Shawley Community Primary School

Shawley Community Primary School Inspection report

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125005 Unique Reference Number Surrey Local Authority 315118 Inspection number 25 January 2008 Inspection date Wendy Simmons 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 °11 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 270 School The governing body Appropriate authority Mr M Elster Chair Mr C Gill Headteacher 3 February 2004 Date of previous school inspection Shawley Way School address Tattenham Corner Epsom KT18 5PD 01737 350344 Telephone number 01737 362484 Fax number

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4-11 Age group 25 January 2008 Inspection date 315118 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 an Additional Inspector. The inspector evaluated the overall effectiveness of the school and investigated the following issues:

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Introduction

■ how well leaders and teachers are working to improve reading and writing from the Foundation Stage to the end of Year 2 ■ how well leaders and teachers are helping to improve the provision for boys in English and mathematics ■ why pupils do so well in science.

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Introduction

Other aspects of the school's work were not investigated in detail, but the inspector found no evidence to suggest that the school's own assessments, as given in its self-evaluation, were not justified. These have been included where appropriate in this report. Evidence was gained from lessons and the school's own evaluations of its work. Discussions were held with staff and pupils and a range of documentation was evaluated. Samples of pupils' work were scrutinised. The views of parents were gathered from questionnaires.

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Description of the school

Shawley Primary School is an over subscribed school, which is slightly larger than average. The school serves an extremely mixed area in Surrey. The school takes many pupils from advantaged home backgrounds but in recent years, there has been an increase in the numbers joining from an area of high social deprivation. A growing proportion of children come to the school having not attended a pre-school setting. Most pupils come from White British backgrounds. The next largest groups are those from Asian or mixed ethnic heritages. Few pupils speak English as an additional language. An average proportion have learning difficulties or disabilities. The school has experienced considerable staff turnover recently due to maternity leave.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 9 Inspection Report: Shawley Community Primary School, 25 January 2008

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Grade: 2

Shawley Primary School is a good school, where relationships are very good. Pupils benefit from effective teaching overall and an interesting curriculum. In return, pupils are hard working and friendly and enjoy learning. Staff are enthusiastic and teamwork is good. They all want pupils to benefit from an education that gives them 'Learning for life'. Almost all parents have confidence in the school. As one put it, 'My child has grown educationally and as an individual'. Pupils said that, '...staff are super dooper, they always listen'. The headteacher provides strong leadership and is well supported by other leaders, staff and governors. The school has faced staffing difficulties in the last two years, due to maternity leave. This is not yet fully resolved. Nonetheless, leaders have managed this situation well, so that pupils continue to make good overall progress. However, it has meant that progress has

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Grade: 2

been uneven in some year groups. The school's self-evaluation is outstanding and, as a result, it has very accurately identified its priorities for development. From children's often lower than expected starting point they do well and reach standards that are above average by the end of Year 6. High standards have been maintained almost consistently since 2003, although there was a drop in 2007 in English and mathematics. This was largely due to weaker performance by a few boys. Evidence from tracking information shows that, although pupils are likely to gain higher results this year, the very challenging targets set are a little unrealistic based on how well pupils are currently doing. This is why target setting is judged to be satisfactory rather than good. Standards are average by the end of Year 2. Leaders know that they could be higher, especially in reading and writing. The increased emphasis on helping pupils to learn letters and sounds

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Grade: 2

is helping pupils to make faster progress. There are however, missed opportunities in reading lessons to ensure that pupils are taught exactly what it means to blend sounds together when they read or write a new or tricky word. Teachers encourage discussions throughout the school but, in Key Stage 1, adults do not demonstrate enough how to write down pupils' ideas. Teachers are beginning to encourage pupils to do more extended writing, but there is room for more of this, especially at Key Stage 1. Pupils do especially well in science as they do many experiments that encourage them to think in a scientific way. Then, they reflect on their learning when writing up their investigations. Strong links between science and literacy aid their skills, and revision activities support their ability to remember new things well. The 'Learning to Learn -5Rs Project' plays an important role in much of the good learning that occurs in the school. This is because pupils are encouraged

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Grade: 2

to develop a readiness to learn, resilience and resourcefulness. Added to this, pupils are encouraged to reflect on, and remember what they are learning. Pupils greatly enjoy project work, noting in particular how information and communication technology (ICT) aids their research. Parents agree and said, 'Learning is made fun through activity weeks'. Achievement is good for all groups of learners. This includes girls and boys, pupils in receipt of free school meals and those who speak English as an additional language. The few from ethnic minority groups almost wholly do better than the national performance for this group. Pupils with learning difficulties also do well, particularly in English and science. Most of this group has either moderate learning difficulties, dyslexia or behavioural difficulties. Boys are now doing better than they did because leaders have introduced more problem solving activities

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Grade: 2

in mathematics and greater use of drama and film clips to inspire boys in their writing. This is 4 of 9 Inspection Report: Shawley Community Primary School, 25 January 2008 having a good effect, as was evident when pupils acted out being Romans and Celts, and then researched about Boadicea before writing their own historical diaries. Boys noted that games are very good in mathematics, '...they help you to have fun'. The good support, guidance and care contribute much to the school meeting learners' needs. However, the quality of marking and pupils' awareness of their individual targets is inconsistent and not yet helpful enough in guiding pupils in how to improve their skills. Teachers follow the school's behaviour management policy very well. During the inspection pupils behaved mostly very well, although a few needed to be reminded several times of what was expected. The school notes that the behaviour of a few is sometimes challenging and this

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Grade: 2

is why behaviour is judged to be satisfactory rather than good. A very small proportion of parents had concerns about behaviour. Pupils note that everyone is mostly good but sometimes a few are naughty. Pupils enjoy doing fitness activities and many attend the wide range of clubs. Leaders are working to gain the Healthy School Award. With this in mind, pupils said they would like more cookery activities, as they had especially enjoyed making fruit smoothies and organic apple crumble in eco club. Pupils are becoming increasingly involved in decision making about school life and show respect and care for others. The connecting classrooms project, which links Shawley with schools in Malawi and Ghana, together with International Weeks, effectively helps pupils to widen their cultural development. Pupils make a very good contribution to the community. They are fully involved in recycling. The inspector agrees wholeheartedly with a

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Grade: 2

comment made by one parent who said, 'The choir, is an excellent ambassador for the school and helps to raise money for charities and the community'. Attendance is good and has improved considerably since the last inspection.

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Grade: 2

Children's skills are very wide ranging when they join the Reception class and several lack basic early reading, writing and calculation skills. Children make good progress in most areas of learning because teaching and learning are good. An interesting range of activities help children to learn in different ways. By the end of the Reception Year, children's skills are average overall. Personal development is given a high focus. Reading and writing are improving well. Almost all children know all of their initial letter sounds and they are keen to write. Children make especially good gains in their emotional development, their ability to do simple calculations and in their knowledge of shapes and simple measurement. Children's physical development is also greatly enhanced. Leaders know that creativity is too limited. Funds have been allocated to buy more dressing up clothes to inspire more imaginative role-play. Leaders also recognise

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Grade: 2

that children should be using their imaginations more when working with musical instruments, paints and when making models.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Improve teaching and learning in reading and writing in Years 1 and 2.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Make sure that the target-setting process, for pupils and the school as a whole, is as accurate and as helpful as possible, to aid improvement. 5 of 9 Inspection Report: Shawley Community Primary School, 25 January 2008 .

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What the school should do to improve further

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 of 9 Inspection Report: Shawley Community Primary School, 25 January 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 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 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?

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. 7 of 9 Inspection Report: Shawley Community Primary School, 25 January 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 3 How effectively leaders and managers use challenging targets to raise standards 1 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? 8 of 9 Inspection Report: Shawley Community Primary School, 25 January 2008

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

06 February 2008 Dear Pupils Inspection of Shawley Community Primary School,Epsom,KT18 5PD You may remember that a school inspector came to your school recently. Thank you for telling me about your school. I am writing to let you know what I have found. You go to a good school, which means that most things are done well and only a few things need to be improved. Your school is welcoming and friendly and you agree with me that the staff are kind and caring. I am pleased that most of you enjoy coming to school and well done for improving your attendance. Congratulations to almost all of you for behaving well. For those of you who find this more difficult, please try hard to behave as well as possible. You have many interesting things to do whilst at school and you work hard. You are helped to make good progress in learning new things because your teachers are doing a good job. I especially like the 5Rs work, science and project work. The new mathematical problem solving

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

activities, drama and the use of film clips are helping you to get even better in English and mathematics. By the time that you leave Shawley, many of you are working at higher levels than is the case in some other schools. This is something to be very proud of. I was very impressed with your community work and in the way that teachers are helping you to learn about other cultures. Your headteacher and all other adults are keen to do the best they can for you. We agree that to make the school even better they need to:

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ help pupils in Years 1 and 2 to get even better with their reading and writing

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ make sure that they explain how you can improve your work and check that you know what your learning targets are. Yours faithfully, Wendy Simmons Lead Inspector 9 of 9 Inspection Report: Shawley Community Primary School, 25 January 2008

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