Mill Hill Primary School

Waite End Primary School Inspection report

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130325 Unique Reference Number Hampshire Local Authority 293626 Inspection number 1 °2 November 2007 Inspection dates Michael Pye 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 Community School category 4 °11 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 166 School The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs M Gray Chair Mrs A Williamson Headteacher 1 July 2002 Date of previous school inspection Mill Road School address Waterlooville PO7 7DB 02392 256955 Telephone number 02392 264614 Fax number

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4-11 Age group 1 °2 November 2007 Inspection dates 293626 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 two Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

This is a smaller than average primary school, situated in an area of economic deprivation. There are well-above average numbers of pupils entitled to free school meals. The majority of pupils come from a White British background. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is below that expected and there are very few pupils with a statement of special educational need. The school has been recognised nationally, being awarded the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Mark. An acting head teacher is in place.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 11 Inspection Report: Waite End Primary School, 1 °2 November 2007

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Grade: 4

In accordance with section 13(3) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. Unsatisfactory achievement and well-below average standards are the result of inconsistent levels of teaching, and management systems that fail to provide sufficiently rigorous monitoring and analysis of the school's performance. The use of assessment information, at all levels, is not maximised to help promote pupils' progress. Whilst standards and achievement improved slightly in 2007, there is not enough evidence that this improvement can be sustained over the foreseeable future. There is insufficient capacity to improve.

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Grade: 4

Teaching and learning are unsatisfactory. Pupils do not benefit from sufficiently regular collection, analysis and use of assessment. Consequently, pupils are inappropriately challenged, and teaching is not adapted to meet the different learning styles of pupils. A school focus on behaviour has had some success. However, when the quality of teaching dips, or when the behaviour policy is inconsistently applied, the pupils become restless and talkative and progress levels drop. Some lesson planning, particularly regarding the setting of work for pupils of different abilities, reflects an unclear understanding of how pupils learn best. Pupils say they enjoy the range of activities they have in school. The school provides a wide range of clubs and visits, and it makes use of a good range of partners to benefit learners. For example, pupils experience the life of a supermarket, and visit the kitchen to taste healthy

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Grade: 4

food. Pupils' personal development and well-being are satisfactory. They have a good understanding of how to stay healthy and safe because such messages are effectively reinforced in projects and subjects across the curriculum. 'It is not just about eating fruits and vegetables, you need to have a balanced diet and exercise,' explained one Year 6 pupil. There are missed opportunities to encourage pupils to become independent learners. Care, guidance and support are satisfactory overall. However, some staff, including senior managers, have an unclear understanding of the school's pastoral and academic management systems. This is the direct consequence of these systems and procedures not being effectively shared with managers. In particular, the arrangements for ensuring staff are trained sufficiently well, so as to replace those staff who leave or are absent, are weak. Leadership and management are unsatisfactory. There is insufficient rigour in the monitoring

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Grade: 4

and evaluation of the impact of school initiatives. This results in the school not having a clear enough picture of how successful any changes have been, or where further development is required. In some areas, such as English, the team leaders have a clear understanding of development needs, and, importantly, have a view of where their actions impact on the whole school. This is not always the case. For example, other leaders have an insufficient view of how assessment information can be used to plan appropriate developments. Governors visit the school regularly and receive regular reports from subject leaders. This enables them to raise questions of the school, but they are not involved enough in development planning. 4 of 11 Inspection Report: Waite End Primary School, 1 °2 November 2007

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Grade: 3

Children enter Reception with levels of skills and knowledge that vary year on year, but are overall below average. There are particular weaknesses in calculation areas of literacy and personal development. Whilst satisfactory teaching was observed, progress would be quicker if teachers more accurately assessed the achievement of children and set appropriately challenging work. Most children make satisfactory progress, although weaknesses remain in literacy and aspects of numeracy. A bright learning environment and a satisfactory curriculum help to stimulate and motivate the children. On occasions, the writing tasks given to children were not varied or stimulating enough. Teamwork and other sharing activities help to ensure that children make good progress in their social and personal development.

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What the school should do to improve further

Raise standards and achievement in English, mathematics and science through:

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What the school should do to improve further

■ ensuring that all managers conduct rigorous monitoring and evaluation of the impact of their initiatives, and that systems are in place to track their success ■ ensuring that all teachers have a clear focus on how pupils learn best in lessons, including adapting their teaching to meet the varied learning styles of pupils ■ ensuring that all managers, and teachers in lessons, make better use of assessment information so that pupils' progress is tracked more effectively, and work is set that challenges and meets the needs of all pupils.

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Grade: 4

In two of the last three years, achievement has been unsatisfactory, and standards by the end of Year 6 have been well below average in English, mathematics and science. The rate of improvement in standards and achievement is insufficient and is the consequence of the shortcomings in teaching and learning, management, and the use of assessment. The 2007 national tests at the end of Years 2 and 6 showed that standards were well below average, except in reading at the end of Year 2. This was a slight improvement on the previous year, although, given the pupils' starting points, this constitutes inadequate progress for the majority of pupils, including those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. Some pupils, but not all, make good progress as a result of the intervention work introduced as part of the 'Raising Attainment Plan'. Current work shows that standards remain well below average, and that

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Grade: 4

significant pockets of underachievement exist in most year groups.

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Grade: 3

Pupils' personal development and well-being, including their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development are satisfactory. Whilst pupils' moral and cultural development is good, there are missed opportunities to develop fully the independence of pupils as learners. From Reception onwards, pupils show positive attitudes, being kind, helpful and courteous to each other and to adults. Pupils say they enjoy school. However, this is less evident in some lessons where the quality of teaching affects pupils' motivation to learn. Pupils make a good contribution to the 5 of 11 Inspection Report: Waite End Primary School, 1 °2 November 2007 school and the wider community. They fund-raise for charities and work alongside a housing association and with other schools to help improve the local environment. The active school council is making an impact on improving the school facilities. Pupil's ICT skills are satisfactory

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Grade: 3

and there are some good opportunities to develop their team and enterprise skills.

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Grade: 4

Relationships in lessons are good and most pupils want to learn. They concentrate well in group work, even when the tasks are not particularly suited to their needs. There are some elements of good practice around the school, but these are not being shared more widely. Pupils' progress is inadequate because not all teachers use assessment information well enough to plan work for pupils with differing abilities and learning styles. Lessons are usually well organised, although support staff could be better used in whole class sessions. Teachers' marking of pupils' work is generally unsatisfactory. It is better in English, where supportive comments are accompanied by some good guidance about how to improve. The school's monitoring of teaching is insufficiently focused on the quality of learning.

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Grade: 3

The curriculum is satisfactory overall. Moves have been made to introduce more cross-curricular links, and this is making learning more relevant for pupils. Particularly successful are the learning units such as the 'Rugby World Cup'. Pupils studied, amongst other things, France as part of geography, visited Twickenham and produced written pamphlets, as well as studying muscles in science. Literacy and numeracy planning are satisfactory, but there are missed opportunities to reinforce literacy and numeracy skills in all subjects. For example, technical vocabulary is identified in planning but insufficiently highlighted in lessons. The curriculum provides satisfactory opportunities for pupils to discuss matters of interest to them. Pupils are motivated by, and tell of enjoying a good range of visits to places in the local community, including a country park and Fishbourne Roman villa. They also enjoyed working outside with their parents,

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Grade: 3

as part of the good 'Trailblazer' activities.

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Grade: 3

Pupils feel that they are listened to, and that adults help them if they have a problem. The school makes some good use of links with outside agencies, and makes effective use of personal support programmes to meet the specific needs of pupils. The support offered to those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is insufficient because the systems in place to monitor their progress are inconsistently applied and not rigorous enough. Health and safety procedures and risk assessments are in place. However, not all staff have a clear understanding of the systems and procedures relating to the pastoral care of pupils. Pupils know their targets, but opportunities are missed to encourage their independence through consistently encouraging them to self-evaluate. 6 of 11 Inspection Report: Waite End Primary School, 1 °2 November 2007

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Grade: 4

There have been recent attempts to distribute leadership and management responsibilities more widely. This has not been totally effective because the systems to underpin such a move have not been consistently established. For example, in science, mathematics, and the special needs areas, systems are not sufficiently robust to enable leaders to build a detailed knowledge of their areas and to plan effectively. In English, where roles are clearer, and there is a good understanding of whole-school issues, accurate analysis of development needs has taken place. This has resulted in the introduction of unaided writing and phonics, and a school focus on speaking and listening. It is too early to see the full impact of these actions. Not all areas have action plans, and there are inconsistencies in the regularity of meetings for professional discussion. The current improvement plan identifies some relevant areas for development.

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Grade: 4

However, these are not effectively linked with the professional development needs of staff, and monitoring is not rigorous enough. For example, staff have a wide range of assessment data. However, it is not presented in a way that enables teachers to make the best use of it. Furthermore, subject leaders are not sufficiently trained to analyse such data in depth, and use the information to plan future developments. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: Waite End Primary School, 1 °2 November 2007 .

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Grade: 4

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 8 of 11 Inspection Report: Waite End Primary School, 1 °2 November 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? No Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? 3 The effectiveness of the Foundation Stage 4 The capacity to make any necessary improvements

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Achievement and standards

4 How well do learners achieve? 4 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 4 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

3 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 3 How well learners enjoy their education 3 The attendance of learners 3 The behaviour of learners 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?

3 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. 9 of 11 Inspection Report: Waite End Primary School, 1 °2 November 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 4 How effectively leaders and managers use challenging targets to raise standards 4 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 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 No Do procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements? Yes Does this school require special measures? No Does this school require a notice to improve? 10 of 11 Inspection Report: Waite End Primary School, 1 °2 November 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

6 December 2007 Dear Pupils Inspection of Waite End Primary School,Waterlooville,PO7 7DB You will remember our visit to your school. Thank you for making us welcome and we listened carefully to what you had to say. We found some good things about your school, but overall it is not doing well enough, and we feel it needs special measures. This means that in future there will be other inspectors visiting the school to see how quickly it is improving. What we liked about your school

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ You all make a good contribution to the local community, especially your work on behalf of charities. Your school council is working well to improve the school environment. Well done! ■ You have a good understanding about how to stay healthy and keep safe. You make good use of the various clubs that the school provides ■ Relationships with adults are good and this helps you to concentrate on your learning

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ You benefit well from a good range of people from outside the school who help you with your learning. We have asked that your school works even harder to help you make better progress and to improve your standards in English, mathematics and science. In particular, we want the school to use the information it has about how well you are doing, to set you more challenging and interesting work. Also, we have asked that subject and school leaders check how things are going in school more effectively. I wish you all well for the future, Yours faithfully, Michael Pye Lead inspector 11 of 11 Inspection Report: Waite End Primary School, 1 °2 November 2007

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