Colville Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Colville Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 5 March 2019, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in October 2015.

This school continues to be good. The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the previous inspection. Together with governors, leaders put pupils' welfare and readiness to learn, whatever their background, at the heart of everything they do.

In addition to having an unwavering commitment to sustaining improvement and setting high standar...ds for all, leaders ensure that pupils are well prepared to learn and have positive attitudes and high aspirations to achieve. This provides pupils with a firm foundation upon which to base their future education. Pupils speak very proudly about their school.

They describe the school as 'amazing', 'fun' and 'a place that makes you feel safe to be yourself'. From the moment pupils start the school day to the time they leave to go home, pupils are encouraged to try their best. They thrive within a culture where they believe that they can 'celebrate how good they are and make mistakes without feeling worried'.

It is clear from pupils' responses that they respect and appreciate leaders and staff. Parents and carers are overwhelmingly supportive. All parents who responded to Ofsted's survey Parent View recommend Colville to other parents.

Parents value the work of leaders and staff and feel confident that their children are safe and well cared for. Parents value the good communication that exists and the high level of support they receive. Parents believe that their views are listened to and that leaders are approachable.

Leaders have worked well to improve the areas identified at the previous inspection. They have an increasingly good understanding of how well pupils achieve in wider curriculum subjects, and the most able pupils' achievement continues to improve. The governing body supports leaders effectively to sustain the current standards and further improve the school.

The experienced and knowledgeable chair leads the governing body determinedly. Governors know very well the strengths and weaknesses of the school. As a result, there is strong capacity in the school's leadership to achieve the continuous improvements that all leaders aspire to.

Leaders face a number of ongoing challenges. These include a significant proportion of pupils who join and leave the school at different points during the school year and the falling school roll. Leaders are managing the high mobility as well as moving from a two-form-entry to a one-form-entry school very efficiently.

Safeguarding is effective. Leaders ensure that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Electronic records are meticulously kept, appropriately detailing concerns, actions taken and monitoring carried out.

Prompt and proficient referrals are made to external agencies. Leaders work tenaciously with agencies to get appropriate and timely support for pupils. Leaders monitor this effectively to make sure all pupils are well looked after.

Leaders and governors ensure that rigorous recruitment checks take place before staff and other adults work in the school. Thorough administrative measures are used to oversee this work to ensure that it meets legal requirements. The governing body is conscientious in meeting its safeguarding duties.

Training is regularly carried out and ensures that all staff understand the full range of risks to pupils. Staff know when and how to raise concerns. Pupils report that they feel safe at the school and are confident that there are adults they can talk to if they have any concerns or worries.

The curriculum has been developed to raise pupils' awareness of risks they could encounter, including how to keep themselves safe online, both inside and outside the school. Inspection findings ? Most children enter early years with skills and knowledge that are significantly below those typical for their age. This is particularly the case in communication, language and literacy skills.

There is a large proportion of children who speak English as an additional language. Additionally, there are children who are at the school for a short time or join the school part way through the school year. ? The quality of teaching and learning in early years is effective.

Leaders carefully and regularly check the teaching and learning and the curriculum in the early years so that they remain consistently good and continuously improve. Both the inside and outdoor learning environments provide opportunities that encourage children to explore, find out and apply their reading, writing and number skills in other areas of learning. ? Early years is well led.

Adults are well trained, assessment is used precisely and children make securely good progress in all areas of learning. Attainment at the end of Reception is below the national average. However, the proportion of children achieving a good level of development is steadily rising year on year.

This is ensuring that, over time, children are being better prepared for Year 1. ? As is the case in early years, evidence shows that teaching and learning in key stage 1 is also of a consistently good quality and is well led. Key stage 1 faces the same challenges as early years, with pupils leaving and joining the school throughout the school year.

Furthermore, many pupils joining the school are in the early stages of acquiring English. The well-planned support these pupils receive ensures that they make consistently good progress from their starting points in reading, writing and mathematics. Consequently, attainment is broadly in line with the national average.

• Leaders are well aware of the needs of all pupils in key stage 1, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and disadvantaged pupils. Leaders carefully identify the needs of pupils and are very clear about how every pupil is helped to achieve their best. ? Scrutiny of disadvantaged pupils' work in key stage 1 shows that they are making consistently good progress.

There are no substantial differences between key stage 1 disadvantaged pupils' progress and the progress of other pupils nationally. However, while leaders report upon the spending of the additional funds for key stage 2 disadvantaged pupils well, spending is not as closely evaluated for key stage 1 pupils. ? In 2018, the proportion of Year 1 pupils achieving the expected standard in the phonics screening check significantly improved.

Inspection evidence and current assessment information indicate continued improvement in phonics attainment for the current cohort of Year 1 pupils. ? The teaching of phonics is consistently effective. Teachers have a sound knowledge and understanding.

Leaders ensure that the teaching of phonics routinely checks that pupils are not falling behind. This information is used effectively by teachers to ensure that appropriate support programmes are put in place and pupils receive support if and when they need it. ? Leaders have worked closely with governors, the local authority, external agencies and parents to ensure that pupils attend school well.

Despite leaders' persistence and determined actions, attendance fluctuates and although it shows signs of improvement, it still on occasions dips below the national average. This is partially caused by the high proportion of pupils who join or leave mid-way through the year. ? Much work has been undertaken by leaders and staff to support and help families.

For example, the 'walking bus' is, and remains, a popular, successful strategy to get pupils into school on time. Leaders monitor the attendance of all pupils and provide support to families who are having difficulties. This work is securely based upon leaders' success in building positive, mutually respectful and trusting relationships with parents.

Parents respond well. As a result, persistent non-attendance is decreasing and the attendance of disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND is improving. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? they sustain the currently effective teaching and learning in the early years and key stage 1, so that more pupils attain the expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 2 ? they develop the analysis and understanding about how additional funding is supporting disadvantaged pupils in key stage 1, and where it may be even more effective.

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Cambridgeshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Tracy Fielding Her Majesty's Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, the inspector met with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, the school business manager, the early years leader and the key stage 1 leader.

The inspector also met with two members of the governing body, one of whom was the chair. The inspector held a telephone conversation with a representative from the local authority. The inspector visited all classrooms with the headteacher and considered documentary evidence relating to the impact of leaders' work, including evidence on safeguarding and attendance, the school's development plan and self-evaluation, minutes of governor meetings and other school documents.

Additionally, the inspector considered 29 responses to Parent View, Ofsted's online survey, and 22 responses to the Ofsted free-text system. There were no responses to the pupil survey; however, the inspector spoke to pupils in classrooms, looked at their work and held a formal meeting with a group of pupils to ask them about their school experience. The inspectors also took into account 20 responses to the Ofsted staff survey.

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