment, are already bearing fruit ° provision in the Foundation Stage is much improved, good tracking systems for progress have been introduced, standards have risen in Key Stage 2, and all pupils have targets to help them understand what they are expected to achieve. Consequently, the school's capacity for further improvement is good. The school evaluates its own work satisfactorily using new procedures, such as the tracking of pupils' progress. However, some of its own judgements about its work, for example, the quality of teaching, are too modest. Staff and governors are closely involved in school improvement planning,

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Grade: 2

4 Inspection Report: Claverley CofE Primary School, 20 September 2006 but formal consultation does not yet extend to parents and pupils. The resulting plan lacks tightly defined priorities and criteria by which to measure its success. 5 Inspection Report: Claverley CofE Primary School, 20 September 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: Claverley CofE Primary School, 20 September 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 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? 1 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?

1 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 1 The behaviour of learners 2 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 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?

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. 7 Inspection Report: Claverley CofE Primary School, 20 September 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: Claverley CofE Primary School, 20 September 2006

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Thank you for being so welcoming and polite when we visited to inspect your school. We really enjoyed seeing your work and talking to some of you. You told us that you think your school is good ° and that's what we found too. The best things are: • The adults really care about you and help keep you safe and healthy. You told us how much you like the 'Listening Ear' from the vicar. • You are learning well because you are taught well. Teachers are very good at asking questions that really make you think. • You all know what you need to do to improve your work. You are good at saying how well you have understood your lessons and what you need to do to get even better. • The headteacher, staff and governors have started lots of new things to help the school improve even more, and these are starting to work. To help the school in its work, we've asked it to: • Make sure that Reception children have just the right balance between things they do with

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

an adult and things they decide for themselves. • Keep checking how well the school is doing and then decide the most important things to make it even better. We know that you will carry on working hard so that you learn well. We wish you the very best for the future. 9 Inspection Report: Claverley CofE Primary School, 20 September 2006

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