Woods Loke Community Primary School

Inspection Report Woods Loke Community Primary School

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124641 Unique Reference Number SUFFOLK Local Authority 293062 Inspection number 27 °28 September 2006 Inspection dates David Manuel 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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Butley Drive School address Primary Type of school Oulton Broad, Oulton Broad Community School category

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Lowestoft, Suffolk NR32 3EB 3 °9 Age range of pupils

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01502 561234 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils Fax number 326 Number on roll (school) Mr Jeff Case Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Mr Mark Prentice Headteacher 21 May 2001 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 293062 27 °28 September 2006 3°9 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 three Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

Nearly all pupils are from White British backgrounds and very few speak English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils entitled to free school meals is average and the proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities is above average. In recent years, levels of disadvantage in the area have increased. There have been significant changes in staff for the start of this term with the appointment of a new headteacher and a new head of the infant department.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Woods Loke Community Primary School, 27 °28 September 2006

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Grade: 2

This is a good school and has some outstanding features. The school's successes are due to good leadership and management. The new headteacher has built on the strengths of the school and is developing new strategies aimed at improving the school still further. A committed team of staff support each other well and have an accurate view of the school's future needs for improvement. It provides good value for money. The school receives strong support from the vast majority of parents. Good teaching together with good support for pupils with learning difficulties results in pupils making good progress throughout the school. The work largely matches pupils' needs well. Attainment on entry to the Nursery is below expected levels, particularly in language and communication skills. Children receive a wonderfully stimulating start to their education. As a result of this outstanding provision, children make good and often

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Grade: 2

exceptional progress. By the end of the Foundation Stage, most reach the levels expected of this age and a minority exceed them. Pupils reach above average standards by the end of Year 4. However, some of the more able pupils in reading and writing do not always make the progress they are capable of. This is because there are some minor inconsistencies in the challenge for more able pupils in Years 3 and 4. Pupils are really happy in school and relate well to each other as they work and play together. They behave well and enjoy the good range of learning activities provided for them. They are encouraged to develop as independent learners from a very young age and are keen to do their best. All pupils feel safe and secure and appreciate the high levels of care and support that teachers provide, as do their parents. The school also emphasises well the importance of healthy lifestyles, staying safe and the positive

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Grade: 2

contribution they make to the community. The school's curriculum is well organised and supports the learning of pupils well. While the planned curriculum caters for pupils' academic and personal needs effectively, in practice the teaching time in Years 3 and 4 is not sufficient to cover all subjects as well as the school would wish.

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What the school should do to improve further

- Ensure that teaching time in Years 3 and 4 is better organised and used more efficiently to cover all subjects fully. - Ensure that by the end of Year 4, all pupils consistently achieve the highest levels of which they are capable in reading and writing.

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Grade: 2

The youngest children in the school make good progress, particularly in weaker areas of language and communication skills. All children respond very well to the high quality of teaching and provision in the Nursery and Reception classes. Good achievement continues in Years 1 and 2 and test results are consistently above the national average in reading, writing and mathematics. In Years 3 and 4, detailed records show further good progress in English and mathematics. This good progress is due to the good support provided for pupils, particularly pupils with learning difficulties, enabling them 2 Inspection Report: Woods Loke Community Primary School, 27 °28 September 2006 to reach and sometimes exceed challenging targets set for them. However, on rare occasions, the more able pupils do not always make the good progress expected of them in both reading and writing. This was most noticeable in the school's performance

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Grade: 2

Pupils' personal development and well-being are good. The children in the Foundation Stage very rapidly develop extremely good attitudes to learning, show great enjoyment in their work and play, and maturity and independence in their social development. Pupils of all ages thoroughly enjoy school and attendance rates are above average. One parent wrote, 'My daughter would attend seven days a week - she loves it.' Pupils develop a good awareness of how to lead safe and healthy lives. The oldest are polite young people who are a credit to their families and their school. They are well equipped socially and academically for the next stage of education and for their future in the world of work. Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. The pupils behave well and show respect for others, including those whose backgrounds and lifestyles are different from their own. Pupils get good opportunities to make a

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Grade: 2

contribution to the school and wider community. Of particular note are the playground leaders and the 'Mini-mates' who befriend the youngest children. Staff and governors hold discussions with pupils to collect their opinions on aspects of the school. There is no regular forum, such as a school council to involve pupils more fully in how the school operates, but the new headteacher plans to improve this situation.

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Grade: 2

Teaching and learning are good and consequently pupils make good progress. Lessons build effectively on the high quality of relationships between pupils and teachers and the school's high expectations of behaviour. Teachers' planning generally caters well for the full range of attainments and is complemented by the grouping of pupils by ability to target their needs more closely. Planning and organisation are extremely good in the Foundation Stage where exciting, imaginative activities engage children from their earliest time in school and instil a love of learning. Teachers and teaching assistants work closely together. This teamwork is particularly effective in supporting pupils with learning difficulties. The most capable pupils in Years 3 and 4 do not always consistently build on their earlier learning and reach the levels of which they are capable. The current Key Stage 2 team of staff is tackling this issue well. Occasionally,

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Grade: 2

not all time is used effectively for learning. 3 Inspection Report: Woods Loke Community Primary School, 27 °28 September 2006

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Grade: 2

The curriculum promotes learning well for all pupils. Planning builds effectively from the outstandingly planned provision in the Foundation Stage to the work in Years 1 to 4. There is good provision for English, mathematics and information and communication technology (ICT), though the latter is not used fully to promote learning in other subjects. There is also effective provision to help pupils with learning difficulties. A good programme of personal, social and health education helps to raise pupils' awareness of important issues, such as healthy lifestyles, safety and relationships. A good range of additional activities, including French, drama, music and sport, broadens pupils' experience further and deepens their understanding of the wider community. The curriculum prepares pupils well for the next stage of their education. The curriculum time, however, is not used efficiently enough in Years 3

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Grade: 2

and 4 to provide adequate teaching time for some subjects, notably history, geography and design and technology. This reduces the progress that pupils make in these subjects.

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Grade: 2

Parents and children consider that the school cares well for its pupils, and praise the friendly, approachable staff. The inspection agrees with their views. Pupils feel safe and well supported at work and play and this enables them to achieve well. The quality of day-to-day personal care for pupils is extremely good. Every individual matters to the staff. The school's arrangements to safeguard pupils are good, including those for child protection. There has been satisfactory attention to the weaknesses in procedures identified by the inspection of 2001, and the new headteacher is ensuring that minor matters still outstanding are dealt with urgently. Pupils are guided well in their academic work by means of good assessment arrangements, especially in the key skills of literacy and numeracy. Pupils and their parents are involved in setting targets for further improvement. There is effective care and guidance for pupils with learning difficulties,

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Grade: 2

including regular liaison with their parents and appropriate links with relevant external agencies.

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Grade: 2

Good leadership and management have been key factors in the school's successes since the previous inspection. The school has retained its good reputation within the local community. The new headteacher, who has only been in post for three weeks, has already begun to build on the strengths of the school with the leadership team and is developing new relevant and well-considered strategies aimed at improving the school still further. A strongly committed staff support each other well to provide the best education for the pupils. The leadership team has an accurate view of the school's 4 Inspection Report: Woods Loke Community Primary School, 27 °28 September 2006 future needs for improvement. The school has developed a much closer working partnership with parents since the previous inspection and the parents' views are very positive. The governors provide good support for the school and share a clear

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Grade: 2

commitment to not only maintaining its success but to improving provision and raising standards. The new headteacher has introduced initiatives to improve further the monitoring of the school's work and ensure challenge for all pupils. As yet, these have not had time to embed in practice, but the school has good capacity to improve further. 5 Inspection Report: Woods Loke Community Primary School, 27 °28 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: Woods Loke Community Primary School, 27 °28 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? 1 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: Woods Loke Community Primary School, 27 °28 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: Woods Loke Community Primary School, 27 °28 September 2006

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

29 September 2006 Dear Children Woods Loke Community Primary School, Butley Drive, Oulton Broad, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR32 3EB Thank you all for making us so welcome and helping us when we visited your school. We enjoyed speaking to you and hearing you talk about your work. Here are the things that we think are best about your school. - You really enjoy coming to school and behave well. - We agree with you that your teachers look after you very well and help you a lot. - You work hard in lessons and reach good standards most of the time. - We liked the way you help each other in lessons and at playtimes. - The headteacher, teachers and governors manage your school well. These are the things that we think could be better: - We want your teachers to make sure that you are taught some subjects in Year 3 and 4 in more detail. - We want all of you who are good at reading and writing to be helped to make as much

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

progress as you can. You can help the teachers with these things and enjoy your lessons even more so that you can reach even higher standards. Keep working hard, you are a credit to your school. We wish you every success in the future. Yours sincerely, David Manuel Lead Inspector 9 Inspection Report: Woods Loke Community Primary School, 27 °28 September 2006

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