Godshill Primary School

Godshill Primary School Inspection report

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118159 Unique Reference Number Isle of Wight Local Authority 312825 Inspection number 13 °14 November 2007 Inspection dates Gehane Gordelier 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 4 °9 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 122 School The governing body Appropriate authority Mr R J Westmore OBE Chair Mrs L Glover Headteacher 24 May 2004 Date of previous school inspection Godshill School address Ventnor PO38 3HJ 01983 840246 Telephone number 01983 840246 Fax number

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4-9 Age group 13 °14 November 2007 Inspection dates 312825 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.

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Description of the school

Godshill Primary is a small, well-established school. Although it serves the immediate area most pupils are not from the local village. The vast majority of pupils are of white British heritage and all pupils speak English as their first language. The percentage of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is well below the national average. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is much lower than average. The school has achieved the Sport England Activemark, Football Association Charter Standard for Schools, Basic Skills Agency Quality Mark, Artsmark (Silver), ICT mark and the Healthy Schools Award. At the time of the inspection, the school's deputy headteacher was standing in as acting headteacher until the substantive headteacher returns from maternity leave. The substantive headteacher has been in post just over a year and the deputy, although not new to the school,

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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: Godshill Primary School, 13 °14 November 2007

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Grade: 2

Godshill is a good school with outstanding features. Pupils benefit enormously from how effectively the school is led and managed as well as from the strong links with parents, the governing body and the local community. This is evident from pupils' outstanding personal development and well-being, their excellent behaviour and contribution to the community and the high standard of their work. Parents are particularly impressed with the good quality of care and education their children receive in Reception, indeed the quality of education they receive in the Foundation Stage enables children to develop into successful and independent learners from an early age. One parent states, 'Our reason for choosing Godshill was that we were incredibly impressed by the positive approach to learning shared by children and teachers. We were also impressed by a strong desire to achieve the best. They have not let us down.'

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Grade: 2

The school provides a balanced and interesting curriculum, which promotes good levels of progression and skills. This together with effective teaching strategies, helps to make learning enjoyable and purposeful. The good quality of teaching enables pupils to make good progress and reach high standards in English, mathematics and science by the end of Years 2 and 4. However, assessment strategies are not sufficiently well embedded. This limits, at times, the amount of challenge for some pupils, particularly the most able. Pupils demonstrate an excellent knowledge and understanding of how to keep themselves safe and how to lead healthy lifestyles. Pupils in Key Stage 2 run a healthy snack shack and donate their profits to charity. Pupils were also instrumental in improving the quality of school meals and making lunchtimes an altogether pleasurable and very sociable experience. They demonstrate an extremely good level of awareness of how to keep themselves and others safe. They have

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Grade: 2

also contributed to the school's efforts to try to get a much-needed crossing to help pupils arrive and leave school in safety. However, this has yet to be achieved. The strong leadership of the headteacher and deputy headteacher has enabled staff to develop a shared sense of responsibility for all aspects of school life. This has empowered co-ordinators and managers to extend and develop their roles. This, as well as the enhanced quality of governance, is providing the school with a good capacity to improve. Leaders and managers at all levels evaluate the quality of the school's work accurately and produce detailed plans of how they want the school to progress. However, these documents do not clarify sufficiently well how pupils will benefit from the proposed improvements or how actions will help to raise standards. Nevertheless, the school has made good progress at improving those issues from the time of the last inspection. As a result pupils have access to a good range of library books.

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Grade: 2

The school actively promotes equality of opportunity although, this as well as policies relating to disability and race, have yet to be fully implemented. Nevertheless, this does not currently present an issue in the school. As a result, pupils as well as staff and volunteers who work in the school feel valued, safe and well supported.

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Grade: 2

The effectiveness of the Foundation Stage is good with outstanding features. Attainment on entry to the Reception Year in 2007 was broadly in line with national expectations. Good links with the nursery school as well as the high quality support children receive when they begin school helps them to settle quickly. 4 of 11 Inspection Report: Godshill Primary School, 13 °14 November 2007 Most children start school with positive attitudes and well developed social skills for their age. The staff build extremely well on these positive attributes and this contributes to pupils' high levels of personal and social development as they progress through the school. Teaching and the curriculum meet the needs of children well and this helps to keep them actively engaged and happy to learn. However, short term planning does not detail sufficiently well what children are expected to learn and there are at times missed opportunities of developing children's communication,

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Embed the use of assessment so that teachers as well as pupils can use this information to promote even greater levels of progress especially for the most able pupils ■ Ensure that documents used to promote improvements in the school, clarify the intended benefits to pupils, focusing more sharply on raising standards and ensuring there is sufficient challenge for all pupils ■ The governing body need to ensure that all statutory requirements are met in full.

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Grade: 2

The 2006 data show that more pupils attained the higher level 3 for mathematics than they did for reading and writing. Standards in reading are higher than average in both key stages but are not rising. The school has correctly identified the need for teaching and support staff to update their own skills to ensure there is more rigorous and systematic teaching of phonics. In 2007, pupils exceeded their challenging targets at the end of Year 2, although girls out-performed boys in reading and writing. The school has put effective measures in place this year to help more boys achieve higher levels in these areas. The school tracks and monitors pupils' progress in the core subjects well. This helps senior leaders to maintain a clear overview of progress and standards, and ensures that most pupils, including those with learning difficulties and disabilities, make good progress given their starting points. However, some of the most able pupils would welcome more challenge in some of their

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Grade: 2

work and are capable of attaining higher standards in both key stages. Pupils benefit from the additional provision for swimming which has enabled them to become more proficient. The school is also rightly proud of the standards of pupils' work in information and communication technology (ICT).

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Grade: 1

The school works hard to ensure pupils have a good understanding of other cultures and faiths and this is achieved well through work done for example, in art as well as in other areas of the curriculum. As they progress through the school pupils develop very good social skills. This enables them to get on equally well with their peers and adults and the majority of pupils display excellent behaviour. These positive relationships contribute to pupils' very high levels of enjoyment of being at school and their consequent high levels of achievement. Attendance levels are good and the vast majority of pupils arrive on time in the morning eager to begin learning. Pupils have an excellent knowledge of how to keep themselves safe and healthy. They also make an outstanding contribution to their school and their local community. Pupils secure 5 of 11 Inspection Report: Godshill Primary School, 13 °14 November 2007

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Grade: 1

knowledge of basic skills, including their ICT and interpersonal skills, helps them to be well prepared for the next phase of their education and their future.

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Grade: 2

Excellent relationship between pupils and adults in all lessons contribute significantly to pupils' very positive attitudes to learning. Common aspects, which typify good teaching in the school, include teachers demonstrating good subject knowledge, their ability to use the interactive whiteboards well and the opportunities and time they provide for pupils to apply new knowledge and learning. Pupils particularly enjoy practical work and solving problems. All teachers make good use of other adults to help meet the additional learning needs of pupils. Teaching is less effective where the use of assessment to support learning is underdeveloped. This then results in limitations on the level of challenge for some of the most able pupils. Also, lengthy introductions to some lessons do not include sufficient opportunities for pupils to be actively engaged, with teachers often talking at length instead of getting pupils to explain

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Grade: 2

what they have understood, what they know and what they are going to improve. In a minority of lessons, teachers do not display key words and as a result, the less able pupils struggle to recall and use the correct terminology.

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Grade: 2

Pupils appreciate the range of work and activities provided by the school. They particularly enjoy visits to places of interest, which link well with their work in the classroom and enhance their social and cultural experiences. A broad range of before and after school activities enrich the curriculum and contribute well to pupils' personal development. There are increasing cross-curricular links that help to put learning in a more meaningful context. However, these have yet to be developed sufficiently to enable teachers to make the most efficient use of their teaching time. There are good opportunities for pupils to develop their skills and capabilities in ICT and apply these to their learning in other subjects. The provision for swimming is particularly good. The school has correctly identified the value of developing a more creative curriculum. Medium and long term curriculum planning is good, but shorter term planning is not always evaluated

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Grade: 2

sufficiently well. At times this reduces the quality of day-to-day planning and does not help to ensure that a consistently good rate of challenge is maintained for all pupils.

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Grade: 2

Pupils receive excellent personal, social and emotional support and the academic guidance and support they receive is good. The school's links with parents and outside agencies are highly supportive and beneficial to pupils, especially when pupils experience personal or academic difficulties. Pupils appreciate the way in which their work including their homework is marked because this helps them to understand how they can improve. However, they are not sufficiently familiar with their learning targets, particularly in mathematics, and the use of assessment to rapidly drive learning during lessons is underdeveloped in some classes. 6 of 11 Inspection Report: Godshill Primary School, 13 °14 November 2007

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Grade: 2

The headteacher and acting headteacher provide the school with particularly good leadership and promote pupils' learning and personal development very well. The professional development of staff is of high priority and this has helped to improve the quality of teaching and learning. A good example is the confidence with which teachers and pupils now use ICT. Leaders and managers, including governors, have an accurate view of the school's strengths and weaknesses. This has been informed by good self-evaluation. However, planning for improvement does not always explain how pupils will benefit from changes the school wishes to make. Also, some key documents do not include success criteria that are sufficiently quantifiable. As a result, it is not always clear how actions are intended to benefit pupils and help raise standards. This also reduces the school's ability to ensure that targets are sufficiently

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Grade: 2

challenging for all pupils. The quality of governance is good and improving. Arrangements for ensuring the suitability of adults to work with children are robust. There are also very good strategies to promote pupil's health and safety. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: Godshill Primary School, 13 °14 November 2007 .

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Grade: 2

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 8 of 11 Inspection Report: Godshill Primary School, 13 °14 November 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? 2 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? 2 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 2 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 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?

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. 9 of 11 Inspection Report: Godshill Primary School, 13 °14 November 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 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? 10 of 11 Inspection Report: Godshill Primary School, 13 °14 November 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

26 November 2007 Dear Pupils Inspection of Godshill Primary School,Ventnor,PO38 3HJ I am the inspector who visited your school recently. I spent time in your lessons, enjoyed some very healthy and tasty school lunch with some of you and spent time looking at the good work of the school. I was very interested in listening to what you had to say and would like to thank you for your help during the inspection. Many things about your school are good. This includes your teachers and those who are responsible for leading and running your school. Here is a list of some of the things that are outstanding:

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ your school works brilliantly with parents and other people and this is very helpful to you

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ most of you behave extremely well and you really enjoy coming to school and learning

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ you all help to make your school a happy and special place. You also make a big difference to others outside of your school. This includes people who live in the village and people in other countries ■ for your age, you have an outstanding knowledge about how to be healthy and how to keep yourselves safe ■ as you get older you have a good basis from which to develop into particularly amazing young people. As you can see, I agree with you that your school is good and that some things are fantastic. I have asked your school to make some changes to help Godshill Primary School become even better. These are:

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ make sure that you and your teachers know how good your progress is during lessons, and that you have an even better understanding of what you need to do to improve ■ make sure you are all challenged equally well in your learning and that the school writes down how they think changes will help you to do even better ■ school governors need to make sure they do everything they are supposed to do.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

I really enjoyed meeting you and coming to your lovely school. I wish you all the very best for the future. Yours sincerely G Gordelier Her Majesty's Inspector 11 of 11 Inspection Report: Godshill Primary School, 13 °14 November 2007

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