Ofsted report 17th June 2009

Introduction

The inspection was carried out by two additional inspectors. The inspectors evaluated the overall effectiveness of the school and investigated the following issues: current standards and progress and the impact of the school’s strategies to maximise progress the impact of the school’s work on improving writing and pupils’ cultural development. Evidence was drawn from the school’s self-evaluation, lesson observations, school
documentation, discussions with the headteacher and members of staff, five members of the governing body including the chair of governors, school pupils and the analysis of parents’ questionnaires. Other aspects of the school’s work were not investigated in detail, but the inspectors found no evidence to suggest that the school’s own assessments, as given its self-evaluation, were not justified, and these have been included where appropriate in this report.

Description of the school

The school is smaller than average and serves three villages on the outskirts of Cambridge. The percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals is low. The majority of pupils are White British. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is above average, with a high percentage of pupils having statements detailing their specific educational needs. The characteristics of year groups show significant variation in the mix of size, gender and proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities Attainment on entry to the Reception class in the Early Years Foundation Stage varies from year to year but is broadly typical for four-year-olds. The school has an Investor in People award and has gained a number of curriculum awards including recognition of its work as a Healthy School and as an Eco School for its work in environmental sustainability. The headteacher has been in post for approximately one year. An independently run pre-school, an after-school and holiday clubs operate on the school premises.
Key for inspection grades
Grade 1 Outstanding
Grade 2 Good
Grade 3 Satisfactory
Grade 4 Inadequate

Overall effectiveness of the school Grade: 2

This is a good school. Pupils’ outstanding personal development and good achievement are the result of good provision, which also has some excellent features. The headteacher leads the school well. She has carefully built on the existing strengths of the school and developed a collegiate approach to leadership and management across all staff, raising their expectations even higher in the process. Leadership and management are good. Evaluation of the school’s strengths and aspects for further development is good and judgments on current effectiveness are accurate. Staff are committed to improving the school further and have the necessary expertise to carry this out. Together, they have refined and improved aspects of the school’s work since the last inspection. For example, the quality of pupils’ writing has improved because of the leadership’s focus on this aspect. The school is popular and often oversubscribed and most parents strongly agreed or agreed with all the statements in the inspection questionnaire. All staff know the children well and there is excellent pastoral care with good links to specialist agencies to support individual pupils. The school is highly inclusive. The good tracking system has been further refined and used effectively to identify and support pupils whose progress is in danger of slipping. All staff make effective use of assessment data to ensure that pupils make good progress across the school. Child protection and safeguarding are robust. Pupils report no bullying and older pupils keep a close eye out for younger children reflected in the good-humoured, if somewhat chaotic, playtime football game involving boys and girls from all year groups. The school is calm, warm and friendly and pupils feel very safe as a result. Its atmosphere, an amalgam of mutual respect, positive ethos and work ethic, is an important feature in pupils’ development. The curriculum is good. It provides a broad range of learning opportunities and is enriched by trips and visitors. Staff are now linking subjects together in a meaningful way, providing a range of contexts to develop basic skills. There is a strong thread of personal, social and health education that contributes significantly to pupils’ personal development. Pupils who find learning difficult, including those with statements, are given good support and as a result make good progress. Teaching and learning are good, and sometimes excellent, and in these excellent lessons, pupils engage with their learning at a particularly high level. Older pupils, for example, had clearly developed an excellent understanding of the characters of the lovers in Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, displaying empathy in their writing. Classroom management is proficient, teaching assistants effective, staff teamwork strong and work planned well to target specific groups of pupils. Teaching is skilled and enthusiastic, underpinned by the positive relationship that adults have with pupils. It fosters their independent learning skills well. Because pupils like their teachers, seeing them as kind and helpful, and because they say ‘most lessons are interesting’, they enjoy their learning a great deal, as reflected in their excellent attendance. Pupils know their targets and the school is developing the liaison with parents of older pupils to ensure that they too are involved in the target setting process. There is good discussion with pupils about how to improve their work and written comments are supportive but not always diagnostic.
Overall, the school makes good use of assessment to promote learning. It is being further enhanced by Inspection report: the fact that it is beginning to use specialist new assessment material to monitor pupils’ progress in writing. This is helping to identify gaps in learning, refine teachers good planning and sharpen the targets that they set for pupils. This process is not yet embedded and used in other subjects. The school does not build fully on pupils’ excellent attitudes to learning by ensuring that they are clear about what they have achieved and what they need to do to improve their work so that they challenge themselves to do even better. Generally, pupils achieve well over their time in school and standards are above average and, until they dipped in 2008, showed a rising trend. Currently they are back on track and, although the 2009 national test results are not yet published, the indications are that Year 6 will meet the school’s challenging targets. The quality of pupils’ writing has improved because of the work done in school and the links with visiting authors, poets and storytellers. This improvement is reflected in the increased number of pupils reaching higher levels in English. Pupils are currently making good year-on-year progress across the school. The school has a significant proportion of pupils capable of high attainment. One of the clear benefits derived from refining the monitoring of progress is that staff are even more aware of pupils’ potential and now challenge these pupils to attain high levels. Older pupils are confident and articulate and lessons across the school provide good opportunities for pupils to share and rehearse ideas.
Behaviour is excellent because high expectations are reinforced in a calm, consistent and positive manner by all staff. There are pupils who find it initially difficult to manage their own behaviour but they learn to do so over time. Pupils have an excellent understanding of what contributes to a healthy lifestyle and how to keep themselves safe. They take their many responsibilities around the school very seriously and the school council is very effective. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is excellent. The school fosters pupils’ self-esteem extremely well because adults listen to and value them as individuals. They provide good opportunities for them to reflect on their own lives and how other people live. There are strong links with the local church community. The school has a strong moral and spiritual framework and pupils develop mature social and cultural awareness, such as their excellent attitudes towards disability and green issues. Cultural development is good. The arts play a strong part within the curriculum. Pupils are introduced to art forms from other cultures, are taught about other faiths and the school has some international links. The work on modern foreign languages adds significantly to pupils’ awareness of European cultures. The school is in the process of formulating its strategy for promoting community cohesion and broadening pupils’ experience of the diverse society in which we live. Governance is good, providing clear strategic influence with governors acting as‘critical friends’. The chair of governors is very experienced and the governors are well on in the process of ensuring that their procedures meet the criteria for gaining the award for financial management of schools. Governors recently carried out a detailed self-evaluation and are using this information to sharpen their practice; for example, by linking specific governors to monitoring aspects of the school development plan. The governing body consults and reports regularly to parents. The school provides good value for money.

Effectiveness of the Early Years Foundation Stage Grade: 2

Children make good progress and achieve well in relation to their starting points. In the last academic year they entered Reception with good skills is the areas of personal development. They could articulate their ideas and had good mathematical skills. These children made good progress and entered Year 1 with skills and knowledge slightly above average particularly in communication, language and literacy, mathematical calculation and knowledge and understanding of the world. The current Reception class have good, and sometimes outstanding, skills in personal, social and emotional development. Teaching is good and assessment procedures are thorough. They help teachers plan the next steps in learning effectively so that children are engaged and challenged in line with their abilities. There is a good balance of adult-led activities and those that children choose for themselves. The school is aware that the limitations of space in the classroom do not allow for a very wide variety of choice at any one time. Children love inventing tasks for themselves. For example, a ‘Bob the Builder’ activity was provided, based on making plans and building with blocks. The children independently extended this into role play where health and safety requirements were discussed in the group. Children demonstrate that they can sustain interest in tasks for quite long periods. Adults have a high commitment to children’s welfare. Behaviour is well managed and relationships are extremely good. The safe environment helps children thrive. Induction procedures are exceptionally good. Parents appreciate the home visits and children settle quickly into school as a result. Parents are well informed of children’s progress. The Early Years Foundation Stage leader works with other staff effectively. She understands the strength of the setting and what is needed to improve provision. For example, the work done on linking letters and sounds has vastly improved children’s spelling in their writing.

What the school should do to improve further

In order to raise standards and the quality of learning even further:

- embed the use of specialist assessment materials

- enable pupils to challenge themselves to do even better by ensuring that they know what they have achieved and what they need to do to improve their work.