Southfields Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of leadership and management at all levels, including in the school’s enhanced resource provision, by:
  • ensuring that leaders’ self-evaluation focuses on the difference that they are making to pupils’ progress and achievement across the school
  • sharpening the judgements leaders make about the quality of teaching, learning and assessment so that these are based thoroughly on the evidence of pupils’ progress and work
  • further enhancing the effectiveness of governors so that they review the full impact of the additional funding that the school receives on the achievement of pupils, not just pupils’ personal development and welfare.
• Accelerate all pupils’ progress, including that of the most able, pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and disadvantaged pupils, by:
  • improving teachers’ use of assessment information to identify accurately appropriate next steps in the learning of pupils further raising the expectations of staff about what pupils should be achieving, most notably in mathematics and English
  • providing pupils with more opportunities to develop their writing skills for different purposes across the wider curriculum
  • ensuring that teaching supports pupils over time to have the confidence and skills to undertake more challenging questions and tasks independently.
• Improve the effectiveness of the provision in early years by:
  • making sure that all adults have the highest expectations about what children can achieve
  • ensuring that all adults make effective use of children’s assessments, so that they can plan precise activities that meet children’s needs and next steps in learning
  • improving the opportunities for children to learn more effectively, most notably in the well-resourced outdoor area. An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved. An external review of the use of pupil premium funding should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

• The school has faced significant instability over the last two years, which has hindered leaders’ ability to maintain the highest standards for pupils. Numerous staff changes, extensive building work and the growth in the number of pupils joining the school have brought distractions for leaders. Despite the resilience of the headteacher to ensure the day-to-day running of the school, leaders and governors have not ensured that pupils make consistently good progress from their various starting points.
• Senior leaders’ and governors’ self-evaluation of the school’s performance, including in the early years, is overly generous. Leaders’ monitoring and evaluation are not precise enough because they do not accurately reflect the impact of the significant changes that have happened both within the school and nationally, in particular, on the progress that pupils are making.
• Leaders, including subject leaders, do not use the information they have well enough to check the school’s performance as a whole. Despite an abundance of paperwork and many layers of assessment, leaders do not use this information sharply enough. Consequently, they do not accurately know the difference that they are making to pupils’ achievement.
• Enthusiastic and dedicated leaders have acted quickly to try to improve reading outcomes for pupils since the results in 2016. For example, leaders have attended training and led staff development on reading. This is showing signs of improving the teaching of reading, but leaders are not yet precise enough in measuring the impact this work is having. This is particularly the case for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, the most able and disadvantaged pupils.
• The local authority offered the school support in 2016. However, the local authority’s evaluation of the school’s work is overly positive. There has not been enough in-depth scrutiny and checking of leaders’ work to be able to evaluate the school’s position accurately.
• Pupils’ work in books and assessment information show that pupil premium funding is having some impact on raising pupils’ achievement. However, the progress made by disadvantaged pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, is not yet consistently effective. Information about their progress is not analysed carefully enough by leaders to enable them to ensure that this funding is having the maximum impact on improving the quality of teaching that pupils receive.
• The funding for special educational needs and/or disabilities is carefully considered. Investment in resources and staff is ensuring that pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are well looked after. In particular, the support for pupils’ welfare and development in the school’s enhanced resource base ensures that they are more confident to access mainstream lessons. However, leaders are not clear enough about the difference the funding makes to the achievement of pupils. This is because the evaluation of their work, and the impact they have, are not sharply linked to pupils’ progress.
• Leaders have created a curriculum that pupils describe as ‘fun’ and ‘exciting’ and provides numerous opportunities, through both the rich school environment and various trips and visits. However, leaders do not ensure that pupils transfer this knowledge and learning into their work consistently well. Leaders are not precise enough in ensuring that pupils have made progress in a range of different subjects, including science.
• The additional funding the school receives for physical education (PE) and sport is used creatively and effectively. Pupils have access to sports clubs, various events and competitions involving other schools on a routine basis. The funding is also used to support the professional development for staff so they gain confidence in teaching all aspects of PE. For example, funding for specialist swimming coaches helps teachers to deliver high-quality swimming provision in the school’s own pool.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is effective. It is promoted very effectively through high-quality displays around the school, the school environment, assemblies, and the good relationships between adults. Pupils have a well-developed understanding of what constitutes British values and can explain this clearly, linking it knowledgeably to their everyday life.
• Leaders work hard to ensure that pupils’ personal development, behaviour and welfare needs are met. This is a real strength of the school’s work. The leadership of behaviour is effective because of the systems in place to ensure swift actions, intervention and appropriate follow-up support for pupils if and when these are needed.

Governance of the school

• Governors share leaders’ vision and ambition for all pupils to achieve their best. They are proactive and respond quickly to the information the school provides them with. Governors receive regular information about pupils’ achievement, and they undertake a range of monitoring activities, including reviews of leaders’ work and school visits. However, these activities are not always focused accurately on the strategic areas that the school needs to improve upon. As a result, governors are not ensuring that they challenge leaders precisely enough about how well all pupils are achieving.
• Governors have ensured that the additional funding that the school receives for disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is making a thoughtful and meaningful difference to pupils’ personal development and welfare needs. However, governors are not checking the difference that this funding is making to pupils’ academic progress well enough yet.
• Governors fulfil their statutory duties with regard to safeguarding. They routinely monitor the safeguarding procedures in place to make sure that pupils are safe, and all appointed staff are suitable to work with children.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• An ethos of safeguarding is evident throughout the school. This is particularly demonstrated through all the staff’s attitudes and responses to children’s well-being and care. The school’s welfare team works collaboratively with families and pupils to make sure that any identified risks are immediately attended to. The team’s follow-up work and monitoring ensure that any potential future risk is minimised and in many cases eradicated.
• Leaders are committed to keeping children safe and recognise the importance of keeping procedures under review. This includes external checks to make sure that they are doing all they can to keep children safe. All staff are familiar with safety procedures, and training is provided routinely, making sure that all updates are frequent.
• Pupils are taught how to be safe. They speak knowledgeably about staying safe when using the internet and also knowing what to do if they feel worried. Pupils are overwhelmingly confident that there is someone at school to talk to about their concerns, and know that any issues raised will be taken seriously by staff and dealt with promptly.
• Parents are happy that their children are safe, and any concerns raised are taken seriously. The recent parent survey undertaken by the school reveals that parents feel comfortable in approaching the school if they have concerns about their child.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The effectiveness of teaching, learning and assessment is not consistently good. This includes the provision for pupils in the school’s additional resource base. Not all teachers have high enough expectations of pupils, or a thorough understanding of what pupils should or could achieve in English and mathematics in each year group. This leads to variability in the pace and level of achievement of pupils from their starting points.
• Assessment information is not routinely used to plan activities suitable to pupils’ abilities, or to help them improve their work and move on to more challenging tasks when they are ready. Teachers’ planning focuses on what pupils should be taught according to the curriculum, rather than looking at individual pupils’ needs and starting points. The most able pupils, including those disadvantaged most-able pupils, often spend time completing similar tasks to others, rather than tackling more demanding activities that would ensure that they made better progress. Conversely, those pupils who need support to catch up in their learning are not consistently supported well enough.
• Some teachers are not clear about pupils’ genuine capabilities. Often, the work that pupils complete is heavily supported by teachers and other adults. Consequently, teachers are not able to review consistently and accurately the progress that pupils are making because they are not sure what they can achieve without this high level of staff support.
• Pupils’ errors and misconceptions are not routinely reviewed and commented upon by teachers to raise standards. This is particularly the case when pupils do not present their work well, misspell words or misuse grammar and punctuation.
• Most teachers explain clearly the steps pupils need to take to complete a task successfully, and use questioning effectively to elicit understanding. This helps pupils who are uncertain about what to do. However, the most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, do not get sufficient opportunities to express their own ideas and develop their understanding to achieve the highest standards.
• While pupils have some opportunities to apply their writing skills, these are too limited across the curriculum. Pupils do not get regular chances to produce extended pieces of writing for different purposes and audiences, and within all subject areas. Consequently, pupils are not making the progress that they could in writing.
• Teachers generally make effective use of practical resources to support pupils’ access to learning, most notably in mathematics. On some occasions, not enough thought is given to ensuring how the resources provided enable all pupils to access the learning. Pupils sometimes do not have enough freedom to think about how to approach a task for themselves. This limits their opportunities to make better progress.
• Following disappointing results in 2016, the school’s intense focus on reading is starting to make a real difference to pupils’ reading skills. Regular teaching in the understanding of texts and phonics, the school’s attractive, well-stocked library, dedicated classroom reading areas, and teachers’ detailed tracking of reading are giving pupils many opportunities to develop their reading skills. As a result, pupils are reading fluently. They could show inspectors that they understood in more depth the texts they were reading.
• Teachers know pupils well and are committed to ensuring that they enjoy their lessons. Teachers use the stimulating, impressive learning environment they work in well. For example, they regularly make use of the ‘Morphus and Nonsense’ inside and outside spaces, the international café, the gardening area and the forest school provision to enrich pupils’ learning.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good, including in the school’s enhanced resource provision. A caring and nurturing approach is very apparent at Southfields. This is all based upon a firm foundation of effective, positive relationships between adults and pupils.
• Pupils talk happily and confidently about their school. They are polite and courteous. Pupils enjoy being praised and feel valued at school and within the school community. They talked excitedly about the ‘celebration assembly’ and their work to achieve a ‘marvellous manners’ award. They also participate in activities within the community as part of their ‘community cadet’ work. These opportunities increase pupils’ confidence and self-worth.
• Pupils feel safe. They are very well cared for. Pupils said that staff in the welfare team, the nurture group and the school’s counsellor provide them with additional valuable opportunities to share their worries or concerns if they have them.
• Pupils know how to keep themselves safe, including when online. This is taught to them at school and they make sure that they think about what they learn about safety outside school too. One pupil said, ‘When I use the internet, I always think about what I have learned so I do not get myself in trouble.’
• Pupils’ experiences at Southfields are enhanced by the well-resourced indoor and outdoor learning environments. Pupils also speak favourably about school trips, visitors and the enrichment opportunities they enjoy. They told inspectors, ‘Adults spend a lot of time making our environment amazing’, and, ‘We enjoy school and everything that we get the chance to do.’

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils are polite, friendly and welcoming. Around the school during break- and lunchtimes, they behave sensibly and show care and consideration for others. In class, pupils encourage each other well and are happy to help if they see one of their classmates struggling with their work. The very small number of pupils who need additional support to help them to manage their own behaviour are well provided for.
• Pupils understand the school’s behaviour system and follow it religiously. They talk about how they aim for ‘purple light’ because this means they ‘have gone above and beyond and this makes us feel very proud’.
• The school’s behaviour records show that there are very few incidents of pupils being unkind to each other. Pupils confidently say that there are no bullying issues and that they feel safe during times outside the classroom at break- and lunchtimes. Adults closely monitor the few behaviour incidents and follow up quickly with effective support when necessary. This ensures that pupils feel safe and secure at school.
• Leaders and members of the welfare team are skilled in working effectively with families to ensure that pupils attend school regularly. The team intervenes quickly with pupils whose attendance is low and those who are persistently absent, or are not punctual. Current attendance information shows that this work has led to a steady improvement compared with previous years, as attendance historically has been just below the national average.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• In 2016, the proportion of Year 6 pupils achieving the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics was below the national average, and below government floor standards. The progress that pupils made overall was significantly below that of all pupils nationally in reading and mathematics. The proportion of pupils achieving both the expected and higher standard in English, grammar, punctuation and spelling skills was also below the national average.
• Disadvantaged pupils’ progress in 2016 was significantly below the national average for reading, while their attainment was below national expectations for reading, writing and mathematics. The impact of the spending of additional funding is not precisely evaluated for leaders to know exactly what difference it is making to disadvantaged pupils’ achievement.
• The proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics check in 2016 was below the national average. This has been the case for the past three years. However, in 2016, by the end of Year 2, the proportion of pupils that went on to achieve the expected standard was above the national average.
• In key stage 1 in 2016, attainment was above the national average in reading, writing and mathematics. Additionally, the proportion of key stage 1 pupils attaining a greater depth in reading, writing and mathematics was above the national average.
• The progress that pupils currently make is variable across the school. Reading has improved and the quality of teaching in this area is now far more consistent and leading to better progress for pupils. However, there remains some inconsistency in the provision for groups of pupils, such as pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, those who are in the school’s resource base unit, disadvantaged pupils, and the most able pupils. Current school information and pupils’ books show some signs of improvement in some of the progress made by disadvantaged pupils. However, this is not consistent across the school.
• Pupils do not have opportunities to apply their skills across the wider curriculum or to deepen their knowledge and understanding. This is particularly the case for the most able pupils. Too few of them attain the higher standards they should from their starting points. This means that some pupils are leaving Year 6 not as well prepared for secondary school as they should be.
• There is a rich culture of reading across the school. Pupils enjoy reading and benefit from the well-resourced environment. Pupils can talk about a wide range of books and enjoy responding to their reading during their focused reading lessons. Leaders are implementing strategies, outlined in the school’s action plan, that are having a positive impact this academic year on progress in reading.

Early years provision Requires improvement

• Initial assessment information shows that children enter the school with skills generally lower than those typically seen for their age. In 2016 and in the previous two years, the number of children achieving a good level of development at the end of the early years phase was below the national average. This shows that for many children, progress from their starting points requires improvement, because they are not catching up with their peers nationally quickly enough. Consequently, not all children are well enough prepared for Year 1.
• The experienced early years leader monitors the quality of provision routinely. This provides her with opportunities to feed back to staff and consider the children’s learning needs based on their well-being. However, staff do not use this information regularly enough to create activities that boost children’s progress and develop their skills. This results in limited use of the early years environment, particularly the outdoor area, and a lack of challenge in activities that children choose for themselves.
• Where the provision is more effective, there is a productive, creatively resourced, calm environment with a wide range of interesting activities, both inside and outside, on offer to children throughout the day. However, adults do not consistently promote learning through timely intervention and effective questioning, most notably for those children who are ready to achieve more.
• All adults have established effective routines. Children know what these are and follow them compliantly. Children share well together as they go about their activities and treat each other kindly. Nonetheless, staff expectations of what young children can independently achieve are not high enough for children to achieve as well as they could.
• Adults observe children to see what they know, can do and understand. Staff record these observations in learning journals. Based on these observations, teachers plan further activities in order to move children forward in their learning. However, there are missed opportunities for children to make the best progress they can.
• Parents are encouraged to take part in their child’s learning. They now contribute more towards sharing information about what the children achieve at home and bring this into school so that it links up with the children’s school achievements. This ensures that the school captures all aspects of children’s learning and ensures that there is a positive working partnership between home and school. Parents spoken to, and those who contributed to the school’s own survey, confirmed this to be the case.
• Relationships are strong and staff know the children well. Staff are familiar with safety procedures and receive regular training. Children are safe and safeguarding is effective.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 110691 Peterborough 10025573 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Community 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 560 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address John Durance Laura Martin 01733 562873 www.southfieldsprimary.co.uk office@southfields.peterborough.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 22–23 September 2011

Information about this school

• The school is larger than the average-sized primary school. The school site and numbers of pupils on roll have grown significantly since the previous inspection.
• The school has a 21-place enhanced resource provision for pupils who have speech and language difficulties. There are currently 17 pupils on roll in the provision, in addition to outreach work taking place in other settings.
• The headteacher is a national leader of education. She currently supports a number of other schools in this capacity.
• Three quarters of pupils are of White British heritage. The highest other majority of pupils are of any other White background. The proportion of pupils from different ethnic backgrounds is below average, as is the proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language.
• A higher than average proportion of pupils are eligible for pupil premium funding.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities support or who have an education, health and care plan is above the national average.
• In 2016, the school did not meet the government’s floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

Information about this inspection

• The inspection was initially instigated following a risk assessment by Ofsted that indicated that standards at the school are declining.
• Inspectors observed teaching and learning in a range of lessons, year groups and subjects. There was also a focus on the provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, including the work of adults with pupils in the school’s enhanced resource provision for speech and language.
• Inspectors listened to pupils read and held discussions with two groups of pupils. Inspectors also talked informally with pupils around the school and on the playground and took account of the school’s pupil voice records.
• A scrutiny of many pupils’ books for all subjects, along with records of children’s learning in the early years and other information about pupils’ attainment and progress, was conducted with the headteacher, deputy headteacher and some subject leaders.
• Inspectors considered the 82 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. Inspectors also talked briefly with some parents at the end of the school day, and took into account the school’s recent parent survey analysis.
• The chair of governors joined initial meetings with the lead inspector on day one of the inspection. Meetings were held with three governors, including the chair of the governing body. Meetings were also held with leaders and teams of leaders responsible for mathematics and English, disadvantaged pupils, provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, and for children in the early years. The lead inspector also met with members of the welfare team.
• Meetings took place with a representative of the local authority and a colleague headteacher from another local school who works alongside leaders in a regional triad group of schools.
• Inspectors scrutinised documents, including information about pupils’ attainment and progress, the school’s reviews of its own performance, checks on the quality of teaching, development plans, and various records of pupils’ attendance and behaviour.
• Inspectors also examined in detail the school’s arrangements for safeguarding, including a wide range of relevant records and documentation. The lead inspector also took account of the information on the school website prior to the inspection.

Inspection team

Tracy Fielding, lead inspector Anne Fisher Henry Weir Sue Cox Annie Hookway Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector