Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Primary School, WincantonOfsted inspection, 28 Feb 2007

Inspection Report Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Primary School, Wincanton

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123858 Unique Reference Number Somerset Local Authority 292817 Inspection number 28 February 2007 Inspection date Marion Wallace 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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Tout Hill School address Primary Type of school Wincanton Voluntary aided School category BA9 9DH 4 °11 Age range of pupils 01963 32660 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01963 32660 Fax number 110 Number on roll (school) Vacant Position Chair The governing body Appropriate authority A Quinn Headteacher 18 November 2002 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection date Age group 292817 28 February 2007 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 two Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic School is smaller than most primary schools and there are mixed-age classes. The majority of pupils are White British. The percentage of pupils from minority ethnic groups is significantly lower than average and a few are new to this country. The proportions of pupils with learning difficulties or disabilities and pupils entitled to free school meals are lower than average. Most children have attended the private nursery before they enter Reception and attainment on entry is average.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Primary School, Wincanton, 28 February 2007

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Grade: 2

The school's overall effectiveness is good. This is a happy, caring community in which pupils demonstrate a positive attitude to their work and experience a good education. Pupils really enjoy coming to school and they talk enthusiastically about their experiences. A group of older pupils said, 'It is small, we are very well cared for, we know everyone if we have any problems, there are lots of activities and we like the quiet areas.' Younger pupils were equally enthusiastic about their school, saying 'It's fun.' Pupils' achievement is good and enables them to reach standards that are above average by the time they leave the school. Attainment on entry is average and children make good progress. Children in Reception make a good start to their education because they are well taught and experience a well-planned curriculum. They enter Year 1 above average and continue to make good gains in their literacy and numeracy

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Grade: 2

skills. Standards remain above and sometimes well above average as pupils move through the school. Pupils who have learning difficulties or disabilities make the same progress as their peers. The few pupils new to this country have settled into school life very well and are making good gains in their learning. Pupils develop good personal qualities and preparation for future economic well-being is good. They learn to co-operate well with each other and develop a broad range of basic skills needed for their future. Pupils make a positive contribution to the school and wider community. Pupils' overall good progress is the result of good and sometimes excellent teaching. Throughout the school, teachers know their pupils well and plan lessons which they find interesting. However, procedures for recording assessment information about pupils' progress are not always adhered to or used well enough when planning lessons. Pupils have group targets but older pupils feel that these could

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Grade: 2

be more challenging if they were more personal. The quality of marking is variable and in some classes does not always inform pupils how to improve their work. Pupils' personal development, including spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, is good. The school demonstrates good awareness of health and safety and parents and pupils show good understanding of how to stay safe. Pupils are encouraged to voice their views and they feel they are listened to. They are aware of how to lead a healthy lifestyle and all younger children can explain why they eat the daily fruit snack. Pupils experience a very good level of care and procedures to ensure academic progress is maintained are effective. The curriculum is good and is enriched by a good range of visits and visitors. There are good opportunities for pupils to use literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology skills to enhance

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Grade: 2

learning in other subjects. Leadership and management are good. The headteacher and deputy work well together and they have a good understanding of the school's strengths and weaknesses. The support from the governors is outstanding. The school has made good progress since the last inspection and has good capacity to improve. 2 Inspection Report: Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Primary School, Wincanton, 28 February 2007

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What the school should do to improve further

• Improve the formal recording of assessment information and ensure that it is consistently used to support lesson planning and introduce individual pupil targets in literacy, numeracy and science. • Ensure the quality of marking is consistent throughout the school.

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Grade: 2

Children in Reception make significant progress in all areas of learning because they benefit from good quality teaching and learning. Since the last inspection the school has successfully developed the outside play area for Foundation Stage children. Opportunities for outside play are now well planned and enhance learning. Children enter Year 1 with above-average skills in all areas of learning. Pupils build effectively on the good start and achievement is good in Years 1 and 2; consequently, standards are above average in reading, writing, mathematics and science. This is reflected in the most recent national assessments for 2005 and 2006. Good progress is consistently maintained between Years 3 and 6 and, by the age of eleven, pupils achieve above-average standards in mathematics, English and science. Last year pupils achieved exceptionally well in all subjects. Effective monitoring by the headteacher has helped raise standards. The school identifies any slip in

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Grade: 2

achievement and successfully puts measures in place to help pupils make the best possible progress. The current Year 6 are on course to reach their targets and achieve above-average results. Pupils with learning difficulties or disabilities make good progress towards their individual targets. The few pupils new to this country are making good gains in all areas of learning.

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Grade: 2

Pupils thoroughly enjoy school life, especially the wide range of extra-curricular opportunities provided. During the inspection, behaviour observed was very good; however, a few parents expressed concerns about inappropriate behaviour. Pupils say they feel safe and have no concerns about bullying. They are confident and interested learners and they participate enthusiastically in a wide range of experiences related to music, sport, art, school productions and other world cultures. Attendance and punctuality are good. Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. Relationships throughout the school are very good. Pupils show good awareness of healthy lifestyles and they talk keenly about the healthy school meals. 'We have lots of exercise in PE (physical education) and also in the after-school clubs,' said a Year 6 girl. Pupils contribute well to school life. They enjoy being play leaders and older

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Grade: 2

pupils are very aware of being good role models for the younger children. 'We try to set a good example to younger children,' said a group of Year 6 pupils. Pupils would relish even more opportunities to take responsibility. They keenly take part in a range 3 Inspection Report: Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Primary School, Wincanton, 28 February 2007 of local events and develop awareness of those less fortunate than themselves through many fundraising activities.

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Grade: 2

Children experience good quality teaching in Reception and this enables them to make an impressive start and contributes to the good standards achieved in national assessments in Years 2 and 6. Teachers are aware of pupils' overall progress and planning takes account of their different abilities in the mixed-age classes. This contributes to the good gains pupils make in their learning. While the school has procedures for formally recording each pupil's progress over time, these are not consistently used by teachers to track progress or to sharpen further the planning of lessons. The pupils have group targets but some older pupils do not feel that these are always challenging. All teachers communicate enthusiasm for learning, are well organised and create a positive learning environment. Management of lessons is good and expectations are clear. Teaching assistants provide good support for pupils with

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Grade: 2

learning difficulties and those new to this country. This helps such pupils make good gains in their learning. Marking is frequent but variable in quality. Teachers give good verbal feedback to pupils on the quality of their work but written feedback does not clearly show pupils how to improve their work. All classes have interactive whiteboards and these are generally used well to enhance learning.

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Grade: 2

Pupils enjoy the well-planned, interesting curriculum that is well matched to pupils' different ages and abilities in the mixed-age classes. It provides a good range of activities to broaden pupils' personal experiences and learning, especially in relation to sport, music and French. Pupils benefit from the residential experiences and the good range of visits, visitors and extra-curricular activities. Good use is made of the local environment, such as geography visits to Weymouth and history visits to the Tutankhamen exhibition. Clubs are extremely popular, for example 16 Key Stage 1 pupils regularly learn how to play the guitar and many Key Stage 2 pupils attend netball club. Personal, social and health education is well planned and ensures pupils know how to stay safe and healthy. The current accommodation is not ideal, with some rooms cramped and in a poor state of repair. This is compensated for by the attractive

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Grade: 2

displays in many rooms, especially celebrating pupils' work and including some impressive artwork. 4 Inspection Report: Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Primary School, Wincanton, 28 February 2007

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Grade: 2

Staff know and care for their pupils very well and this helps them to feel secure and enjoy coming to school. Effective arrangements are in place for safeguarding pupils and the quality and care is good. Behaviour management systems are seen as fair by the pupils and applied consistently. The provision of a good range of play activities and support, especially from Play Leaders, helps encourage very good behaviour and relationships at playtimes. The support provided for pupils with learning difficulties or disabilities is good. Pupils new to the school settle in well because induction procedures are well considered. Good support is provided as pupils join the school and when they move to secondary school. Support for academic development is good because staff know their pupils well. Additional support is swiftly put in place for pupils who need extra help. Pupils know their targets and how to improve their work but feel targets are often too easy as they

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Grade: 2

apply to groups and not to them personally.

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Grade: 2

Strong leadership and management are helping all pupils to achieve well in academic and personal development. The headteacher provides good leadership and ensures the school runs smoothly on a day-to-day basis. Effective self-evaluation ensures leaders have an accurate view of the strengths of the school and areas for further development; these are reflected in the school improvement plan. Appropriate action is taken to tackle most weaknesses; however some areas, such as inconsistencies in assessment, are not tackled quickly enough. The value placed on all members of staff has created excellent teamwork, which has a major impact on the support, care and guidance given to all pupils and the range of activities provided. Governors carry out their roles most effectively. They provide excellent support and help in steering the school in the right direction. Resources are planned, obtained and used effectively to

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Grade: 2

help the school successfully meet its aims, as in the planned improvements to the accommodation. The use of specialist skills, for example, in sport and music has a good impact on pupils' progress. Teaching assistants and volunteers are used effectively, especially in supporting pupils with special needs and those pupils who have not been in this country very long. The school is well supported by its parents and outside agencies are used effectively to provide support. 5 Inspection Report: Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Primary School, Wincanton, 28 February 2007 .

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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: Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Primary School, Wincanton, 28 February 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? 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? 2 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 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?

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: Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Primary School, Wincanton, 28 February 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? 8 Inspection Report: Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Primary School, Wincanton, 28 February 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Thank you very much for welcoming us into your school. We enjoyed talking to you and your teachers, listening to your beautiful singing and seeing how well you play and work with each other. These are the highlights of the school: • You make a good start to your education when you first come to school in Reception and this continues as you move up through the school. • You achieve good standards in your work because all teaching is at least good. • Your behaviour is good and you are all growing up into mature and responsible young people. • You experience an interesting and varied range of activities in lessons and out of school and you are enthusiastic about your school. • Your school cares for you very well and teaches you to keep safe, be healthy and care for others. • Your headteacher, staff and governors run the school well and work hard to provide you with a good education. To make the school even better:

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

• Teachers should develop better systems for checking how well you are doing so that they can plan even better lessons and you can all have individual learning targets for literacy, numeracy and science. • Teachers will show you how you can make improvements when marking your work. We wish you well for the future. 9 Inspection Report: Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Primary School, Wincanton, 28 February 2007

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