Shirwell Community Primary School
Catchment Area, Reviews and Key Information

Primary
PUPILS
48
AGES
4 - 11
GENDER
Mixed
TYPE
Community school
SCHOOL GUIDE RATING
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Can I Get My Child Into This School?

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This pupil heat map shows where pupils currently attending the school live.
The concentration of pupils shows likelihood of admission based on distance criteria

Source: All attending pupils National School Census Data, ONS
0345 155 1019

This School Guide heat map has been plotted using official pupil data taken from the last School Census collected by the Department for Education. It is a visualisation of where pupils lived at the time of the annual School Census.

Our heat maps use groups of postcodes, not individual postcodes, and have naturally soft edges. All pupils are included in the mapping (i.e. children with siblings already at the school, high priority pupils and selective and/or religious admissions) but we may have removed statistical ‘outliers’ with more remote postcodes that do not reflect majority admissions.

For some schools, the heat map may be a useful indicator of the catchment area but our heat maps are not the same as catchment area maps. Catchment area maps, published by the school or local authority, are based on geographical admissions criteria and show actual cut-off distances and pre-defined catchment areas for a single admission year.

This information is provided as a guide only. The criteria in which schools use to allocate places in the event that they are oversubscribed can and do vary between schools and over time. These criteria can include distance from the school and sometimes specific catchment areas but can also include, amongst others, priority for siblings, children of a particular faith or specific feeder schools. Living in an area where children have previously attended a school does not guarantee admission to the school in future years. Always check with the school’s own admission authority for the current admission arrangements.

3 steps to help parents gather catchment information for a school:

  1. Look at our school catchment area guide for more information on heat maps. They give a useful indicator of the general areas that admit pupils to the school. This visualisation is based on all attending pupils present at the time of the annual School Census.
  2. Use the link to the Local Authority Contact (above) to find catchment area information based on a single admission year. This is very important if you are considering applying to a school.
  3. On each school page, use the link to visit the school website and find information on individual school admissions criteria. Geographical criteria are only applied after pupils have been admitted on higher priority criteria such as Looked After Children, SEN, siblings, etc.

How Does The School Perform?

Good
NATIONAL AVG. 2.09
Ofsted Inspection
(18/07/2018)
Full Report - All Reports
57%
NATIONAL AVG. 60%
% pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics



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Progress Compared With All Other Schools

UNLOCK Well Below Average (About 9% of schools in England) Below Average (About 9% of schools in England) Average (About 67% of schools in England) Above Average (About 6% of schools in England) Well Above Average (About 9% of schools in England) UNLOCK Well Below Average (About 10% of schools in England) Below Average (About 9% of schools in England) Average (About 67% of schools in England) Above Average (About 6% of schools in England) Well Above Average (About 8% of schools in England) UNLOCK Well Below Average (About 10% of schools in England) Below Average (About 11% of schools in England) Average (About 59% of schools in England) Above Average (About 11% of schools in England) Well Above Average (About 9% of schools in England)
School Lane
Shirwell
Barnstaple
EX31 4JT
01271850295

School Description

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You, alongside governors and your dedicated staff team, are determined to continue to improve opportunities for pupils. You have established an experienced governing body that has a range of skills that are having a positive impact upon the school. An example of this is how you worked together with governors to secure your ‘Olympic Legacy’ funding project. As a result, pupils now have a state-of-the-art all-weather pitch to improve further the quality of physical education and sporting opportunities. Governors are actively involved in the school and make regular visits to check upon school improvement priorities. They do not simply accept what you are telling them and make use of external reports to validate your work. High expectations and warm, caring relationships are built upon a deep mutual respect at Shirwell. The school is a calm, welcoming and nurturing environment. Pupils are polite and respectful to staff and each other. I was very taken with the behaviour of the pupils and the conversations that I had with pupils. They are a credit to the school. This is a school where leaders and staff know each individual pupil’s needs and abilities well. One parent described Shirwell to me as feeling so lucky to have such a fantastic school for her children. Another parent said, ‘Staff know the children very well and they want each child to do their best, whatever their potential.’ At the previous inspection in 2015, inspectors charged you to improve teaching further. You were asked to do this by ensuring that pupils correct errors in their work. They also required that a focus be placed upon improving grammar, spelling and punctuation and insisting on consistently good presentation of work. Finally, you were asked to ensure that activities are sufficiently challenging, so pupils can progress as well as they can. Since the previous inspection, you and your staff have worked tirelessly to improve the quality of teaching across the school continually. From the observations that we did together, and the scrutiny of pupils’ work in their books, it was evident that teachers plan activities to meet the wide range of pupils’ needs in each class. Work in pupils’ English books shows that pupils take pride in their work and make good progress from their different starting points. Furthermore, teachers place significant emphasis on pupils being reflective and checking their understanding to identify errors and correct any misconceptions. This approach encouraged pupils to consolidate their understanding and skills so that sentences are constructed with growing accuracy. The curriculum you offer is broad and a contributing factor to pupils’ enjoyment of school. For example, pupils benefit from subject specialists to provide them with opportunities to develop their skills and understanding further. Pupils told me how much they value their extensive range of learning experiences to support their knowledge. For instance, a trip to the local recycling centre highlighted to pupils the challenges that they face in ensuring the environment’s sustainability. You have rightly recognised the need to develop further the quality of spelling across the school. Despite leaders’ efforts to improve the quality of spelling, this is not yet consistent. Leaders have appropriate plans to continue to address this issue. Safeguarding is effective. In your role as the designated safeguarding leader you have ensured that all safeguarding requirements are fit for purpose. Staff and governors are well trained through regular update training to keep informed of their responsibilities to keep pupils safe. Governors regularly commission external audits to take a second opinion on what they are being told and react swiftly to any developmental points. Pupils said that they feel safe when they are in school and that the school’s curriculum helps them understand how to stay safe. For instance, pupils reported favourably on the opportunities that they have through the ‘Life Skills’ programme, learning how to keep safe in a range of situations and of the risks to them outside of school. Pupils are confident that if they have any worries or concerns they will be dealt with quickly. Parents and carers agree that their children are safe and happy at the school. Inspection findings At the start of the inspection, we agreed to explore four areas of the school’s work in greater detail. My first line of enquiry was to look at what leaders are doing to improve outcomes for pupils by the end of Year 1 in the phonics screening check. This is because, over the past three years, pupils’ performance in the phonics screening check has been below average. Children join the school at various starting points with their phonic knowledge. Staff have the knowledge and skills they need to teach phonics effectively. You have a phonics scheme and a consistent approach to the teaching of phonics in early years and key stage 1. As a very small school, the published data can vary significantly from year to year and does not paint an accurate picture of the quality of phonics teaching. Leaders regularly analyse information to identify any pupils who are struggling or who are ready for the next stage of their language development. For those pupils that have not achieved the expected standard in the Year 1 check, you initiated a variety of support sessions, including parental guidance. Such sessions ensure that no pupil is left behind and that all pupils are able to succeed and be competent and fluent readers. As a result, pupils by the end of Year 2, for the past two years, have all passed the check. My next line of enquiry related to how leaders’ actions are improving pupils’ writing in key stage 1, with a particular focus on pupils achieving the higher standards of attainment. You and other leaders have placed high importance on ensuring that standards in writing continue to improve across the school since the previous inspection. Opportunities for pupils to write in English across the curriculum are wide, frequent and appropriate for different audiences, purposes and genres. Leaders recognised that teachers needed to explore various ways of engaging pupils in writing for enjoyment. You set about developing writing to be more specific to pupils’ needs and interests. As a result, work in pupils’ books clearly demonstrates how pupils have developed a love of writing through a particular interest. The actions that you have taken have led to improvements in the progress that current pupils in key stage 1 are making. However, when we looked at pupils’ work more closely, it was clearly evident that pupils’ spelling was hindering their overall progress. Another line of enquiry was to look at pupils’ achievement in mathematics, particularly for pupils achieving the higher attainment. You shared with me your rationale to change the school’s approach to teaching mathematics. This is so that work builds progressively on what has already been learned so that pupils extend their knowledge and skills systematically, embedding their understanding. There is evidence of progress across a range of mathematics, ensuring that pupils have a knowledge of strategies so that they can solve problems efficiently. As a result of your actions, the quality of work seen in pupils’ mathematics books is improving. Further work is required to embed the renewed approach of teaching mathematics to ensure that pupils make the progress that they are capable of. The final line of enquiry focused on evaluating pupils’ progress in English grammar, punctuation and spelling (EGPS). This is because in 2016 and 2017, the proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard was below the national average. On further scrutiny, you identified that EGPS was a focus area for the whole school and this is a priority in your current school development plan.

Shirwell Community Primary School Parent Reviews



unlock % Parents Recommend This School
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>88, "agree"=>12, "disagree"=>0, "strongly_disagree"=>0, "dont_know"=>0} UNLOCK Figures based on 17 responses up to 18-07-2018
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>88, "agree"=>12, "disagree"=>0, "strongly_disagree"=>0, "dont_know"=>0} UNLOCK Figures based on 17 responses up to 18-07-2018
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>82, "agree"=>12, "disagree"=>6, "strongly_disagree"=>0, "dont_know"=>0} UNLOCK Figures based on 17 responses up to 18-07-2018
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>94, "agree"=>6, "disagree"=>0, "strongly_disagree"=>0, "dont_know"=>0} UNLOCK Figures based on 17 responses up to 18-07-2018
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>82, "agree"=>18, "disagree"=>0, "strongly_disagree"=>0, "dont_know"=>0} UNLOCK Figures based on 17 responses up to 18-07-2018
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>59, "agree"=>41, "disagree"=>0, "strongly_disagree"=>0, "dont_know"=>0} UNLOCK Figures based on 17 responses up to 18-07-2018
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>65, "agree"=>35, "disagree"=>0, "strongly_disagree"=>0, "dont_know"=>0} UNLOCK Figures based on 17 responses up to 18-07-2018
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>59, "agree"=>35, "disagree"=>0, "strongly_disagree"=>0, "dont_know"=>6} UNLOCK Figures based on 17 responses up to 18-07-2018
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>88, "agree"=>12, "disagree"=>0, "strongly_disagree"=>0, "dont_know"=>0} UNLOCK Figures based on 17 responses up to 18-07-2018
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>82, "agree"=>18, "disagree"=>0, "strongly_disagree"=>0, "dont_know"=>0} UNLOCK Figures based on 17 responses up to 18-07-2018
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>82, "agree"=>12, "disagree"=>6, "strongly_disagree"=>0, "dont_know"=>0} UNLOCK Figures based on 17 responses up to 18-07-2018
Yes No {"yes"=>100, "no"=>0} UNLOCK Figures based on 17 responses up to 18-07-2018

Responses taken from Ofsted Parent View

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