Dove Bank Primary School

Dove Bank Primary School Inspection report

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124089 Unique Reference Number Staffordshire Local Authority 314803 Inspection number 16 °17 October 2007 Inspection dates Doris Bell 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 190 School The governing body Appropriate authority Carol Reddish Chair Susan Alebon Headteacher 1 December 2002 Date of previous school inspection off Rutland Road School address Kidsgrove Stoke-on-Trent ST7 4AP 01782 296786 Telephone number 01782 296789 Fax number

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3-11 Age group 16 °17 October 2007 Inspection dates 314803 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

This smaller than average sized primary school has had a high turnover of staff in the past two years, including at senior management level. Attainment on entry to the Nursery, which opened in 2005, is well below average. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is above average, as is the proportion of pupils in receipt of free school meals. Very few pupils come from minority ethnic backgrounds.

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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: Dove Bank Primary School, 16 °17 October 2007

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Grade: 2

This rapidly improving school provides a good quality of education for its pupils. In Year 6, standards have risen in the past two years and are now average. Since pupils start school with skills and abilities which are well below national expectations, this represents good achievement. The headteacher's good leadership has played a key role in raising standards by concentrating on improving pupils' literacy skills. The school's involvement in an Intensive Support Programme (ISP) has also been helpful. Teachers now track pupils' progress very closely and their consistently good marking is helping to accelerate it. The school's own evaluation of its effectiveness as satisfactory rather than good was based on past rather than present data. The inspection judgement takes account of current data held by the school and evidence from the pupils' work. Teachers plan lessons well, make sure that pupils understand the key objectives

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Grade: 2

for each lesson and work hard to bring the curriculum alive. Cross-curricular links are developing, but more remains to be done to develop writing fully in all subjects. Effective care, guidance and support, including for pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, contribute greatly to the pupils' learning and their good personal development. Pupils enjoy learning and they behave well. They feel behaviour has improved considerably in the past two years and that they are, in the words of one pupil, 'more civilised now' because they are more respectful of each other's rights and feelings. Children make excellent progress in the Foundation Stage because of the exemplary provision there. The impact of this is very evident in Year 1, the first year group to experience the full two years in the Foundation Stage. Progress is good in Years 1 and 2. However, although standards in reading and writing are still below average in Year 2,

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Grade: 2

they are improving. The school improvement plan sets a clear agenda for the coming year. Discussions with senior managers and staff show clearly that the school knows where it is going beyond this and what it needs to do to get there. However, this is not recorded in a written plan. Governors, many of whom are new, are not sufficiently involved in determining the overall direction of the school or in checking that it is on track to meet its priorities. Nevertheless, the recent improvements and the determination of all staff to help every pupil do as well as they can, give the school good capacity for further improvement.

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Grade: 1

Many children arrive at school with considerably underdeveloped speech and language skills and limited experiences of learning. The superb range of innovative learning experiences provided for them, which they really enjoy, ensures that they develop and grow in a safe and stimulating environment. They become increasingly alert to the world around them and their place in it, successfully developing independence alongside learning to work with others. For example, Reception children were adept at discussing and agreeing responses with a partner before putting their hands up to answer the teacher. Leadership and management are excellent. Each child's progress is meticulously tracked. Photographs, captions and written records are used to great effect to do this. Children in need of support are identified at a very early stage and effective individual programmes are put in place for them. All children make rapid and

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Grade: 1

sustained progress throughout the Foundation Stage. They reach, and a good number exceed, the standards expected for the end of Reception. 4 of 11 Inspection Report: Dove Bank Primary School, 16 °17 October 2007

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Give pupils in Year 2 every possible opportunity to practise and use their reading and writing skills to raise standards in those aspects of English even more quickly. ■ Involve the whole school community in setting out a longer-term strategic plan that focuses on ways of continuing the good progress now evident throughout the school.

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Grade: 2

Pupils start school with skills and abilities which are well below national expectations. Standards have risen significantly since 2005 and they are now similar to the national average in Year 6. This represents good achievement. The school has focussed successfully on improving pupils' literacy skills, especially writing, and particularly boys' writing. Through speaking, listening and role-play activities, pupils extend their vocabulary and gain a better understanding of the texts they read. This was seen, for example, in Year 6, where some pupils wrote as if they were a French soldier, describing what they saw, heard and felt. Progress is good and still improving in Years 1 and 2. Standards in reading and writing at the end of Year 2 have been well below average for a number of years but in the current Year 2, they are now much closer to average. The benefits of the Nursery and the two-year Foundation Stage are particularly evident in Year

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Grade: 2

1, where pupils are making good progress.

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Grade: 2

Pupils enjoy school and are enthusiastic about learning because they feel safe, secure and well cared for. They are confident that teachers will always help them and that the few instances of bullying or misbehaviour that do occur are quickly and effectively resolved. While pupils behave well in and around the school, behaviour occasionally becomes more boisterous in the playground. Pupils explain healthy eating well and readily join in the wide range of sporting activities offered. Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness is good. They know the difference between right and wrong and have a good understanding of social responsibility. Their attendance is satisfactory. They care for and support each other and older pupils readily help younger ones. Pupils from different year groups contribute well to the community as school councillors and classroom helpers. In one class, they were eager to find out whose name

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Grade: 2

was inside the balloon as the helper of the day because they really wanted to help manage their classroom. Their understanding of cultural diversity is promoted well through, for example, the school's multicultural week. Overall, the school prepares pupils well for the future.

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Grade: 2

Teachers base their good planning on their in-depth knowledge of the progress of each pupil. This is gained from thorough assessments of pupils' learning and wellfocused marking that leaves pupils in no doubt about what they need to do to improve. Teachers' planning also takes good account of the targets in the individual education plans for pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. This, and the consistent approach to managing all pupils' behaviour, contributes greatly to the pupils' good progress. Pupils report that teachers teach 'in a fun 5 of 11 Inspection Report: Dove Bank Primary School, 16 °17 October 2007 way' that 'helps us remember' and that they always know the objectives for a lesson. In some classes, pupils have to write the objectives in their books and for slower writers this is not the best use of time. Additionally, an activity sometimes goes on a bit too long, pupils become

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Grade: 2

restless and this slows their learning. Overall, however, teachers use time and resources, including their well-briefed teaching assistants, well.

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Grade: 2

Throughout the school, the strong focus on making learning more interesting and meaningful through cross-curricular links contributes to the pupils' improved progress. This approach successfully promotes literacy and numeracy skills but more remains to be done for it to be fully effective, especially for writing. However, leaders and managers check and, where necessary, adapt the specific programmes for each year group to ensure that learning is continuous and challenging for all pupils. Thus the provision for pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is good and a new 'maths challenge' programme is providing additional challenge for more able pupils. Pupils receive a rich education in sport and the arts through the good range of visits, visitors and extra-curricular clubs and activities available to them. The curriculum is further enhanced by focus weeks such as those promoting healthy living and an awareness

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Grade: 2

of cultural diversity. Teachers also use information and communication technology (ICT) well to stimulate pupils' interests and develop their ICT skills.

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Grade: 2

Teachers and other adults work hard to encourage pupils to do as well as they can personally and academically. The school tracks pupils' individual progress carefully in both areas. Pupils who falter for whatever reason receive well-focused support to get their learning back on track. This includes, where relevant, giving them access to specialised help. The school uses its teaching assistants and outside agencies well in this and it works very hard to involve parents in helping their children to learn. The vast majority of parents praise the school, describing it as a 'happy place' that their children enjoy attending. Pupils have well-focused learning targets, which they know and understand. Teachers' marking helps them see the small steps they need to take to reach their targets. Pupils appreciate this saying it helps them to reach their targets quicker. Safeguarding procedures are robust. As a result, pupils work and play in a wellstructured learning

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Grade: 2

environment in which they feel cared for and valued. The confident, positive self-image this gives the pupils underpins their good progress.

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Grade: 2

The headteacher's determination to drive up standards is at the heart of the school's work. It has successfully focused the whole school on improving pupils' progress, and led to clear improvement in a short space of time. The school easily met its targets last year as pupils' progress rapidly accelerated and the work done through the ISP and the Primary Leadership Strategy began to bear fruit. It is rightly looking to raise the bar further with more challenging targets for 2008 and beyond. The school has used its good links with the local authority to confirm the accuracy of its own checks on teaching and learning. Governors are kept well informed through the headteacher's reports but they are not as involved in checking the school's 6 of 11 Inspection Report: Dove Bank Primary School, 16 °17 October 2007 work or in determining its direction as they might be. The school improvement plan sets the right priorities and builds successfully on the review of the previous year's plan. However, there

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Grade: 2

is no long-term strategic view for school improvement. The school is aware of this and a meeting has already been arranged to draw this up. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: Dove Bank Primary School, 16 °17 October 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: Dove Bank Primary School, 16 °17 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? 1 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? 3 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 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?

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: Dove Bank Primary School, 16 °17 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 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: Dove Bank Primary School, 16 °17 October 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ 18 October 2007 Dear Pupils Inspection of Dove Bank Primary School, Kidsgrove, ST7 4AP Thank you very much for the warm welcome you gave us when we visited your school this week, and for talking to us about your work. You go to a good school where all staff have your best interests at heart and want you to do well. Here is a summary of what we found. ■ You are taught well. As a result, all of you are making good progress. You are right when you say your teachers like to make learning fun for you. They make good links between subjects to enable this to happen. ■ You behave well, although you are sometimes a bit over-excited in the playground, and you clearly care for each other. We saw this in the way you helped each other in class and older pupils helped younger ones at other times. ■ You clearly understand the targets you have to support your learning and the additional help teachers give you when they mark your work that shows you how to reach your targets.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ The headteacher leads the school well. She makes sure that all staff know what is expected of them in helping you to learn faster. We have asked the school to do the following to help it keep up the good improvement that is evident in the past two years. ■ Give pupils in Year 2 every possible opportunity to practise their reading and writing to help them reach higher standards at the end of the year. ■ Involve everybody in looking at how much further the school might improve over the next few years to make sure that the good progress you are making now continues into the future. You can help in this by always trying hard to do your best. We wish you every success in the future and hope you continue to enjoy learning as much as you do now. Yours faithfully Doris Bell Lead inspector 11 of 11 Inspection Report: Dove Bank Primary School, 16 °17 October 2007

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Annex B

Inspection of Dove Bank Primary School, Kidsgrove, ST7 4AP

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Annex B

Thank you very much for the warm welcome you gave us when we visited your school this week, and for talking to us about your work. You go to a good school where all staff have your best interests at heart and want you to do well. Here is a summary of what we found. • You are taught well. As a result, all of you are making good progress. You are right when you say your teachers like to make learning fun for you. They make good links between subjects to enable this to happen. • You behave well, although you are sometimes a bit over-excited in the playground, and you clearly care for each other. We saw this in the way you helped each other in class and older pupils helped younger ones at other times. • You clearly understand the targets you have to support your learning and the additional help teachers give you when they mark your work that shows you how to reach your targets. • The headteacher leads the school well. She makes sure that all staff

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Annex B

know what is expected of them in helping you to learn faster.

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Annex B

We have asked the school to do the following to help it keep up the good improvement that is evident in the past two years. • Give pupils in Year 2 every possible opportunity to practise their reading and writing to help them reach higher standards at the end of the year. • Involve everybody in looking at how much further the school might improve over the next few years to make sure that the good progress you are making now continues into the future.

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Annex B

You can help in this by always trying hard to do your best. We wish you every success in the future and hope you continue to enjoy learning as much as you do now.

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