St Anne’s Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of St Anne's Church of England Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 21 November 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 December 2014.

This school continues to be good. The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You are a well-respected headteacher who works hard and leads the school with determination.

You are ably supported by your deputy headteacher and other leaders. You work effectively with leaders in the South Gloucest...ershire hub, to share ideas and expertise, which helps you to secure improvements in pupils' outcomes. The school experienced considerable turbulence in staffing over the last year, due to unavoidable staff absence.

You dealt with this effectively. For instance, the deputy headteacher took on additional teaching commitments and you recruited new staff. This minimised the impact on pupils' learning.

Strong teaching over time ensures that children routinely achieve well in the early years and in the Year 1 phonics check. Effective teaching has led to improved attainment in both key stages in recent years, particularly in reading and writing at key stage 2. As a result, the proportion of pupils achieving well in all subjects at the end of each key stage is often well above, or at least in line with, pupils nationally.

The majority of current pupils make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics and achieve standards appropriate for their age. Over time, few disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) achieve well. However, improvements to teaching and effective deployment of teaching assistants are improving pupils' progress.

As a result, many pupils are working at standards closer to those typical for their age. However, pupils' progress is not yet consistently strong, because more time is needed for the extra help provided to have a sustained impact on pupils' achievement. Curriculum leaders work effectively with staff to plan a rich, engaging curriculum.

This motivates pupils to learn and helps them to develop their knowledge, skills and understanding in a range of subjects. Pupils enjoy going on trips to enhance their learning. For example, pupils learned about Brunel's bridges and went to see Concorde.

This enabled them to find out how different structures are designed and built. Leaders are developing teachers' assessment of pupils' progress in subjects other than reading, writing and mathematics. This is because they want to be able to identify whether pupils are developing appropriate skills and knowledge for their age.

However, it is too early to determine the effectiveness of this. Pupils are friendly and polite. Most pupils know how they are expected to behave and, consequently, they listen respectfully to adults and settle to work sensibly.

A few pupils have difficulty managing their behaviour. You make effective use of your parent-link worker and pupil mentor to provide the targeted support that pupils need, such as counselling and play therapies. This is improving pupils' attitudes to learning and helps them to manage their emotions more effectively.

Governors undertake visits to the school to meet subject leaders and review pupils' learning. This helps them to check the impact of your actions to a degree. However, governors are unclear about the progress expected of pupils.

This restricts the precision with which they are able to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching. The overwhelming majority of parents and carers are pleased with the school and would recommend it to others. Parents typically comment: 'It is a wonderful school.

All staff are approachable and supportive.' However, a small minority of parents are dissatisfied with leaders' communication and the way the school deals with behaviour issues. Safeguarding is effective.

There is a strong culture of safeguarding in the school. One parent commented: 'The school is a welcoming, inclusive and safe environment.' Pupils feel safe at school and say they can trust adults to help them if they have any worries.

Staff are provided with timely updates to safeguarding training and they consistently explain how to refer concerns. Leaders maintain detailed safeguarding records and liaise with external agencies when necessary. This ensures that families are provided with appropriate help.

Leaders check the impact of their work and take further action when required. Appropriate checks are undertaken to ensure that all adults in the school are safe to work with children. These details are meticulously recorded on the school's single central record.

Parents testify to the effectiveness of the medical care provided for pupils who need it. Staff understand how to keep pupils safe in a range of situations. Pupils can explain how to use the internet safely.

You work closely with parents to promote the importance of regular attendance. This is having a positive impact. However, despite your efforts, a minority of pupils with SEND are frequently absent.

In some cases, this is unavoidable. This means that pupils are unable to benefit fully from the education on offer. Inspection findings ? We agreed that my first line of enquiry would be to find out how effectively disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND are supported.

This is because few of these pupils achieve standards appropriate for their age over time. Your special educational needs coordinator works closely with parents and the deputy headteacher in order to identify pupils' needs. Leaders work closely with teachers to plan focused interventions.

Teaching assistants are deployed effectively to provide pupils with appropriate support. Teachers and teaching assistants are sensitive to pupils' needs and develop caring relationships with them. Adults model learning effectively and ask appropriate questions.

This helps pupils to understand what to do. Adults praise pupils for their efforts, which helps pupils to feel valued and encourages them to focus on their learning. ? Leaders make effective use of the school's parent-link worker and pupil mentor to support the pastoral needs of pupils and their families.

The extra help supports pupils to manage their emotions. It is also improving pupils' attitudes to learning and attendance. A parent whose child has SEND commented: 'The school has gone above and beyond to ensure that my child's needs are met, which has improved their social achievement.'

Another parent added, 'My child has had amazing, targeted support. I can't thank staff enough.' ? Inspection activities confirm that some pupils with SEND require ongoing help to make more consistent progress and diminish the gaps in their learning.

A very small minority of parents state that they are unsure if additional teaching is having a positive impact on their children's progress. Leaders employ some effective strategies, such as rewards, which are improving attendance. However, a small minority of pupils who have SEND are regularly absent.

This is sometimes for justifiable reasons. This limits how well pupils can benefit from the academic and pastoral help that is provided. ? My other line of enquiry was to find out how well the curriculum is planned.

This is because I wanted to establish how well pupils develop their knowledge, skills and understanding in a range of subjects. I also wanted to determine whether pupils' good progress and attainment in reading, writing and mathematics were reflected in other subjects. ? You have recently formed a curriculum leadership team to help staff to develop a stimulating, exciting curriculum.

Teachers plan relevant learning experiences which spark pupils' interest and motivate them to learn. Parents typically comment: 'Staff go the extra mile' and 'Teachers make a huge effort to make learning special'. Pupils enjoyed learning about Brunel's bridge designs and developed their understanding of structural engineering when they went to see Concorde.

Leaders are developing teachers' assessment of the curriculum but this has not yet been fully embedded. Therefore, it is too early to determine how well teaching supports pupils to develop secure skills and knowledge in a range of subjects. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? governors improve their understanding of pupils' progress, so that they can more effectively hold leaders to account ? appropriately tailored support for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND continues to improve their progress and attendance ? leaders continue to develop their assessment of the curriculum to assure themselves that pupils are developing appropriate knowledge, skills and understanding in a range of subjects.

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the diocese of Bristol, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for South Gloucestershire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Catherine Beeks Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I had several meetings with you and your deputy headteacher.

I had a meeting with the special educational needs co-ordinator and deputy headteacher to discuss provision for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND. I also had a separate meeting with the curriculum team, during which we reviewed pupils' learning in a range of subjects. I met with the chair and vice chair of governors and had a telephone conversation with a local authority representative.

I checked the school's single central record and we discussed your safeguarding procedures. We reviewed the school's latest assessment information and discussed the school's development plans. Together with the special educational needs coordinator and deputy headteacher, I observed several teaching interventions and reviewed pupils' learning.

I spoke with several pupils in lessons and at breaktime and lunchtime. I talked to parents at the beginning of the school day and considered 146 responses to Ofsted's online survey Parent View along with 75 additional free-text comments. I took account of 9 responses to Ofsted's online survey for staff and 39 responses to the online pupil survey.

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