Baynards Primary School

Baynards Primary School Inspection report

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114767 Unique Reference Number Essex Local Authority 311704 Inspection number 15 °16 May 2008 Inspection dates Colin Henderson 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 93 School The governing body Appropriate authority Ms Catherine Stephenson Chair Mr Gary Stimson Headteacher 8 December 2003 Date of previous school inspection Townsend Road School address Tiptree Colchester CO5 0ND 01621 817261 Telephone number 01621 815197 Fax number

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4-11 Age group 15 °16 May 2008 Inspection dates 311704 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 an Additional Inspector.

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Description of the school

This is a smaller than average school. Most pupils come from the surrounding area, although over 20% come from beyond the immediate locality. All pupils speak English as their first language. The number of pupils who find learning more difficult is well above average for a school of this size. They have a wide range of different learning needs. The attainment of Reception year children varies from year to year, although it is usually well below national expectations.

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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: Baynards Primary School, 15 °16 May 2008

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Grade: 3

Baynards Primary provides a satisfactory education for its pupils. The headteacher continues to focus on creating a caring and friendly learning atmosphere that is valued by pupils and their parents. One commented that 'all the staff work hard to make my child's life at school as happy as possible'. The school successfully includes many pupils who find learning difficult in their good range of activities and everyone gets on well together. Pupils enjoy school. They mostly behave well and staff manage occasional incidents of inappropriate or unacceptable behaviour effectively to minimise disruption. The headteacher and staff have begun to develop procedures to track pupils' achievement and to gain a clear understanding of how well the school is doing. However, many of these are in the early stages of development and are not sufficiently well established to promote consistently good achievement in all classes.

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Grade: 3

Pupils' current achievements are satisfactory overall. Some pupils achieve well because they are keen to learn and the teaching, though satisfactory overall, is good in Years 2, 3 and 4. The headteacher monitors the quality of lessons regularly but evaluations are not always rigorous enough to promote consistently good teaching and learning. Some recent initiatives, for example the use of group improvement targets in literacy and numeracy, are beginning to raise attainment, but standards are below national expectations at the end of Year 6. Children make satisfactory progress overall in the Foundation Stage and in Year 1. Assessment data show that Year 2 pupils make good progress and attain broadly average standards overall. Good progress continues in Years 3 and 4. However, though satisfactory, progress slows in Years 5 and 6, because teachers do not challenge pupils consistently enough to improve the quality of their

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Grade: 3

work or extend their skills, for example, in writing and science. Pupils who find learning difficult make satisfactory progress overall, although some individuals benefit from good support and make good progress towards their personal targets. Pupils' personal development and well-being are good. Most enjoy school and respond well in lessons. They have a good understanding of healthy lifestyles and participate eagerly in a good range of sports. School councillors talk proudly about their work and contribute well to improving their school, for example by acting as 'Playground Buddies'. Year 6 pupils willingly take on responsibilities to help with the smooth running of the school, although opportunities for them to become independent in their learning are limited. Staff provide good personal care and support, particularly for pupils who find learning difficult and some teachers provide worthwhile opportunities for pupils to share ideas and help each other to improve their work. Nevertheless,

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Grade: 3

the quality of guidance aimed at helping pupils know what to do next in order to raise their standards is inconsistent and not fully effective. Leadership, management and the school's capacity to bring about improvement are satisfactory. The headteacher works in an effective partnership with staff to maintain the caring ethos and to value pupils' efforts. Governors are kept well informed about what is happening in school and give good support. However, subject leaders and governors do not take a prominent enough role in evaluating pupils' achievements and in setting challenging targets to further increase the rate of school improvement. 4 of 11 Inspection Report: Baynards Primary School, 15 °16 May 2008

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Grade: 3

Reception year children have a sound start to their schooling and make satisfactory progress in their learning, because most settle happily into the routines of school life. Many children have weaknesses in their early language skills and in their personal and social skills. Teaching is satisfactory overall but, because two part-time teachers share the week, inconsistencies in teaching and in the organisation and range of learning activities sometimes limit children's progress. Nevertheless, relationships are good and there is some effective teamwork between teachers and support staff to encourage children's participation and to stimulate their learning. Teachers plan carefully to extend children's basic skills and include a good range of adult-directed activities. However, teaching and support staff do not use opportunities consistently to extend children's vocabulary, for example by regularly questioning their

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Grade: 3

understanding of different words and phrases, and children do not have enough opportunities to make their own choice from a range of activities. This limits the growth of independence and personal development.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Raise pupils' achievement by improving teaching to at least a consistently good level in each class. ■ Extend good practice to help all pupils know what they need to do to improve their work.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Increase the involvement of subject leaders and governors in checking how well pupils are achieving and in targeting priorities for improvement. A small proportion of the schools whose overall effectiveness is judged satisfactory but which have areas of underperformance will receive a monitoring visit by an Ofsted inspector before their next section 5 inspection.

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Grade: 3

Reception children make satisfactory progress but few meet the goals expected of them by the time they move into Year 1, especially in their personal and social development and in their language skills. Although test results vary significantly as the numbers of pupils in each year are small, current assessments of Year 2 pupils show that they are achieving well and that standards are improving to average levels from well below average in recent years. Most pupils now attain expected standards for their age and an increasing number attain above average levels, for example in mathematics. Good progress continues in Years 3 and 4, but overall achievement in Years 3 to 6 is no better than satisfactory overall and standards remain below average. This is because pupils in Years 5 and 6 are not challenged sufficiently to extend their skills, for example in investigative science, or to build successfully on prior learning, for example

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Grade: 3

by putting more detail into their written work. Knowledgeable support staff provide effective help for the many pupils who find learning difficult, particularly those with multiple learning difficulties. These pupils are fully included in almost all learning activities and so achieve satisfactorily. 5 of 11 Inspection Report: Baynards Primary School, 15 °16 May 2008

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Grade: 2

Staff give high priority to maintaining a caring and friendly school. This helps pupils to enjoy school, have positive attitudes to learning and contribute effectively to the school and wider communities, for example through the school council. Attendance is improving and the school is on track to achieve its target of average levels by the end of the year. The school uses certificates successfully to reward pupils who achieve and behave well, although older pupils are not encouraged enough to use their initiative and become increasingly independent in their learning. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. Pupils' knowledge and understanding of other cultures is promoted well through curriculum initiatives, such as 'Africa fortnight'. They have a detailed understanding of healthy and safe lifestyles, as evident in their enthusiastic participation in a good range of sports. Pupils develop their key skills satisfactorily

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Grade: 3

Teaching and learning are satisfactory, although inconsistencies continue to inhibit the progress of some pupils. Competent and encouraging teaching underpins the school's caring atmosphere. Typically, lessons are well planned and structured. Many include a good range of activities to meet different learning needs, although this is less effective for Reception children. Teachers manage their classes successfully and ensure that pupils stay focused on their work. Teachers increasingly use interesting methods to capture pupils' attention, for example using an auction to improve numeracy skills. There is, however, significant variation in teachers' expectations, both of the quality of pupils' work and of what pupils can achieve in the lesson. This is particularly evident in Years 5 and 6 and limits pupils' achievement in some lessons and over time, especially that of potentially higher attainers.

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Grade: 2

The curriculum is satisfactory for Reception year children. It is good for Years 1 to 6, as it is planned well to meet the needs of different groups of pupils. The school has worked hard to include pupils with specific learning difficulties within the curriculum, for example by enabling staff and many pupils to learn sign language. A good range of educational visits and clubs, such as gardening, sports and dance, enhances the programme and contributes successfully to pupils' fitness, well-being and enjoyment of learning. Improved resources for information and communication technology (ICT) are also being used to good effect to enrich pupils' learning. The school is working towards making closer links between subjects, for example to extend pupils' skills. However, the use of specific writing skills in other subjects, such as in science, is at an early stage of development.

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Grade: 3

The effective personal care and support help pupils to be happy in school. Systems for ensuring pupils' safety and encouraging healthy lifestyles are generally secure. Pupils are confident that 6 of 11 Inspection Report: Baynards Primary School, 15 °16 May 2008 they can approach any adult to share concerns that they may have. Many older pupils are aware of their targets for improving their work, for example in literacy. Some are beginning to benefit from helpful guidance from teachers, through discussions and some effective marking. However, these procedures are not consistently in place in all classes to ensure that pupils know exactly what they need to do next to raise their standards.

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Grade: 3

The headteacher maintains a strong focus on providing a happy and friendly learning community, so most pupils enjoy school and behave well. There is a good staff team and teaching is checked regularly, although in evaluating teaching, not enough attention is paid to pupils' learning and progress. Working closely with his staff, the headteacher is introducing better tracking procedures to monitor pupils' progress and target groups in need of further support. However, the ways in which staff use these procedures are not yet rigorous enough to raise standards. For example, end of year improvement targets and close checks on the progress made by individual pupils, groups of pupils and different classes in achieving them, are not yet fully in place. Governors support the school well, for example, a very minor issue relating to the premises was drawn to their attention during the inspection and this led to swift corrective action.

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Grade: 3

However, their involvement, together with subject leaders, in checking how the school is doing and in targeting areas for improvement is limited. The school has made adequate improvements since its last inspection and is satisfactorily placed to raise pupils' academic performance further in the future. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: Baynards Primary School, 15 °16 May 2008 .

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Grade: 3

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 8 of 11 Inspection Report: Baynards Primary School, 15 °16 May 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? 3 The effectiveness of the Foundation Stage 3 The capacity to make any necessary improvements

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Achievement and standards

3 How well do learners achieve? 3 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 3 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 3 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 2 How well learners enjoy their education 3 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?

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: Baynards Primary School, 15 °16 May 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 3 How effectively leaders and managers use challenging targets to raise standards 3 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: Baynards Primary School, 15 °16 May 2008

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

19 May 2008 Dear Children Inspection of Baynards Primary School, Tiptree CO5 0ND Thank you for making me feel so welcome when I visited your school recently. I enjoyed talking to you about what you do in school, looking at your work and watching you learn. You clearly enjoy school and, together with most of your parents, you think that it is a happy and friendly school - and I agree. I was pleased to see how well you get on together. Most of you behave well and this helps your teachers to get on with the job of helping you to learn. It was interesting to talk to school councillors about how they are helping to improve the school. You told me that you enjoy your work, especially the different trips and after school clubs. I think that many of you learn well and Mr. Stimson and his staff are working hard to try to help you to learn as well as possible. Many of you enjoy the good teaching in some of your lessons and I have asked Mr. Stimson

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

and his staff to try to help you learn better by making even more of your lessons interesting and challenging. Some of you are getting a better understanding of how to improve your work and are keen to achieve your learning targets. I have asked the teachers to help all of you to understand what you need to do to improve your work. I have also asked your school to provide more opportunities for teachers who are responsible for particular subjects, together with some of the governors, to see where they can help you achieve even better. Thank you again for helping me to find out about your school and I hope that you will continue to be happy and to work hard. Colin Henderson Lead inspector 11 of 11 Inspection Report: Baynards Primary School, 15 °16 May 2008

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