Caunton Dean Hole CofE Primary School

Caunton Dean Hole CofE Primary School Inspection report

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122753 Unique Reference Number NOTTINGHAMSHIRE LA Local Authority 314386 Inspection number 11 °12 March 2008 Inspection dates Andrew Cook 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 Voluntary controlled School category 3 °11 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 55 School The governing body Appropriate authority Dr Jim George Chair Mr John Dodd Headteacher Not previously inspected Date of previous school inspection Manor Road School address Caunton Newark Nottinghamshire NG23 6AD 01636 636 219 Telephone number 01636 636 230 Fax number

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3-11 Age group 11 °12 March 2008 Inspection dates 314386 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

The number of children that attend Caunton Dean Hole makes it a much smaller than average school. The school building is in the heart of the village and parts of it, the 'Village Rooms', are owned by the Parish Council and used for other activities as well. When children join the school in the Foundation Stage 1 class most are able to do more than is expected at their age. The proportion of children eligible for free school meals is well below the national average. The proportion of children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is also below average. The school has recently been awarded the Gold Status National Healthy Schools Standard.

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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: Caunton Dean Hole CofE Primary School, 11 °12 March 2008

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Grade: 2

This is a good school where children's personal development is outstanding. Children enjoy school and their behaviour and attendance are excellent. The level of care children receive is outstanding. The experience of school helps them to grow into mature and confident children, which prepares them for their role in the wider world, a goal identified in the school's mission statement. Children's social, moral and spiritual development is outstanding. The school's Christian ethos permeates through many activities. All children make good progress. Right from when they start in the Foundation Stage, they are engaged in their learning. Although they enjoy these first years, the progress they make in reading and writing is not always as impressive as in other areas. By the time they reach the end of Year 2 and Year 6, children have made good progress, achieving standards that are generally above average. Teaching is good because teachers know the children and give them

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Grade: 2

work that is suitably challenging. Lessons are fun and children's excellent behaviour and attitudes help them to get the most out of lessons. Although children know what they have to do in lessons, they do not have targets to aim for over a longer period. There have been times when children are encouraged to assess themselves to see how well they have done but this is not a regular occurrence. The curriculum is good and enriched by an excellent range of activities many organised through the 4KANDO group of four local schools working together. Many of the sporting activities contribute to the children's outstanding adoption of healthy lifestyles. The headteacher ensures that, as well as the 4KANDO activities, children get an outstanding range of music, theatre, visits and visitors, which help children enjoy learning. The curriculum is effectively organised so that a number of subjects are linked to a topic. Through religious education and geography,

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Grade: 2

children get to learn about different religions and other countries. However, children's understanding and experience of different cultures within this country and the wider world is underdeveloped. Leadership and management are good and the headteacher leads the team of staff well. Governance is good and supports the work of the school. There are good systems in place to monitor and evaluate provision, which has highlighted where more could be done to ensure further improvements. The school's continued success demonstrates that it has good capacity to improve further.

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Grade: 2

Taking into consideration their starting points children in the Foundation Stage make good progress overall. By the time they start Year 1, they are working at above national expectations for most areas but more in line in reading and writing skills. Although they enjoy writing and the school has good strategies to teach writing, children do not always make progress similar to other areas. Teaching in the Foundation Stage is good overall and children thrive in a well-organised and caring environment. The small numbers in this group means they all get individual attention and support. The Foundation Stage is well-run and teaching assistants and teachers work very effectively as a team to ensure children enjoy their first years in school. 4 of 11 Inspection Report: Caunton Dean Hole CofE Primary School, 11 °12 March 2008

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Involve children more in the assessment of their work and ensure they are given guidance on what to aim for next. ■ Extend the opportunities that children have to learn about and experience cultural diversity.

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Grade: 2

In such a small school, it is difficult to make judgements about overall standards or any trends in results. What is evident from the assessment records kept is that all children make good progress. Depending on their starting points, they sometimes attain above average standards or standards that are similar to the national average by the end of Year 2 and Year 6. The school has set itself the appropriate challenge of ensuring more children achieve the above average National Curriculum Level 3 when they are assessed in Year 2.

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Grade: 1

Children's personal development is outstanding. They really enjoy school and their attendance is excellent. Children care for each other. They help each other in lessons and show great consideration of each other's interests. A good example of this is the way that Play Time Leaders look out for those who need a friend at break times. Children's social, moral and spiritual development is outstanding. Their cultural development is satisfactory. Children's involvement in local events such as church services, the local horticultural show and the Women's Institute Apple Day give them good experiences of the local community. However, opportunities for them to learn about or experience Britain's rich cultural diversity and that of the wider world are underdeveloped. Physical education lessons, swimming lessons and the good range and take up of sports clubs help children adopt healthy lifestyles. Work in lessons also ensures that

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Grade: 1

children know about healthy lifestyles, for example in a recent topic when they learnt about what makes a balanced diet. Children's contribution to the community is outstanding. Children take on jobs in and around school and those in the school council are active in improving the school. Recently the school council donated five hundred pounds to the village Caunton 2000 group for purchase of play equipment on the Parish field. The school council has also recently conducted a survey to find out if any children have disabilities, so that they can make sure they are supported in the best way possible. Excellent personal development and good progress in English, mathematics and information and communication technology (ICT) ensure that children are ready to take on the challenges when they move on to their next school.

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Grade: 2

Teaching is good and, as a result, children enjoy learning and make good progress. Relationships between staff and children are excellent. Lessons are well planned and the complex task of matching work to the range of abilities in each class is managed effectively. This is helped in English and mathematics when some children are taught in different groups from their class so that their work closely matches their ability. Children's behaviour and attitudes in lessons 5 of 11 Inspection Report: Caunton Dean Hole CofE Primary School, 11 °12 March 2008 are outstanding. For example, in one lesson children were exemplary in the way they followed the teacher's instructions to get laptops, log on to the internet and investigate food chains. Teaching assistants are very effective in the way that they teach small groups or individual children. The support they give to children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is good.

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Grade: 2

The use of assessment data has improved and the school is now tracking each child's progress to check whether they are on course to achieve their potential. However, the information collated is not yet being used to produce targets for children to aim for.

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Grade: 2

Many aspects of the curriculum are good. For example, provision in English and mathematics and the specialist teaching children get in ICT and music. The school has begun to link the teaching of different subjects to one topic. Although the topic approach has made the curriculum more interesting for children, this approach has not been running long enough to evaluate how effectively knowledge and skills are taught. An outstanding strength of the curriculum is the way that the school ensures that children enjoy and learn from enrichment activities. Many of these activities have come about through the effective links the school has with three other schools creating the 4KANDO cluster. Working together, these schools have been able to organise a good range of sporting activities, residential visits and theatre productions. Additional to this is the headteacher's successful determination to give children experiences of music, theatre and involvement in festivals and services in the

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Grade: 2

This is a school where individual children are well known and the quality of care they receive is outstanding. Statutory requirements for safeguarding the health and well-being of children are fully met. The school is developing the way it involves children in knowing what they need to do to achieve. For example, one effective example is the use of success criteria in a small number of lessons. When success criteria are shared with children they know what it is they have to do to in order to make progress. The quality of marking varies and, in some cases, it helpfully informs children of what they need to do to improve. However, children do not have academic targets to aim for nor do the older children understand at what National Curriculum Level they are working at or how to move on to the next level.

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Grade: 2

The headteacher successfully leads the staff, who work as a team. Together they focus on achieving the school's mission statement that 'everyone is encouraged to achieve success and fulfil their potential.' Since the last inspection, development in the way the school monitors and evaluates provision has been good. There is now a detailed timetable of lesson observations, scrutiny of teachers' planning and the work children do. Monitoring that has taken place has led to evaluative written reports that have clearly highlighted what is working well and what 6 of 11 Inspection Report: Caunton Dean Hole CofE Primary School, 11 °12 March 2008 areas need further improvement. This information is shared with Governors, which puts them in a good position to know how well the school is doing and ask questions as to how it can improve further. The increased rigour of this monitoring has identified where improvements

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Grade: 2

have not always been effectively embedded and where further work needs to be done. The close links with three other schools has led to shared opportunities for training and working together on making judgements about the quality of children's work. This partnership is beneficial at leadership and management level because it enables the schools to be involved in professional dialogue. Governance is good. Governors visit the school on a regular basis to see for themselves how the school runs on a day-to-day basis. Governors are confident that the school is well run and that the quality of education provided ensures that children are happy and learning. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: Caunton Dean Hole CofE Primary School, 11 °12 March 2008 .

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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: Caunton Dean Hole CofE Primary School, 11 °12 March 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? 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 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. 9 of 11 Inspection Report: Caunton Dean Hole CofE Primary School, 11 °12 March 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? 10 of 11 Inspection Report: Caunton Dean Hole CofE Primary School, 11 °12 March 2008

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

13 March 2008 Dear Children Inspection of Caunton Dean Hole CofE Primary School, Caunton, NG23 6AD I am writing to tell you that when I visited your school recently I agreed with your headteacher Mr Dodd that you belong to a good school. I was very impressed with your outstanding behaviour and the way that you care for each other. You told me how much you enjoyed school and I saw that for myself. The school council are doing a good job and I hope they carry on listening to your views and suggesting how things could be even better. I saw lots of good teaching, which was helping you to make good progress. Although you know what to do in lessons, I think some targets to aim for would help, so you know what you need to do next to improve. This is one of the things I have asked your school to improve so make sure you find out what your targets are and work hard to achieve them. You get many excellent opportunities to do sport, see theatre productions and enjoy visits and

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

visitors. Many of you get the chance to be involved in village and local activities. I have asked the school to help you learn more about different cultures in this country and about people who live in other countries. All the staff make sure you are safe. Mr Dodd is a good headteacher and he knows how important all of the staff and governors are because they work as a team. I am sure that with your help the school will continue to improve. Best wishes. Andrew Cook Her Majesty's Inspector 11 of 11 Inspection Report: Caunton Dean Hole CofE Primary School, 11 °12 March 2008

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