Bredenbury Primary School

Bredenbury Primary School Inspection report

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116654 Unique Reference Number Herefordshire Local Authority 312358 Inspection number 16 January 2008 Inspection date David Mankelow 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 63 School The governing body Appropriate authority Tim Waight Chair Sarah Somers Headteacher 29 June 2004 Date of previous school inspection Bredenbury School address Bromyard HR7 4TF 01885 483253 Telephone number 01885 483253 Fax number

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4-11 Age group 16 January 2008 Inspection date 312358 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.

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Description of the school

Bredenbury Primary School is much smaller than average. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities (LDD) is above average. Children's attainment when they enter Reception varies within and between each cohort but is generally below that expected and sometimes well below. The headteacher was appointed in January 2006. The school has gained a number of national awards including Healthy School, Eco-school, Heartstart and Special Educational Needs Quality Mark.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 10 Inspection Report: Bredenbury Primary School, 16 January 2008

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Grade: 1

This is an outstanding school. Amongst its many major strengths are excellent teaching and exemplary pastoral care. The high level of care results in pupils' excellent personal development, which, in turn, contributes, to outstanding overall achievement. Pupils are extremely well behaved and courteous. Having been told the names of the two inspectors who would be visiting the school, several greeted us by name on arrival. The school has the overwhelming support of most parents and the local community. A typical comment being, 'There is a very, very strong, caring ethos throughout the whole team.' Children make an outstanding start in Reception because their academic and social needs are accurately assessed and subsequently met. Small cohorts, each with a very wide ability range, make it impossible to validly compare standards in the school with national averages. However, achievement is generally excellent and, by the time they leave the school, pupils reach standards

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Grade: 1

that are well above those that would be expected, bearing in mind their starting points. Achievement in mathematics is not quite as high as in other subjects because pupils are not given sufficient opportunities to develop a broad range of calculation skills, through problem-solving activities. Pupils thoroughly enjoy coming to school because they are so well looked after and are provided with an exciting curriculum. They feel very safe and secure. None of those who were asked could remember any incidents of bullying. Many enjoy attending the wide range of out of school clubs, some of which are even available to the youngest children. The sports clubs make a very effective contribution to the excellent healthy lifestyles of many pupils. The outstanding leadership of the headteacher results in all staff being very enthusiastic and totally committed to school improvement. Teachers are extremely effective in their leadership

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Grade: 1

and management roles and take a full part in the accurate analysis of where improvements are needed. Governance is also excellent. Governors are fully involved in the life of the school, notably by 'shadowing' subjects. They visit regularly to review their subjects and then report back to the full governing body. They very effectively balance their roles of support and of holding the school to account. The school is in an excellent position to maintain its strengths and develop further.

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Grade: 1

There are excellent induction procedures and the Reception class is very safe and secure so children settle quickly and happily into school routines. The staff team provide activities that are very well matched to children's individual needs and interests so they make excellent progress. Progress is extremely well monitored and additional support provided if children are felt to be at risk of falling behind. There is an excellent balance between adult-led and child-inspired activities. For example, children insisted on extending their work on the story, 'We're all going on a Bear Hunt' to include inviting the bear to tea. They then developed their mathematical knowledge of shape and size in making cheese biscuits for the tea party.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Raise achievement in mathematics to be as high as in other subjects by providing work that develops a broader range of calculation skills. 4 of 10 Inspection Report: Bredenbury Primary School, 16 January 2008

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Grade: 1

Pupils' achievement has improved steadily since 2005 and is now outstanding. Many pupils in the current Year 2 began school with skills well below those expected for their age. They made rapid progress in Reception and this is continuing. Their attainment is on course to be above average by the end of the year. The current Year 6 pupils are on course to reach well above average standards in the national tests in the summer, from broadly average starting points when they were in Year 2. The school recognises that, relative to English and science, achievement in mathematics has slightly lagged behind. A number of successful strategies have been put in place to overcome this, for example, better questioning techniques and improved use of mathematical vocabulary. The school has now rightly identified the need to use problem-solving activities to broaden the range of calculation techniques that pupils use. Pupils

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Grade: 1

with LDD make similar progress to their peers because their needs are identified early and they are given excellent support from teachers and teaching assistants.

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Grade: 1

Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding. Pupils readily take on responsibilities as they move through the school, for instance as playground buddies, house captains and school councillors. They also make an excellent contribution to the wider community, for example by taking part in village festivals and frequently inviting residents into school. Pupils' care for each other is outstanding, as seen in the sensitive but challenging comments that they make on each other's work when involved in peer assessments. One pupil typically commented, 'Our school is like a big family, everyone helps each other.' When it was pointed out that even the happiest families had disagreements, he replied, 'We go off and the next day we are all friends again!' Pupils' ability to work together in harmony, their positive attitudes to their work and their excellent academic achievement mean that they are especially

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Grade: 1

well prepared for the next stage in their education. Even the youngest pupils have an excellent understanding of what constitutes a healthy diet and take good advantage of the many opportunities provided to take physical exercise. School has taken every reasonable step to promote good attendance. The latest figures indicate that it is above average despite a small number of pupils having extenuating circumstances for prolonged absences.

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Grade: 1

Relationships are excellent in all classes. As a result, pupils have excellent attitudes and try to do their best at all times. Teachers make accurate, regular assessments of how well individual pupils have done and use this information to plan work that effectively moves them to the next level of learning. Marking is extremely thorough and pupils are fully involved in the school's assessment and target-setting procedures. This makes a significant contribution to their outstanding progress because they know how well they have done and precisely what they need to do next in order to improve. Teachers have exceptional subject knowledge so their explanations are clear. On occasions, introductory activities are not as brisk as they should be. 5 of 10 Inspection Report: Bredenbury Primary School, 16 January 2008

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Grade: 1

The outstanding curriculum means that most pupils cannot wait to get to school. There are excellent links between subjects, enabling key skills in literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology (ICT) to be developed well. For example, the school won an award for their 'Bredenbury Times' which was created in response to a competition organised by a national newspaper. This involved English, mathematics, science, ICT, geography and personal, social and health education. A wide range of visitors, including artists, writers and those from minority ethnic backgrounds, are used to ensure that pupils have a very good understanding of their own culture and of Britain as a diverse society. Theme days in various subjects, attendance at the local authority multi-faith day and close links with a school in Tanzania are also used well to support cultural development. The mathematics curriculum does not provide

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Grade: 1

for a sufficient breadth of calculation techniques to be learnt, which reduces achievement.

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Grade: 1

The value that staff put on every pupil is expressed in the title on the 'Togetherness' display of pupils' photographs in the school hall: 'We are all valuable and unique and have something to offer and share.' Pupils feel very comfortable about approaching adults if they have any worries and parents greatly appreciate this. One typically commented, 'Staff are amazing, they listen to all the children and treat them as individuals.' Procedures for safeguarding pupils are secure and the school provides exceptional, sensitive support to families who find themselves in difficulty. Pupils receive outstanding academic guidance which makes a significant contribution to their achievement.

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Grade: 1

The headteacher's inspirational leadership motivates all staff and pupils to do their best and promotes very strong teamwork. A parent summed up the feeling of most in writing, 'Nowhere have we ever met such a wonderful, caring headmistress.' The headteacher meets each term with individual teachers to discuss the progress of their pupils. As a result, good support is given to pupils at risk of underachieving. Even those on course to meet their individual targets have them raised if appropriate. This ensures that pupils with the potential for high attainment are well challenged and reach those goals. Subject leaders have a detailed knowledge of standards in their subjects, they monitor them carefully and provide effective support to improve them. This is why the school's self-evaluation is so effective and why achievement is so high. The school makes excellent use of high quality support from the local authority, which has also

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Grade: 1

made a significant contribution to its success. 6 of 10 Inspection Report: Bredenbury Primary School, 16 January 2008 .

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Grade: 1

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 7 of 10 Inspection Report: Bredenbury 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? 1 The effectiveness of the Foundation Stage 1 The capacity to make any necessary improvements

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Achievement and standards

1 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 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 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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and interests of learners?

1 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average to below average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low. 8 of 10 Inspection Report: Bredenbury 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 1 How effectively leaders and managers use challenging targets to raise standards 1 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? 9 of 10 Inspection Report: Bredenbury 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 Bredenbury Primary School, Bredenbury, HR7 4TF You may remember that I visited your school in the middle of January with another inspector. Thank you very much for telling us all about your school and for making us feel at home. We felt especially welcome because a number of you actually greeted us by name. This has never happened to us before. I am writing now to tell you what we found. Most of you and your parents believe that you go to an excellent school and we agree with you. Whatever your level when you join the school, you all make excellent progress. This is because the teaching in all classes is excellent and all the adults in the school care for you exceptionally well. This also means that you feel safe and are happy to tell somebody if you are worried about anything. Most of you thoroughly enjoy coming to school because your teachers plan interesting lessons and bring in lots of visitors, like the artist and the potter. One

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

of the many things that impressed us was they way that you assess your own work and that of your friends. Along with the helpful comments that teachers give you in their marking, this means that you know exactly what you need to do next to get better and better. Your headteacher is so enthusiastic that she gets all of you and your teachers to do your best all of the time. The school governors also work very hard and told us that they really enjoy visiting to see how you are getting on. There is just one thing that we have asked your teachers to do to make your school even better. That is to give you all lots of mathematics problems to solve so that you learn different ways of calculating answers. You can help your teachers a lot by continuing to work hard and behave well. I wish you all the very best for the future. Yours sincerely David Mankelow Lead inspector 10 of 10 Inspection Report: Bredenbury Primary School, 16 January 2008

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Annex B

Inspection of Bredenbury Primary School, Bredenbury, HR7 4TF

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Annex B

You may remember that I visited your school in the middle of January with another inspector. Thank you very much for telling us all about your school and for making us feel at home. We felt especially welcome because a number of you actually greeted us by name. This has never happened to us before. I am writing now to tell you what we found.

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Annex B

Most of you and your parents believe that you go to an excellent school and we agree with you. Whatever your level when you join the school, you all make excellent progress. This is because the teaching in all classes is excellent and all the adults in the school care for you exceptionally well. This also means that you feel safe and are happy to tell somebody if you are worried about anything. Most of you thoroughly enjoy coming to school because your teachers plan interesting lessons and bring in lots of visitors, like the artist and the potter. One of the many things that impressed us was they way that you assess your own work and that of your friends. Along with the helpful comments that teachers give you in their marking, this means that you know exactly what you need to do next to get better and better.

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Annex B

Your headteacher is so enthusiastic that she gets all of you and your teachers to do your best all of the time. The school governors also work very hard and told us that they really enjoy visiting to see how you are getting on.

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Annex B

There is just one thing that we have asked your teachers to do to make your school even better. That is to give you all lots of mathematics problems to solve so that you learn different ways of calculating answers.

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Annex B

You can help your teachers a lot by continuing to work hard and behave well.

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Annex B

I wish you all the very best for the future.

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