Woodgate Primary SchoolOfsted inspection, 11 Dec 2007

Warninglid Primary School Inspection report

p.1

125936 Unique Reference Number West Sussex Local Authority 315362 Inspection number 11 December 2007 Inspection date Helen Hutchings Reporting inspector

p.1

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

p.1

Primary Type of school Community School category 4 °11 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 67 School The governing body Appropriate authority Peter Still Chair Helen Watkin Headteacher 26 March 2003 Date of previous school inspection Slaugham Lane School address Warninglid Haywards Heath RH17 5TJ 01444 461329 Telephone number 01444 461696 Fax number

p.1

4-11 Age group 11 December 2007 Inspection date 315362 Inspection number .

p.1

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.

p.2

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.

p.2

Introduction

The inspection was carried out by two Additional Inspectors.

p.3

Description of the school

This village school is smaller than most primary schools. The majority of pupils are from White British backgrounds. The percentage of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is average but varies from year to year. Pupils come from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds, which is not reflected in the very low take-up of free school meals. All pupils are taught in mixed-age classes, with Class One containing pupils from the Reception Year to Year 2.

p.3

Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 11 Inspection Report: Warninglid Primary School, 11 December 2007

p.3

Grade: 3

This school provides a satisfactory education for its pupils and has some good features to its work. Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the school, making comments such as, 'We are very lucky to have such a wonderful school'. They value the school's family atmosphere and positive climate for learning. As one parent commented, 'Every pupil is made to feel wanted and the staff make the children's experience of learning extremely fulfilling'. Pupils are well cared for and, because they are well known by staff, have good personal guidance and individual support. This leads to good spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils are considerate of one another. Their views are listened to and acted on well, for example, in changing the school uniform. Pupils' achievement is satisfactory. Teaching is satisfactory and pupils make satisfactory progress from their different starting points across the school. Consequently, children in the Reception

p.4

Grade: 3

Year reach the expected standards for their age by the end of the year. Standards are broadly average overall by the end of Year 6, although there is some variation from year to year depending on the proportion of pupils with learning difficulties in each year group. Pupils' progress is monitored regularly. A current focus for improvement is for teachers to use information on progress more effectively so that work always builds on what pupils already know and can do. At present, some of the tasks in lessons do not provide pupils with enough challenge and this slows the pace of learning. A few parents rightly commented on the effective use of homework topics to help pupils to learn to work independently. Marking and target setting are developing but do not yet give pupils enough guidance about what they have to do to improve their work further. Parents recognise the headteacher's strengths in managing a well-ordered and friendly school.

p.4

Grade: 3

As one parent of a child who has recently joined the school commented, 'The headteacher is genuinely interested in the progress of all children and has done everything possible to ensure that my child has been integrated into the school'. Governors have a good understanding of their roles and provide good levels of support. Many staff are new to their current roles in managing subjects. They have made a good start, for example, in revising the curriculum to make better links between subjects. The school has taken advantage of links with its network schools to provide valuable professional development and additional learning opportunities for pupils and this helps to make the curriculum good. There is a strong commitment to improving the quality of education. Leaders have identified the appropriate areas for development and progress is beginning to improve, demonstrating the school's sound capacity

p.4

Grade: 3

Children in the Foundation Stage are confident and familiar with school routines, enabling them to carry on their activities effectively alongside older pupils in the class. Children join the school with skills broadly meeting the expectations for their age. Most have good personal and social skills but many have lower levels of language development. They make satisfactory progress across the areas of learning, with good progress being made in numeracy because there has been a whole school focus on mathematics. Children thoroughly enjoy the access to an outside area and playing with the range of equipment and activity areas available to them there. They have a balance of structured and self-initiated activities, developing their early 4 of 11 Inspection Report: Warninglid Primary School, 11 December 2007 literacy and numeracy skills. However, children are not given enough opportunities to engage in extended independent literacy and numeracy tasks and this sometimes slows their learning.

p.4

Grade: 3

Adults are good role models as learners, often completing similar activities alongside children and engaging well in discussion to strengthen children's language skills. The classroom is well organised which caters satisfactorily for the wide age range in the class.

p.5

What the school should do to improve further

■ Ensure that teaching has a greater impact on raising standards by raising expectations of what pupils can achieve and providing more challenging work. ■ Set more precise short-term targets so that pupils are clear about exactly what they have to do to improve their work. 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.

p.5

Grade: 3

Pupils' achievements are satisfactory. Standards are generally in line with national averages by the end of Year 6, although there is some fluctuation from year to year because of the differing abilities and small numbers of pupils in each year group. In 2007, standards in the Year 6 national tests were above average, reflecting satisfactory progress for these pupils from their starting points. Standards in the Year 2 assessments have improved over the last two years, reversing a previous decline, and are now slightly above average. This gives pupils in Years 3 and 4 a stronger literacy and numeracy foundation for their future achievements. Pupils currently in Years 5 and 6 have had some disruption to their learning because of staff changes but now that staffing is stable, pupils are making more even progress in their work. Last year the school did not reach its targets in mathematics but a more consistent whole school approach to

p.5

Grade: 3

calculations is now improving mathematics standards. The school tracks pupils' progress regularly and uses a range of different approaches effectively to support individuals who are beginning to fall behind.

p.5

Grade: 2

Pupils have good attitudes to school and are fully involved in school life as shown by their good attendance. They are thoughtful and perceptive in their comments about their school experiences. Pupils feel safe and they say that people in the school are kind and care for one another well. For example, they appreciate the 'Friendship Stop' as a way of ensuring that everyone has someone to play with at break and lunchtime. Pupils' good behaviour makes a significant contribution to learning in lessons and their overall enjoyment of school. Pupils are confident that any rare incidents of bullying are dealt with effectively by adults. Keeping fit and healthy are important to pupils and the school council made a very effective contribution to the school community when it represented the school in its successful bid to provide hot meals at lunch time. Pupils have a good awareness of their role as citizens in multi-cultural

p.5

Grade: 2

Britain, rectifying a weakness identified in the last inspection report. They have good personal skills so that they work co-operatively together and their satisfactory literacy and numeracy skills give them a sound foundation to transfer successfully to secondary education and eventually to the world of work. 5 of 11 Inspection Report: Warninglid Primary School, 11 December 2007

p.5

Grade: 3

The recent stability in staffing has helped teaching to become more consistent across the school and pupils to make steadier progress. Teachers have good subject knowledge and prepare lessons to provide pupils with a variety of activities. However, they do not always plan tasks that take sufficient account of pupils' differing starting points. Consequently, work is not always challenging and sometimes not enough is expected of the quality and quantity of pupils' recorded work in the time available. However, as new teachers gain confidence, they are developing their skills to meet the wide range of needs of pupils in their mixed-age classes and rates of progress are beginning to improve. Pupils use opportunities to assess their own achievements against a shared learning objective well, including routines such as finishing their work with 'happy or sad faces'. Teachers mark work regularly and carefully point out pupils'

p.6

Grade: 3

positive achievements, but generally do not include sufficient written feedback for pupils to have an accurate ongoing record of exactly what they have to do to improve further. Experienced teaching assistants are clear about their roles and make a valuable contribution to pupils' learning, especially those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.

p.6

Grade: 2

A recent review of planning has resulted in a good curriculum which includes developing stronger links between subjects to make learning more relevant and interesting for pupils. This is strengthening the teaching of literacy, numeracy and science in particular. The school's approach is soundly based on ensuring that pupils have good first hand experiences, so that learning is active and engaging, with the potential to improve standards further. Information and communication technology is effectively supporting learning across the curriculum but opportunities are still missed to extend pupils' writing or numeracy skills by using them in other subjects. The inclusion of French for pupils in Years 3 to 6 is successfully embedded within the curriculum and some specialist teaching, for example, in physical education enriches pupils' experiences well. The personal, social and health education programme is contributing effectively

p.6

Grade: 2

to pupils' social and moral development. The curriculum is further enriched through a wide range of visits and visitors to the school and pupils particularly value the opportunities for residential visits. Pupils participate in a very wide range of extra-curricular activities for a school of this size.

p.6

Grade: 3

Pupils feel well supported and safe in school because they are well known by adults and they like the family atmosphere of the school. The introduction of a learning mentor has proved very effective in giving pupils good opportunities to share their concerns with an adult and they are given good individual support when this is needed. Child protection procedures are secure and arrangements to promote attendance have effectively reduced absence. Academic support is satisfactory. Teachers track pupils' progress regularly but they do not always use this information well enough to plan the next step in learning. They give pupils academic targets to aim at, but these are not always fully understood. Consequently, pupils 6 of 11 Inspection Report: Warninglid Primary School, 11 December 2007 are not always aware of how they can do better. Pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are identified quickly and given appropriate support, so that they make progress in

p.6

Grade: 3

The headteacher has effectively built a new staff team with the capacity to take the school forward successfully. She has established a strong sense of teamwork across the whole staff team, with all contributing well to planning for future developments. Lesson planning is undertaken as a shared activity. Most teachers are new to their areas of responsibility but have already made significant improvements to the curriculum, although this is at an early stage of implementation and is not yet reflected in significant improvements in pupils' achievement over time. There are satisfactory systems for monitoring and evaluating the school's work. Staff are fully aware of the areas requiring further development and the information from evaluation is beginning to be used effectively to improve practice, particularly in developing new approaches to teaching literacy and numeracy. The school's self-evaluation is a little too optimistic in some

p.7

Grade: 3

aspects but the new team is becoming more confident and demanding of itself and knows that it needs to set even more challenging targets if the school is to realise its aspiration to be good in all areas of its work. Governors know the school well and are supportive of it. Many governors are relatively new to their roles and have quickly gained the knowledge to be challenging in their questioning of the school's performance. They provide a very good channel of communication for parents through the 'Parent Forum'. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: Warninglid Primary School, 11 December 2007 .

p.7

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: Warninglid Primary School, 11 December 2007

p.8

Inspection judgements

School Overall Key to judgements: grade 1 is outstanding, grade 2 good, grade 3 satisfactory, and grade 4 inadequate

p.9

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

p.9

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

p.9

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

p.9

and interests of learners?

3 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

p.9

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: Warninglid Primary School, 11 December 2007

p.9

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: Warninglid Primary School, 11 December 2007

p.10

Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

12 December 2007 Dear Children Inspection of Warninglid School, Haywards Heath RT17 5TJ

p.11

Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Thank you for your friendly welcome when we visited your school recently. We were sorry that we did not have the time to speak to you all but my colleague thoroughly enjoyed talking to school council representatives. We write to let you know what we found out. ■ Your school gives you a sound education.

p.11

Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Satisfactory teaching helps you to make satisfactory progress in your work

p.11

Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ The school council is a good way for you to make your views known and to help make the school better. We were particularly impressed with the work of the school council in planning to introduce hot meals soon. ■ You behave very well and are considerate of other people.

p.11

Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ You told us that you feel safe and that adults help you when you have problems.

p.11

Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ You are very active and take part in a lot of clubs and extra-curricular activities.

p.11

Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ The staff think carefully about how well the school is doing and have worked hard to improve the way they teach you literacy, numeracy and science.

p.11

Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ We agree with your teachers about the most important things to do next:

p.11

Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ To give you tasks which are even more challenging so that you will do even better in your work. ■ To use the information from your assessments and daily work to set targets which help you to understand exactly what you have to do to make your work better. We are sure you will help them by working hard and doing even more work like writing at length in lessons. We wish everyone at Warninglid School every success in the future. With best wishes Helen Hutchings Lead inspector 11 of 11 Inspection Report: Warninglid Primary School, 11 December 2007

p.11

Inspection of Warninglid School, Haywards Heath RT17 5TJ

Thank you for your friendly welcome when we visited your school recently. We were sorry that we did not have the time to speak to you all but my colleague thoroughly enjoyed talking to school council representatives. We write to let you know what we found out. • Your school gives you a sound education. • Satisfactory teaching helps you to make satisfactory progress in your work • The school council is a good way for you to make your views known and to help make the school better. We were particularly impressed with the work of the school council in planning to introduce hot meals soon. • You behave very well and are considerate of other people. • You told us that you feel safe and that adults help you when you have problems. • You are very active and take part in a lot of clubs and extra-curricular activities. • The staff think carefully about how well the school is doing and have worked hard to improve the way they teach you literacy, numeracy and

p.12

Inspection of Warninglid School, Haywards Heath RT17 5TJ

We agree with your teachers about the most important things to do next: • To give you tasks which are even more challenging so that you will do even better in your work. • To use the information from your assessments and daily work to set targets which help you to understand exactly what you have to do to make your work better. We are sure you will help them by working hard and doing even more work like writing at length in lessons.

p.12

Inspection of Warninglid School, Haywards Heath RT17 5TJ

We wish everyone at Warninglid School every success in the future. With best wishes

p.12