Georgian Gardens Community Primary School

Georgian Gardens Community Primary School Inspection report

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125959 Unique Reference Number West Sussex Local Authority 315371 Inspection number 11 °12 June 2008 Inspection dates Christine Pollitt 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 415 School The governing body Appropriate authority Rosemary Cornish Chair William F Molloy Headteacher 21 June 2004 Date of previous school inspection Guildford Road School address Rustington Littlehampton BN16 3JB 01903 771555 Telephone number 01903 850746 Fax number

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4-11 Age group 11 °12 June 2008 Inspection dates 315371 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 three Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

This larger than average school serves its local area. Numbers on roll are stable and the school is almost full. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is average, but the proportion of pupils with statements of special educational need is above average. Most pupils come from a White British heritage. Two years ago, the school, through the help of the local authority, entered the Intensive Support Programme (ISP), which provides support to raise achievement. The school achieved Healthy Schools Status in December 2007.

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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: Georgian Gardens Community Primary School, 11 °12 June 2008

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Grade: 3

This is a satisfactory school. Progress in raising achievement in the core subjects of English, mathematics and science has been made in the last two years due to a thorough overhaul of the school's monitoring and evaluation of its work. This has led to the school focusing on better quality teaching, ensuring pupils are provided with the right level of challenge. Consequently, pupils achieve satisfactorily and reach broadly average standards by the time they leave school. The strong commitment of the headteacher to providing a caring, supportive and exciting environment ensures that pupils' personal development and well-being are good. The wonderful displays of pupils' creative work are a clear illustration of the vision of the school to providing a widely based curriculum. The school is effective in helping pupils grow into considerate and self-confident young people. Pupils' relationships with adults and with each other are good.

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Grade: 3

As parents noted, 'older pupils learn to take care of the younger ones' and 'the little ones feel really safe'. These skills rightly show that pupils are well prepared socially for the future, although, until recently, they were less well prepared academically. Pupils love coming to school, behave well, and are keen to work and play together. They say they feel safe and enjoy the vast choice of after-school activities. They are involved in their community, particularly in sport and gardening activities. Attendance levels are average. Good provision in the Foundation Stage enables children to progress well and make a positive start to their learning. Pupils throughout the rest of the school are making satisfactory academic progress, a marked improvement from the underachievement of the last three years. The better achievement is largely the result of the intensive support programme for teaching and learning.

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Grade: 3

This has resulted in consistently satisfactory progress for pupils, but an increasingly higher proportion of good progress in some year groups. Where teaching is at its best, there are high expectations, lessons are conducted at a brisk pace and pupils are challenged appropriately. In other years, the teaching is good at times, but the work in pupils' books indicates that it is not always as challenging, interesting or wide-ranging enough. This is because teachers do not always make best use of assessment information when planning work to meet the needs of all abilities in their class. Pupil's work is regularly marked, though it is not always clear to pupils what they need to do to improve, and to meet the targets they have been set. The school rightly identified the need to improve provision for higher attainers, and these pupils are now making better progress. The curriculum meets the needs of the pupils. It is having a positive impact on

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Grade: 3

learning, particularly through practical and investigative work and by developing subjects to make learning more enjoyable. The extensive after-school activities are extremely well attended. The senior leadership team play a significant role in driving forward school improvement by focusing well on the main priorities. The good self-evaluation identifies clear priorities that are leading to significant improvement and, combined with extensive external support, have increased the rigour of monitoring to address underachievement. This has included training a wider group of staff to enable them to take responsibility for standards across the school. For example, the school has rightly identified the need to develop the role of middle managers to enable them to be more involved in the monitoring of teaching and learning across the school. As part of this process, increasingly better-informed governors are challenging the work of the

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Grade: 3

school and the standards it achieves. Developments such as these and the better outcomes for pupils demonstrate the school's good capacity for further improvement. 4 of 11 Inspection Report: Georgian Gardens Community Primary School, 11 °12 June 2008

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Grade: 2

The Foundation Stage is a strength of the school. Arrangements for pupils entering school are robust, and parents feel involved in their child's learning. Pupils come into school with average skills and make good progress in all areas of learning, especially in reading and number, because of the good teaching and curriculum. Strong leadership and management ensure a safe and caring environment where pupils can actively engage in their learning. All adults have a good understanding of individual pupils, and plan a variety of activities to match their needs. Pupils in the two classes enjoy working and playing together, and adults interact well with them to support their learning. However, there are too few opportunities for child-led play.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Ensure all teaching is good, with high expectations, challenge and pace, to raise the achievement of all pupils. ■ Ensure that the day-to-day assessment of pupils' work provides pupils with clear guidance on what to improve, and that assessment information is used effectively to plan work to match pupils' needs. ■ Ensure monitoring and evaluation of standards and the quality of teaching are robust and identify priorities for improvement. 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.

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Grade: 3

During their time in school, pupils' achievement is satisfactory and they reach average standards in English, mathematics and science. Pupils finish Foundation Stage adequately prepared for Year 1 because of good teaching. Progress is satisfactory in Years 1 and 2. Over the last three years, national test results at the end of Years 2 and 6 have been low. In the Year 2 national tests, external moderation confirms that results for 2008 have significantly improved in reading and writing, and are likely to be above the national average in mathematics. This indicates that the whole-school focus on the teaching of mathematics this year has had good impact. Standards in Year 6 are broadly in line with those expected for their ages, with more pupils working at Level 5 in English and mathematics than last year. This again shows the improvement in the teaching. In addition, the development of theme-led activities to increase motivation has had

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Grade: 3

a positive impact on raising achievement. Additional help for those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities enables them to make satisfactory progress. More able pupils are now doing as well as they should in English and mathematics, although more pupils could reach these higher levels in science.

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Grade: 2

Pupils speak positively about the school. They value their good friendships and treat each other, staff and visitors with politeness and respect. Pupils commented, 'This is a happy school because everyone is friendly' and 'teachers make lessons fun'. They say there is little bullying and the school responds to any worries they have. Their knowledge of how to keep safe is 5 of 11 Inspection Report: Georgian Gardens Community Primary School, 11 °12 June 2008 outstanding; for example, everybody wears hats to protect them from the sun. They have a strong awareness of how to avoid danger and take care of one another. Pupils know why regular exercise and a healthy lifestyle are important, and are proud to have gained Sports Activemark, and 'lots of sports trophies'. They make an outstanding contribution to the community by participating in local events such as the village carnival, and they demonstrate a strong awareness

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Grade: 2

and appreciation of the benefits of caring for the environment. The skills they acquire prepare them satisfactorily for their future economic well-being. Their finished work in the many excellent displays around the school celebrates their outstanding spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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Grade: 3

The quality of teaching and learning is always satisfactory, with some examples of good and outstanding practice. Nevertheless, variability is the key reason why pupils' progress is better in some year groups than in others. In most lessons, teachers give clear explanations and their focused questioning extends pupils' knowledge and understanding. The quality of learning is enhanced by positive classroom relationships, mutual respect and the good behaviour of pupils. Teachers create a calm and orderly working atmosphere and pupils respond well to this and work hard. Classrooms are bright and inviting. Most teachers have clear expectations of what they expect pupils to learn, and tasks are well matched to pupils' abilities and linked to the lesson objectives. However, teachers do not always routinely set out success criteria for lessons so that pupils know what they should be learning and how to improve their work. Marking

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Grade: 3

across the school, while satisfactory overall, is inconsistent and does not always indicate to pupils how they can improve their work. Older pupils, however, do have a good understanding of the National Curriculum levels at which they are working.

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Grade: 2

A very wide and varied curriculum is offered, a fact acknowledged both by pupils and by their parents. Very good use is made of practical work in science, art, music and sport that is highly motivating for the pupils and provides a stimulating learning environment. Pupils speak warmly of the many clubs ° generally over thirty each term ¬° and the themes, visits and topics that they undertake, and are very proud of their achievements. The quadrangle celebrates the extensive family and community links that exist, and excellent displays around the school give only a taste of the many exciting activities. The school is now correctly working on making clear planned links between these many good individual initiatives and the basic skills that need to be developed in literacy and numeracy. This is correctly aimed at improving both the academic and personal development of all pupils.

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Grade: 2

The pastoral care given to pupils is outstanding and enables them to grow in confidence and self-esteem. Adults know pupils well and provide excellent role models to help them feel secure and enjoy learning. Pupils value this care and, as a parent commented, 'any individual child/parent who has a problem is given full attention.' Good links with parents ensure pupils 6 of 11 Inspection Report: Georgian Gardens Community Primary School, 11 °12 June 2008 settle quickly and that they are happy and involved in their learning. The needs of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are identified at an early stage and a good range of support is in place to help promote their personal and academic development. The school works well with many local services to promote pupils' learning and well-being. Academic guidance is only satisfactory because while it is good in some classes, there is variability. In some, good

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Grade: 2

practice involving pupils in assessment of their learning is in place while in others there is a lack of clarity about what pupils are learning, and why. When this happens, targets are not always fully explained to pupils, and work is not always matched to pupils' needs.

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Grade: 3

The leadership has a clear focus on raising achievement and has been very well supported by the local authority in its drive to raise standards. The first signs of success are evident in the improved standards in Year 2 and 6 and in the more consistently good progress that pupils in some year groups are making. The leaders of the school, and particularly the headteacher, are successfully promoting the personal development of pupils and creating an interesting and stimulating environment. All leaders are now beginning to share a common sense of purpose where inclusion is at the heart of the initiatives. However, this is not yet wholly successful, as some groups of pupils are not reaching their full academic potential. Monitoring of the school's provision has been intensive and has successfully improved the quality of teaching. The evaluation of this monitoring is not specific enough to raise all teaching to that of the best

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Grade: 3

and so eradicate the variability in the learning of pupils. The governing body are supportive of the school and, while a number are relative newcomers, they are developing their ability to provide the challenge that is needed to ensure all the intensive levels of support are as successful as they can be. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: Georgian Gardens Community Primary School, 11 °12 June 2008 .

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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: Georgian Gardens Community Primary School, 11 °12 June 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

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?

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 How well learners enjoy their education 3 The attendance of learners 2 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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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: Georgian Gardens Community Primary School, 11 °12 June 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 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: Georgian Gardens Community Primary School, 11 °12 June 2008

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

13 June 2008 Dear Pupils Inspection of Georgian Gardens Community Primary School, Littlehampton BN16 3JB Thank you for the welcome you gave to my colleagues and me when we visited your school for its recent inspection. We really enjoyed talking to you in lessons, meetings, and in the playground. We were very impressed by your confidence in discussing your views about the school. You clearly enjoy the school very much, and get on very well with the staff and with each other. The school looks after you very well, and helps everyone to feel safe and secure. The school gives you a satisfactory education. You make sound progress to reach standards which are similar to those in most schools. The headteacher has introduced many changes over the last few years to help to improve the progress you make, and these are having success. They have helped governors and staff to carry out their work more effectively. They are helping

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

teachers plan interesting lessons such as the sculpture for the garden, and the beach visits. We were impressed by the work you have displayed around the school, and the quality of your contribution in lessons. My inspection report indicates a number of ways in which the school can get even better. First, whilst the teaching is satisfactory, I have asked teachers to make sure that they plan work which gives everyone the right amount of challenge. I have asked them to give you clearer guidance on how to improve your work, especially by matching their marking to your targets. You can help here by looking carefully at your targets as you complete your work, to check you are meeting these. I have also asked the headteacher to make sure all your teachers help to check how well you are being taught, so that you are successful in doing the best that you can. I wish you every success in the future. Christine Pollitt Lead Inspector

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

11 of 11 Inspection Report: Georgian Gardens Community Primary School, 11 °12 June 2008

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Annex B

Inspection of Georgian Gardens Community Primary School, Littlehampton BN16 3JB

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Annex B

Thank you for the welcome you gave to my colleagues and me when we visited your school for its recent inspection. We really enjoyed talking to you in lessons, meetings, and in the playground. We were very impressed by your confidence in discussing your views about the school. You clearly enjoy the school very much, and get on very well with the staff and with each other. The school looks after you very well, and helps everyone to feel safe and secure.

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Annex B

The school gives you a satisfactory education. You make sound progress to reach standards which are similar to those in most schools. The headteacher has introduced many changes over the last few years to help to improve the progress you make, and these are having success. They have helped governors and staff to carry out their work more effectively. They are helping teachers plan interesting lessons such as the sculpture for the garden, and the beach visits. We were impressed by the work you have displayed around the school, and the quality of your contribution in lessons.

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Annex B

My inspection report indicates a number of ways in which the school can get even better. First, whilst the teaching is satisfactory, I have asked teachers to make sure that they plan work which gives everyone the right amount of challenge. I have asked them to give you clearer guidance on how to improve your work, especially by matching their marking to your targets. You can help here by looking carefully at your targets as you complete your work, to check you are meeting these. I have also asked the headteacher to make sure all your teachers help to check how well you are being taught, so that you are successful in doing the best that you can.

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