Kinnerley Church of England Controlled Primary School

Kinnerley Church of England Controlled Primary School Inspection report

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123481 Unique Reference Number Shropshire Local Authority 314609 Inspection number 10 October 2007 Inspection date Roger Sadler 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 101 School The governing body Appropriate authority David Taylor Chair Aleksander Sadowski Headteacher 4 October 2004 Date of previous school inspection School Road School address Kinnerley Oswestry SY10 8DF 01691 682289 Telephone number 01691 682289 Fax number

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3-11 Age group 10 October 2007 Inspection date 314609 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

Almost all pupils in this small village school are from White British families. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is well below average. More pupils have learning difficulties and/or disabilities than is typical nationally. The school has been affected by long-term staff absence over the last two years. Because year groups are small, attainment on entry varies considerably from year to year, from above to below what is typically found at this age.

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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: Kinnerley Church of England Controlled Primary School, 10 October 2007

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Grade: 3

The quality of education provided by the school and pupils' achievement and progress are satisfactory. Children make a confident start in Nursery and Reception and continue to make expected progress throughout the rest of the school. Although most pupils reach standards expected for their ages, few pupils exceed them. The school has recently begun some good work to provide additional challenge and support for higher attaining pupils in mathematics in Years 5 and 6. However, more able pupils are generally insufficiently extended and too little is expected of them. Pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities make satisfactory progress because teachers make careful assessments and ensure teaching assistants appropriately support them. Reading is appropriately given high priority throughout the school and letter sounds are carefully taught and used well by pupils to read and spell unfamiliar words. Home reading is

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Grade: 3

well organised and many parents make a helpful contribution to their children's progress and enjoyment of reading. Monitoring and analysis of pupils' progress is effective and enables the school to allocate extra help to those who are not attaining as well as others in the class. However, leaders are not making enough checks that important aspects of provision are effective in all classes. This results in inconsistencies between classes, for example in the way that pupils' work is marked. Teaching and learning are satisfactory overall. In some classes, pupils do not evaluate their own or others' work sufficiently because teachers do not always clarify what a good piece of work should look like. Pupils appreciate the good range of interesting visits and visitors used to enhance the school's curriculum. Although the curriculum mostly provides appropriate challenge for pupils, this is not always the case for the higher attaining pupils and sometimes over-reliance on published

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Grade: 3

worksheets limits the interest and challenge provided in lessons. Pupils' personal development and well-being are satisfactory. Attendance is above average and pupils' behaviour is satisfactory. Most pupils show consideration for their own and others' safety and feelings and older pupils enjoy taking additional responsibilities within school. Members of the school council and older pupils enjoy taking responsibility for helping other pupils. The school has not been successful in winning the full support of all parents. Although the majority of parents who responded through the pre-inspection questionnaire were fully supportive of the school more than a third of responses included some criticism. Satisfactory leadership and management enable the school to run smoothly and pupils to make sound progress. There is also a clear understanding of what needs to be done to take the school further forward and there is evidence that the necessary action is being taken and this indicates

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Grade: 3

that the school has satisfactory capacity to improve. The challenge for the school's leaders, including governors, is to raise performance to a higher level so that the overall quality of education becomes good.

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Grade: 3

Good induction arrangements into Nursery help children settle happily and quickly. In the Nursery and Reception classes, children have scope for learning through independent work and play. They make good progress in their personal, social and emotional development and satisfactory progress in all other areas of learning. Because expectations of children's behaviour 4 of 11 Inspection Report: Kinnerley Church of England Controlled Primary School, 10 October 2007 are high in the Nursery, they work and play happily and soon learn to cooperate and take turns in speaking out and in listening to others. Their learning and personal needs are appropriately assessed and this enables staff to treat each child individually and sensitively. Most children reach standards expected for their ages by the end of the Reception year.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Improve opportunities for the most able pupils and raise aspirations so that more exceed the standards expected for their ages. ■ Ensure all teachers regularly specify what a good piece of work should look like so that pupils see how to evaluate and improve particular aspects of their work. ■ Ensure that leaders check that all staff fully understand and consistently implement school policies. 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

School records and pupils' work indicate that most pupils are attaining nationally expected standards. In 2007 national assessments, all Year 2 pupils attained the expected level in reading, writing and mathematics, but no pupils attained the higher level (Level 3). Although the achievement of most pupils in Years 1 to 6 is satisfactory, too few pupils attain above the standards expected for their ages and some more able pupils do not achieve their full potential. In 2007, a well above average proportion of Year 6 pupils had learning difficulties and/or disabilities. Although they attained standards below those expected nationally, their achievement was satisfactory. Although achievement is currently satisfactory in information and communication technology (ICT), standards are rising well because the school has improved its resources and is placing greater emphasis on the use of ICT in relevant subjects.

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Grade: 3

Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is satisfactory. Pupils are friendly and tolerant of differences in others and relate effectively to one another. Because pupils mostly enjoy school, they attend regularly. Attitudes to learning are satisfactory but some pupils take too little pride in their work because poorly presented work sometimes goes unchallenged. Pupils show care and consideration for others, and are compassionate towards those who are hurt or upset. They enjoy contributing to the wider community by, for example, producing craft items or baking and selling cakes for charity. They show good understanding of how to lead healthy lifestyles through their uptake of fruit at break times and regular involvement in voluntary sport and exercise. Pupils say they feel safe and they show consideration for the safety of others. Average standards achieved in reading, numeracy and ICT provide a satisfactory

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Grade: 3

grounding for the next stage of their education and the world of work beyond. 5 of 11 Inspection Report: Kinnerley Church of England Controlled Primary School, 10 October 2007

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Grade: 3

Teachers' secure subject knowledge enables them to present information accurately to the whole class. In Years 5 and 6, the English subject leader has successfully introduced checklists that indicate the key features of particular types of writing. For example, in one lesson, the useful checklist prepared by the teacher helped pupils understand exactly what she would be looking for in the play scripts they were writing. Pupils used this checklist to help assess their own and each other's work and this helped them see how they might improve particular aspects. This approach is beginning to improve pupils' progress in writing in Years 5 and 6. However, it is not used consistently throughout the school or used in subjects other than writing. The additional support provided by teaching assistants to lower attaining pupils or those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities helps these pupils make satisfactory progress. Sometimes

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Grade: 3

teachers' marking of work provides pupils with a clear indication of where and how they could improve their work. However, marking is inconsistent and often provides too little guidance, especially in mathematics, to help pupils to make good progress.

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Grade: 3

The curriculum in the Foundation Stage places strong emphasis on children's personal, social and emotional development and consequently pupils make good progress in this area of learning in Nursery and Reception. The school's satisfactory curriculum meets statutory requirements and is enhanced by a good range of visits to places of interest and by visitors to the school. The school recognises the need to provide pupils with more experiences aimed at improving their understanding of how those from other cultures lead their lives. Although the curriculum meets the needs of most learners and is suitably modified to meet the learning needs of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, additional challenge is too rarely provided for higher attaining pupils.

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Grade: 3

The school provides a supportive and caring learning environment, which is appreciated by pupils and most parents. Procedures for safeguarding pupils meet statutory requirements. Support and guidance for pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are satisfactory. Pupils have recently been given targets to improve their written work which are helping them to see more clearly where, and how, to improve. No system is yet in place to provide mathematics targets and pupils show insufficient understanding of the next stage of learning in mathematics.

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Grade: 3

Leaders show a satisfactory understanding of where the school needs to improve and the school improvement plan correctly focuses on these identified priorities. The headteacher ensures that each pupil's progress is regularly assessed and monitored as they move through the school. This information is used to identify those at risk of falling behind and additional support is 6 of 11 Inspection Report: Kinnerley Church of England Controlled Primary School, 10 October 2007 provided. Day-to-day management is good and the headteacher has effectively led many improvements to the school building, grounds and resources which pupils and parents appreciate. Although leaders provide appropriate guidance to staff to help them understand new initiatives, lack of systematic follow up checks, for example by scrutinising samples of pupils' work, means that inconsistencies in provision go unrecognised and unaddressed. Consequently, the quality

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Grade: 3

of education and pupils' achievement are satisfactory rather than good. Although governors support the school well and many give freely of their time, they make too little use of performance data to enable them to fully challenge the senior management team to improve pupils' achievement from satisfactory to good. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: Kinnerley Church of England Controlled Primary School, 10 October 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. 8 of 11 Inspection Report: Kinnerley Church of England Controlled Primary School, 10 October 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?

3 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 3 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 2 How well learners enjoy their education 2 The attendance of learners 3 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. 9 of 11 Inspection Report: Kinnerley Church of England Controlled Primary School, 10 October 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? 10 of 11 Inspection Report: Kinnerley Church of England Controlled Primary School, 10 October 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

11 October 2007 Dear Pupils Inspection of Kinnerley Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, Oswestry, SY10 8DF Thank you for making Mrs Taylor and me so welcome when we came to inspect your school. We enjoyed talking to you and your teachers and watching you learn. We think your school is giving you a satisfactory education. We are pleased that the school provides an interesting range of visits and visitors to school. Adults provide satisfactory teaching and care for you so that you make sound progress. Nursery and Reception children settle into school happily and make expected progress. We are pleased you know the importance of eating the right food and playing sports and games, so you stay fit and healthy. Your behaviour is satisfactory. Most of you know right from wrong, show enough consideration for others and are friendly and helpful to each other. We were pleased to see how older ones look after the younger ones, so

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

keep up the good work! You also support charities well and think about those who are less fortunate than yourselves. The school knows what you need to help you learn and those of you who find learning hard make satisfactory progress. There are three things that we have asked your school to work on.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Expect more of, and provide harder work for, those of you who learn more quickly than others. ■ Make sure that all teachers show you what your work should look like to help you assess and improve particular aspects of your work. ■ Ensure that those who run the school check that all staff carry out agreed ways of teaching you. Yours faithfully Mr R Sadler Lead inspector 11 of 11 Inspection Report: Kinnerley Church of England Controlled Primary School, 10 October 2007

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Annex B

Inspection report: Kinnerley Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, 10 October 2007 1 of 11

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School, Oswestry, SY10 8DF

Thank you for making Mrs Taylor and me so welcome when we came to inspect your school. We enjoyed talking to you and your teachers and watching you learn. We think your school is giving you a satisfactory education. We are pleased that the school provides an interesting range of visits and visitors to school. Adults provide satisfactory teaching and care for you so that you make sound progress. Nursery and Reception children settle into school happily and make expected progress. We are pleased you know the importance of eating the right food and playing sports and games, so you stay fit and healthy. Your behaviour is satisfactory. Most of you know right from wrong, show enough consideration for others and are friendly and helpful to each other. We were pleased to see how older ones look after the younger ones, so keep up the good work! You also support charities well and think about those who are less fortunate than yourselves. The school knows what you need to help you

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School, Oswestry, SY10 8DF

learn and those of you who find learning hard make satisfactory progress.

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School, Oswestry, SY10 8DF

There are three things that we have asked your school to work on.

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School, Oswestry, SY10 8DF

• Expect more of, and provide harder work for, those of you who learn more quickly than others. • Make sure that all teachers show you what your work should look like to help you assess and improve particular aspects of your work. • Ensure that those who run the school check that all staff carry out agreed ways of teaching you.

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