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What have been our successes this year?

This has been an exciting year for our school. We have a new Headteacher and are looking forward to building on our good reputation and success. Our 2007 Key Stage 2 results were: English 85% L4+ and 55% L5; maths 80% L4+ and 47% L5; science 90% L4+ and 43% L5. In addition 33% of our children passed the Grammar School entrance exam, an area in which we often excel. The children in Foundation and Key Stage 1 also make good progress at our school.

We have an active PTA (Parent Teacher Association) called FOSS (Friends of Salesbury School) who have funded a second adventure playground and who are currently helping towards buying a new reading scheme for Foundation And Key Stage 1.

We have been awarded the Healthy Schools Certificate, achieved the FMSiS (Financial Management Standards in Schools) certificate and had a successful audit in June '08 by the local LEA proving that we give good value for money in our school.

Working with the School Council we have taken part in many events for charity this year and our choir and sporting teams have been very successful.

We have excellent relationships with St. Peter's Church and the Diocese and work closely with them.

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What are we trying to improve?

At their last inspection OFSTED wanted us to:-

• develop and use rigorous procedures that regularly inform the school about the effect of its provision on pupils standards and achievements
• accelerate the current development and use of assessment information to improve the quality of teaching and pupils' progress, especially that of high attainers

School has made significant steps towards improving these areas. All staff are responsible for a subject in school and now follow a set programme of monitoring and evaluating what is happening in their area of responsibility. All childrens' progress is monitored and meetings are held to discuss each individual child's progress during the year. We are looking forward to our SATs results this year, especially for our high attainers.

The new Headteacher has also introduced meetings with parents and herself to help improve communication and develop a greater understanding of what happens in school and how we can support parents more.

Parking around school is an issue and we have held several walk to school days with the help of our local PCSO - these have proved to be very popular.

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How much progress do pupils make between age 7 and 11?

Our school

Confidence interval

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How well do pupils achieve at age 11?

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How have our results changed over time?

School results are consistently at national averages or above, depending upon each cohort, and compared to pupils achieving above the expected level we do very well, with our results being above local and national results (this information is available for you under the Performance Tables published by the DCSF).

School has made a considerable effort to improve our Level 5 results this year (2007/08) at Key Stage 2 and we are looking forward to our KS2 SATs results.

We have maintained our strong position of success with the number of pupils passing the Grammar School entrance exam and remain one of the largest feeder primary schools for the Grammar School reflecting the overall breadth of the curriculum we provide here at Salesbury.

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How are we making sure that every child gets teaching to meet their individual needs?

In Nursery and Reception we welcome daily contact from parents bringing their child into school to help them settle quickly and we hold an open evening for parents prior to their children starting in September. Nursery and Reception children are invited into school in the term before they join us to introduce staff to them and help them understand routines.

We have a good relationship with our parents and are always willing to speak to them about their child's progress, whether it is a quick chat at the start or end of the day, or a longer appointment.

The teachers plan work that is enjoyable, challenging but achievable and the work is differentiated to help meet the needs of individual pupils in school. There are teaching assistants in every class to help give extra support where it is needed.

Children are given targets to help them improve their work and we have tracking procedures in place to ensure that each child is progressing as they should. If we think there are any problems we will speak to parents about them.

We have a SENCO (Special Needs Coordinator) who is available every week if needed and an A, G & T (Able, Gifted and Talented) Coordinator to support these children.

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How are we working with parents and the community?

We hold the required two parents evenings every year and send home written reports in the summer; a feedback report is attached for parents and pupils to complete. We have taken part for the last two years in the PAQ (Parental Attitude Questionnaire) but response has been limited and we are thinking of replacing this with a much shorter and friendlier questionnaire.

In addition the new Headteacher has introduced meetings with a selection of parents from each class to gain a more informal, but direct, view of how parents feel about school. Feedback from these meetings has been very positive and the Headteacher has been given excellent reports of how highly the school is valued in the commmunity. The School Council confirm this.

We have strong links with St. Peter's Church, often supporting each other, and we also have links with our main feeder High Schools who assist with French, ICT, music and sports.

Our PTA is very active and the funds they raise are invaluable to us.

The school has a before and after school club as well as a holiday club. The school is also used in the evenings for Rainbows, Beavers, Cubs, Brownies and Guides. On Sundays the school is open for the popular Sunday School.

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What have pupils told us about the school, and what have we done as a result?

We have a School Council who meet regularly and also run "Self Help" days which they organise themselves to raise money for buying play equipment for playtimes etc., These are very popular. Feedback from the School Council is that children are very happy at our school and enjoy coming - this is confirmed in discussions the Headteacher has with pupils- often sitting in the dining room with them to eat a school dinner.

The School Council have also successfully asked the Governors if the girls could wear trousers for school.

School also takes part in the Year 4 and Year 6 PAQ (Pupil Attitude Questionnaire) run by the LEA so that we can get independent views of how pupils feel about school. Whe have found that our children are very positive about school, enjoy taking part in our sporting events and that they are encouraged to work hard both by the parents at home and by the staff in school.

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How do we make sure our pupils are healthy, safe and well-supported?

"The school successfully promotes pupils' personal development and well-being and the inspection confirms the school's judgement that this is good." (OFSTED 2005)

Our school has been awarded the Healthy School Status and our Nursery is a "Smiling for Life" nursery which encourages a healthy life style. Children are only allowed healthy snacks at playtime and have access to water all day - including outside.

We run our own kitchen and ensure that the children are offered a balanced and nutritional choice of meals every day - we buy the services of the LEA to audit our provision.

We have wonderful outdoor play areas including access to 2 adventure playgrounds, a field, 2 playgrounds and a winding path around our field.

We have an excellent sporting tradition and a wide choice of extra-curricular activities. We also offer wrap-around day care, provided by an OFSTED registered club from 7.45am - 5.45pm and cover during the school holidays.

Access to the school is only via the main entrance during the day to ensure the safety of our pupils.

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How do our absence rates compare with other schools?

We have an excellent attendance rate at school. We recognise the difficulty of the expense of taking children on holiday during the school holidays and are very proud that most of our parents recognise the importance of keeping their children in school wherever possible and only taking holidays during the scheduled holiday dates and would like to express our thanks to them for doing so.

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What activities and options are available to pupils?

Children can attend our before and after school club and we have a Holiday Club during the school holiday - these are run by an outside provider for a charge.

We offer a wide variety of clubs to children with every teacher offering an activity and sometimes 2 or 3 activities - clubs are changed every term to match the seasons. Here is an example of the summer terms clubs:

Monday:  Infant Spanish; Junior Spanish; Advanced Recorders; School Council

Tuesday:  Intermediate Recorders; Quiz Club; Netball

Wednesday:  Beginners Recorders; Football Team Practice - athletics to follow when football finishes

Thursday:  Art Club; Rounders; Cross Country; Reading Club

Friday:  Cricket Team Practice; Choir; Latin

In addition, for a charge the LEA provide violin, woodwind & guitar lessons in school.

During the year we have Life Education for a week who deliver advice on staying safe around drugs and alcohol; we have an arts week; a Foundation Stage Creativity Week and the children in Year 6 go away for a week to an outdoor education centre.

We have regular visitors in school for Worship and to support the curriculum and trips.

In addition many of our children attend clubs run by the St. Peter's Church.

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What do our pupils do after leaving this school?

Many of our children transfer to Clitheroe Royal Grammar School or Ribblesdale High School, some go on to Bowland High School, Westholme, QEGS, Stonyhurst, St. Wilfrid's C of E High School and St. Augustine's High School.

We have good systems in place for dealing with transition between ourselves and the feeder High Schools, with representatives coming in to talk to the pupils and our Year 6 teachers. In addition staff from CRGS and Ribblesdale between them provide support in school for French, ICT & sports and St. Wilfrid's have provided some extra music lessons for one class this year.

Our feeder High Schools feedback our ex-pupils' results to us and many go on to gain excellent GCSE and A Level results and from there on to college and university.

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What have we done in response to Ofsted?

We have developed rigorous procedures to monitor and evaluate what is happening in every subject taught in school and to closely track the progress of each individual child in school. 

We have also explored ways of creating improved space for worship and enabling more engagement and involvement of the children.

We have continued to provide guidance and support for staff in developing creative ways of teaching Religious Education

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More Information

If you would like more information about school policies, including our policies on special educational needs and disability, admissions, finance, school food and our complaints procedure, please contact us:

By telephone: 01254 244580

Our website: http://www.salesbury.lancs.sch.uk

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