Newbold and Tredington CofE Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Newbold and Tredington CofE Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 30 January 2018, 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 July 2014. This school continues to be good. The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

Your calm and forward-thinking leadership enables a positive direction for the school. The school serves the needs of the community well. You skilfully manage the two sites of the school and the relatively high rates of pu...pil mobility.

Other effective leaders, coupled with a strong governing body, provide further capacity to the leadership of the school. You have responded swiftly and successfully to areas that have required improvement. The welcoming and friendly ethos of the school provides a wonderful environment for pupils, in which to develop, academically and socially.

Staff take the time to get to know pupils as individuals and, as a result, pupils receive high-quality care and support. Pupils are happy and love coming to school. Comments from pupils included, 'Friendship is important here.

We are close to one another.' You have ensured that values are central to the ethos of the school. Pupils have a voice in the development of the school and they choose which values are important.

Consequently, their understanding of values, such as respect and compassion, are good. This helps pupils to know the behaviours that are expected of them. They get on well with each another and work hard in lessons.

You also ensure that pupils' good behaviour and work are celebrated. Pupils spoke with pride about being 'Star of the week' and having their best work framed and on display in school. Governors are extremely capable and skilled.

They have a deep understanding of the school and provide an effective blend of challenge and support. They are proactive and use school visits to check that the school improvement plan priorities are being implemented effectively. Governors have challenged school leaders on the recent end of key stage 1 and 2 assessments and test results.

As a result, they have been part of a drive to accelerate key priorities. For example, a governor with expertise in mathematics has worked closely with the mathematics leader to monitor the impact of improvements in the subject. You have worked hard to put in place additional leadership capacity in the school.

You now work closely with two senior leaders, who lead English and mathematics. As a senior team, you carry out effective checks on the quality of teaching and the progress that pupils make. Feedback to staff is precise, so that they know exactly what to improve in their teaching.

Staff appreciate the advice and the range of training opportunities they receive. You have also developed a new assessment system, which enables you and the staff to successfully identify where pupils' progress needs to be accelerated. Your improvement plans are focused on appropriate priorities.

You, other leaders and governors regularly review the impact of planned actions. This ensures that key improvements happen swiftly. For example, the reading culture has been revitalised completely.

You put in place a range of reading strategies, including a new reward scheme to encourage pupils to read a wider range of books. Several parents and carers commented positively about the impact of this work. Pupils read widely and often because they are motivated to do so.

Comments from pupils included, 'I loved reading 'An eagle in the snow' by Michael Morpurgo, which made me read more books by that author.' You have responded well to the previous inspection by making sure that work is appropriately matched to pupils' ability. Teachers prompt pupils to different levels of challenge in a lesson or, in some cases, pupils choose the level of challenge to attempt.

Your new assessment system has also improved staff's understanding of the curriculum, so activities meet pupils' needs more appropriately. This has had an impact in mathematics and pupils' books showed that they are covering a good range of mathematical ideas and concepts. However, the most able pupils are not being provided with a consistent level of challenge in mathematics.

You have also ensured that pupils receive more opportunities to write at length. Pupils' books demonstrate their good progress across a range of different genres. Pupils also write well across the curriculum.

For example, in a historic topic on World War 2, pupils produced a high-quality persuasive argument, demonstrating why parents should take their children out of London during the war. Handwriting remains a key focus to be addressed. A more focused approach is required across the school, so that pupils form letters accurately and write words fluently.

Pupils' personal development is thoughtfully considered through a range of extra-curricular enrichment activities. Pupils enjoy the trips linked to their curriculum, such as to the Thinktank, a space centre and a Roman villa. Extra-curricular clubs are wide ranging and help to develop pupils' creative and sporting skills.

Participation rates are high at clubs such as cooking, art, running, football and gymnastics. Pupils also compete in a range of sports competitions. A pupil proudly shared, 'Even though we are a small school, we compete well against larger schools.'

This was confirmed by a recent third place in a local 'Dodgeball' competition. You have ensured that Nursery and Reception children get off to a good start in the early years. Children attend the Newbold site for this part of their education.

It is a welcoming and engaging environment for children. Staff plan interesting and challenging learning activities, so that children make good progress. The outdoor environment is used well to stimulate children's curiosity.

Children are settled and happy and socialise well. Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the quality of education in the school. Almost all parents would recommend the school to others.

Several parents commented positively on the individualised support, the caring ethos of the school, and the effective communication from leaders and staff. Safeguarding is effective. The well-organised arrangements for safeguarding are central to keeping pupils safe.

Your record-keeping of concerns is meticulous. You monitor and follow up concerns thoroughly. The capacity for safeguarding pupils is strong because you have several staff trained to a senior level.

Governors are absolutely clear about their statutory responsibilities and they carry out appropriate checks on key processes, such as the vetting of staff. Staff know pupils very well and are quick to notice any changes in behaviour. You ensure that staff are regularly updated on their safeguarding responsibilities.

As a result, there is a good safeguarding culture in the school and risks are minimised. Pupils enjoy learning about how to keep themselves safe. They have mature attitudes towards their responsibility to be vigilant when they are on the internet.

Internet safety week helps them to be clear about how they would tell a trusted adult if they were concerned about something online. Your curriculum also helps pupils to pick up 'warning signs' if they are concerned about being safe. Pupils spoke about noticing physical reactions, such as getting 'butterflies'.

Inspection findings ? Mobility is high; just two-thirds of pupils have been at the school since the start of Reception. You have a high number of pupils from a Gypsy, Roma, Traveller heritage. Some of these pupils do not stay long at the school.

You and your staff manage this pupil mobility well. However, it sometimes has a detrimental impact on end of key stage 2 test results. For example, in the Year 6 cohort in the 2016/17 academic year, nearly half of the pupils joined the school during Years 5 or 6.

Some of these pupils had not previously had continuity in their education and/or had poor attendance. You put in place effective support for newly arrived pupils. Those that require additional support make good progress during their time at your school.

• We looked at the level of challenge in the mathematics curriculum. In the last two years, not enough pupils reached the higher standards by the end of key stages 1 or 2. In the school improvement plan, you and the mathematics leader identified pupils' mental and written calculation skills as a key focus for improvement.

Your strategies have had an immediate impact. Pupils' books demonstrate that they are carrying out more frequent and challenging calculations with increased accuracy. You have also put in place workshops for parents on mathematics, which have been well attended.

Teachers are providing more challenging work for the most able pupils, including complex reasoning problems. In Year 6, this level of challenge was particularly effective. However, the level of challenge for the most able is not consistently strong across the school.

For example, in some mathematics books, pupils' answers to reasoning problems lack a deep mathematical understanding. ? Pupils make good progress in English across key stage 1. Your current assessment information shows that more pupils are achieving the expected standards for their age than in previous years.

Pupils are applying their spelling skills with increasing accuracy in longer pieces of writing. Teachers help pupils to generate good ideas for their writing. For example, in a Year 2 lesson, pupils went outside to experience and discuss the cold, and then held ice cubes in the classroom.

Pupils enjoyed using their senses to develop effective language and ideas. An area that requires further work is pupils' letter formation and handwriting. Pupils are not systematically taught how to form letters and words with accuracy and fluency.

• In the academic year 2016/17, overall attendance dropped and persistent absence rose. You monitor and act on attendance issues thoroughly. In 2016/17, a higher than usual number of Gypsy, Roma, Traveller pupils started at the school.

Some of these pupils had very low attendance and some did not stay at school for long. In line with the local authority's guidance, you do not take pupils off roll until you can safely account for their whereabouts. Your processes for this are stringent, and you work closely with the traveller liaison officer to monitor and track these pupils' attendance.

Attendance so far this academic year is much higher than it was last academic year. However, there is still some persistent absence that needs to be addressed with families, so that attendance rates continue to rise. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? teachers use effective methods to develop pupils' handwriting skills ? teachers provide a consistent level of challenge for the most able pupils in mathematics, particularly in the development of their reasoning skills ? persistent absence continues to be monitored and acted on, so that attendance rises.

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the diocese of Coventry, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Warwickshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Matt Meckin Her Majesty's Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I held meetings with you and other leaders.

I also met with four governors. I spoke to pupils informally and formally. I made short visits to six lessons with you and looked at a range of pupils' books.

I spoke to parents at the start of the day and considered 72 free text responses to Parent View, Ofsted's online questionnaire. I also considered the responses to the online questionnaires completed by pupils and staff. I scrutinised various documents, including the school's self-evaluation, the improvement plan and the documents that you use to check the quality of teaching.

You shared with me the most recent assessments of pupils' attainment and progress. We discussed the national test results and assessments undertaken by pupils in 2016 and 2017. I also looked at the school's published information on the website, as well as minutes of governing body meetings and information about attendance, behaviour and safety.