Devoran School

111872 Unique Reference Number Cornwall Local Authority 310708 Inspection number 21 April 2008 Inspection date Laurie Lewin 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 190 School The governing body Appropriate authority Richard Williams Chair Carol Breakwell Headteacher 17 January 2005 Date of previous school inspection Devoran Lane School address Devoran Truro TR3 6PA 01872 863223 Telephone number 01872 863223 Fax number

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4-11 Age group 21 April 2008 Inspection date 310708 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 one Additional Inspector. The inspector evaluated the overall effectiveness of the school and investigated the following issues: the progress of pupils in science, the effectiveness with which teachers use assessment information and the effectiveness of the school's systems for self-evaluation and development planning. The inspector gathered evidence from discussions with staff and pupils, lesson observations, samples of pupils' work and a review of areas of the school's documentation. Other aspects of the school's work were not investigated in detail, but the inspector found no evidence to suggest that the school's own assessments, as given in its self-evaluation, were not justified, and these have been included where appropriate in this report.

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Description of the school

This is a smaller than average school, with pupils drawn from the immediate village area, but with a significant number also travelling from outside the immediate area. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is lower than the national average. When they start school, the attainment of children is broadly in line with the expected levels for their age. The school has gained the following nationally recognised awards: Investors in People, Activemark and Healthy Schools status. The school moved into a new building on a new site in September 2007.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 9 Inspection Report: Devoran School, 21 April 2008

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Grade: 2

This a good school in which pupils achieve well. The majority of parents are very pleased with the quality of education offered, as shown by the many comments received such as, 'This is a great place to send your child … it's always a happy and friendly place … couldn't have wished for a better school for my children'. The headteacher has done an excellent job of leading the school through a difficult phase, during which it moved into the new building. Pupils and staff now benefit from working in good quality, well-organised and spacious facilities. The headteacher has established an atmosphere that enables staff to work together as a strong team. Together they have put good initiatives in place to keep standards and achievement improving. They have been especially successful with improving pupils' writing standards in recent times. Children get off to an excellent start in the Foundation Stage, progressing rapidly and reaching

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Grade: 2

above the expected levels by the time they start Year 1. Good progress is sustained across the school so that pupils reach above average standards by the end of Year 6, with many of them showing a well above average ability to articulate their ideas and understanding. However, across the school, standards and progress in science are not as good as they are in English and mathematics. Good systems are in place to track pupils' progress. Effective use is made of the resulting information to analyse strengths and weaknesses in pupils' work in English and mathematics and to provide them with very good quality academic support and guidance. The staff rightly recognise the need to apply the same kind of approach to help improve standards in science ° currently there is insufficient analysis of assessment data in this subject to isolate the main strengths and weaknesses in pupils' work. Teaching is good. Staff establish excellent relationships with the pupils so that all individuals

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Grade: 2

are encouraged to become confident learners. Pupils appreciate the way in which their teachers work very hard to make all of the work as interesting as possible. As a result, pupils apply themselves well and work with enthusiasm. Teachers make very good use of a wide range of resources, including their classroom interactive whiteboards, to make learning fun and varied for pupils. However, on occasions, activities do not always challenge higher-attaining pupils sufficiently. Pupils like school very much. Attendance is satisfactory, but lowered because of a few families taking children out of school for holidays during term time. Pupils really enjoy the wide range of extra activities, trips and working with visitors. Through this means and through good planning, staff provide pupils with an interesting and stimulating curriculum. The curriculum caters very well for supporting pupils' personal development and ensures that

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Grade: 2

they gain good spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness. It also ensures pupils gain an excellent knowledge about how to keep themselves safe, for example through the work they do with visiting specialists such as the beach lifeguards, a road safety officer and the police. Staff are now rightly seeking to improve the curriculum further by increasing the links between subjects to make learning even more efficient and effective for pupils. The backbone of this school is the excellent pastoral support that ensures all pupils feel secure and have no qualms about seeking adult assistance should they need it. There is a strongly supportive and nurturing atmosphere in all classes. Staff are especially good at using all means at their disposal to ensure pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities progress well. Teaching assistants play a valuable role in this support system, often unobtrusively and skilfully giving individuals that

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Grade: 2

extra bit of prompting to help them stay abreast of things. Pupils' behaviour throughout the school is good. The majority show excellent manners and are friendly and polite. Older pupils 4 of 9 Inspection Report: Devoran School, 21 April 2008 develop a mature attitude and contribute much by conscientiously carrying out responsibilities they are given. For example, pupils from Year 5 were seen doing an excellent job of reading to, and discussing books with, children in the Foundation Stage. Staff generally cope well with the very small minority of pupils who struggle with their behaviour and concentration. Nonetheless, the behaviour of these pupils occasionally disturbs the learning of others and the school is taking effective action to deal with the minority of cases where challenging behaviour is exhibited. Through the very wide range of sports activities in which they are involved and the high profile

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Grade: 2

given to ensuring that they make the right eating choices, pupils gain a very full understanding about how to keep themselves fit and healthy. Through their excellent level of involvement in charity fundraising and strong participation in local events, pupils gain an outstanding awareness of the value of contributing to the immediate and wider community. They gain a good all-round level of basic skills to ensure their success in the future. Good leadership and management ensure that the school has a clear and exciting vision for its future development. Governors carry out their roles well in supporting and monitoring the school's progress. The school accurately evaluates its own performance. However, it has rightly identified the need to ensure that there are closer links between the way in which the school self-evaluation and school development processes work in order to make the management of these areas as efficient as possible. The very strong commitment demonstrated by staff and

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Grade: 2

governors, the good track record of improvement, the very clear plans established for future development and the excellent links forged with all external partners mean that the school has excellent potential for improving further.

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Grade: 1

Children get a first-rate start to school life in the Foundation Stage class. Meticulous planning and organisation, carefully informed by excellent information from tracking children's progress, mean that they are constantly exposed to a wide-ranging and stimulating curriculum and excellent teaching, with activities and support that match their needs precisely. The working atmosphere in the classroom exudes a buzz of excitement in learning, and rapt attention in all activities underway. The teacher demonstrates an innate understanding of what works best for the children and she is very well supported by teaching assistants who work skilfully alongside her. Staff are especially good at maximising the opportunity for children to explore and talk about new areas. This helps all individuals to become confident learners. Children socialise very well with each other and their behaviour is excellent. They make very good progress in all areas

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Grade: 1

of learning, and excellent pastoral support ensures the needs of all individuals are catered for sensitively and efficiently.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Raise standards and improve pupils' progress in science by making full use of all assessment information to diagnose strengths and weaknesses in pupils' work. ■ Ensure that tasks set in lessons always extend and challenge higher-attaining pupils. 5 of 9 Inspection Report: Devoran School, 21 April 2008 .

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What the school should do to improve further

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 of 9 Inspection Report: Devoran School, 21 April 2008

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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? Yes 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? 1 The effectiveness of the Foundation Stage 1 The capacity to make any necessary improvements

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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 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 1 How well learners enjoy their education 3 The attendance of learners 2 The behaviour of learners 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 of 9 Inspection Report: Devoran School, 21 April 2008

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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 2 How effectively leaders and managers use challenging targets to raise standards 2 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 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 of 9 Inspection Report: Devoran School, 21 April 2008

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

22 April 2008 Dear Pupils Inspection of Devoran School, Devoran TR3 6PA

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ It was really good fun coming to see you in your new school building! I can see that you are all benefiting form the good quality, well-organised and spacious facilities. Thank you for making me so welcome, talking to me and helping me during the school's inspection. I especially enjoyed the good discussion I had with some of you from Year 6. My goodness! What a lot of chatterboxes! I learned a lot from talking to you. I think you would all make very good future inspectors! You will be pleased to know that the school is doing a good job. Here are some of the most important bits of the report that I thought you might like to know about. ■ You work well in lessons and your achievement as you move through the school is good. This helps you to reach above average standards. ■ Your personal development is good. You behave well and learn to become confident, polite and well mannered as you progress through the school.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ You have a good quality curriculum and your teachers work hard to make it as interesting as possible for you. ■ You told me that your teachers and teaching assistants are doing a good job and I agree with you. ■ The excellent provision in the Foundation Stage helps the children there to get off to a great start in school. ■ The school has top quality provision to make sure you really do understand how to keep safe and healthy. ■ Your headteacher does a tremendous job in helping everyone work together to make the school as good as it is and to make sure it keeps on improving. To improve further, I have asked staff to:

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ make sure that those of you who find some areas of work easy always have challenging activities given to you. I am sure you will all want to keep working very hard in the areas mentioned here to keep your school improving. Thank you again for being so helpful and friendly when I came to see you. Yours sincerely Laurie Lewin Lead inspector 9 of 9 Inspection Report: Devoran School, 21 April 2008

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Inspection of Devoran School, Devoran TR3 6PA

It was really good fun coming to see you in your new school building! I can see that you are all benefiting form the good quality, well-organised and spacious facilities. Thank you for making me so welcome, talking to me and helping me during the school’s inspection. I especially enjoyed the good discussion I had with some of you from Year 6. My goodness! What a lot of chatterboxes! I learned a lot from talking to you. I think you would all make very good future inspectors! You will be pleased to know that the school is doing a good job. Here are some of the most important bits of the report that I thought you might like to know about.

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Inspection of Devoran School, Devoran TR3 6PA

• You work well in lessons and your achievement as you move through the school is good. This helps you to reach above average standards. • Your personal development is good. You behave well and learn to become confident, polite and well mannered as you progress through the school. • You have a good quality curriculum and your teachers work hard to make it as interesting as possible for you. • You told me that your teachers and teaching assistants are doing a good job and I agree with you. • The excellent provision in the Foundation Stage helps the children there to get off to a great start in school. • The school has top quality provision to make sure you really do understand how to keep safe and healthy. • Your headteacher does a tremendous job in helping everyone work together to make the school as good as it is and to make sure it keeps on improving.

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Inspection of Devoran School, Devoran TR3 6PA

To improve further, I have asked staff to:

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Inspection of Devoran School, Devoran TR3 6PA

• help you improve your science work • make sure that those of you who find some areas of work easy always have challenging activities given to you.

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Inspection of Devoran School, Devoran TR3 6PA

I am sure you will all want to keep working very hard in the areas mentioned here to keep your school improving. Thank you again for being so helpful and friendly when I came to see you.

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