Peover Superior Endowed Controlled Primary School Stocks Lane, Over Peover, Cheshire, WA16 8TU

School report Peover Superior Endowed Controlled Primary School Stocks Lane, Over Peover, Cheshire, WA16 8TU Inspection dates 14-15 January 2014 Previous inspection: Good 2 Overall effectiveness This inspection: Inadequate 4 Achievement of pupils Inadequate 4 Quality of teaching Inadequate 4 Behaviour and safety of pupils Requires Improvement 3 Leadership and management Inadequate 4 Summary of key findings for parents and pupils This is a school that requires special measures. Pupils’ achievement in Years 2 to 6 in writing Arrangements to manage the performance of and mathematics is inadequate. Pupils’ staff fail to ensure that they are held to progress is slow and standards, given their account for pupils’ progress. Actions taken by individual starting points, are too low. leaders to improve teaching are ineffective. The quality of teaching for pupils in Years 2 The information to track pupils’ progress does to 6 is inadequate. There is not enough good not clearly show how well pupils are teaching to address sufficiently quickly the performing and so leaders do not have a clear specific gaps in pupils’ skills and knowledge, enough view of the school’s performance and especially in writing and mathematics. the quality of teaching. Work in lessons fails to provide enough Plans to improve the school are weak and fail challenge to ensure pupils make good to focus on the most important priorities. Since progress, especially for the most able. the last inspection, teaching has deteriorated Teachers do not insist that pupils always significantly and staff have received little present their work neatly. The quality of training and support. marking is too variable and not all pupils The governing body is ineffective because respond to their teachers’ advice. governors do not know enough about pupils’ Too much teaching fails to motivate or fully achievement. They have not challenged senior engage pupils. Some pupils’ attitudes to leaders with sufficient rigour to bring about learning and behaviour require improvement. enough improvement. Consequently, the school’s effectiveness has declined. The school has the following strengths Pupils in Reception and Year 1 achieve well Leaders and governors ensure that pupils due to good teaching. receive specialist support in physical education Pupils of all ages achieve well in reading. lessons to ensure that they are fit and healthy. Inspection report: Peover Superior Endowed Controlled Primary School, 14–15 January 2014 2 of 10 Information about this inspection Six lessons were visited, of which three were joint observations with the headteacher. Thirteen responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) were considered. The inspector also spoke with some parents who visited the school. Meetings were held with two groups of pupils and the inspector spoke to pupils at break and lunch times, and in lessons. Discussions took place with three governors, including the Chair of the Governing Body, as well as with individual teachers in the school. A telephone conversation was also held with a representative of the local authority. The inspector observed the school’s work and looked at a number of documents, including the school’s own data on pupils’ current progress, documents relating to the school’s plans for improvement, its procedures for checking the quality of teaching, records relating to behaviour and attendance and documents relating to safeguarding. Pupils’ books were also checked. Inspection team Clarice Nelson-Rowe, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Inspection report: Peover Superior Endowed Controlled Primary School, 14–15 January 2014 3 of 10 Full report In accordance with section 44 of the Education Act 2005 (as amended), Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. Information about this school This is a much smaller than average-sized primary school. Most pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of pupils who are supported by the pupil premium is well below average. The pupil premium is funding for those pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals, children from service families and those children who are looked after by the local authority. The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs supported through school action is well above average. The proportion of pupils supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is well below average. The headteacher took up post in September 2013. A new class teacher for Years 4 to 6 was appointed in January 2014 and had been in school for one week at the time of the inspection. Children are taught in three classes: Reception and Year 1; Years 2 and 3; and Years 4 to 6. What does the school need to do to improve further? Rapidly improve the quality of teaching in Years 2 to 6 in order to raise the achievement of pupils, especially in mathematics and writing, by: ensuring teachers plan lessons that specifically attend to gaps in pupils’ skills and knowledge providing opportunities for pupils to regularly improve their work in respect of their targets insisting that pupils always present their work neatly and accurately, especially in mathematics and writing providing more opportunities for pupils to use their mathematical skills to solve problems providing training for staff on the teaching of mathematics to improve their skills in explaining to pupils how to solve problems, and to help them check more carefully for inaccuracies in pupils’ work adapting pupils’ work in lessons more quickly so that it assists pupils’ next steps in their learning, especially for the most able when in need of more challenge making sure that teaching motivates and engages pupils enough in their work so that their attitudes to learning and behaviour are always good. Urgently improve the effectiveness of leadership and management so the school can improve rapidly, by: improving the tracking of pupils’ progress so that the achievement of different groups of pupils can be identified more swiftly and the necessary support put in place to prevent them from falling behind improving the approaches to managing the performance of staff so that they are held fully to account for pupils’ progress developing the roles of other key leaders and subject leaders in order to strengthen the ability Inspection report: Peover Superior Endowed Controlled Primary School, 14–15 January 2014 4 of 10 of the school to improve at a faster rate quickly establishing a school improvement plan with clear targets so that improvement is driven forward clearly and at a rapid pace. Rapidly improve the effectiveness of governance, by: undertaking an external review of governance, to include a specific focus on the school’s use of the pupil premium, in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and governance can be improved ensuring that governors develop a secure understanding of how well pupils are achieving, so that they can help to provide a stronger drive for improvement in areas where it is needed ensuring that governors are in touch with the views of parents and pupils, particularly regarding behaviour and safety. Ofsted will make recommendations on governance to the authority responsible for the school. Inspection report: Peover Superior Endowed Controlled Primary School, 14–15 January 2014 5 of 10 Inspection judgements The achievement of pupils is inadequate From their different starting points and levels of ability, all groups of pupils, including the most able, in Years 2 to 6 underachieve in writing and mathematics. In mathematics, pupils lack accuracy in writing digits in the correct places and do not consistently calculate numbers correctly. They find work too hard or too easy because the activities in lessons do not attend to the weaknesses in their knowledge and skills. Pupils are often confused about how to complete tasks because teachers’ explanations are unclear. There is limited evidence in their work to show that pupils can use mathematical skills to solve problems that they may come across in everyday life. In writing, the presentation and quality of pupils’ work is variable across Years 2 to 6. Work is often incomplete, untidy or much shorter than would be expected given their various abilities, particularly for the most able pupils. For some pupils, their handwriting skills, punctuation, as well as the quality of words used in sentences, have deteriorated over time. School information on how well pupils are doing also shows that their rates of progress in writing and mathematics are too slow or, for some, not improving at all. Levels of attainment reported in national tests and teacher assessments at the end of Years 2 and 6 fluctuate widely from year to year. This reflects the small numbers of pupils in each year group. Although all pupils in Year 6 in 2013 made expected progress to reach above average levels of attainment, the progress of pupils currently in the school between Years 2 and 6 is weak in mathematics and writing, and particularly so for the most able pupils. Too often, work lacks the challenge needed for the most able pupils to achieve well enough. Children in Reception and in Year 1 have a positive start to school life and make good progress. Children enter the school with knowledge and skills that are at least in line with those typically expected for their age. Throughout Reception and in Year 1, pupils achieve well. This is because teaching is usually good. Care is given to ensure pupils are happy, safe and calm and get on well with adults and with each other. This good foundation is not built on further up in the school.

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