Brierley Forest Primary and Nursery School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Strengthen leadership and management by ensuring that:
  • leaders continue to improve the curriculum, to meet the needs of all pupils, particularly with regard to their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development
  • governors work with leaders to improve communications with parents and carers.
• Secure good-quality teaching in all classes, enabling pupils to make the progress of which they are capable by ensuring that:
  • teachers set all pupils, especially the most able and in mathematics, tasks that challenge them, increase their rates of progress and help them develop a greater depth of understanding of the subjects they study
  • staff intervene quickly to address any misconceptions, particularly in mathematics and spelling and grammar, while the work is still fresh in pupils’ minds.
• Improve outcomes for all groups of pupils so that:
  • more pupils, particularly those of middle ability, make the accelerated progress necessary to achieve expected attainment in reading in key stage 2, and at the greater depth in reading, writing and mathematics in key stages 1 and 2.
• Improve pupils’ personal development, behaviour and welfare by ensuring that:
  • staff consistently apply the school’s behaviour management policy
  • pupils develop resilience to persevere with their work and do not disrupt the learning of other pupils.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Leaders and governors have an accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. Governors rightly identified a decline in standards and requested support from the local authority. The prompt actions of governors and the local authority have helped to arrest the decline in pupils’ attainment that followed the last inspection.
• The executive headteacher has raised expectations for pupils and staff. She is well supported by the recently appointed senior leadership team. The actions of the leadership team have halted the decline in pupils’ outcomes.
• Leaders are ambitious for all pupils. They quickly realised that many pupils, for example pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities, were not supported well. Middle and subject leaders are now quick to identify these pupils’ needs and any barriers to learning they may have. As a result of effective support, pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make good progress from their starting points.
• Leaders’ plans for improvement are well targeted and are checked regularly for impact. The system for managing the performance of teachers is now closely linked to school improvement priorities. This enables leaders to hold teachers to account for pupils’ achievements and is valued by teachers who know clearly what is expected of them.
• Leaders now use the pupil premium funding effectively. They are increasingly sharp at identifying support for disadvantaged pupils. This includes additional nurture provision and focused one-to-one support from teaching assistants. As a result, disadvantaged pupils’ progress is increasingly in line with that of other pupils.
• Leaders have increased the professional development opportunities available to staff. The staff value the training they receive, in particular their work with SEN experts and an early years adviser. Consequently, pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities and those in the early years are better catered for and make better progress. The training for newly qualified teachers is comprehensive and effectively supports their development.
• Leaders use the physical education (PE) and sports grant effectively. Pupils and teachers have benefited from the additional sports coaching purchased through the additional funds.
• Leaders are ensuring that the curriculum is increasingly broad and balanced. They have identified that pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding could be further developed. They recognise that pupils’ knowledge of different faiths and cultures is an area for continued improvement.

Governance of the school

• Governors challenge and support leaders with increasing effect. The chair and vice chair of the governing body meet frequently with the executive headteacher to assess progress against areas identified in the school improvement plan. By regularly holding leaders to account, governors have added urgency to leaders’ actions for improving areas such as attendance.
• Governors are increasingly effective at discharging their responsibilities. Minutes from governing body meetings show that governors ask challenging questions of the headteacher and other leaders. This is contributing to the increased pace of school improvement.
• Governors know the school well. They have a realistic view of areas that need further improvement. For example, governors know that improvements in communications with parents must strengthen further.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The school has a well-established culture of safeguarding. Pupils feel and are kept safe by well-trained and knowledgeable staff. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe online and know what to do in a variety of circumstances, such as if someone on the internet that they do not know were to ask them to meet in the real world.
• Staff have been appropriately trained and understand their safeguarding responsibilities. The school works well with other agencies to keep children safe. Leaders and the governing body ensure that risk assessments are current, for example, keeping pupils, staff and parents safe during building work.
• Governors understand their responsibilities to oversee safeguarding in the school. They regularly check safeguarding practices and are aware of current safeguarding issues, such as protecting children from extreme views.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Teachers do not consistently set work that is well matched to pupils’ abilities, in particular for the most able in mathematics. The most able pupils sometimes spend time repeating tasks in mathematics when they are able to move on to more challenging activities. As a result, not all pupils make the progress they should, and too few achieve the higher standard in this subject.
• When teaching mathematics and English grammar, punctuation and spelling, teachers are not as effective as they might be in addressing pupils’ misconceptions immediately. Consequently, pupils repeat errors and their learning over time is hindered.
• Teachers are increasingly ensuring that lessons are well structured and designed to engage pupils. The tasks set are well planned to cover the requirements of the national curriculum. Teachers have access to, and effectively use, a wide variety of resources to support pupils’ learning.
• Teachers increasingly make links between new and previous learning clear to pupils. They ask pupils to recall what they learned from lesson to lesson. When teachers do this, pupils are more motivated and confident in what they have learned.
• The teaching of phonics is increasingly effective. For example, teachers use a variety of approaches to help pupils improve their reading and rapidly assess their progress. Pupils are increasingly able to use phonics skills to read and spell unfamiliar words, and work in books shows many now writing at a standard that is appropriate for their age.
• Teachers are more regularly providing opportunities for pupils to read and improve their reading. Many pupils talked about reading at home and demonstrated a good understanding of what they read. Pupils are increasingly proficient readers and enjoy reading in school and at home.
• The teaching of writing has improved over time. Pupils’ spelling is improving and they write for extended periods of time. Consequently, they are increasingly resilient and interested in their writing.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare requires improvement.
• A minority of pupils lack the resilience to persevere with their work when tasks do not interest them sufficiently. Their actions result in disruption to the learning of other pupils. Consequently, learning becomes more difficult for a higher proportion of pupils, and progress is slowed.
• Pupils’ attitudes to learning are improving. Many areas of the curriculum are increasingly well planned and cater for pupils’ strengths and weaknesses. Pupils’ written work increasingly shows a pride in their achievement and commitment to learning.
• The nurture and support team provides an effective service to vulnerable pupils, including many who are disadvantaged. Leaders, teachers, members of the support team and parents work closely together to identify and plan activities that will effectively promote pupils’ learning, social skills and emotional resilience. As a result, pupils, particularly those who are disadvantaged, become increasingly confident learners.
• The vast majority of pupils and parents believe that school is a safe place. Pupils said that bullying is rare and they are confident that adults will deal with it effectively if it should happen.
• Leaders are increasingly providing systems and support to help prepare vulnerable pupils for lessons. For example, targeted pupils are provided with a pre-learning session on a single area of the curriculum. Pupils are thus more consistently able to make good progress in their learning. Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.
• Teachers do not yet apply the school’s behaviour management policy consistently. Pupils who are involved in low-level disruption are not routinely checked by all teachers. The result is that there are still too many occasions when pupils do not conduct themselves well in lessons.
• The majority of staff, pupils and parents feel that behaviour has substantially improved since the current leadership team took over. The nurture resources in place are helping pupils to better manage their behaviour. Leaders are confident that there have been substantial improvements but recognise that more remains to be accomplished.
• Attendance has increased overall, especially for disadvantaged pupils, and is now in line with the national average. Rates of persistent absence have also decreased over the last three years. This reflects the work of leaders to promote the link between regular attendance and improved achievement.
• Previously high levels of pupil exclusion have been eliminated. Leaders recognised that existing systems did not meet the needs of some younger pupils. The specialist external support sourced by leaders has had a very positive impact.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Historically, too few pupils made the accelerated progress necessary for them to attain at the highest standard in reading, writing and mathematics. Work in pupils’ books shows that this continues to be the case. Consequently, not enough pupils attain as well as they could.
• Pupils’ progress in subjects other than English and mathematics is inconsistent. Too often, pupils undertake the same tasks, regardless of their ability or background. Consequently, some pupils, particularly the most able, do not make the progress of which they are capable over time across a range of subjects.
• Progress in reading in key stage 2 in 2017 was below the national figure. Nevertheless, there are signs of improvement in pupils’ progress in key stage 2 in 2017. Progress in writing was above the national overall score, showing a substantial improvement from 2016. Pupils’ progress in mathematics remained in line with the national overall score in 2017.
• In 2017, the proportion of pupils attaining at greater depth in key stage 1 was below average in reading, writing and mathematics. This is particularly because pupils of middle ability did not make the accelerated progress they need to attain at greater depth. Pupils’ attainment from their different starting points, by the end of key stage 1, is improving.
• Work in pupils’ books suggests that the school’s pupil assessment system provides an accurate picture of pupils’ achievements. From this, it is evident that disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are now making progress that is at least in line with that of their peers.
• The school’s work to promote basic skills in reading and writing is having a positive effect on pupils’ progress in these subjects. Pupils consolidate their knowledge and understanding, and increasingly practise and apply their reading and writing skills in a range of subjects.
• The proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check has increased annually and is now broadly average.

Early years provision Good

• Leadership of the early years is good. The early years leader has an accurate view of the strengths and areas for development of this provision and is well supported by the senior leadership team.
• Teaching, learning and assessment are good. Teachers know the children’s strengths and weaknesses. Children’s progress is tracked accurately, and gaps in their understanding are quickly identified. This enables teachers to help them to catch up if they fall behind. Consequently, children make increasingly strong progress from their starting points. A greater proportion are reaching a good level of development by the end of the early years. This means that they are well prepared for Year 1.
• Safeguarding is effective. The site is safe and secure. Leaders have communicated well with parents to collect information about children’s allergies, and kitchen staff are kept appropriately informed. All permanent staff have up-to-date paediatric first aid training.
• The indoor provision is well resourced, and teaching staff make accurate assessments of children’s progress against all areas of the curriculum. The outdoor provision is still developing because of delays due to the new build.
• Teachers plan activities and provide resources that effectively support cooperative learning and stimulate children’s interest. As a result, children are able to work together successfully for prolonged periods of time. They are proud of their achievements and keep their books neat and well cared for.
• Teachers increasingly encourage parents to share evidence from home relating to their children’s learning. The evidence is displayed on the ‘Wow Wall’. Parents are increasingly aware of their children’s progress because assessment information is shared every term.
• Children’s personal development, behaviour and welfare are good. They confidently approach visitors and explain clearly what they are doing. Children are keen to make friends and encourage each other to take part. They behave well and keep themselves safe.

School details

Unique reference number 137810 Local authority Nottinghamshire Inspection number 10041598 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 Community 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 460 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Executive headteacher Sharon Bell Diane Ward Telephone number 01623 553189 Website Email address www.brierleyforestprimary.co.uk office@bforest.notts.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 25–26 February 2014

Information about this school

• Brierley Forest Primary and Nursery school is a larger-than-average size primary school.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is above the national average.
• Pupils come from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds, but the majority are of White British heritage
• The executive headteacher took up her post in January 2017 and the head of school in September 2017.
• The school is a new build. The building work was disruptive and coincided with a significant change in school leadership, which increased the level of challenge for new leaders.
• The school meets the national floor standard and is above the coasting threshold.
• The school has previously under-reported the percentages of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. Leaders have rapidly improved assessment, and the percentage recorded is rising and is likely to be in line with or above the national average when all assessments are complete.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in many contexts. During visits to lessons, inspectors sampled pupils’ books and talked with pupils to evaluate the quality of their learning. Inspectors also conducted learning walks across the school.
• Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour at breaktime, lunchtime and as they moved around the school. Inspectors observed two assemblies.
• Inspectors held a number of meetings with the executive headteacher, head of school, senior and middle leaders, the newly qualified teacher, and governors, including the chair of the governing body. The lead inspector met with the area lead from the local authority.
• Inspectors spoke with pupils from all year groups in meetings, in lessons and around the school at breaktime and lunchtime.
• The inspection team looked at a wide range of the school’s documentation, including the school’s evaluation of its own performance, its improvement plan, information about pupils’ attainment and progress, attendance, bullying and behaviour records and safeguarding procedures.
• Inspectors took account of 18 responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online survey, and responses from parents to the Ofsted free-text service. The 26 responses to the online staff questionnaire were also considered. There were no responses to the pupils’ questionnaire.

Inspection team

Clive Worrall, lead inspector Sarah Chadwick Julie Griffiths

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector