Wynndale Primary School

Inspection Report Wynndale Primary School

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133269 Unique Reference Number NOTTINGHAMSHIRE Local Authority 294055 Inspection number 16 November 2006 Inspection date Geof Timms 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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Wynndale Drive School address Primary Type of school Mansfield Community School category Nottinghamshire NG18 3NY 4 °11 Age range of pupils 01623 479001 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01623 479201 Fax number 204 Number on roll (school) Ms E Wilson Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs J Undy Headteacher 10 March 2003 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection date Age group 294055 16 November 2006 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 an Additional Inspector over one day.

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Description of the school

The school is of average size. The number of pupils entitled to free school meals is below average. There are very few pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds. There are some from dual heritage or other White backgrounds, but very few are at an early stage of learning English. The number of pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities is below average. Most children have broadly average attainments on entry to school. The school has been awarded a Gold Artsmark, a Gold Healthy Schools Award, Investors in People and a Study Support award. A children's centre has recently opened on the school site.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Wynndale Primary School, 16 November 2006

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Grade: 2

This is an effective school with some outstanding features. It is very popular with the parents and pupils, and there are excellent links between home and school. These are currently improving even further due to the opening of the children's centre and other provision to support families and extend the school day. One parent said, 'The school is excellent in the way parents are offered help and courses so that they can help their children at home.' The pupils achieve well owing to the effective provision. The school provides good value for money. When children start at the school they have the knowledge and skills typical of their age, although they are more advanced in their physical development than in their early writing, language and social skills. They make good progress throughout the Nursery and Reception years, and by the time they start Year 1, many reach standards better than those expected. The good progress continues throughout the school and standards

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Grade: 2

at the end of Year 6 are consistently above average. There are particular strengths in mathematics and science, especially in the number of pupils who reach the higher levels. This is the result of consistently good quality teaching in these subjects. Although the school enables a high proportion of the pupils to reach higher than average standards, it needs to enhance provision by helping them to access opportunities beyond school. The standards reached in writing, although still above average, are below those found in mathematics and science. The school is trying to improve these in a variety of ways. This remains a focus for improvement through the enriched curriculum and further provision in drama and role play. Pupils' personal development is outstanding and is a major focus of the school's work, especially in the Foundation Stage. Parents are very positive about how successfully the school helps their children settle in and how quickly they become used to the

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Grade: 2

routines. One parent who had moved their child from another school said, 'He really enjoys going to Wynndale because the Foundation staff make learning fun and are very patient, and have a lot of time for each individual child.' The enjoyment shown by pupils is evident in all classes. Talking to pupils shows their exceptional awareness of how to keep healthy and safe, and how willingly they raise money for local and national charities. Pupils are acutely aware of environmental issues in their community. The school is preparing them effectively for the next stage of their education and future lives. The quality of teaching and learning is consistently good throughout the school. The school has an outstanding curriculum, through which the pupils learn in a well planned and methodical way, to make strong links between subjects. The curriculum contains interest and excitement which creates a real enthusiasm in pupils to learn. This was

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Grade: 2

evident in Year 2 where a theme based on the Fire of London had been introduced through a visiting drama group and developed skills in art, writing and information and communication technology (ICT) in a way that brought the story to life. The care 2 Inspection Report: Wynndale Primary School, 16 November 2006 and guidance provided for pupils is outstanding and the school works successfully to meet all requirements regarding their safety and security. The staff are a strong team and show a good willingness to try new methods and ideas to help raise standards further. The school has an outstanding ability to assess how well it is doing honestly and accurately. The leadership and management is good overall, but the headteacher and deputy headteacher are providing excellent leadership focused on raising standards, and this is having a positive impact across the school.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Raise standards in pupils' written work by providing further opportunities for them to develop a rich vocabulary and to write imaginatively in different subjects. • Seek more ways to provide suitable opportunities for those pupils with particular gifts and talents to use and extend them.

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Grade: 2

When children enter the Foundation Stage, although their knowledge and skills are broadly average, early assessments highlight consistent weaknesses in their social skills and in their abilities to use smaller equipment such as pencils and crayons. However, the good provision in the Foundation class ensures that by the end of the reception year many children are reaching standards above those expected of this age group. This good progress continues throughout the school and standards are above average by the end of Year 2. In the Year 6 national tests an exceptionally high number of pupils reach the higher levels in mathematics and science. Standards in English are above average but weaknesses in writing mean they are not as high as in mathematics and science. Pupils with learning difficulties or disabilities make good progress

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Grade: 1

This aspect is outstanding due to the exceptional focus the school has on developing pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, and to the improvements made to their understanding of the range of cultures within British society. Pupils' behaviour is good in and out of classes. From the Foundation Stage through to the transfer to secondary school, the pupils' personal development is made a vital part of their education. Even though it is so strong, the school is introducing a new scheme aimed at taking pupils' emotional and social development to a new level. Parents have been closely involved with this and are very positive about the early stages. Attendance is above average and has improved since the last inspection. 3 Inspection Report: Wynndale Primary School, 16 November 2006

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Grade: 2

The teaching is effective because the teachers have excellent relationships with their pupils. This encourages pupils to take a full part in lessons and their enthusiasm in most lessons is easy to see, hence they make good progress. Resources are used very effectively to gain pupils' attention and keep their interest. This happened well, for example, where a magic box was waiting to be opened to illustrate a poem read to pupils, and also in the effective way teachers are making use of the interactive whiteboards. The work is usually well matched to all pupils' prior attainment, although occasionally too demanding for less able pupils. A recent introduction of a system for making clear to pupils exactly what they must do to be successful in their learning is having very positive impact on classroom practice. The pupils say how well the teachers and teaching assistants help them to learn and the relationships between adults and

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Grade: 1

This is outstanding because of the excellent planning that ensures the links between subjects are meaningful to pupils. The quality of the curriculum has an exceptionally beneficial effect on pupils' standards of work and personal development. The curriculum for the Foundation Stage children is also outstanding and there is excellent planning based on the ongoing and effective assessment of the children's progress. The school provides an exceptional range and variety of extra curricular activities and enrichment of the curriculum through visits, visitors, residential trips and excellent links to the community.

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Grade: 1

The school ensures pupils' safety to a very high level and they make good progress academically and their personal development is excellent. For example, pupils are very well aware of how to keep themselves safe and exactly what they would do in the event of a fire at school. All the required checks to ensure the safety and protection of pupils are in place. The excellent assessment of pupils' progress enables teachers to track how effective their teaching is, and to intervene quickly if a pupils' progress begins to slow. Staff know the pupils and their families well and offer exceptional levels of care through counselling opportunities or by support for pupils who are experiencing difficulties outside school. 4 Inspection Report: Wynndale Primary School, 16 November 2006

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Grade: 2

Leadership and management are good. Many recent improvements, such as the creation of the new leadership team, are still to have a clear impact on standards. However, the evidence of improvement from other changes, such as the links with the children's centre and the introduction of a project to improve pupils' social and emotional development, together with the quality of much of the current provision, shows that the school has an outstanding capacity to improve further. The headteacher and deputy headteacher provide the school with outstanding leadership, and a very clear focus on raising standards further that is accepted by all staff. They are very willing to take on new ideas to do this and the subject leadership has improved since the last inspection and is now good. The governing body are very involved in the school, receive excellent levels of information to help them make decisions, and they provide the school with

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Grade: 2

an outstanding level of support and challenge. 5 Inspection Report: Wynndale Primary School, 16 November 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: Wynndale Primary School, 16 November 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? 2 The quality and standards in the Foundation Stage 1 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 1 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?

1 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 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 1 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: Wynndale Primary School, 16 November 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: Wynndale Primary School, 16 November 2006

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

17 November 2006 Dear Children Wynndale Primary School, Wynndale Drive, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, NG18 3NY Thank you very much for the way you welcomed me to your school. I very much enjoyed my visit and you were very good at helping me find out some of the good things about your school. I want to especially thank the school council members I met and those of you with whom I had lunch, who were so friendly and willing to talk to me about Wynndale. Your parents are clearly very happy with the education you receive and you told me you were all happy there too. You told me how well teachers helped you and how there was always someone you could go and talk to if you had a problem. I think the school is really good at helping you develop into good learners and to get on well together. The adults all care for you exceptionally well and work hard to keep you safe and secure. You also know a lot about how

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

to keep healthy, even though you also enjoyed your chips at lunchtime! (So did I!) You behave well in lessons and this helps the teachers teach you. A lot of you take part in clubs and you told me how much you enjoy going on trips and visits. The school is exceptionally well run by the headteacher, the governors and the other teachers. I like the gardens you are designing and making. They should look really good in a year or two. There are still a few things the school can improve and you can help. The teachers have already recognised most of them and are planning to make the school even better. In particular I think they need to do these two things: • Help you get better at writing and especially help you learn to use more exciting words. • Give those of you who are especially good at something more opportunities to use your skill or talent in different ways. Thank you again for helping me with the inspection. Enjoy your time at Wynndale and keep

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

working hard! Yours sincerely Geof Timms Lead inspector 9 Inspection Report: Wynndale Primary School, 16 November 2006

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