St Kew Community Primary SchoolOfsted inspection, 16 Jan 2008

St Kew Community Primary School Inspection report - amended

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111919 Unique Reference Number Cornwall Local Authority 310728 Inspection number 16 January 2008 Inspection date Clive Lewis 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 74 School The governing body Appropriate authority Lianne Sproull Chair Paul Willetts Headteacher 19 May 2003 Date of previous school inspection St Kew School address Bodmin PL30 3ER 01208 841306 Telephone number 01208 841306 Fax number

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4-11 Age group 16 January 2008 Inspection date 310728 Inspection number

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Amended Report Addendum

Report amended due to administration error

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Amended Report Addendum

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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Amended Report Addendum

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

St Kew is a smaller-than-average school with three mixed-age classes. The youngest pupils arrive at school achieving below expected standards, especially in their communication and language skills. There is a high level of movement of pupils in and out of the school.

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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: St Kew Community Primary School, 16 January 2008

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Grade: 2

This is a good school. Pupils and their parents are right in describing St Kew as such. It is led and managed well and, as a result, the capacity for further improvement is good. It provides a well-balanced education for its pupils that has a positive impact on all aspects of their development. The quality of teaching and learning is good and, as a result, pupils achieve well. Effective provision for Reception children ensures children get off to a good start and make good progress during their first year in school. Pupils continue to make good progress as they move through the school. The small numbers in each year group can lead to variations in pupil performance data. In the latest national tests, standards in Year 6 were above average overall and significantly above average in English. Pupils thoroughly enjoy school and, as a result, attendance is above national levels. Relationships are good and play a key role in the good progress pupils make in their personal development.

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Grade: 2

Pupils adopt safe, healthy lifestyles and behave well. Their spiritual, moral and social development is good. However, cultural development is only satisfactory because of the limited provision for multicultural education. Pupils are provided with a good curriculum that includes an outstanding range of extra-curricular activities. However, the curriculum for the youngest pupils is currently restricted by the lack of appropriate outdoor resources. The school places a high priority on safeguarding pupils' personal welfare, and the care, guidance and support of pupils is good. Pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities make good progress. The school's tracking systems have improved under the guidance of the headteacher. Assessments are undertaken regularly and analysed rigorously so as to enable prompt interventions. The school works well in partnership with others and links with the local

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Grade: 2

community are similarly good. The responses to the parents' questionnaire were overwhelmingly positive. One parent commented, 'St Kew provides a happy, safe, friendly, well-organised environment for children to grow into well-adjusted, confident, well-taught individuals.' The quality of self-evaluation is good and effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection.

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Grade: 2

Attainment on entry to the Foundation Stage is below expectations, particularly in communication, language and literacy skills. Children make good progress and by the end of the year, most have achieved the Early Learning Goals expected for their age. They make particularly good progress in their personal, social and emotional development. As a result, children behave well, confidently share resources and are keen to learn. The Foundation Stage is well managed. The teacher is keen to improve her practice even further. However, although she makes very good use of the limited resources available to her, the accommodation restricts her ability to provide an appropriately creative indoor and outdoor curriculum for the very young children. The outdoor area is underdeveloped and uninspiring caused by the prolonged delay in a proposed building extension project. As a result, children's independent learning

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Grade: 2

skills are not currently being developed to their best advantage. 4 of 11 Inspection Report: St Kew Community Primary School, 16 January 2008

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Improve provision for the outdoor curriculum in the Foundation Stage.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Improve provision for multicultural education.

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Grade: 2

Children make good progress in their Reception Year; the rate of progress has improved throughout Years 1 to 6 and is now good for all pupils. In the most recent (2007) national assessments, standards were slightly above average in Year 2. In Year 6, where only two of the seven pupils in the year group had started the school in the Reception class, standards were significantly above average in English and above average overall. Current Year 6 pupils make good progress and are securely on track to achieve above-average standards by the end of the year. Pupils who are gifted and talented make good progress and those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities also achieve well.

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Grade: 2

Pupils' spiritual, moral and social development is good. Cultural development is only satisfactory because of the limited opportunities for pupils to develop an understanding of multicultural Britain. Behaviour is good and pupils confirm it has improved significantly in the last two years. Pupils remember advice on keeping safe and, as a result, are less likely to take risks. They demonstrate their good understanding of what constitutes a healthy life by making good meal and snack choices and by their keen participation in extra activities and interests. Pupils enjoy coming to school and this is evident in the high levels of attendance and punctuality. As a result, pupils have good attitudes towards their learning. They listen carefully and participate well in lessons. They contribute well to the school and wider community through initiating fundraising activities to help to improve the school and those in need. The school council feel

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Grade: 2

they are listened to and that they have made a difference. Many of the personal qualities that pupils gain equip them well as caring and responsible citizens and will stand them in good stead in the future.

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Grade: 2

Lessons are typically lively and full of pace and challenge, so that pupils are motivated and learn well. As a result, attitudes and behaviour are good. Tasks are carefully chosen to appeal to boys as well as girls. Teachers work hard to ensure pupils understand basic mathematical and writing concepts. Teachers organise teaching groups in the mixed-age classes carefully so that all pupils get work at the right level to help them achieve as well as they can. Lessons are well planned and progress is monitored carefully and regularly so that pupils are helped to build on what they have learnt before. Pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities benefit from good support from teachers and teaching assistants so that they are helped to make good progress. Although marking of books is satisfactory and up to date, teachers' comments provide limited suggestions on how pupils' work could be improved.

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Grade: 2

5 of 11 Inspection Report: St Kew Community Primary School, 16 January 2008

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Grade: 2

The curriculum is well planned and offers pupils a broad range of learning experiences. The school has put a lot of work into designing a new cross-curricular curriculum. This has had a positive impact and has been a key factor in helping pupils, particularly boys, to enjoy school and develop positive attitudes to learning. There is a strong focus on developing basic skills across the school and all aspects of the 'Every Child Matters' agenda are central to the curriculum. Intervention strategies to help pupils catch up or extend their learning are good and contribute significantly to pupils' achievement. Good use is made of visitors and visits out of school. There is an outstanding range of extra-curricular activities and educational visits which supports pupils' learning and personal development well. The provision for personal, social and health education is making a significant contribution to pupils' personal development,

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Grade: 2

although opportunities to learn about the cultural diversity of Britain are currently limited.

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Grade: 2

The good quality of care for all pupils contributes significantly to their enjoyment of school and the good progress they make. Systems for monitoring attendance and behaviour are good and have impacted positively in improved behaviour and above- average attendance. Close links with external agencies ensure pupils with learning difficulties are provided with skilled support and enabled to participate fully in all aspects of school life. Staff develop strong and caring relationships with the pupils. As a result, they are able to respond quickly when pupils are troubled or need extra support. Through the use of the whole-school assessment systems, staff have a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses in pupils' achievements in reading, writing and mathematics. Tracking progress in these subjects is undertaken on a termly basis, thus ensuring early intervention if a pupil is falling behind. Pupils all have targets for

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Grade: 2

English and mathematics and are able to talk about what they need to do to improve. However, there is no similar whole-school focus on tracking pupils' achievement in science.

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Grade: 2

The headteacher has overseen significant improvements to the school's systems since he joined the school. Standards by the end of Year 6 have improved steadily year on year as a result of improved assessment and tracking systems. Provision for information and communication technology, a weakness at the time of the previous inspection, has improved significantly. He leads a well-motivated team of colleagues who provide a clearly shared vision for the whole school. Teamwork is evident in all the school's initiatives and all staff members contribute fully to their planning and development. The school's work is evaluated continuously and rigorously and this has led to new developments in the curriculum. The headteacher, however, is aware of the need to further develop the curriculum to provide opportunities for pupils to learn about life in a multicultural society. Subject leaders have a clear grasp of how lessons are taught and

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Grade: 2

how pupils' learning needs to be supported in some areas. The governing body provides good support to the school and questions and challenges where needed. The school takes good account of the views of parents and other stakeholders. This is reflected in turn in the very positive view that parents have of the school, one parent writing: 'Expectations are high and 6 of 11 Inspection Report: St Kew Community Primary School, 16 January 2008 teachers ensure that children's confidence is built upon so that they feel able to attempt new things'. School self-evaluation is clear and rigorous. The school development plan accurately prioritises the important areas for development and progress towards targets is evaluated regularly and systematically. Because of this, the school has a good capacity to improve further. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: St Kew Community Primary School, 16 January 2008 .

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Grade: 2

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 8 of 11 Inspection Report: St Kew Community Primary School, 16 January 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? 2 The effectiveness of the Foundation Stage 2 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 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 2 How well learners enjoy their education 2 The attendance of learners 2 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?

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. 9 of 11 Inspection Report: St Kew Community Primary School, 16 January 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? 10 of 11 Inspection Report: St Kew Community Primary School, 16 January 2008

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

17 January 2008 Dear Pupils Inspection of St Kew Community Primary School, St Kew, Cornwall PL30 3ER I would like to thank you for your help during the recent inspection of your school. My colleague and I very much enjoyed our visit. You go to a good school. Your headteacher and staff care for you well and give you good support to enable you to learn and enjoy your lessons. They make sure that your teaching is good and that you understand how to look after yourselves and keep safe, which you do well. You told us that you like school and there are lots of things to do and enjoy. We agree with you. Your behaviour is good and you work hard and try to succeed in all that you do. I have asked your school to do two things to make it even better:

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Improve the outdoor classroom area for the youngest children.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Provide you with more chances to develop an understanding of other cultures.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Thank you again for making us feel so welcome in your school. Yours sincerely Clive Lewis Lead inspector 11 of 11 Inspection Report: St Kew Community Primary School, 16 January 2008

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Annex B

Inspection of St Kew Community Primary School, St Kew, Cornwall PL30 3ER

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Annex B

I would like to thank you for your help during the recent inspection of your school. My colleague and I very much enjoyed our visit.

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Annex B

You go to a good school. Your headteacher and staff care for you well and give you good support to enable you to learn and enjoy your lessons. They make sure that your teaching is good and that you understand how to look after yourselves and keep safe, which you do well. You told us that you like school and there are lots of things to do and enjoy. We agree with you. Your behaviour is good and you work hard and try to succeed in all that you do.

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Annex B

I have asked your school to do two things to make it even better:

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Annex B

• Improve the outdoor classroom area for the youngest children. • Provide you with more chances to develop an understanding of other cultures.

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Annex B

Thank you again for making us feel so welcome in your school.

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