Glenbrook Primary and Nursery School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching across key stages 1 and 2 by ensuring that:
  • pupils have regular opportunities to reason mathematically, and to redraft their writing
  • teachers consistently question all pupils, particularly the most able, precisely so that it extends their thinking and enables a higher proportion of pupils to attain a greater depth of understanding
  • those teachers who are less confident or effective continue to be guided and supported to improve their practice.
• Improve the quality of teaching in the early years by ensuring that staff use a wide range of evidence to accurately assess children, and use this information to consistently plan appropriately challenging activities for them so that they make good progress across all areas of learning.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Since her appointment in September 2014, shortly after the school converted to become an academy, the headteacher has worked effectively and rapidly to improve outcomes for pupils.
• The school has improved quickly, and is continuing to do so, because the headteacher has created a positive climate where both staff and pupils value hard work, success and equal opportunities for everyone. This is reflected in the school’s motto, ‘Include, Improve and Inspire’. As a result, pupils try hard in lessons, behave well and are cared for by staff who ensure that they make good progress.
• Recognising that, despite the school’s improving teaching, disadvantaged pupils in last year’s Year 6 cohort made progress in reading that was far too slow, leaders acted immediately. They intensified actions to ensure that all groups of pupils in the school, particularly disadvantaged pupils, made consistently good progress in this subject, while ensuring that teaching in other subjects did not decline.
• To ensure that teaching in reading was effective, the headteacher insisted on weekly monitoring of pupils’ progress in this subject, as well as in writing and in mathematics. Her reports to governors, seen by inspectors, confirm the detail with which leaders evaluate and track the progress of all pupil groups. She and her senior leadership team identify quickly any pupils who are falling behind, or who are not making the gains they need to. They ensure that staff adjust their teaching and the support packages for these pupils wherever they do not prove effective enough.
• The headteacher’s insistence on high standards, and a determination to eradicate any underperformance, have driven up the quality of teaching across the school in all subjects. Teaching is now good overall. While small pockets of less effective teaching remain, leaders are attending to them effectively and systematically. These teachers, and those who are new to the profession, are receiving consistently high-quality support and guidance, which are helping them to improve briskly.
• Middle leaders have a good understanding of their role. They report regularly to the governing body on the progress that pupils are making in the subjects and areas for which they are responsible. These reports confirm the good levels of progress of pupils across the curriculum.
• The headteacher works closely with the governing body and with staff to ensure that the school’s evaluation is based on clear evidence. This explains, rightly, why the school is good. Leaders use the priorities for improvement to write a continually reviewed and comprehensive action plan. This plan is effective because it contains clear milestones that governors use to check whether developments are taking place, and that they are having the impact intended.
• The headteacher has created a cohesive, well-motivated team of staff who feel that she leads and manages the school well. A very large majority of the considerable proportion of staff who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire gave very positive responses to all areas, and unanimously said that they are proud to work at Glenbrook. As one staff member explained, ’I have seen a massive improvement in all areas since the current headteacher arrived. The commitment and drive she instils in staff is just what Glenbrook needed.’
• Leaders’ arrangements for managing the performance of staff are very effective. Teachers are given clear targets to both improve their classroom performance and, where appropriate, to take wider responsibilities for leadership. Targets include ones for whole-school priorities that are set out in the school development plan. The headteacher helps staff to improve their skills by giving them good professional development. She has worked well with the multi-academy trust to provide staff with opportunities to visit other schools where they can see for themselves highly effective teaching within other trust schools. Staff meet with colleagues in these schools to share best practice and ideas.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. They have a clear understanding of right and wrong, and know the importance of following the school rules. Pupils help each other well with, for example, older pupils taking responsibility for serving food to younger children and ensuring that dining at lunchtime is a shared and valued social occasion. Senior leaders ensure that pupils are taught about a wide variety of faiths and cultures, and the importance of respecting others whose beliefs may be different from their own. As a result, pupils are prepared well for life in modern Britain.
• Leaders ensure that the curriculum is both balanced and broad, as well as being exciting for pupils. Teachers use a variety of interesting topics to bring learning to life. For example, pupils in Year 6 learn about ‘The Great, the Bold and the Brave’, finding out about Alexander the Great, Greek pottery and Pompeii. Topics also provide good opportunities for cross-curricular learning, with teachers helping pupils to develop an enjoyment of reading by introducing them to exciting stories and books.
• The curriculum is enriched well through a variety of after-school and extra-curricular opportunities that pupils say that they enjoy attending greatly. These include tag rugby, Polish culture, music, computer coding, art, drama and lacrosse. Leaders monitor attendance at these clubs closely to ensure that pupils, particularly those who are disadvantaged, are able to attend if they wish.
• Leaders spend the pupil premium effectively to ensure that disadvantaged pupils make good progress from their starting points. Much of this funding is spent on vital additional support to help them improve their reading skills. School information that inspectors viewed during the inspection shows that this is proving highly successful in accelerating the progress of disadvantaged pupils.
• The primary physical education (PE) and sport money is being well spent, increasing pupils’ enjoyment of sport and raising participation levels considerably. The school website gives extensive details of the wide range of sporting opportunities and competitions in which pupils take part.
• A large majority of parents who responded to Parent View, and a very large majority who responded to the school’s most recent questionnaire, spoke positively about all aspects of the school. A very small minority of parents expressed the view that staff do not deal with bullying effectively. However, inspectors spoke at length with pupils from different year groups, who explained how staff deal with any unkind behaviour both fairly and quickly so that everyone is friends again.
• The headteacher has, rightly, made her greatest priority that of securing pupils’ good progress in reading, and phonics in particular, as well as ensuring good teaching and outcomes for those pupils who are closer to transferring to secondary school. She has also, sensibly, ensured that staff give the highest priority to those who have the greatest gaps in their knowledge and understanding. As a result, these pupils are catching up quickly.
• While provision in the early years has also improved markedly, senior leaders have not been able to ensure that assessment procedures in this key stage are as effective as they need to be. Consequently, adults are not planning learning activities well enough to ensure that children make consistently good and sustained progress across all areas of learning. The headteacher is fully aware of this, and she is swiftly attending to the issue, in pursuit of ensuring that provision in the early years becomes securely good.

Governance of the school

• The governing body is playing an effective strategic role in ensuring that the pace of improvement is brisk. Governors are rightly proud of the improvements they have helped to secure since the school’s conversion to an academy. They can also explain well the impact these have brought to pupils. However, they are also passionate that the rate of these improvements must continue, in order that the school can become a beacon of excellence in the community.
• Governors explained to inspectors how they work well with the representatives of the multi-academy trust, who provide them with high-quality training, advice and support. This helps governors to hold senior leaders to account rigorously. Governors feel that the trust does not excessively direct or constrain their work, but they give them good levels of independence in order for them to function well as a cohesive team.
• Governors check that senior leaders are improving the quality of teaching by overseeing the arrangements for performance management, and by visiting the school regularly to discuss pupils’ outcomes and the actions that leaders need to take next.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders have ensured that staff understand very clearly their responsibility to report any concern, however slight, that a pupil may be at risk of harm. They are able to describe in detail the different warning signs that would alert them, and know precisely how to inform senior leaders.
• Leaders have ensured that they meet continually to discuss the welfare and support for any pupils whose circumstances make them vulnerable, or whom they have needed to refer to external agencies, such as social care. Case files seen by inspectors demonstrate that leaders make brisk referrals to these agencies and that staff work closely with parents. Records are detailed and are of high quality. The school website contains links to information for parents on how to keep their child safe when online.
• Leaders ensure that new staff are recruited safely and that the school’s record of this meets requirements.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers ensure that their classrooms are purposeful, positive and orderly learning environments. They make it clear to pupils what they are going to teach them each lesson, and what pupils must demonstrate to show that they have completed their work to a good standard.
• Teachers have good levels of subject knowledge and so are able to deliver lessons with confidence. They use new technology, such as visualisers, well so that pupils can see and understand for themselves the things teachers are teaching them.
• Staff consistently make their expectations of good behaviour clear to pupils. They quickly spot any pupils who are not fully listening and ensure that they pay attention. Any pupils who find it difficult to manage their own behaviour are supported well so that, over time, their ability to do this for themselves improves.
• Teachers deliver their lessons at an appropriate pace, which helps move learning on quickly.
• Teaching assistants work effectively to support those pupils who are at an early stage of learning English, pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who need to catch up. Teaching assistants are effective because they do not guide pupils excessively, but encourage them to do as much for themselves as possible. As a result, these pupils develop good levels of independence.
• When marking work, teachers follow the school’s policy consistently, which enables pupils to receive clear guidance on what they have done well and the aspects they need to improve next. As a result, pupils learn well.
• The staff’s ability to teach phonics well has improved rapidly. From the early years onwards, staff now teach children the correct vocabulary and ensure that they have a clear understanding of phonics, so that they can both read and write well.
• Teachers in key stages 1 and 2 plan learning well, matching the work that they give to pupils closely to pupils’ needs. Lessons build well on what pupils know, understand or do already. Assessment is not yet precise in the early years however, and as a result, children’s progress in this key stage is not substantial.
• Some minor variations exist in the quality of teaching, with lessons sometimes less effective in a small number of classes. In particular, not all teachers have ensured that pupils develop good skills in re-drafting their writing.
• The school has introduced a new scheme for mathematics that is helping pupils to learn well. However, leaders recognise that, at present, teachers need to give pupils more opportunities to reason mathematically.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils feel well cared for and relationships with adults are warm and friendly. The pupils whom inspectors met explained how staff care for them well, and help them to understand the importance of trying their best. They explained how this helps them to improve their confidence and how working hard at school will help them become successful, capable adults. They also described how they enjoy lessons, because they are fun.
• Pupils say that staff listen to them and take note of their views. They spoke particularly warmly of how they had helped in the design of their new school building, their uniform, and their personal organisers. Inspectors also met the ‘pupil ambassador’, who proudly explained her role in showing visitors around the school.
• Pupils are taught how to stay safe from a wide variety of risks to their safety including, for instance, from strangers, roads, water, fire and when using new technology. The pupils spoken to by inspectors described why, when using the internet, it was important not to give details about themselves to someone they did not personally know. They also explained that instances of bullying are very rare in school and that if it happened, they can rely on staff to deal with it appropriately. Staff help pupils to resolve their conflicts well and form positive friendships.
• Pupils understand the importance of staying healthy. They know that it is important to eat a healthy diet and to stay active. They explained how they enjoy taking part in PE and in the school’s many sporting clubs and opportunities.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Teachers and teaching assistants consistently apply the school’s behaviour policy and, as a result, pupils know what is expected of them. They pay attention in class and follow instructions quickly. Any disruption by pupils is rare, and staff deal with any incidents effectively so that the learning for others in the class is not interrupted.
• Pupils understand and expect that their work will become harder as they get older, and view this, and their homework, positively. They complete their work neatly and with pride.
• As a result of clear expectations from staff, the atmosphere in school is calm and relaxed. Pupils move around the school calmly and sensibly, and behave well at lunchtimes and breaktimes. Pupils whom inspectors met confirmed that the good behaviour that inspectors saw in the hall, dining room and playground during the inspection is typical.
• Pupils are polite and respectful to visitors. They hold doors open and are keen to strike up positive and articulate conversations with them.
• Pupils wear their uniform smartly and help keep the school clean and tidy. Inspectors saw how, for example, children in the early years spontaneously began to sing, ‘Choose it, use it, put it away’ together as they tidied up their things at the end of a lesson.
• Leaders continually highlight to parents the importance of their child attending regularly, and are relentless in their drive to work with the families of those children who do not attend regularly enough. As a result, attendance is improving and is approaching the national average. The absence level for pupils classified as receiving support for their special educational needs and/or disabilities, which was 9.6% in the last academic year, has halved and is now broadly in line with the national average.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Outcomes for pupils at Glenbrook are improving quickly. For example, in 2015, the Year 6 cohort left the school having made significantly less progress than others nationally in both reading and mathematics. Attainment was also significantly low in key stage 1 in these subjects in 2015.
• By 2016, outcomes in key stage 1 had risen considerably. Pupils made at least the progress expected of them, and the progress of both lower attaining and middle-attaining pupils was significantly greater than the national average. The proportion of the lowest attaining pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics was in the top 10% of all schools in the country.
• Outcomes also rose considerably in key stage 2 in almost all cases in 2016. The progress made by pupils in last year’s cohort, in both mathematics and writing, was broadly in line with the national average. In addition, the progress made by pupils overall in reading was broadly in line. However, the progress in reading of the disadvantaged pupils in this cohort, who made up around half of the cohort, was exceptionally low and in the lowest 10%.
• Due to the intensive work that leaders have done to ensure that outcomes in reading for pupils, particularly disadvantaged pupils, are high, progress is now securely good. Information the school keeps shows that close to 90% of pupils are now making at least the progress expected of them in almost all year groups, with a growing proportion making more than this, in all subjects. This information also shows that, in almost all cases, disadvantaged pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, are making accelerated progress due to the high-quality support they receive. In the small number of cases where differences between the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and that of others nationally are not diminishing quickly enough, leaders are ensuring that staff adjust the support packages they give to pupils.
• Leaders have set targets for the proportions of pupils achieving the expected standards in this year’s assessments to be broadly in line with the national average, and pupils are currently on track to meet these.
• During the inspection, inspectors scrutinised a large amount of pupils’ work alongside senior leaders, in reading, writing and mathematics. They examined exercise books across key stage 1 to key stage 2 from pupils of different abilities, and including disadvantaged pupils, pupils who are at an early stage of learning English as an additional language, and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. This confirms convincingly that pupils overall, and those of these groups, are making good progress. In particular, inspectors noted how pupils’ skills to infer meaning when they read, which leaders had identified as a key priority for the school, were largely secure. Inspectors also examined pupils’ work in many other subjects. This confirms that the greatly improved progress pupils are now making has not been at the expense of, for example, science, history, geography, or art and design. For example, pupils’ exercise books in Year 4 show that they are making good progress across the curriculum through finding out about Diwali, Howard Carter’s discovery of Tutankhamun, and learning how to locate countries around the world on a map.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are making good progress from their starting points, because staff give them work that is appropriate to their needs. Staff work tirelessly to ensure that these pupils are included fully in both the curriculum, and in any opportunities, such as school visits and trips.
• Because of much better teaching, the proportions of pupils who pass the phonics screening check in Year 1 have risen each year since academisation. The proportion of current Year 1 pupils who already have skills at this level is very close to the national average, and is expected to rise further before pupils take the test.
• Pupils enjoy reading. Those whom inspectors met with told them how much they like, for example, the new school library, and that they enjoy sharing books together. Those pupils inspectors heard read made good attempts to pronounce words they were not familiar with, and read with fluency and understanding.
• The most able pupils overall do not make the rapid progress of which they are capable. This is because, although teachers generally ask appropriate questions to check pupils’ understanding, these questions are not consistently precise enough when addressed to the most able pupils. This, in turn, does not give these pupils enough opportunities to think deeply and extend their learning. As a result, the proportions of pupils attaining a greater depth of understanding are not high enough.

Early years provision Requires improvement

• Though provision in the early years is improving quickly, it is not yet securely good. This is because staff do not use a sufficiently wide range of evidence to ensure that their assessments of what children understand, know or can do are precise.
• Teachers do not consistently use the ongoing assessments they make of children’s attainment to plan suitably challenging work for them. As a result, children’s progress is not as fast as it could be.
• The early years leader has a clear understanding of his role, and is helping other staff in the early years who are new to the profession to improve their skills. He also ensures that staff provide children with engaging and exciting activities across all areas of learning. As a result, children enjoy coming to school to learn.
• Staff ensure that they communicate effectively and positively with parents, inviting them to, for example, complete booklets about what their child can do before they start school. As a result, parents feel that their child settles into school quickly and say that they are pleased with the information they receive about their child’s learning.
• Children feel safe, and behave safely, in the early years. Inspectors saw, for example, how children in the Nursery class were able to describe to their teacher how they should move around the hall safely and not to fall or bump into others during a session on promoting their physical development.
• Children behave well, cooperating appropriately as they explore and find out new things.
• The teaching of phonics is a particular strength. Children learn the relationship between sounds and letters very effectively, and are therefore able to use and apply their new skills well in, for example, their early mark making. Nevertheless, teaching is not consistently good across all areas of learning.
• Leaders use the pupil premium funding well so that disadvantaged children begin to catch up. For example, additional staff are employed to support those children who are at the early stages of learning English. The most able disadvantaged children are given more challenging activities to do, in order to make them think deeply.
• School information shows that children enter with levels of skills that are below those typically found in children of the same age, with their skills in communication and language particularly low. Children’s work seen by inspectors shows that they make at least typical overall progress from their starting points.
• As a result of much better teaching in the early years recently, children leave effectively prepared for Year 1. The proportion of children attaining a good level of development has risen sharply over the past two years, and is now broadly in line with the national average.
• There has been an even sharper rise in the proportion of disadvantaged children attaining a good level of development. For example, in 2014, this was only 8%. Last year, it was 65%. This is because staff ensure that the needs of these children are being met more effectively.

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School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 140548 Nottingham 10023071 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Academy sponsor-led 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 281 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Pat Shaw Samantha Eyre 0115 9155717

www.glenbrooknottingham.org.uk admin@glenbrook.nottingham.sch.uk

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• This is an average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of pupils supported through the pupil premium funding is much higher than average.
• The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is slightly higher than average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum requirements for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.
• The school converted to an academy in April 2014 and is now one of 10 schools in the Spencer Academies Trust and its associated George Spencer Teaching Alliance.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.

Information about this inspection

• The inspectors observed learning in all key stages of the school and in all classes. One of the observations took place accompanied by the headteacher. In total, 20 lessons, or parts of lessons, were observed. The inspectors also scrutinised many examples of pupils’ work.
• The inspection team held meetings with the senior leaders, subject leaders, representatives of the governing body and pupils. They analysed 16 responses on the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View, looked at the free-text comments submitted by those parents, and spoke with parents at the beginning of the day. The inspectors also looked at the views of the 93 parents who had responded to the school’s most recent questionnaire, together with those from parents whose children have most recently joined the early years.
• The inspectors looked at a wide range of documentation, including the school’s development plan and self-evaluation, policies and records related to safeguarding, records of pupils’ behaviour, the school’s information about pupils’ outcomes and attendance, and records of meetings of the governing body.

Inspection team

Roary Pownall, lead inspector Sally Manz Joanna Hall Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Helen Richardson Her Majesty’s Inspector