Clyst Hydon Primary School

Clyst Hydon Primary School Inspection report

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113065 Unique Reference Number Devon Local Authority 311092 Inspection number 18 September 2008 Inspection date Graeme Bassett Reporting inspector

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. The registered childcare, managed by the governing body, was inspected under section 49 of the Childcare Act 2006.

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Primary Type of school Community School category 4–11 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 55 School (total) 0 Government funded early education provision for children aged 3 to the end of the EYFS 0 Childcare provision for children aged 0 to 3 years The governing body Appropriate authority Karen Walker Chair Anne Guest Headteacher 1 January 2005 Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Date of previous funded early education inspection Not previously inspected Date of previous childcare inspection Clyst Hydon School address Cullompton EX15 2ND 01884 277255 Telephone number 01884 277255 Fax number

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4–11 Age group 18 September 2008 Inspection date 311092 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. 2 of 9 Inspection Report: Clyst Hydon Primary School, 18 September 2008

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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: current achievement and standards, specifically in writing; the quality of teaching and the curriculum; and the effectiveness of leadership and management. Evidence was gathered from lessons, pupils' books, an assembly and discussions with the headteacher, staff, children, governors and some parents. In addition, a group of children discussed their views of the school and all parent questionnaires returned were examined. Other aspects of the school's work, personal development and wellbeing, and care, guidance and support were not investigated in detail but the inspector found no evidence to suggest that the school's own assessments were not justified, and these have been included where appropriate in the report.

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Description of the school

The school is smaller than most primary schools and draws most of its pupils from the immediate locality and the neighbouring town of Cullompton. The number in all year groups is very small. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is well below average. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) together with Year 1 and Year 2 pupils form one class, with Years 3 to 6 in the other. At the time of the inspection, there were no EYFS children in school and because of their dates of birth they were not due to start school until January 2009. With no children in the EYFS during the inspection there was insufficient evidence available upon which to base some judgements. In such cases, judgements included in the report reflect the school's self-evaluation. The school has judged children's attainment on entry in the recent past to be broadly as expected for their age in most areas of learning, but below expected levels

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Description of the school

in their physical skills and also in their writing skills. The school has gained a Healthy School award and silver School Travel plan.

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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: Clyst Hydon Primary School, 18 September 2008

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Grade: 1

This is an excellent school. The outstanding leadership and management have created a very purposeful environment where staff and pupils are determined to do as well as they can. The outstanding skills of the headteacher, both as the class teacher and as a leader, ensure that the school establishes very challenging targets to maintain and raise further the high standards and excellent achievements attained consistently by pupils over the past five years. The headteacher is the driving force behind all developments and demonstrates a sincere appreciation of and respect for the efforts of others. The enthusiasm of the leadership and management and an openness to listen to others' views encourage all pupils, staff, governors and parents to share a powerful commitment to make the school even better. The school's selfevaluation is accurate and used very effectively to set the priorities in the school improvement plan.

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Grade: 1

Decisive actions taken to integrate the teaching of literacy skills within other subjects are proving most successful in stimulating pupils' attitudes to writing. For example, one boy proudly read an exciting adventure story he had recently written at home. Effective actions that continually strive for improvements, together with the dedication and commitment of staff, governors and parents, ensure that the school has an excellent capacity for further improvement. A particular strength is the way the school involves parents and the local community in the work of the school. Nearly all parents express very positive comments about the school. Staff welcome them warmly each day and the comments, 'This school goes from strength to strength' and 'This is a remarkable school' sum up the views of most parents. Exceptional links have been made with other schools, the church and the village. Pupils are keen to show they care and are

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Grade: 1

actively involved in fundraising. The school's contribution to community cohesion is outstanding. The teaching is outstanding because the planning is very detailed and the differing levels of work devised to meet the wide range of needs of all pupils within the mixed aged classes are excellent. Tasks, often in the shape of investigational or problemsolving situations, are very challenging, resulting in the continuous growth of pupils' skills, knowledge and understanding. All pupils are involved in all that the school does. Out-of-lesson clubs and visits, especially the residential visits, provide very effective stimuli for pupils' work. It is clear from recent records and observation of the pupils in Year 1 that, last year, nearly all children in the EYFS reached the expected goals for their age. Children make good progress in EYFS because provision is good. The pattern of good progress continues throughout Years 1 and 2. Standards in reading,

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Grade: 1

writing and mathematics are above the national average by the end of Year 2. Pupils' progress accelerates throughout Years 3 to 6. By the end of Year 6, standards in English, mathematics and science are significantly above average and achievement is excellent. The proportion of pupils reaching Level 5 is very high and continues the long-term trend of higher than average performance. Nearly all pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities make exceptional progress. The quality of music, through instrumental tuition and especially singing, is better than usual. Further strengths of the school are evident in the pupils' outstanding personal development and well-being, and in the excellent provision for pupils' care, support and guidance. The academic guidance given to all pupils is excellent and the wholeschool tracking records are accurate and used exceptionally well to identify what each pupil needs to learn

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Grade: 1

next. Pupils have many opportunities to assess how well they are doing. The pastoral guidance given to all pupils is especially strong and, as a result, their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding. Their awareness of the needs, customs and traditions of other people around the world are excellent. Because of the high expectations, pupils have outstanding attitudes towards their work and say that 'working hard is cool'. As a result, pupils take pride 4 of 9 Inspection Report: Clyst Hydon Primary School, 18 September 2008 in what they do. Work is neat and tidy and most pupils complete work on time. However, some do not respond sufficiently well to the written comments made by their teachers when their work is marked. Pupils cooperate very effectively as one happy family, helping each other extremely well and valuing their friends' successes, as well as their own. The school council is

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Grade: 1

well organised, acknowledging that its suggestions and decisions are valued by the school community. Attendance is above average and pupils enjoy coming to school. They look forward to starting every day with an effective 'Song and dance' wake-up routine in the playground. Behaviour in lessons and the playground is impeccable. Most pupils are aware of the need to adopt a healthy lifestyle through healthy eating and regular exercise but many still admit to eating too many crisps and chocolate. All statutory requirements and procedures to ensure pupils' safety are in place and all pupils are aware of how to stay safe. With the strong aspects of their personal development and well-being and their high standards, pupils' socio-economic well-being is excellent and they are prepared very well for their next school. Leadership and management are outstanding. Leaders recognise that with too few staff to delegate

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Grade: 1

responsibilities to, the school must focus upon one thing at a time and that a team effort is necessary to bring about developments. This means that initiatives are sometimes slow to reach fruition, and the curriculum is one such area. There are purposeful links established between subjects. However, the school has only just begun to adopt the revised national frameworks for numeracy and literacy. Consequently, the curriculum is good rather than outstanding. The governing body is very supportive and understands the strengths and areas for further development very well. It monitors budgetary expenditure prudently and continually assesses the future expenditure costs relevant to this small school.

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Grade: 2

There was insufficient first hand evidence available for the inspector to make detailed judgements about the quality of teaching, children's personal, social and emotional development or about quality of the provision made for children's personal development. However, the school's own evaluation makes it clear that overall provision is good and that the way in which children's personal development is fostered is outstanding. Parents are keen to agree. They are very pleased that children are happy and that relationships are good. Children last year entered EYFS with skills, knowledge and understanding in line with expected levels for their age, but there were weaknesses in their writing skills and in their physical development. By the time they entered Year 1, nearly all reached the goals expected for children of this age in all areas of learning. This represents good achievement. Children make good progress especially

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Grade: 2

in their writing and physical skills as they catch up. Leadership and management are good. Staff monitor and evaluate the school's extensive records effectively and ensure that children are extremely well cared for and supported.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Ensure a more urgent approach so that the curriculum is planned around the support offered in the new Primary Framework for literacy and numeracy. 5 of 9 Inspection Report: Clyst Hydon Primary School, 18 September 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: Clyst Hydon Primary School, 18 September 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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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 capacity to make any necessary improvements

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EYFS?

2 How well do children in the EYFS achieve? How good are the overall personal development and well-being of the children in the EYFS? 2 How effectively are children in the EYFS helped to learn and develop? 1 How effectively is the welfare of children in the EYFS promoted? 2 How effectively is provision in the EYFS led and managed?

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Achievement and standards

1 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 1 How well learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities make progress

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Achievement and standards

1 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: Clyst Hydon Primary School, 18 September 2008

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learners?

1 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 1 The extent to which learners enjoy their education 2 The attendance of learners 1 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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learners' needs?

How well do the curriculum and other activities meet the range of needs and interests of learners? 1 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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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 1 How effectively leaders and managers use challenging targets to raise standards 1 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 1 How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination eliminated 1 How well does the school contribute to community cohesion? 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: Clyst Hydon Primary School, 18 September 2008

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

18 September 2008 Dear Children Inspection of Clyst Hydon Primary School, Cullompton, Devon EX15 2ND Thank you for helping me when I recently visited your school. I enjoyed meeting you and finding out about your school. I found that your school provides you with an outstanding education and that you do some very exciting things. I particularly enjoyed watching the early morning wake-up dance and song routine in the playground. There is a good team spirit in your school and it is a very happy place.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ These are the things that are particularly strong in your school:

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Your headteacher provides outstanding leadership and management to the school.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Throughout the school, staff have high expectations and very clear ideas of how to bring about improvements. As a result, it is an excellent school. ■ The teaching is exceptional and teachers plan very interesting tasks for you that successfully link subjects together and make your learning more interesting and meaningful. ■ You make good progress in all classes and your work is above average. By Year 6, your progress is excellent and the standard of your work in English, mathematics and science is high. ■ Your work in music is extremely good and the singing I heard in assembly was very good.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ You are all developing excellent attitudes towards your work and towards each other. You have an outstanding understanding about how to keep safe, you are very polite and your behaviour is excellent. ■ Staff look after and care for you exceptionally well.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

There are still some ways in which your school could be better. We have asked your headteacher and governors to:

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Ensure that your school uses a more urgent approach so that the curriculum is planned around the support offered in the new Primary Framework for literacy and numeracy. Once again, thank you for your help. You can help by asking your teachers how you can make your work better. Graeme Bassett Lead Inspector 9 of 9 Inspection Report: Clyst Hydon Primary School, 18 September 2008

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