Inspection Report Great Coates Primary School
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
INSPECTION REPORT GREAT COATES PRIMARY SCHOOL Grimsby LEA area: North East Lincolnshire Unique reference number: 117905 Headteacher: Mrs A. Kay Reporting inspector: Mrs J. A. Clarke 25509 Dates of inspection: 10 -11 July 2001 Inspection number: 192705 Inspection carried out under section 10 of the School Inspections Act 1996 © Crown copyright 2001 This report may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that all extracts quoted are reproduced verbatim without adaptation and on condition that the source and date thereof are stated. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the School Inspections Act 1996, the school must provide a copy of this report and/or its summary 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. INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL Type of school: Infant and junior school School category: Community Age range of pupils: 3 to 11 Gender of pupils: Mixed School address: Crosland Road Grimsby North East Lincolnshire Postcode: DN37 9EN Telephone number: 01472 230263 Fax number: 01472 230264 Appropriate authority: The Governing Body Name of chair of governors: Mr A Willey Date of previous inspection: 3-6 March1997 Great Coates Primary School. 3 INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM Team members 25509 Mrs J A Clarke Registered inspector 19365 Mr G Stockley Lay inspector 20810 Mrs S Pemberton Team inspector 22881 Mr G Halliday Team inspector The inspection contractor was: Quality in Focus Thresher House Lea Hall Park Demage Lane Lea-by-Backford Chester CH1 6LP Any concerns or complaints about the inspection or the report should be raised with the inspection contractor. Complaints that are not satisfactorily resolved by the contractor should be raised with OFSTED by writing to: The Registrar Inspection Quality Division The Office for Standards in Education Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE Great Coates Primary School. 4 REPORT CONTENTS Page PART A: SUMMARY OF THE REPORT 6 Information about the school How good the school is What the school does well What could be improved How the school has improved since its last inspection Standards Pupils’ attitudes and values Teaching and learning Other aspects of the school How well the school is led and managed Parents’ and carers’ views of the school PART B: COMMENTARY WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL 11 WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED 15 WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER? 17 PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS 18 Great Coates Primary School. 5 PART A: SUMMARY OF THE REPORT INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL Great Coates Primary School is situated on the Willows estate in the western suburbs of Grimsby. The school shares a large open site with a high school, adult education centre and other facilities. It is larger than most primary schools having 314 pupils (148 boys and 153 girls) compared with the average size nationally of 243 pupils. This is virtually the same since the previous inspection. Children start school in the nursery class, after the age of three, and then they move to the reception class. There are three intakes into the reception class each year. The children start in the reception class in the term in which they are five. Although the children vary in their attainment when they start school, overall their attainment is average. All pupils are of white ethnic origin. There are no pupils in the school for whom English is an additional language or who are at an early stage of learning to speak and write in English. There are 80 pupils (28 per cent) who are entitled to free school meals: this is above the national average. There are 99 pupils (32 per cent) on the register for special educational needs, which is above the national average of 23.2 per cent. Specialist support is provided for 17 pupils. There are two pupils who have statements of their special educational needs; this is less than 1 per cent, which is below the national average of 1.7 per cent. HOW GOOD THE SCHOOL IS Great Coates Primary School is a good school of which the parents, the community and the local education authority are justly proud. The clear educational direction provided by the headteacher, alongside the good assistance of the senior management team, with the good support of the curriculum co-ordinators and the good teaching the pupils receive helps them to achieve well. They make good progress in their learning throughout the school. By the end of the infants and the juniors the pupils achieve well in English, science and information and communication technology (ICT). The pupils show a very good enthusiasm for school and they are fully involved in all their activities. The governing body are a hard working team who bring a wide range of expertise to the school and are active in helping to run the school. The staff constantly strive to meet the school’s aims and to raise standards even further. The school gives good value for money. What the school does well · Pupils achieve high standards in English in the juniors, writing in the infants and in science and ICT in both the infants and juniors because teaching in these subjects is good. · Pupils have very good attitudes towards learning, work very hard, behave very well and have very good relationships with one another and staff. · The school takes very good care of the pupils. · Very good relationships with parents contributes to pupils’ learning. · The headteacher and staff work well as a team to make sure that the pupils learn well. What could be improved · Standards in mathematics. · The preparation the pupils receive to enable them to live in a culturally diverse society. The areas for improvement will form the basis of the governors’ action plan. Great Coates Primary School. 6 HOW THE SCHOOL HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTION The school has made good improvements in the areas of concern highlighted in the previous inspection in March 1997. There have been very good improvements in the way the school teaches ICT resulting in improved standards throughout the school. The school has made good improvements in the teachers’ planning, which means that now teachers’ plan lessons more accurately. The non-teaching staff are fully involved in the organisation and development of the school and so good progress has been made in this area highlighted for the school’s development. In addition, significant improvements have been made in the standards pupils achieve in English, science and ICT. The addition of the computer suite has had a very positive impact on standards in this subject. The quality of teaching in the school has also improved and this has had a positive impact upon the way that the pupils learn. STANDARDS The table shows the standards achieved by 11-year-olds based on average point scores in National Curriculum tests. Compared with Performance in: All schools similar Key schools 1998 1999 2000 2000 well above average A English D C A A above average B average C Mathematics E C C B below average D well below average E Science E A A A Standards attained by the seven-year-olds have fluctuated around average over the past four years. This is mainly because of the different number of pupils in the year groups who have summer birthdays and the number of pupils with special educational needs. The nursery class has a limited number of places and is oversubscribed, so not all the children have long in the nursery class. The reception children mostly reach the levels expected for their age. This is the result of careful planning and good teaching. There has been an overall steady improvement in standards for the older 11-year-old pupils. The school keeps a very careful track of the achievement of all the pupils and ensures that all are helped to achieve well. The 2000 test and task results for seven-year-olds show the pupils’ attainments in writing, reading and mathematics were well below the national average. This group was recognised by the school as a year with a lot of pupils who had their birthdays in the summer months and also a significant number of pupils with special educational needs; these factors had an impact on their attainment. When the 2000 national tests results for 11-year-olds are compared with similar schools, they are well above the average in English and science and above average in mathematics. There is no significant difference between the performance of boys and girls. The school keeps a close check on pupils’ performance and seeks to improve standards further. The school has made steady improvements in standards in English and science but has yet to make significant improvements in mathematics. Great Coates Primary School. 7 Inspection findings show that for the current group of pupils in Year 2, standards in writing and science are above average whilst standards in reading and mathematics are average. Inspection findings show that for the current pupils aged 11, standards in English and science are well above average but standards in mathematics are below average. The school has recognised that the standards in mathematics are not as high as they should be. This particular year group of pupils has a significant number of pupils on the register for special educational needs with particular reference to their need for extra support in mathematics. Indeed, some of the pupils did not sit the test at all because it was not appropriate for them to do so. The school has begun to address the need to improve standards in mathematics throughout the school and has clear ideas to bring about improvement.