Barningham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

Inspection Report Barningham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

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124689 Unique Reference Number SUFFOLK Local Authority 293078 Inspection number 20 °21 September 2006 Inspection dates Ms. Ruth Frith 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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Church Road School address First Type of school Barningham, Barningham Voluntary controlled School category Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk IP31 1DD 4 °9 Age range of pupils

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01359221297 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils Fax number 65 Number on roll (school) Mrs.Anita Shortland Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs. Christine Morgan Headteacher 26 March 2001 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 293078 20 °21 September 2006 4°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. Inspection Report: Barningham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, 20 °21 September 2006

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by one Additional Inspector.

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Description of the school

This is a much smaller than average size rural village school. There are three classes, two of which have children from different year groups. Most pupils live within the village and come from families representing a range of socio-economic backgrounds. The percentage of pupils receiving free school meals is broadly average. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties is also broadly average and one pupil has a statement of special educational needs. Nearly all pupils come from White British backgrounds.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Barningham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, 20 °21 September

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Grade: 2

This is a good school with several outstanding features. Staff are particularly successful in creating a friendly and supportive environment in which pupils thrive. Care, guidance and support are outstanding and comments from the pupils reflect this: 'Teachers are kind, they help you settle,' and 'When you go to school it makes you feel you are having a good time ... it makes you feel you are really clever.' Pupils feel safe and develop confidence as they experience success in their work. Pupils' personal development is also outstanding and is reflected in their exceptionally good behaviour, attitudes to learning and relationships with staff and each other. Due to the school's good procedures and incentives, attendance has been consistently above average for several years apart from last year when it was broadly average. This coincided with a higher than average number of absences through illness. Teaching is good and ensures

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Grade: 2

that pupils achieve very well. This, together with the pupils' exceptionally good personal development and support from parents, results in high academic standards. Staff are very effective at identifying pupils' specific needs by assessing their learning, and using this information to plan lessons which match pupils' capabilities and provide appropriately challenging work. Quality and standards in the Foundation Stage are good. Teachers help children to quickly settle by establishing clear procedures and being sensitive to their needs and concerns. The school's curriculum is good and is becoming more interesting and exciting through the introduction of subjects such as French. However, despite good efforts by staff in Reception, the accommodation and resources restrict their ability to develop work and play outside as recommended in the national guidance. Teachers build on the good grounding children receive in

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Grade: 2

Reception by encouraging pupils to do as well as they can, so that by the end of Year 2, pupils frequently achieve high standards in reading, writing, mathematics and science. In Years 3 and 4, pupils continue to make good progress and achieve well so that by the time they leave the school they are usually working at levels above those expected for their age. All staff have high expectations of what pupils can achieve and maintain a good rate of learning through making the most of the school day. Teachers demonstrate good skills but tend to use a narrow range of teaching styles. Although this ensures that pupils make at least good progress, it does not encourage pupils to be adventurous in their learning. The school's success in achieving its aims is due to good leadership and management. The headteacher is particularly effective in building a strong team of staff who support each other and work together particularly well for

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Grade: 2

the benefit of the pupils. The good self-evaluation procedures have helped staff and governors to have a clear understanding of the school's strengths and identify appropriate priorities for development. Improvement since the last inspection has been good and staff and governors demonstrate the capacity for further improvement. The school provides good value for money.

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What the school should do to improve further

- Develop provision for the youngest pupils by improving facilities so they have opportunities to work and play outside more frequently across all the areas of learning. 2 Inspection Report: Barningham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, 20 °21 September - Widen the range of teaching styles so that pupils develop a more independent approach to learning and use their initiative.

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Grade: 2

From broadly average starting points, children in Reception make particularly good progress and achieve very well. By the time they enter Year 1 they reach the goals set nationally for all areas of learning and sometimes achieve beyond this. Apart from a dip in the 2005 national assessments, standards over the last five years have been consistently above average in reading, writing, mathematics and science. In some years, standards have been exceptionally high in reading and mathematics. The recent focus on writing has helped to improve pupils' work so that in the Year 2 national assessments in 2006, they achieved exceptionally high standards in reading, writing and Mathematics. Checks of pupils' work in Years 3 and 4 indicate that pupils continue to achieve well and reach standards above those expected for their age. In all year groups, pupils reach the challenging targets set by the school. Different groups of pupils,

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Grade: 2

including those with learning difficulties, achieve well.

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Grade: 1

Pupils' personal development and well-being are excellent. The strong school ethos, together with support from families and governors create an environment where children feel happy and do particularly well. Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. As a consequence, they behave exceptionally well, attend regularly and develop particularly good relationships. Older pupils care for those that are younger and when a new pupil comes to the school they are keen to help them settle. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe and act sensibly and safely at work and at play. Pupils have a good understanding of how to adopt a healthy lifestyle through regular exercise and eating a range of good food. This is supported by the generous healthy lunches provided by the school. Pupils are beginning to extend their decision making skills through the recent development of the school council and

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Grade: 1

contribute well to the school community. Pupils develop particularly good basic skills and learn to work well with others. This prepares them exceptionally well for the next phase of their education and beyond.

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Grade: 2

Teaching and learning are good because staff have high expectations of what pupils can do and pupils respond positively to the challenges set for them. Teachers and teaching assistants work well as a strong team sharing their expertise and experiences 3 Inspection Report: Barningham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, 20 °21 September to ensure that the work motivates pupils and makes their day at school interesting. Relationships are excellent and teachers use their knowledge of pupils well to set work that matches pupils' capabilities and is sufficiently challenging. Teachers are particularly good at asking questions that develop pupils' thinking, for example, by encouraging pupils to explain how they worked out an answer in mathematics and by encouraging them to find different ways of doing things. To raise the quality of teaching and learning even further, teachers could be more adventurous in their approaches by

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Grade: 2

recognising a wider range of teaching and learning styles.

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Grade: 2

Pupils really enjoy what they do because activities are interesting and well planned and they feel they can succeed. The youngest children take part in a range of tasks either working as a distinct group or with Year 1 pupils. This helps them to settle well. Staff work hard to compensate for the rather cramped accommodation and the lack of a specific outside work area but are restricted in how they can plan the curriculum. Throughout the school, teachers plan activities well by ensuring that pupils have opportunities to make connections between subjects by applying their knowledge, skills and understanding in one subject to their work in another. Information and communication technology is used effectively wherever possible. Recent improvements such as the teaching of French and guitar tuition for Year 4 have introduced the opportunity to develop new skills. After school activities support healthy lifestyles

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Grade: 2

through a good range of physical activities and also help pupils to develop new interests. School visits and visitors add another dimension to pupils' learning, for example, in history and science by providing a more practical, 'hands on' experience.

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Grade: 1

Pupils' care, guidance and support are exceptionally effective. Pupils feel very safe and happy in school and this reflects the high quality of care, guidance and support offered by staff. As some pupils highlighted, 'Little schools are nice ... everyone knows us ... it's a safe place to be because of the rules.' Sensitive responses and individual support programmes are particularly successful in helping children who find it difficult to adapt to school life. Teaching assistants are deployed very effectively to support pupils, particularly those who find learning difficult. Effective procedures are in place covering health and safety and child protection issues and consequently the needs of pupils are particularly well safeguarded. Pupils are very clear about how to improve their work because of comments from teachers, the marking of their work and the setting of targets. This means that pupils achieve well and frequently reach high

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Grade: 1

standards. 4 Inspection Report: Barningham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, 20 °21 September

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Grade: 2

Leadership and management are effectively focussed on promoting pupils' personal development and well-being and raising standards. The headteacher has been particularly effective in developing a common sense of purpose amongst this small staff team. They successfully take on a variety of management responsibilities because staff strengths are recognised and duties well allocated. Leadership at all levels is outstanding. There are particularly good systems for checking how well the school is doing and identifying what it could do better. This results in exceptional care and personal development of pupils, a stimulating curriculum and high standards. The leadership of the Foundation Stage is good but it has not created a dedicated and stimulating outside play area for pupils in the reception class. This would enable these pupils to easily extend their learning from inside areas into an interesting area outside

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Grade: 2

its classroom. The views of all members of the school community are taken into consideration. The effective governing body acts as a critical friend and monitors the work of the school well. The school is in a good position to continue to improve. 5 Inspection Report: Barningham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, 20 °21 September .

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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: Barningham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, 20 °21 September

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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? 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?

2 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: Barningham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, 20 °21 September

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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: Barningham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, 20 °21 September

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

25 September 2006 Barningham Church of England, Voluntary Controlled Primary School, Church Road, Barningham, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, IP31 1DD Dear Children Thank you for making me feel so welcome when I recently visited your school. I enjoyed talking to you and finding out about the work you have done. I was pleased to hear that you really enjoy school and could talk enthusiastically about all the good things that happen there. These are some of the best things about your school: - You work very hard and do very well in reading, writing, mathematics and science. - You are very enthusiastic and are keen to do good work. - All the staff work very well together as a team. They enjoy teaching you and the teaching is good. - You behave exceptionally well and when working and playing together you are kind to each other. - The activities you do and the things you study are interesting which helps to make

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

lessons fun. Year 4 are doing very well in their new guitar lessons. - Staff look after you very well and you feel safe in school. I was pleased to hear that you would talk to a member of staff if you had problems. Mrs Morgan manages the school really well and is especially good at leading the staff so that the school continues to improve and you receive a good education. The governors also work hard to support the school. We have agreed that things will get even better if the staff help you to learn in many different ways. I am also asking them to make sure that those in Reception have more opportunity to work and play outside. I left your school confident that it will continue to improve and wish you all well in the future. Ruth Frith Lead inspector 9 Inspection Report: Barningham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, 20 °21 September

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