Bursted Wood Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Strengthen leadership by ensuring that:
  • systems for keeping records regarding safeguarding are well-organised and easily accessible to relevant stakeholders
  • senior and middle leaders develop their skills in monitoring and evaluating the quality of teaching, learning and assessment
  • governors hold leaders to account rigorously for all aspects of the school’s work
  • leaders at all levels, including governors, are fully involved in identifying priorities to move the school to outstanding.
• Strengthen teaching, learning and assessment by ensuring that:
  • teachers respond to assessment information and adjust their plans to meet the needs of pupils, particularly in mathematics
  • tasks set meet the needs of pupils who have specific special educational needs and/or disabilities and the most able pupils, including those who are disadvantaged.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Leaders, staff and governors have been successful in creating a very happy learning environment for pupils. Pupils have positive attitudes and understand that staff want to help them to be successful, high-achieving learners.
• The headteacher keeps regular checks on the quality of teaching. She has high expectations which are shared by all staff. Teachers are strongly motivated to improve their skills. They use the feedback they receive from the headteacher to further improve outcomes for pupils.
• The school’s assessment system is used effectively by the headteacher and by teachers to monitor pupils’ progress and make sure that they are on track to make at least expected progress in reading, writing and mathematics.
• The school prepares pupils very well for life in modern Britain. The rich, interesting curriculum is underpinned by the school’s values which serve to promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Art and music is a particular strength in the school. Pupils enjoy performing and are proud of the beautiful art work on display around the building. Pupils benefit from a wide range of school trips and visits to enhance the curriculum. They speak highly of the range of after-school clubs that they enjoy. These opportunities help to develop pupils’ knowledge and skills in a range of subjects.
• The school has a much lower than average proportion of pupils who are eligible for pupil premium funding. Leaders ensure that funds are targeted effectively to support these pupils’ learning and to ensure that they have access to activities and trips beyond the school day.
• Leaders spend the majority of the sport premium funding on employing specialist sport coaches to provide training for staff and to model good practice in teaching sports. This has improved the quality of teaching of physical education across the school. Funding has also allowed pupils to participate and be successful in a range of sporting competitions.
• Leaders have put effective actions in place to improve pupils’ attendance. Leaders have incisive knowledge of the pupils who do not attend regularly. They support pupils and families in challenging circumstances and consult all relevant external agencies to try to improve and support the attendance of these pupils.
• Leaders ensure that additional funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is used to provide support in lessons, in small intervention groups and to individuals. While this is effective in developing pupils’ self-esteem as learners, the progress that pupils make varies because sometimes the support given to individuals does not meet their specific needs.
• Senior and middle leaders share the headteacher’s vision for the school and understand the priorities to move the school forward. However, they are not fully involved in monitoring the quality of teaching, learning and assessment across the school. As a result, they have not had the opportunity to take action to significantly improve the school’s work within the subject or phase they are responsible for.

Governance of the school

• The school benefits from recruiting and retaining governors who have a wide range of skills and expertise which they bring to their role. Governors are highly committed to the school and rightly proud of its achievements. They support the work of the school well through their visits and through their work on committees. Individual governors help to enhance the school’s curriculum by sharing their expertise in key curriculum areas such as art and history. Link governors support the school’s work on safeguarding very well and ensure that all governors are kept up to date with training. Governors make sure that checks on the suitability of staff are thorough.
• Governors are not yet fully involved in identifying priorities to inform school improvement planning. The headteacher leads on this aspect of the school’s work and presents her evaluation and her plans to governors. At the time of the inspection, governors were unaware that a priority for development on the school’s improvement plan was related to their role. Records show that governors do not consistently challenge leaders or hold them to account for all aspects of the school’s work.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Pupils’ safety and well-being are central to the school’s work. Staff know their pupils well. They receive appropriate training with regard to all aspects of safeguarding including radicalisation and extremism.
• Staff and leaders are vigilant and swift to take action if they feel a child is vulnerable or in need of protection. Leaders engage well with external agencies to make sure that pupils are supported and safe. They discuss safeguarding issues with parents, carers and other stakeholders and inform them about actions taken.
• Leaders recognise that systems and logs for recording actions taken as a result of safeguarding issues would benefit from some reorganisation. Leaders started this work during the inspection.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good. Pupils across the school are making good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. Teachers make lessons interesting and challenge pupils to do the best that they can.
• Teachers are consistent in their use of the school’s marking policy. They provide good written and verbal guidance to pupils on how to improve their work and their learning. Pupils respond to this well. Teachers across the school have created a very positive climate for learning. Pupils know that staff believe in their abilities and want them to achieve well. Teachers consistently boost pupils’ self-esteem as learners and challenge them to do the best that they can.
• The teaching of writing is strong. Pupils in all year groups write at length confidently and are given meaningful purposes to write. For example, key stage 1 pupils were observed writing enthusiastically about the evidence that they had gathered regarding who was to blame for the Great Fire of London. Pupils in all year groups were able to share writing that they were proud of. Most pupils were working at levels expected for their age. Disadvantaged pupils make progress which is in line with or better than pupils nationally. The most able writers who are currently in the school are making rapid progress and achieve high standards in writing.
• Reading is taught well in school and pupils are well supported at home. Teachers make sure that they ask questions which help pupils to deepen their understanding of text. Readers at the earliest stage of learning to read are encouraged to use their phonics skills to sound out words. Pupils are exposed to a good range of texts and they enjoy reading. Occasionally, the most able pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, are given or select texts which are too easy for them. This limits the progress that they make. The least able readers are given good support to access texts which meet their needs. Occasionally, texts which are chosen for them are either too difficult or too easy.
• Teachers ensure that pupils work at a level which is appropriate for their age in mathematics. Teachers use questions well to help pupils to develop their reasoning skills. Most pupils make strong progress in mathematics. The current emphasis on number work across the school means that this year pupils have not had access to the full range of mathematics work. The school’s own information shows that pupils in key stage 2 have some gaps in their understanding of shape and space. Teachers have not made adjustments to their plans to fill these gaps in knowledge and leaders have not had the opportunity to support them in doing so. Occasionally, the most able pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, are set tasks which do not challenge them. This means that they do not consistently make rapid progress or achieve the higher levels of attainment.
• Teachers commit to ensuring that the training and professional development they receive improves their teaching. For example, a mathematics project undertaken by the school has had a positive impact on the teaching of number and on the progress that pupils make in this aspect of mathematics.
• Teachers do not always support pupils who are at the earliest stage of learning to write numbers and letters. As a result, number work and writing in key stage 1 can occasionally be untidy.
• Pupils who have moderate special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported well by teachers and teaching assistants. As a result, their work is in line with age- related expectations. Plans and tasks set for some pupils who have more specific needs do not consistently help them to make good progress because they do not meet their needs effectively.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding. Pupils have an extremely positive attitude to their work and to their life at school. They are proud of their achievements and keen to talk about them. Pupils are self-assured and confident. They understand what being a successful learner looks like and feels like, because teachers constantly show them and tell them when they are successful. Pupils believe the song that they sing so beautifully in assembly, ‘I’ve got the power in me!’
• Pupils take on leadership roles in the playground and during assemblies. They support each other well.
• There is strong culture of safety and well-being in the school. Pupils are very confident that staff in the school will always keep them safe. They show good awareness of keeping themselves safe online. They are aware of the dangers of gang culture and they know who to go to if they are worried or they need help. They know that bullying exists, but are clear that it does not happen in their school.
• Warm, supportive relationships exist between adults and pupils across the school. Staff clearly care deeply about the pupils in their care. Pupils understand this and thrive in the supportive learning environment that staff have created.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Pupils’ conduct in lessons is impeccable. No disruptive behaviour of any kind was seen during the inspection. Pupils are unfailingly polite, respectful and helpful. Pupils exemplify the British values of tolerance and respect for others. Their attitude to learning is consistently positive.
• Pupils’ behaviour in the playground, in the lunch hall and during assemblies is excellent. Pupils play and learn well together.
• The majority of pupils attend school regularly. Attendance is in line with the national average. The small minority of pupils who do not attend regularly have complex lives and situations which sometimes prevent them from attending school. These pupils are supported well by leaders and external agencies to help improve their attendance.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Outcomes are good. From their starting points, pupils make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics across the school. By the time pupils leave Bursted Wood at the end of Year 6, they achieve standards which are above the national average. In 2016, the proportion of pupils achieving the highest levels of attainment in reading, writing and mathematics was above the national average. Their attainment in science was above the national average. Pupils are very well prepared for the next stage of their education.
• Pupils who are currently in the school have made good progress this year in reading, writing and mathematics. Disadvantaged pupils make similar progress to their classmates. Girls and boys are achieving well. The progress of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is variable, because work is not always set at the right level for them. The most able pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, make good progress. Occasionally, they do not make the rapid progress they are capable of because tasks do not challenge them sufficiently.
• Pupil premium funding is targeted very specifically at disadvantaged pupils. Any gaps in learning are quickly identified by leaders and ‘catch up’ teaching sessions are provided. As a result, disadvantaged pupils achieve well.
• As a result of consistently good teaching, pupils in Year 1 do very well in the phonics screening check and achieve outcomes which are well above the national average.

Early years provision Outstanding

• Children enter the Reception classes with knowledge and skills which are above those seen typically for their age. They make rapid progress and leave the Reception Year with standards which are much higher than the national average.
• Children thrive in the interesting and stimulating learning environment that teachers provide. The indoor and outdoor areas reflect all the areas for learning. They provide purposeful, meaningful activities and tasks for children. Teaching is strong. Teachers are highly skilled and additional adults support learners well. They show children how to be successful in their learning. They question children effectively to help deepen their understanding.
• The teaching of phonics is a strength. Teachers have strong subject knowledge and they make sure that activities motivate children and help them to make swift progress. Children use their phonics skills confidently in developing their reading and writing skills. Teachers provide parents with ‘phonics packs’ so that they can support their children at home.
• Strong leadership ensures that recent changes to the early years provision have had a significant impact on children’s learning. Leaders have ensured that communication with parents is a strength. The ‘soft’ start to the day helps parents to develop relationships with the school. Parents contribute to pupils’ learning through home– school books. They are very positive about their children’s experience in the early years.
• Behaviour in the Reception classes is exemplary and reflects the outstanding behaviour in the rest of the school. Children play and work happily together. They share resources and are pleasant and polite to each other and to adults. The youngest children in the school display extremely positive attitudes to learning and are very confident that they will be successful.
• Children are kept safe and are very happy. The early years leader is very clear regarding safeguarding procedures and ensures that staff are kept up to date with guidance and training, in line with other staff in the school.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 140443 Bexley 10019228 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 Academy converter 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 503 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Derek Steedman Diana Dryland 020 83049960 www.burstedwoodprimary.org.uk admin@burstedwood.bexley.sch.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• Bursted Wood is a larger-than-average sized primary school.
• The school became an academy in December 2013 and will become a three-form entry school in September 2017.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils who are eligible for pupil premium funding is well below average.
• The majority of pupils come from a White British background.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is above average.
• Children in the early years are taught in three full-time Reception classes.
• 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

• Inspectors observed learning in all year groups. Observations were undertaken with the headteacher, the special educational needs coordinator and the mathematics subject coordinator.
• Inspectors met with members of the governing body including members of the board of trustees.
• Meetings were held with pupils to discuss their learning and their views on the school. Pupils took inspectors on a ‘curriculum tour’ of the school.
• Leaders met with inspectors to discuss their roles and the impact of their work.
• The subject leader for mathematics carried out a book scrutiny with inspectors to see what progress pupils were making. Books from all year groups were analysed.
• Inspectors heard pupils read and talked to pupils in the lunch hall, in lessons, in the playground and as they moved around the building.
• Inspectors examined a range of school documents, including information on pupils’ progress across the school, improvement plans, curriculum plans and checks on the quality of teaching. They also examined school records relating to safety and behaviour.
• Inspectors took account of the 63 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, and of information gathered from discussions with parents and letters received from them during the inspection.
• Three classes were out of school, rehearsing for their Christmas performance, during the afternoon on both days during the inspection.

Inspection team

Ruth Dollner, lead inspector Angela Trigg Lando Du Plooy Paul Harris Diane Rochford

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector