Newburgh Primary School

Newburgh Primary School Inspection report - amended

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125561 Unique Reference Number Warwickshire Local Authority 315261 Inspection number 27–28 November 2008 Inspection dates John Horwood Reporting inspector

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. The registered childcare, managed by the governing body, was inspected under section 49 of the Childcare Act 2006.

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Primary Type of school Community School category 4–11 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 177 School (total) 0 Government funded early education provision for children aged 3 to the end of the EYFS 0 Childcare provision for children aged 0 to 3 years The governing body Appropriate authority Nicola Starr Chair Edward May Headteacher 11 July 2005 Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Date of previous funded early education inspection Not previously inspected Date of previous childcare inspection Kipling Avenue School address Warwick CV34 6LD 01926 775453 Telephone number 01926 775438 Fax number

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4–11 Age group 27–28 November 2008 Inspection dates 315261 Inspection number

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Amended Report Addendum

Report amended due to administration error

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Amended Report Addendum

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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Amended Report Addendum

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. 2 of 11 Inspection Report: Newburgh Primary School, 27–28 November 2008

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by two Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

This is a smaller than average primary school. The number of pupils is rapidly increasing. Most pupils come from White British backgrounds. There are few pupils at the early stages of speaking English but this number is steadily rising. The proportion of pupils entitled to free school meals is close to the national average but also increasing. The number of pupils who have learning difficulties and/or disabilities, which are mainly moderate learning difficulties or dyslexia, is slightly above the national average. Pupil mobility is increasing. The school has gained many awards, including Healthy School status, Arts Mark 'Silver Award' and the 'Green Flag' Eco-Schools Award. Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provision is only within the Reception class. Other EYFS provision, not managed by the governing body but on the school site, are a pre-school nursery, before- and after-school clubs and a Children's Centre.

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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: Newburgh Primary School, 27–28 November 2008

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Grade: 2

This is a good school. Parents recognise that it has many outstanding qualities. Their satisfaction with the school's provision far exceeds that seen in most schools. There were no concerns expressed about any aspect of care, safety, behaviour or leadership. Parental views were summarised by the comments of one parent who wrote, 'The school looks at every child's needs and works to get nothing but the best from each child. Children go to school happy and come home happy. All children are treated equally.' Parents also correctly identify the outstanding leadership of the headteacher and, as one parent commented, 'The school goes from strength to strength with a headteacher who gets the very best out of staff and children.' The senior leadership team and the governors have a clear commitment to raising standards. The quality of leadership and management overall is good and their impact on raising academic

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Grade: 2

standards and all aspects of pupils' personal development demonstrates a good capacity to improve the school. Staff at all levels are not prepared to accept 'satisfactory' as being good enough. The school provides an outstanding contribution to community cohesion through its worldwide links with faith groups, charitable endeavours and International eco project and is now a hub of the local community. The school is a well-respected and popular choice of parents. Pupils' achievement is good. Children make good progress in the EYFS. Pupils enter the school with slightly below the expected level of skills for their age. Their progress in lessons is consistently good because of good teaching and, by the time they leave the school, their standards are above average. There are no significant differences in the progress made by any group of pupils. Pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities make good progress because

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Grade: 2

of the good support they receive to address their specific needs. The school manages the individual support for pupils who join the school after the start of Year 1 very well and ensures they make good progress. The changes needed to the curriculum and to teaching when a significant number of new pupils join a class are not always made as quickly as they could be. Teaching is good. Teachers are knowledgeable and make lessons enjoyable within a supportive and caring learning environment. Work generally matches the needs of all pupils because assessment data is well used. Marking of pupils' work provides good guidance on how pupils can reach higher standards. The use of individual targets to help raise standards is good and pupils are confident in talking about them. The curriculum is broad and meets statutory requirements. Pupils talk excitedly about new opportunities they have, such as learning Spanish.

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Grade: 2

Provision for more able pupils is not sufficiently developed to enable them to make the better progress of which they are capable. A very good range of well-supported extra-curricular activities enriches the curriculum. Pastoral care is outstanding, with all systems in place to ensure the safety and care of pupils. There are outstanding links with external agencies to ensure support for vulnerable pupils. Strong links with other schools ensure pupils have smooth transfers to secondary schools. One parent commented that Newburgh is a caring school where every child matters and this was confirmed during the inspection. Relationships, behaviour, enjoyment, keeping safe, leading a healthy lifestyle and attendance are all outstanding. Pupils willingly take on responsibilities within school. Their contribution to the community is outstanding, with the school council being very effective. Pupils acquire good academic and social skills which prepare them well

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Grade: 2

for their next stage of education. 4 of 11 Inspection Report: Newburgh Primary School, 27–28 November 2008

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Grade: 2

Parents are very pleased with the good start given to their children in the Reception Year, particularly in the outstanding attention to their personal development and well-being. The school's excellent promotion of each individual's welfare, very strong partnership with parents and extensive and well-thought-out induction programmes ensure children settle quickly into the class. Children become happy and confident learners because adults give them plenty of exciting activities and just the right amount of help whilst at the same time encouraging them to become independent, for example in choosing their own activities. Children start in Reception with a very wide range of skills but overall these are slightly below those expected for their age. They make good progress and by the end of the year, most children reach broadly average standards and a few exceed this. The basic skills of speaking, listening,

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Grade: 2

reading, writing and number are given a high priority. Daily sessions focusing on letters and sounds help to boost their early reading and writing skills well. There is the correct balance between the activities children choose themselves and those directed by the adults. Leadership and management are good. Effective teamwork between teachers and skilled teaching assistants is a key factor in the good progress of all, including vulnerable children and those with additional needs. However, the outdoor area is underdeveloped and does not yet provide sufficient challenge in all areas of learning. The school is well aware that this is an aspect needing improvement and plans are in place to make changes.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Review teaching and the curriculum regularly to ensure they meet the changing needs of a class as new pupils join. ■ Make full use of the outdoor area for the EYFS to ensure sufficient challenge in all areas of learning. ■ Improve the provision for more able pupils so that they are able to make the better progress of which they are capable.

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Grade: 2

Standards of work seen in the school are generally above expected levels and all pupils make good progress in all lessons. At the end of Year 2, standards are above average in mathematics and science and close to average in writing. Good progress continues and, as the provisional 2008 school data shows, by the end of Year 6, pupils leave the school with standards above the 2007 national average. The school is focusing on raising standards especially in writing and also for boys. No differences were seen between subjects or groups of pupils during the inspection. All groups of pupils make similarly good progress but the more able pupils do not make as much progress as they could. Those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities make good progress because of the support they are given.

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Grade: 1

Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and relationships are outstanding. There is clear mutual respect between adults and pupils as well as among pupils. Behaviour is 5 of 11 Inspection Report: Newburgh Primary School, 27–28 November 2008 outstanding, ensuring that all pupils can learn in a safe and happy environment. No parents or pupils raised any concerns about behaviour. An outstanding quality of the pupils in general is the way the older ones look after the younger ones and there is mutual respect. The cultural understanding is outstanding. One parent commented that 'the school has provided a safe and nurturing environment where my children are able to celebrate their diversity and similarities with equal confidence and ease'. Pupils' enjoyment at being part of the school community is outstanding. This is reflected by their outstanding attendance and by their regular visits to the

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Grade: 1

headteacher's office to show their work, proudly leaving with a reward sticker.

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Grade: 2

Within overall good teaching, there are some emerging strengths and outstanding practice. Work is generally well matched to pupils' abilities and the teachers make good use of assessment data. Teachers make the lessons interesting, enjoyable and exciting. Often, this is achieved by the effective use of clear and challenging timescales for activities. They use a very good range of activities and make full use of information and communication technology (ICT) systems to stimulate learning. Learning objectives are shared with pupils who know what levels they are working at and what their targets are. Pupils are keen to contribute and teachers build on their responses to enhance learning. Pupils are becoming increasingly involved in self-assessment. Progress is good in lessons and is shared regularly with parents. Teaching assistants provide very effective support for all pupils, particularly pupils who need extra help.

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Grade: 2

The curriculum is broad and balanced, meeting national requirements. There is a strong focus on developing literacy and numeracy skills to enable pupils to achieve well. Priority is also given to personal, social and health education and this has resulted in the outstanding personal development of pupils. Ongoing development of the curriculum gives pupils the opportunity to extend their knowledge through such areas as modern foreign languages, which pupils find very exciting. Extra-curricular activities are provided for and attended well by pupils of all ages. These include visits out into the community to visit the theatre and the opportunity for a residential trip. Development of the curriculum to fully meet the needs of more able pupils is currently being carried out.

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Grade: 1

The pastoral care of pupils is outstanding. The school has established strong links with external agencies to help ensure pupils are cared for and supported well. Child protection procedures are securely in place. There is a high emphasis placed on personal development. As a result, pupils relate extremely well to each other. There are very good and effective systems for managing behaviour and monitoring attendance. Progress tracking systems are well established and supplemented by regular review meetings so that information is shared with pupils and parents. Systems for tracking the progress of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are equally effective at helping them to make good progress. All planning sheets include information extracted from individual education plans. Target setting is used consistently to 6 of 11 Inspection Report: Newburgh Primary School, 27–28 November 2008

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Grade: 1

encourage learning, and marking is effective in providing advice. Pupils talk confidently about their targets and say that all the teachers give them written advice on how to improve, or do this very well through talking to them.

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Grade: 2

The leadership of the headteacher is outstanding. The leadership team has a clear focus on raising standards. They ensure teaching is always good within an extremely caring and supportive environment. The well-led governing body fulfils all its legal requirements. There is a clear focus on developing the governing body to be representative of the local community and have the skills to improve the school still further. The impact that the leadership team and the governors have had on improving the school is good. The self-evaluation systems in the school are good and, together with the school improvement plan, demonstrate that areas for development are known and being addressed. Good assessment systems are in place, but the changing class numbers sometimes require a more frequent review of provision to help raise standards further. From a low level of community involvement, the school has now developed

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Grade: 2

very good links with the local community as part of the outstanding contribution it makes to community cohesion. It has already started to investigate ways of extending this into the further community to benefit pupils even more in their understanding of a diverse multicultural society. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: Newburgh Primary School, 27–28 November 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: Newburgh Primary School, 27–28 November 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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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 capacity to make any necessary improvements

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EYFS?

2 How well do children in the EYFS achieve? How good are the overall personal development and well-being of the children in the EYFS? 2 How effectively are children in the EYFS helped to learn and develop? 1 How effectively is the welfare of children in the EYFS promoted? 2 How effectively is provision in the EYFS led and managed?

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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/or disabilities make progress

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Achievement and standards

1 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: Newburgh Primary School, 27–28 November 2008

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learners?

1 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 The extent to which 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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learners' needs?

How well do the curriculum and other activities meet the range of needs and interests of learners? 1 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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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 2 How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination eliminated 1 How well does the school contribute to community cohesion? 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: Newburgh Primary School, 27–28 November 2008

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

1 December 2008 Dear Pupils Inspection of Newburgh Primary School, Warwick CV34 6LD Thank you for welcoming us to your school. We enjoyed talking to you, looking at your work and seeing how your school is helping you learn. We were very impressed by your behaviour and how polite and courteous you were to visitors. Your school is providing you with a good education and making sure that you make good progress in your work. These are some of the good things about your school.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ The staff care about you and look after you extremely well.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Relationships throughout the school are outstanding.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Your behaviour is outstanding, ensuring you are safe and happy.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ You have developed extremely good social skills.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Your headteacher, the staff and the governors are working hard to improve your school further. ■ There is a very good range of clubs and after-school activities.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Teaching and learning are always good and you make good progress.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

You can help the teachers by always working hard and asking them to help you when you need it. We have asked the headteacher to make sure that teaching and the subjects you study are regularly reviewed so they meet the changing needs of the classes as new pupils join. We have asked that the provision for those of you who find learning easier is improved and that better use is made of the outdoor area in the Reception class to increase learning opportunities for the Reception children. We wish you all the best in the future. John Horwood Lead inspector 11 of 11 Inspection Report: Newburgh Primary School, 27–28 November 2008

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