Lacock Church of England Primary School

Lacock Church of England Primary School Inspection report - amended

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126333 Unique Reference Number Wiltshire Local Authority 315500 Inspection number 22 November 2007 Inspection date Chris Nye HMI 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 Voluntary controlled School category 4 °11 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 70 School The governing body Appropriate authority Sally Wheeler Chair Jessica Caunter Headteacher 3 November 2003 Date of previous school inspection High Street School address Lacock Chippenham SN15 2LQ 01249 730271 Telephone number 01249 730271 Fax number

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4-11 Age group 22 November 2007 Inspection date 315500 Inspection number

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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.

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by one of Her Majesty's Inspectors. The inspector evaluated the overall effectiveness of the school and investigated the following issues: the impact assessment and target setting are having on achievement and progress, leadership and management by staff at different levels in the school, and how successful the school is in harnessing the advantages of a small rural school to help overcome any barriers to the quality of the provision. Evidence was gathered from lesson observations, discussions with the headteacher, chair of governors, staff and pupils, and the scrutiny of pupils' work, assessment data and documents. 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, and these have been included where appropriate in this report.

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Description of the school

The school, which has three mixed age classes, is much smaller than average and serves the small National Trust village of Lacock and the surrounding rural area. Pupils come from mixed social and economic backgrounds. The majority of pupils live in either rented or local authority housing. The proportion entitled to free school meals is well below the national average. All the pupils are of White British heritage. The number of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is slightly below average. All the teaching staff, including the headteacher, were appointed in the last three years. The school holds the Basic Skills Quality Mark 2 and has twice achieved Healthy Schools status.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 10 Inspection Report: Lacock Church of England Primary School, 22 November 2007

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Grade: 2

Lacock C of E Primary School is a good and improving village school with some outstanding features. Pupils greatly enjoy their learning and benefit from excellent levels of care, guidance and support. The headteacher has skilfully led the school through a recent time of considerable change and she has received exceptionally good support from the governors, parents and staff. The impact of these changes is starting to show in improvements in the quality of the provision. As one parent commented, 'Great things have been achieved in recent years.' The school works very well with parents and the community. It has developed excellent initiatives to encourage parents' involvement in their children's learning, such as clear guidance on how they can support writing and the very successful family learning projects. It has a good capacity for further improvement because it has a clear understanding of its strengths and is determined to overcome

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Grade: 2

its weaknesses. The standards achieved by pupils have improved in recent years and are average overall, with most achieving expected levels in English, mathematics and science by the time they leave at the end of Year 6. Many of these pupils started school with skills in reading, writing and mathematics that were below those expected for their age, so the progress that they made was good. Recently, progress in reading and writing has improved considerably throughout the school, and pupils at the end of Key Stage 1 reached above average standards in 2007. However, progress in mathematics is not as fast. The school is aware of this and is putting in place suitable strategies to improve teaching and learning in mathematics. Standards in speaking and listening are very good because pupils are encouraged to be confident and articulate speakers. Pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities make good, and sometimes very good, progress

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Grade: 2

relative to their starting points because they are identified early and receive well-planned support. Pupils' personal development and well-being are good with some outstanding features. Their spiritual, social and moral development is outstanding and well demonstrated through the sensible and caring way in which pupils treat each other. As one parent commented, 'The whole school environment is like that of a large family with older children really looking out for and caring for younger ones.' The pupils get on very well together, and are aware of the need to play safely and sensibly. This is particularly evident in the front playground, which has the problem of a low boundary wall. Pupils' cultural development is very good. Strong links with pupils from other countries such as France, projects such as the India project and visits from teachers from Uganda ensure that pupils are developing a very good knowledge and

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Grade: 2

understanding of the wider world. Pupils are very knowledgeable about the need to follow healthy lifestyles. They have an impressively wide range of sporting opportunities, including specialist coaching. Healthy eating is actively encouraged, for example pupils conducted an awareness raising survey of lunch boxes. Pupils make a very valuable and enthusiastic contribution to both the local and global community. As well as fund raising events, pupils have also published a very well designed village guide for the National Trust. 'What the school lacks in facilities and outside space is more than made up for by the caring and excellent staff.' This parent's comment summarises very well the quality of provision at Lacock C of E Primary School. Teaching is good, and much is outstanding, especially for older pupils. Lessons are very well planned to take account of the age and ability range in classes 4 of 10 Inspection Report: Lacock Church of England Primary School, 22 November 2007

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Grade: 2

and relationships between adults and pupils are exemplary. Teaching assistants make a very valuable contribution to both teaching and learning. Pupils' work is accurately marked; systems to assess and track pupils' progress are robust and the outcomes are effectively used to inform the planning of lessons. A strength is the awareness that pupils have of their targets, especially in English, and what they need to do to improve. Most pupils behave well in lessons, but sometimes younger ones become over exuberant and this can disrupt the otherwise rigorous pace of lessons. The curriculum is well planned and clear links between subjects help pupils to understand how skills such as writing and information and communication technology can support their learning in other subjects. The range and quality of curriculum enrichment is outstanding and provides excellent support for both lessons, for example through visits by

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Grade: 2

drama groups and a 'Victorian school inspector', and pupils' hobbies and interests. One parent rightly commented that 'although small, the school offers a huge range of opportunities and experiences'. The leadership and management of the school are good. The headteacher has developed an effective team, which works well together and makes excellent use of outside agencies, such as local authority support services and other schools. Both the headteacher and governors work very well together to raise standards through the effective monitoring and analysis of the quality of the provision. They have a clear picture of what needs to be done to improve. The resulting development plan identifies suitable priorities and actions, but does not always make it sufficiently clear how these actions will measurably improve outcomes for pupils. The teachers are all new to the school and their curriculum management roles. Although they have made a

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Grade: 2

good start, the management of the curriculum is not yet fully embedded because their monitoring is underdeveloped.

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Grade: 2

The provision for the youngest children is good because it is well led and managed and the adults work well as a team. The children are extremely well cared for and the friendly and approachable staff go out of their way to ensure that they are happy, settled and make good progress. As a result, children very much enjoy coming to school. One parent told the inspector that her child 'can't wait to get here in the morning'. Very good links with the village pre-school provision have helped to ensure that children settle quickly and that their skills and needs are accurately assessed when they join the school. Careful and detailed ongoing assessment of children's development throughout the Foundation Stage enables teaching to focus well on developing their individual skills, and as a result, all children are working securely within the early learning goals by the time they transfer to Year 1. A high priority is placed on children's personal and social development. They are encouraged to develop

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Grade: 2

independence and confidence and this has a very positive impact on other areas of learning, especially communications, language and literacy. The learning environment is safe, bright and interesting and good use is made of the limited space, both inside and outside the building. The teaching is well planned and exciting, and teachers manage the occasional incidents of over-exuberant behaviour well.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Ensure that monitoring by curriculum coordinators in new roles is fully embedded. 5 of 10 Inspection Report: Lacock Church of England Primary School, 22 November 2007 ■ Identify success criteria in the school development plan which can be measured against outcomes for pupils. 6 of 10 Inspection Report: Lacock Church of England Primary School, 22 November 2007 .

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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. 7 of 10 Inspection Report: Lacock Church of England Primary School, 22 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? 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? 3 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?

1 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 1 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?

1 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. 8 of 10 Inspection Report: Lacock Church of England Primary School, 22 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 2 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? 9 of 10 Inspection Report: Lacock Church of England Primary School, 22 November 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

23 November 2007 Dear Pupils Inspection of Lacock C of E Primary School, Lacock, SN15 2LQ Thank you for being so helpful and friendly when I visited your school. I really enjoyed meeting you and talking to you. I agree with your parents that Lacock is a good school, and I think it is getting even better. I was very pleased to see how much you enjoy coming to school and how well you all get on with each other. Because you work hard and are taught well, most of you are making good progress. Well done! All the adults in your school take great care of you and they work very hard to make both the lessons and the many activities that you do interesting for you. Those of you who find learning hard are very well supported and even though there are such wide age ranges in each class, teachers know each of you very well and make sure that they teach you what you need to know. I was really pleased to see how writing and reading have improved. You also speak very sensibly

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

and clearly to adults and each other. However, I do think that your progress in mathematics could be a bit better, and you can help with this by really working hard in mathematics lessons. The headteacher and governors do a very good job in leading and improving the school and they have been brilliant at helping the new teachers to settle in well. To help your good school improve even more, I have asked them to:

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Help the teachers who take the lead on curriculum subjects settle fully into their new roles.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Make sure that plans for the future show exactly how things will be made better for the pupils. Well done, and all the very best for the future. Yours sincerely Chris Nye Her Majesty's Inspector 10 of 10 Inspection Report: Lacock Church of England Primary School, 22 November 2007

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Annex B

Inspection of Lacock C of E Primary School, Lacock, SN15 2LQ

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Annex B

Thank you for being so helpful and friendly when I visited your school. I really enjoyed meeting you and talking to you. I agree with your parents that Lacock is a good school, and I think it is getting even better. I was very pleased to see how much you enjoy coming to school and how well you all get on with each other. Because you work hard and are taught well, most of you are making good progress. Well done!

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Annex B

All the adults in your school take great care of you and they work very hard to make both the lessons and the many activities that you do interesting for you. Those of you who find learning hard are very well supported and even though there are such wide age ranges in each class, teachers know each of you very well and make sure that they teach you what you need to know. I was really pleased to see how writing and reading have improved. You also speak very sensibly and clearly to adults and each other. However, I do think that your progress in mathematics could be a bit better, and you can help with this by really working hard in mathematics lessons.

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Annex B

The headteacher and governors do a very good job in leading and improving the school and they have been brilliant at helping the new teachers to settle in well. To help your good school improve even more, I have asked them to:

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Annex B

• Improve progress in mathematics. • Help the teachers who take the lead on curriculum subjects settle fully into their new roles. • Make sure that plans for the future show exactly how things will be made better for the pupils.

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Annex B

Well done, and all the very best for the future.

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