Weobley Primary School

Weobley Primary School Inspection report

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116746 Unique Reference Number Herefordshire Local Authority 312387 Inspection number 19 °20 September 2007 Inspection dates Anthony O'Malley HMI 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 3 °11 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 166 School The governing body Appropriate authority Vicky Mackie Chair Geoff Williams Headteacher 24 March 2007 Date of previous school inspection Burton Wood School address Weobley HR4 8ST 01544 318273 Telephone number 01544 318896 Fax number

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3-11 Age group 19 °20 September 2007 Inspection dates 312387 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 one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors and one Additional Inspector.

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Description of the school

Weobley Primary School is a smaller than average primary school with a nursery. It is set amidst rolling countryside and serves several neighbouring villages and hamlets. The great majority of pupils are from White British backgrounds. Children enter the school with the skills and knowledge expected. At the time of the inspection the Year 6 pupils and the deputy headteacher were away from school on a residential visit.

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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: Weobley Primary School, 19 °20 September 2007

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Grade: 3

Weobley Primary is a satisfactory school. The more favourable view adopted by the school's leadership and management is based on inaccurate assessment of the progress the pupils make during their time at the school. Nevertheless, the school knows what it has to do to improve. For example, the focus on raising standards in English, mathematics and science, following poor performance in 2004, has secured sound improvement. Leadership and management of the school are satisfactory and it has a sound capacity to improve further. Governors are committed to supporting the school but they would benefit from training to enable them to add challenge to the way they carry out their role. Parents generally praise the school's work, particularly its caring ethos. As one parent wrote, 'Our son's confidence has grown immeasurably during his time at the school.' Throughout Key Stages 1 and 2, pupils of all abilities make satisfactory progress. In recent

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Grade: 3

years, pupils have left the school with average standards and adequate achievement in English, mathematics and science. In 2007, the proportions of pupils reaching higher levels in English and science improved significantly. In English, the proportion was higher than the national average. The progress of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is sound. While the school carefully targets additional resources to support individuals, it does not always check the precise effects of these interventions. Teaching assistants play a good role in supporting pupils and contribute much to the achievement of those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and those who are vulnerable. Good partnerships with social services and other agencies assist this valuable work. Pupils' personal development is good. They like coming to school. They especially enjoy the practical nature of activities such as physical education, information and communication

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Grade: 3

technology (ICT) and art. Pupils behave well and those who find concentrating and listening difficult receive good levels of support. Pupils have a good understanding of the need to maintain a healthy lifestyle and know how to keep safe in school and at home. Through the school council and the Eco School committee they make a positive contribution to the community and are developing skills that will prepare them adequately for the next steps in their education. Teaching is satisfactory. Pupils are well motivated and enjoy the challenge of tasks that force them to think hard. Where lessons are less effective it is because planning fails to take full account of individual pupils' needs. In these lessons, a few pupils find the work too easy, or too hard, and some of them lose concentration. The curriculum is satisfactory and, in Key Stages 1 and 2, the pupils enjoy a varied range of interesting activities. However, they sometimes

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Grade: 3

repeat work covered in previous years. The care, guidance and support the pupils receive are satisfactory. The school provides well for the safety and the social and emotional needs of the pupils. This provision contributes well to their good personal development. Academic guidance is weaker. The school collects plenty of information about how well the pupils are doing but does not use this well enough to help them make better progress.

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Grade: 3

The children have a good start in the Nursery class and settle quickly. However, since the combining of the Reception class with Years 1 and 2, staff report some difficulty meeting the 4 of 10 Inspection Report: Weobley Primary School, 19 °20 September 2007 wide range of children's needs. A few parents share this concern. The planning for the Reception class lacks precise expectations for learning outcomes. For example, the planning for play activities in Reception does not indicate the small steps of learning required for accurate assessment. By the end of the Foundation Stage, children have made satisfactory progress and reached the expected levels.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Ensure that children in mixed-aged classes have a well-planned, broad and balanced curriculum that meets fully their needs and enables them to make progress. ■ Improve the quality of teaching and learning by ensuring that lessons meet the needs of all abilities and that planning includes very clear learning outcomes that provide opportunities for accurate assessments. ■ Improve the school's self-evaluation so that school leaders, including governors, have a more accurate understanding of pupils' achievement. 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

Children enter and leave the school with the skills and knowledge expected for their ages. Achievement and standards have improved over the last two years and evidence gathered during the inspection shows that all groups make sound progress and attain average standards. In the national tests for eleven-year-olds taken in 2007, the proportions of pupils achieving the highest level in English and science were above average. There was a drop in the percentage of pupils reaching the expected level in mathematics, however, which fell below the national average. Teacher assessments of seven-year-olds in 2007 show that standards in mathematics, reading and writing were above average. Children in Reception reach the goals expected for their age. The personal, social and emotional development of the children is the strongest area of learning. The level of their communication skills is not so high but it is similar to the national picture.

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Grade: 2

Pupils enjoy school and speak positively of the adults who help them. There is a great deal of mutual respect and these strong relationships result in good behaviour. Through its Eco Schools work and involvement in fund raising activities, such as the Teddy Bear Project, the pupils learn to reflect on the effects of their actions and develop compassion for the plight of others at home and in other countries. As a result, they have well-developed spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding. They know how to keep healthy and the good range of activities in and out of school aids this well. Not all bring fully healthy lunches though! Pupils have a good understanding about keeping safe. For example, they are aware of dangers associated with agricultural settings. The school council gives pupils a voice and they influence well aspects of the school's work. Pupils' improvement in basic skills and the community work they undertake

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Grade: 2

result in them being adequately prepared for their future lives. 5 of 10 Inspection Report: Weobley Primary School, 19 °20 September 2007

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Grade: 3

The activities set do not always match the needs of the pupils. For example, in a class where writing was relatively weak, a carefully planned unit of work involving working in pairs, note-making and independent writing successfully promoted the writing skills of all the pupils. Often, however, the level of challenge does not meet the needs of significant groups of pupils. For example, in the mixed-age classes, the groups benefiting from adult support achieve well but other pupils work at tasks that occupy time rather than move learning on. In an older year group, the same mathematical problems were set for pupils with a wide range of abilities. The result was unsatisfactory progress by both the higher and lower ability pupils.

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Grade: 3

The strongest feature of the curriculum is the provision for art. The impressive artwork displayed reflects the pupils' exploration of a range of cultures including Chinese, Egyptian and Greek. The pupils speak positively of the sporting activities they enjoy, the educational visits they make and the range of visitors who make lessons and assemblies interesting. These aspects of the curriculum contribute well to the pupils' good personal development. The curriculum does not, however, always build on pupils' previous learning. In some lessons, and in discussion with older pupils, it is clear that pupils in Key Stage 2 sometimes repeat work unnecessarily.

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Grade: 3

Parents and the local authority recognise the school's commitment to caring for its pupils. Many parents praise this aspect of provision and the school has an excellent reputation for supporting vulnerable pupils. This high quality care nurtures the pupils' good personal development. The academic guidance the pupils receive is not as strong. Although plenty of information is collected about how well pupils are doing, the school does not ensure that this information is used to help accelerate progress. Marking is not consistently helpful and a high proportion of pupils do not have a clear understanding of what they need to do to improve. Arrangements for the safeguarding of pupils are satisfactory.

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Grade: 3

The headteacher provides satisfactory leadership. With effective support from senior colleagues, he has ensured that pupils now make sound progress. Although leaders are aware of the school's strengths and weaknesses, they have an overgenerous view of its overall effectiveness. The targets the school sets for eleven-year-olds are only moderately challenging. Even though the pupils consistently exceed the targets that have been set, their progress is no better than satisfactory when compared with pupils nationally. The governing body's lack of training in interpreting data about the school's performance hinders its ability to evaluate critically the school's effectiveness. 6 of 10 Inspection Report: Weobley Primary School, 19 °20 September 2007 .

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Grade: 3

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 7 of 10 Inspection Report: Weobley Primary School, 19 °20 September 2007

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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 2 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. 8 of 10 Inspection Report: Weobley Primary School, 19 °20 September 2007

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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? 9 of 10 Inspection Report: Weobley Primary School, 19 °20 September 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Thank you very much for making us so welcome when we visited your school on 19 and 20 September. You were very polite and friendly and this helped us to learn a lot about you, your work and your school. It was great to see the art displays around the school. You certainly deserve your Arts Mark Gold Award. Your school is providing a satisfactory education. This means that we found some good things in the school but also some things to improve.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ These are some of the things we found out about your school.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Your school has improved recently and you are doing better in the tests at the end of Year 6. ■ Good teaching in the Nursery class helps the youngest children settle quickly and learn well.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ You try hard in lessons and really enjoy practical activities.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ You behave sensibly in class and around the school.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ You actively help others who are less fortunate than you are.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ The school makes real efforts to ensure that everyone feels safe and happy.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ What we have asked your school to do now.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Make sure that, in the mixed-aged classes, all pupils learn well during lessons.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Improve lesson planning so that it is very clear what you are going to learn and how the adults will assess your progress. ■ Improve the ways that your headteacher and senior teachers check on how well you are learning. You will be able to help your school improve by continuing to try hard in lessons and sharing your views about the school through your school council. 10 of 10 Inspection Report: Weobley Primary School, 19 °20 September 2007

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Annex B

Inspection of Weobley Primary School, Weobley, HR4 8ST

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Annex B

Thank you very much for making us so welcome when we visited your school on 19 and 20 September. You were very polite and friendly and this helped us to learn a lot about you, your work and your school. It was great to see the art displays around the school. You certainly deserve your Arts Mark Gold Award. Your school is providing a satisfactory education. This means that we found some good things in the school but also some things to improve.

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Annex B

These are some of the things we found out about your school. • Your school has improved recently and you are doing better in the tests at the end of Year 6. • Good teaching in the Nursery class helps the youngest children settle quickly and learn well. • You try hard in lessons and really enjoy practical activities. • You behave sensibly in class and around the school. • You actively help others who are less fortunate than you are. • The school makes real efforts to ensure that everyone feels safe and happy.

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Annex B

What we have asked your school to do now. • Make sure that, in the mixed-aged classes, all pupils learn well during lessons. • Improve lesson planning so that it is very clear what you are going to learn and how the adults will assess your progress. • Improve the ways that your headteacher and senior teachers check on how well you are learning.

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Annex B

You will be able to help your school improve by continuing to try hard in lessons and sharing your views about the school through your school council.

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Annex B

Anthony O’Malley Her Majesty’s Inspector

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