North Mundham Primary School

North Mundham Primary School Inspection report

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125847 Unique Reference Number West Sussex Local Authority 315324 Inspection number 5 °6 November 2007 Inspection dates Laurie Lewin 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 213 School The governing body Appropriate authority Anthony Atkins Chair Julia Carey Headteacher 19 May 2007 Date of previous school inspection School Lane School address North Mundham Chichester PO20 1LA 01243 785502 Telephone number 01243 530654 Fax number

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4-11 Age group 5 °6 November 2007 Inspection dates 315324 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

The school is average in size. Pupils come from the immediate and surrounding village areas. Most of them are White British, with a few coming from other ethnic backgrounds. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is close to the national average, but this proportion varies a lot from year group to year group. While the attainment of children beginning school is generally at the expected level, many show weak communication, language and literacy skills when they start.

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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: North Mundham Primary School, 5 °6 November 2007

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Grade: 3

This is a satisfactory and improving school, with some strong features. Good quality pastoral care ensures that pupils' personal development is good and that they become confident learners as they progress through the school. Many parents rightly comment on the good work of staff that makes the school a very caring community. The school has a welcoming atmosphere and relationships are good at all levels. As a result, pupils enjoy their time at school and especially like the wide range of extra activities, trips and visits. Pupils attain average standards in English, mathematics and science. Standards are higher in reading than they are in writing. Pupils' progress and achievement are satisfactory. Teaching is satisfactory and sometimes good or better. Teaching has improved in recent times, with better use of assessment information to help support and guide pupils. As a result, the progress made, especially by older pupils, is

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Grade: 3

better than it was previously. However, strategies used are not fully effective in developing pupils' skills to write in depth and detail. Pupils in Years 3 and 4 do not always progress as rapidly as they should. This is because lessons do not always succeed in matching tasks to their needs and pupils do not have enough clear guidance about how to improve their work. The school has worked successfully to improve the progress made by higher-attaining pupils in most year groups, but these pupils still do not always move on rapidly enough in Years 3 and 4. Children get a very strong start in the Foundation Stage because of the first-class provision, including outstanding teaching. They make very good progress so that by the time they start Year 1 the great majority have already achieved the early learning goals, with some achieving beyond this level. Teaching assistants throughout the school work well to support teachers and pupils in lessons.

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Grade: 3

In particular, they do a good job of ensuring that all pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities progress as well as their classmates in all lessons. The school is good at ensuring that these pupils are fully included in all activities. The school provides a lively and interesting curriculum that helps to boost pupils' interest in learning. Good innovative provision is made for involving pupils in using an interactive website set up by the school. The curriculum extensively promotes involvement in a wide range of sporting and arts activities and ensures that pupils acquire good levels of fitness and health. Through the effective work of their school council and their involvement in fund raising, pupils learn to make good contributions to the immediate and wider community. In conversation, they say they feel safe in school and have no qualms about seeking adult assistance should they encounter any problems.

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Grade: 3

Sound leadership and management ensure that staff and governors gain a clear understanding of what works well and what needs improving. In her two years in post the headteacher has done a good job of getting staff to work closely together as an effective team. Nonetheless, staff realise that there remains work to do in raising pupils' standards and achievement, especially in writing. Subject leaders are not fully effective in helping colleagues to develop good practice because there is insufficient time allocated to this aspect of their work. 4 of 11 Inspection Report: North Mundham Primary School, 5 °6 November 2007

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Grade: 1

Parents are justly impressed by the quality of provision in the Foundation Stage. When walking into this part of the school, a visitor could be forgiven for thinking that the children have been in school for a lot longer than is actually the case. The really good provision ensures all children are very comfortable with following the routines of the day. Excellent teaching seizes upon all possibilities, for example, even at registration time, to explore opportunities for learning, such as practising basic mathematical calculations with the numbers present and absent. The strong teamwork between staff ensures that children have high quality care, guidance and support. This results in the children feeling very secure and becoming very confident, so that they make rapid gains in their learning. A wide range of well-set-up and imaginatively planned activities boosts pupils' progress and ensures that learning is always full of fun and good surprises.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Raise standards in writing across the school by improving teaching strategies to develop pupils' literacy skills. ■ Enable pupils in Years 3 and 4 to make faster progress by ensuring that tasks always match their needs, particularly with higher-attaining pupils, and that individuals are given clear guidance on improving their work. ■ Strengthen the role of subject co-ordinators by providing them with sufficient time to support their colleagues and develop good practice. A small proportion of 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

Having got off to a very good start in the Foundation Stage, pupils progress and achieve well at Key Stage 1. Consequently, Year 2 pupils achieved slightly-above-average standards in 2007 national tests despite an above-average proportion of them having learning difficulties and/or disabilities. Work seen and the school's assessment/tracking information show a dip in performance of pupils in Years 3 and 4, with a significant number of them not progressing as well as they could. Good teaching in Years 5 and 6 enables pupils to catch up and performance data show good progress made by pupils in these year groups. Good work has been done by staff to raise reading standards. However, they recognise that standards in writing are not high enough. There has been some success in improving the quality of writing, but there still remains more to do to ensure pupils achieve as well as they can in this area.

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Grade: 2

'Ours is a really friendly school… and we enjoy lots of things here!' This was the verdict of Year 6 pupils when asked what they think of their school. They are right! Work in lessons shows pupils enjoying what they are doing and this is further confirmed by the views of their parents. Pupils are lively, friendly and caring of each other and all are happy to come to school. Their attendance is good. Pupils say they feel completely safe. Assemblies and classwork strongly promote pupils' acquisition of good spiritual, moral, social and culture awareness. Children in 5 of 11 Inspection Report: North Mundham Primary School, 5 °6 November 2007 the Foundation Stage progress very well with their personal, social and emotional development and learn to behave very well and pay close attention in lessons. Pupils across the school generally behave well, although very occasionally when tasks in lessons are not clear they show

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Grade: 2

distracted and unsettled behaviour. Pupils mainly gain sound skills to help them become successful in the future, except in writing, where their skills are weaker than they could be.

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Grade: 3

Over the last two years the school has worked successfully to improve teaching. In particular, establishing clear systems for tracking pupils' progress has helped teachers to raise the bar on using assessment information more precisely to guide their lesson plans. This is now resulting in some strong teaching, with well-planned work helping pupils make consistently good progress in some year groups. However, the improvements have not yet made enough impact on lessons in Years 3 and 4. As a result, activities planned in these year groups do not always match precisely enough with pupils' needs. This slows down the pace of learning and higher-attaining pupils in particular do not always achieve as well as they should. School action plans indicate that the school has rightly targeted improved teaching of writing as a key area across the school. Improved test results show some progress is being made here. However, work samples viewed

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Grade: 3

show that writing activities do not always give pupils enough chance to develop the skills they need to write in depth and detail. Teaching and support staff work effectively together. Staff have good relationships with the pupils and use these well to help individuals develop a confident and interested attitude to learning. This is particularly evident in the Foundation Stage, where teaching is outstanding.

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Grade: 2

Teachers work effectively to ensure that the curriculum covers all of the necessary areas and provides pupils with the type of activities and projects that they find interesting and stimulating. The wide range of extra activities, including lots of sports, music, art and dance activities, trips made and visitors to the school are especially popular with pupils. Pupils' personal development is enhanced by the fact that personal, social and health studies are fully ingrained into the overall planning of the curriculum. As a result, pupils have regular and organised opportunities to develop their skills in these zones. Teachers provide some appropriate opportunities for pupils to extend their writing skills in different subjects. However, the school recognises that there is scope for boosting this approach further as a means of driving up writing standards.

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Grade: 3

Parents are very impressed by the work of the staff in caring for their children and many of them mention how approachable staff are and how rapidly they respond to any difficulties that are picked up. The school is vigilant in ensuring that pupils are kept safe and all procedures, including those for child protection, are followed rigorously. Staff provide sound and sometimes good advice to help accelerate pupils' progress. However, this guidance is not precise enough in Years 3 and 4. For example, the marking of pupils' work in these year groups does not sufficiently highlight how individuals can improve their work. 6 of 11 Inspection Report: North Mundham Primary School, 5 °6 November 2007

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Grade: 3

The headteacher has worked well to help staff and governors review the performance of the school and keep the momentum of improvement moving. There is a positive atmosphere that reflects the staff and governors working together as an effective team. Monitoring and evaluation are satisfactory. While the school feels that teaching and leadership and management are good, inspection judgements evaluate these areas as being satisfactory. The school has nevertheless sustained a clear view on where it has needed to move forward. It has secured important improvements and identified appropriate priorities that are now strengthening its provision further. There have been some good improvements in teaching, including the use of assessment. There are good plans in place to help the school improve pupils' writing. This sound progress means that the school has a satisfactory capacity to improve further. Subject

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Grade: 3

co-ordinators are not fully effective in their roles. There is insufficient time set aside for them to spread good practice by working with their colleagues where appropriate. This is recognised by the school. Governors are knowledgeable about the school and well involved in monitoring its performance. The school works well with all partner organisations to help boost pupils' learning. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: North Mundham Primary School, 5 °6 November 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: North Mundham Primary School, 5 °6 November 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 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?

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 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?

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: North Mundham Primary School, 5 °6 November 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: North Mundham Primary School, 5 °6 November 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Dear Children Inspection of North Mundham Primary School, Chichester, West Sussex PO20 1LA

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ It was good to come and to see you at your school! Thank you for making us so welcome, talking to us and helping us during the school's inspection. I especially enjoyed the good discussion I had with some of you from Year 6. I learned a lot. I think you would all make very good future inspectors! The school is now doing a satisfactory job and has some strong features. Here are some of the most important bits of the report that we thought you might like to know about: ■ The provision for the children in the Foundation Stage is excellent and they get off to a super start in school. ■ You work hard in lessons and your achievement as you move through the school is satisfactory.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Your personal development is good and you told us that you feel safe and secure at school.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ You have a good curriculum and your teachers work hard to make it interesting for you.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Your teachers work closely together and provide you with satisfactory teaching.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ The school does a good job of making sure you are safe and that there is always someone available to help with any problems. ■ Your headteacher is successful in getting all of the staff to work together to keep the school improving. To improve further the school should now:

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Help you to improve the quality of your writing even more.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Find ways to help those of you in Years 3 and 4 to progress more quickly in your work. Also, to ensure that those of you in Years 3 and 4 who manage tasks easily are given work that challenges you fully. ■ Provide more time for the teachers who are in charge of different subjects to work with other teachers to make your lessons even better. I hope you all really enjoy the rest of the school year and help the staff as much as you can to keep things improving. Thank you again for being so helpful and friendly when we came to see you. Laurie Lewin Lead Inspector 11 of 11 Inspection Report: North Mundham Primary School, 5 °6 November 2007

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Annex B

Inspection of North Mundham Primary School, Chichester, West Sussex PO20 1LA

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Annex B

It was good to come and to see you at your school! Thank you for making us so welcome, talking to us and helping us during the school’s inspection. I especially enjoyed the good discussion I had with some of you from Year 6. I learned a lot. I think you would all make very good future inspectors! The school is now doing a satisfactory job and has some strong features. Here are some of the most important bits of the report that we thought you might like to know about:

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Annex B

• The provision for the children in the Foundation Stage is excellent and they get off to a super start in school. • You work hard in lessons and your achievement as you move through the school is satisfactory. • Your personal development is good and you told us that you feel safe and secure at school. • You have a good curriculum and your teachers work hard to make it interesting for you. • Your teachers work closely together and provide you with satisfactory teaching. • The school does a good job of making sure you are safe and that there is always someone available to help with any problems. • Your headteacher is successful in getting all of the staff to work together to keep the school improving.

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Annex B

To improve further the school should now:

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Annex B

• Help you to improve the quality of your writing even more. • Find ways to help those of you in Years 3 and 4 to progress more quickly in your work. Also, to ensure that those of you in Years 3 and 4 who manage tasks easily are given work that challenges you fully. • Provide more time for the teachers who are in charge of different subjects to work with other teachers to make your lessons even better.

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Annex B

I hope you all really enjoy the rest of the school year and help the staff as much as you can to keep things improving.

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Annex B

Thank you again for being so helpful and friendly when we came to see you.

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