Oak Hill Church of England Primary School

Oak Hill Church of England Primary School Inspection report

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115670 Unique Reference Number Gloucestershire Local Authority 312023 Inspection number 30 January 2008 Inspection date Deborah Zachary 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 Voluntary controlled School category 4 °11 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 87 School The governing body Appropriate authority Clare Webb Chair Sally McMurray Headteacher 1 February 2004 Date of previous school inspection Junior Base School address School Road Alderton Tewkesbury GL20 8NP 01242 620448 Telephone number 01242 620448 Fax number

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4-11 Age group 30 January 2008 Inspection date 312023 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 two Additional Inspectors, who evaluated the overall effectiveness of the school and investigated the following issues: • how well the current Year 6 pupils are making progress in mathematics and English • how well more able pupils are making progress in writing in Years 1 and 2 • the impact of the school’s new tracking and target-setting system. Evidence was gathered from analysis of assessment data and other documents, lesson observations (including joint monitoring with the headteacher), discussion of what recent monitoring of lessons has shown, analysis of Year 6 work, and meetings with staff, pupils and the headteacher. Other aspects of the school’s work were not investigated in detail but the inspectors 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

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Description of the school

The school is very small and has two sites. Pupils in Years 3 to 6 are based at Alderton whilst Reception and Years 1 and 2 are in Dumbleton, five miles away. Very few pupils have learning difficulties and/or disabilities, and although the small numbers in each year group mean that the levels of children's skills and understanding when they join the school can vary, they are generally above what is expected nationally. The headteacher has been in post since September 2006; prior to her appointment there was a gap of two terms without a substantive headteacher.

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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: Oak Hill Church of England Primary School, 30 January 2008

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Grade: 2

Oak Hill is a good school, where pupils achieve well. Some features are outstanding. For example, the headteacher's excellent leadership is leading to rapid improvement; she has established a climate in which all staff work together, pupils are very happy and teaching is now outstanding. The 2006 and 2007 Key Stage 2 national test results represented satisfactory achievement for the Year 6 pupils involved. However, the excellent teaching is now ensuring excellent learning for the current Year 6 pupils, who were previously also making satisfactory progress. Progress overall is now good rather than better because of this earlier slower rate. The pupils now in Years 5 and 6, who were very able year groups on entry, are reaching very high academic standards. Attendance and behaviour are also excellent. Teachers ensure that the work they set for pupils in lessons is extremely well matched to their individual needs. A new tracking

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Grade: 2

system was introduced by the headteacher in 2007, and this has enabled teachers in Key Stage 2 to be very clear about what standards pupils have already reached in literacy and numeracy, and to focus pupils' class groupings accordingly. Throughout the school, questions and the level of answer demanded are chosen according to pupils' abilities. Another highly effective feature of lessons is the way the lesson's objectives are shared with the pupils. They know what they are expected to learn ('must'), what is a more challenging idea ('should') and what the highest attainers should strive for ('could'). Marking is exemplary in the Year 6 literacy books. The development of teaching to this high level has been aided by two carefully funded changes to the grouping of pupils. In Key Stage 1, Year 1 pupils are now in a class with Year 2 pupils. The previous Year 2 made excellent progress through Key Stage 1 in many ways, but the progress

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Grade: 2

in writing of the more able pupils was no better than satisfactory. The current Year 2 are making good progress in writing, and Year 1 pupils are already reaching impressive standards, rising to the challenge of working with Year 2. This change in grouping has also benefited pupils in the Reception Year, who are receiving an excellent curriculum and making outstanding progress. Pupils in Years 3 to 6 are this year working in four small, separate groups for mathematics and those in Years 5 and 6 are also split for English. They are receiving a great deal of individual attention as a result. The few pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities make exceptional progress throughout the school as a result of individual attention, very careful planning and the effective support of teaching assistants. The pupils are very well equipped with the skills they will need in their future lives, not only in terms of literacy, numeracy and the use of

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Grade: 2

information and communication technology, but also through their excellent personal development. Pupils make a strong contribution to the community beyond the school ° with performances in local churches, for example. Spiritual development is very strong. The school council has a clear voice in influencing school improvement, and its members understand what is and what is not practical. One pupil said wistfully that he'd rather hoped to install a 'sweet machine', but it wouldn't have done. The pupils do have a really good understanding of how to keep themselves healthy and fit, ingrained through their personal, social and health education curriculum, which also is very effective in ensuring a high level of social, moral and cultural development. Careful transport planning that allows the pupils from the Dumbleton site to spend time at Alderton ensures that the school is a cohesive community. It also allows the

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Grade: 2

younger pupils to experience the better facilities of the larger building, which has a school hall that can be used for indoor physical education. Links with other schools, trips out and visitors such as sports coaches broaden the experiences of the pupils and support the good curriculum. Safeguarding requirements are fully met and relationships between teachers and pupils are very strong. Pupils feel very safe and are confident that they can go to adults for help, and a 4 of 9 Inspection Report: Oak Hill Church of England Primary School, 30 January 2008 parent's comment that 'care and supervision have been exemplary' was representative of the views of many. Care, support and guidance are good overall. Pupils know their literacy targets well, and the older ones are aware of what they are trying to achieve in mathematics. However, they do not have targets in science, and the tracking system in literacy and numeracy has not

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Grade: 2

been extended to science. Leadership and management are good, but the leadership is stronger than the management systems. These are developing but are not yet sufficiently robust to ensure outstanding achievement. The school has a good awareness of its strengths and areas for improvement, but the monitoring of teaching is more accurate than the analysis of pupils' progress. The monitoring process has been highly effective in enabling teachers to agree a definition of what features of excellent teaching they are striving for. However, two aspects of the new tracking system are not fully developed as yet. Firstly, progress at Key Stage 2 is only highlighted over one year, so it is not easy to get a cumulative view of a pupil's progress across several years in a row. This makes it harder to identify where slightly slower progress in one year could add up over two years to a recognisable problem. Secondly, although testing

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Grade: 2

on entry to the school is used to forecast individual targets for Key Stage 1 national tests, information from the assessments at the end of the Foundation Stage is not used in tracking progress right through, so an opportunity for a double check on progress is lost. Governance is good, and the school is well placed to continue to improve.

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Grade: 1

The excellent provision for the Reception Year brings excitement and enthusiasm into the children's learning. Activities encompass a wide range of learning opportunities, with very well-planned chances to develop their imagination, curiosity and sensitive awareness of the world around them. The excellent teaching encourages children to develop good independence and try things out for themselves. Top quality questioning and explanations accelerate the children's understanding. In the last school year, children entered Reception with standards that were higher than those generally expected for this age. They achieved outstandingly well and by the end of the year their attainment was very high compared to that reached nationally.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Refine the tracking system to allow efficient analysis across more than one year and link data from the end of Foundation Stage better to tracking and target setting at Key Stage 1. ■ Develop tracking and target setting in science. 5 of 9 Inspection Report: Oak Hill Church of England Primary School, 30 January 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: Oak Hill Church of England Primary School, 30 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? 1 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? 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 disabilities make progress

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learners?

1 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 1 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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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. 7 of 9 Inspection Report: Oak Hill Church of England Primary School, 30 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? 8 of 9 Inspection Report: Oak Hill Church of England Primary School, 30 January 2008

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

31 January 2008 Dear Pupils Inspection of Oak Hill C of E Primary School, Tewkesbury GL20 8NP Thank you for welcoming me and Mr Lewin to your school yesterday. A special thank you to those of you who met us to talk about how it feels to be a pupil at the school. I was glad to have the chance to talk briefly to some of those of you in Years 5 and 6 in the playground before you went on your trip. I hope you had a good time and learnt a lot about the Victorians. We think you are at a good school and you are making good progress. You get an excellent start in Reception. We saw excellent teaching and we can understand why you are enjoying school so much. We were impressed by how good you are at keeping yourselves healthy and safe, and by how well behaved you are. From what you told us, the school council is a really effective way of you having a say in what happens. We think that Mrs McMurray and the other

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

staff and governors are working hard to continue to improve the school. We are asking them to look at the way they keep an eye on how well you are doing, to make it easier to see how fast you are learning from year to year. We have also asked them to look more closely at your progress in science, and give you targets in this subject as well as literacy and numeracy. You can help by making sure you understand what you are aiming for. We wish you all the best for the future. Deborah Zachary Lead inspector 9 of 9 Inspection Report: Oak Hill Church of England Primary School, 30 January 2008

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Annex B

Age group 4–11 Inspection date(s) 30 January 2008 Inspection number 312023 Unique reference number 115670 Local authority Gloucestershire Inspection number 312023 Inspection dates 30 January 2008 Reporting inspector Deborah Zachary

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Annex B

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Annex B

Type of school Primary School category Voluntary controlled Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number on roll 87

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Annex B

Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mrs Clare Webb Headteacher Mrs Sally McMurray Date of previous school inspection February 2004 School address Junior Base School Road Alderton Tewkesbury Gloucestershire GL20 8NP Telephone number 01242 620448 Fax number 01242 620448 Oak Hill C of E Primary School Inspection report Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk 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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Annex B

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. Document reference number: HMI 2507 01 January 2008 Introduction

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Annex B

The inspection was carried out by two Additional Inspectors, who evaluated the overall effectiveness of the school and investigated the following issues:

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Annex B

• how well the current Year 6 pupils are making progress in mathematics and English • how well more able pupils are making progress in writing in Years 1 and 2 • the impact of the school’s new tracking and target-setting system.

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Annex B

Evidence was gathered from analysis of assessment data and other documents, lesson observations (including joint monitoring with the headteacher), discussion of what recent monitoring of lessons has shown, analysis of Year 6 work, and meetings with staff, pupils and the headteacher. Other aspects of the school’s work were not investigated in detail but the inspectors 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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Annex B

The school is very small and has two sites. Pupils in Years 3 to 6 are based at Alderton whilst Reception and Years 1 and 2 are in Dumbleton, five miles away. Very few pupils have learning difficulties and/or disabilities, and although the small numbers in each year group mean that the levels of children’s skills and understanding when they join the school can vary, they are generally above what is expected nationally. The headteacher has been in post since September 2006; prior to her appointment there was a gap of two terms without a substantive headteacher.

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Annex B

Grade 1 Outstanding Grade 2 Good Grade 3 Satisfactory Grade 4 Inadequate Document reference number: HMI 2507 01 September 2007 Overall effectiveness of the school Grade: 2

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Annex B

Oak Hill is a good school, where pupils achieve well. Some features are outstanding. For example, the headteacher’s excellent leadership is leading to rapid improvement; she has established a climate in which all staff work together, pupils are very happy and teaching is now outstanding. The 2006 and 2007 Key Stage 2 national test results represented satisfactory achievement for the Year 6 pupils involved. However, the excellent teaching is now ensuring excellent learning for the current Year 6 pupils, who were previously also making satisfactory progress. Progress overall is now good rather than better because of this earlier slower rate. The pupils now in Years 5 and 6, who were very able year groups on entry, are reaching very high academic standards. Attendance and behaviour are also excellent.

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Annex B

Teachers ensure that the work they set for pupils in lessons is extremely well matched to their individual needs. A new tracking system was introduced by the headteacher in 2007, and this has enabled teachers in Key Stage 2 to be very clear about what standards pupils have already reached in literacy and numeracy, and to focus pupils’ class groupings accordingly. Throughout the school, questions and the level of answer demanded are chosen according to pupils’ abilities. Another highly effective feature of lessons is the way the lesson’s objectives are shared with the pupils. They know what they are expected to learn (‘must’), what is a more challenging idea (‘should’) and what the highest attainers should strive for (‘could’). Marking is exemplary in the Year 6 literacy books.

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Annex B

The development of teaching to this high level has been aided by two carefully funded changes to the grouping of pupils. In Key Stage 1, Year 1 pupils are now in a class with Year 2 pupils. The previous Year 2 made excellent progress through Key Stage 1 in many ways, but the progress in writing of the more able pupils was no better than satisfactory. The current Year 2 are making good progress in writing, and Year 1 pupils are already reaching impressive standards, rising to the challenge of working with Year 2. This change in grouping has also benefited pupils in the Reception Year, who are receiving an excellent curriculum and making outstanding progress. Pupils in Years 3 to 6 are this year working in four small, separate groups for mathematics and those in Years 5 and 6 are also split for English. They are receiving a great deal of individual attention as a result. The few pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities make exceptional progress throughout the school as a

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Annex B

result of individual attention, very careful planning and the effective support of teaching assistants.

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Annex B

The pupils are very well equipped with the skills they will need in their future lives, not only in terms of literacy, numeracy and the use of information and communication technology, but also through their excellent personal development. Pupils make a strong contribution to the community beyond the school – with performances in local churches, for example. Spiritual development is very strong. The school council has a clear voice in influencing school improvement, and its members understand what is and what is not practical. One pupil said wistfully that he’d rather hoped to install a ‘sweet machine’, but it wouldn’t have done. The pupils do have a really good understanding of how to keep themselves healthy and fit, ingrained through their personal, social and health education curriculum, which also is very effective in ensuring a high level of social, moral and cultural development. Document reference number: HMI 2507 01 September 2007

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Annex B

Careful transport planning that allows the pupils from the Dumbleton site to spend time at Alderton ensures that the school is a cohesive community. It also allows the younger pupils to experience the better facilities of the larger building, which has a school hall that can be used for indoor physical education. Links with other schools, trips out and visitors such as sports coaches broaden the experiences of the pupils and support the good curriculum.

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Annex B

Safeguarding requirements are fully met and relationships between teachers and pupils are very strong. Pupils feel very safe and are confident that they can go to adults for help, and a parent’s comment that ‘care and supervision have been exemplary’ was representative of the views of many. Care, support and guidance are good overall. Pupils know their literacy targets well, and the older ones are aware of what they are trying to achieve in mathematics. However, they do not have targets in science, and the tracking system in literacy and numeracy has not been extended to science.

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Annex B

Leadership and management are good, but the leadership is stronger than the management systems. These are developing but are not yet sufficiently robust to ensure outstanding achievement. The school has a good awareness of its strengths and areas for improvement, but the monitoring of teaching is more accurate than the analysis of pupils’ progress. The monitoring process has been highly effective in enabling teachers to agree a definition of what features of excellent teaching they are striving for. However, two aspects of the new tracking system are not fully developed as yet. Firstly, progress at Key Stage 2 is only highlighted over one year, so it is not easy to get a cumulative view of a pupil’s progress across several years in a row. This makes it harder to identify where slightly slower progress in one year could add up over two years to a recognisable problem. Secondly, although testing on entry to the school is used to forecast individual targets for Key Stage 1 national

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Annex B

tests, information from the assessments at the end of the Foundation Stage is not used in tracking progress right through, so an opportunity for a double check on progress is lost. Governance is good, and the school is well placed to continue to improve.

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Annex B

Effectiveness of the Foundation Stage Grade: 1

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Annex B

The excellent provision for the Reception Year brings excitement and enthusiasm into the children’s learning. Activities encompass a wide range of learning opportunities, with very well-planned chances to develop their imagination, curiosity and sensitive awareness of the world around them. The excellent teaching encourages children to develop good independence and try things out for themselves. Top quality questioning and explanations accelerate the children’s understanding. In the last school year, children entered Reception with standards that were higher than those generally expected for this age. They achieved outstandingly well and by the end of the year their attainment was very high compared to that reached nationally. Document reference number: HMI 2507 01 September 2007 What the school should do to improve further

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Annex B

• Refine the tracking system to allow efficient analysis across more than one year and link data from the end of Foundation Stage better to tracking and target setting at Key Stage 1. • Develop tracking and target setting in science. Document reference number: HMI 2507 01 September 2007 procedures set out in the guidance 'Complaining about inspections', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. Annex A Inspection judgements

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Annex B

Key to judgements: grade 1 is outstanding, grade 2 good, grade 3 satisfactory, and grade 4 inadequate. School overall

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Annex B

Overall effectiveness How effective, efficient and inclusive is the provision of education, integrated care and any extended services in meeting the needs of learners? Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection Yes How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners’ well-being? The effectiveness of the Foundation Stage 1 The capacity to make any necessary improvements 2

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Annex B

Achievement and standards How well do learners achieve? 2 The standards reached by learners 1 1 How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress 1

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Annex B

Personal development and well-being How good is the overall personal development and well-being of the learners? 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 1 The attendance of learners 1 The behaviour of learners 1 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community 1 How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

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Annex B

The quality of provision How effective are teaching and learning in meeting the full range of learners’ needs? How well do the curriculum and other activities meet the range of needs and interests of learners? How well are learners cared for, guided and supported? 2

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Annex B

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. Leadership and management How effective are leadership and management in raising achievement 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 leaders and managers use challenging targets to raise standards The effectiveness of the school’s self-evaluation 2 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 Do procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government

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Annex B

requirements? Yes Does this school require special measures? No Does this school require a notice to improve? No Annex B

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Annex B

Inspection of Oak Hill C of E Primary School, Tewkesbury GL20 8NP

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Annex B

Thank you for welcoming me and Mr Lewin to your school yesterday. A special thank you to those of you who met us to talk about how it feels to be a pupil at the school. I was glad to have the chance to talk briefly to some of those of you in Years 5 and 6 in the playground before you went on your trip. I hope you had a good time and learnt a lot about the Victorians.

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Annex B

We think you are at a good school and you are making good progress. You get an excellent start in Reception. We saw excellent teaching and we can understand why you are enjoying school so much. We were impressed by how good you are at keeping yourselves healthy and safe, and by how well behaved you are. From what you told us, the school council is a really effective way of you having a say in what happens.

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Annex B

We think that Mrs McMurray and the other staff and governors are working hard to continue to improve the school. We are asking them to look at the way they keep an eye on how well you are doing, to make it easier to see how fast you are learning from year to year. We have also asked them to look more closely at your progress in science, and give you targets in this subject as well as literacy and numeracy. You can help by making sure you understand what you are aiming for.

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Annex B

We wish you all the best for the future.

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