Mansel Park Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by ensuring that:
  • the school development plan and subject action plans contain short- and long-term aims which are measurable and specific, to promote accelerated progress for different groups of pupils
  • effective checks on teaching and learning provide clear feedback to staff to help them raise pupils’ achievement
  • teachers are held to account for pupils’ progress
  • governors hold senior leaders to account rigorously for the achievement of pupils and check that planned improvements are having a positive impact on pupils’ learning.
• Increase pupils’ progress, particularly in reading and writing by ensuring that:
  • teachers plan learning activities that match pupils’ different needs, particularly the most able
  • teachers have consistently high expectations of what pupils can achieve and for the quality of pupils’ work
  • pupils know and understand fully what they are expected to do in lessons
  • staff address and reduce pupils’ basic errors, especially in their writing. An external review of governance 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

• Leaders and governors have not ensured that their work has a positive impact on pupils’ achievement. Planned improvements, systems and checks on teaching and learning have not secured good progress for pupils, including those in different groups.
• Leaders’ checks on teaching and learning are not effective enough. The feedback to staff has focused too much on what teachers are doing during lessons rather than how well pupils are learning and making progress. Consequently, teaching is not sufficiently focused on securing better outcomes for pupils.
• Subject leader action plans and the school improvement plan are not as useful for school improvement as they could be. Short- and longer-term expectations are not measurable or specific. The expectations for pupils’ progress are unclear. It is, therefore, hard for leaders and governors to know if the school is being successful in driving forward the improvements required.
• Performance management is not effective enough in securing improvements to the quality of teaching and learning. Although there is a clear system in place, teachers are not fully accountable for pupils’ progress.
• The progress of disadvantaged pupils is variable across year groups. Recent improvements to the use of the pupil premium funding have not yet had enough impact to secure good progress for disadvantaged pupils. The variable quality of teaching also reduces the effectiveness of this work.
• Provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities has recently been strengthened. The leader identifies pupils’ individual needs well. Support staff have benefited from specific training so that they can provide a range of helpful extra support for these pupils. However, it is too early to see the impact of this work. Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities do not yet make good progress from their different starting points.
• The curriculum includes an appropriate and broad range of subjects. Pupils learn these through a range of interesting topics such as ‘World War Two’. There is also a variety of extra-curricular activities for pupils to enjoy that further enhance their learning. Pupils enjoy school and value the experiences that it provides.
• Pupils benefit from rich opportunities that promote their personal development and spiritual, moral, social and cultural development effectively. There are democratic processes to elect pupils to roles of responsibility around the school. Pupils are proud of these roles. Pupils learn about a range of cultures and religions. British values such as respect, democracy and tolerance are taught through special topics and thought-provoking and enjoyable school assemblies.
• Pupils enjoy the variety of sports activities on offer and demonstrate positive attitudes to keeping fit and healthy. Through the local school sports network, pupils regularly attend competitive sports events, where they have achieved success in a wide range of sports. The additional sports funding is therefore used well.
• The local authority has provided robust support and challenge to the school. Leaders have also benefited from the advice of a national leader of education. The local authority has held leaders and governors to account and is committed to securing a good education for the pupils at the school.

Governance of the school

• Governors have not held senior leaders to account with sufficient rigour. Minutes of meetings show that governors have too often accepted the information presented by senior leaders without challenging them well enough about the achievement of pupils. As a result, leaders have not done enough to reverse the decline in the school’s effectiveness.
• The governing body has made some relevant changes to the way that it works. From September 2016, it has set up a new committee to focus on teaching and learning. Governors are increasingly making appropriate use of pupils’ progress information.
• Governors have maintained effective oversight of their statutory duties. For example, the chair of the governing body visits the school to ensure that arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Safeguarding arrangements are robust and fit for purpose. The single central record is up to date and all required checks are in place. Leaders take appropriate care when recruiting staff to ensure that they are safe to work with children.
• Leaders and governors have established a vigilant culture of safeguarding. Staff training is up to date. Staff know what to do if they are worried about a pupil. Consequently, they know and use the procedures to share concerns appropriately.
• Records show that staff take the right actions to keep pupils safe in a range of situations. When necessary, leaders are proactive in securing the appropriate involvement of external agencies to ensure the well-being of pupils and families. They also take effective action to help keep pupils safe when they are at school. For example, risk assessments are detailed and identify appropriate ways to minimise risk.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching is not consistently good in key stage 1 and key stage 2. Therefore, not enough pupils are making good progress, particularly in reading and writing.
• Teaching does not consistently take account of pupils’ different starting points when lessons are planned. Consequently, tasks are sometimes too easy or too hard and this reduces the progress that pupils make.
• Adults’ expectations of what pupils can achieve are not consistently high enough. Staff do not reliably challenge pupils when they produce work that is of limited quality. When this happens, pupils’ learning slows.
• Staff do not ensure that pupils know, understand and can apply basic skills with care. This means that pupils continue to repeat work that contains basic errors. For example, pupils’ exercise books showed that too much work in key stage 2 contained mistakes in pupils’ use of full stops and capital letters.
• Not all teaching explains tasks clearly enough to pupils. When this happens, pupils either lose focus or produce work of limited quality.
• Teaching does not routinely provide the most able pupils with tasks which would enable them to develop and demonstrate higher-level skills. Lessons do not meet their needs well enough. Pupils say that sometimes they find their work ‘too easy’. Consequently, some most-able pupils are not exceeding the standards expected for their age.
• Teachers use resources well to support pupils’ learning in mathematics. In most classes, teachers provide pupils with opportunities to develop their reasoning skills. As a result, pupils’ achievement is better in mathematics than it is in reading and writing.
• The teaching of phonics is effective in the early years and key stage 1. Pupils use their phonic skills to good effect when trying to pronounce unfamiliar words. In one phonics lesson, children made good progress because the teacher used good subject knowledge to address misconceptions and correct their errors.
• Relationships across the school are good and pupils demonstrate positive work habits. Well-established routines during the morning session ensure that pupils start the day ready to learn. Pupils are confident learners and respond well to teacher’s questions.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Staff are very attentive to pupils’ physical, social and emotional needs. Parents say that they value the supportive ethos of the school and the care and concern shown by teachers and teaching assistants towards their children.
• Pupils are confident, collaborate well and build strong friendships. They appreciate the many opportunities that they have to work together and do so with great pleasure. One pupil said, ‘It’s easy to make and keep friends here!’
• Pupils know what bullying is. They are confident that staff will deal with any form of bullying or intimidation quickly. Consequently, incidents of bullying are rare and pupils feel safe in school.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils conduct themselves well during the school day. They generally move around the school safely and well. Breaktimes and lunchtimes are positive social occasions and the dining hall is a calm place. Pupils use the large playgrounds well, playing energetically and appropriately for their age.
• A few pupils who have challenging behaviour receive high levels of helpful care. Leaders create strong links with families and work hard to support these pupils’ individual needs. As a result, pupils come into school calmly and incidents of poor behaviour are rare.
• The school monitors pupils’ absence well. Staff, including the family support worker, work well with parents to ensure that pupils attend school regularly and arrive on time. Consequently, current pupils’ attendance is similar to the national average.
• Pupils’ attitudes towards learning in lessons are good, although some pupils do not take enough pride in their presentation of work. On occasion, pupils’ attention in lessons wanes when the work they are given is not sufficiently challenging for them.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Current pupils in key stage 1 and key stage 2 do not make good enough progress, particularly in reading and writing. Teaching has not enabled them to achieve well over time.
• In 2016, at the end of key stage 2, pupils’ progress in reading and writing was significantly below that of others nationally. Not enough emphasis has been placed on ensuring that pupils acquire essential skills and knowledge in English.
• Last year, pupils’ attainment at the end of Year 2 was below that of others nationally in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Disadvantaged pupils’ achievement is not yet good. In almost all year groups, disadvantaged pupils’ attainment is below that of their classmates. Despite recent improvements, the pupil premium funding has not been used well enough over time to help these pupils catch up.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities do not make good progress from their different starting points. Additional support has not been effective enough.
• The most able pupils are not being sufficiently challenged to reach the higher levels in reading and writing in particular. Last year, the proportion of pupils exceeding the expectations for their age was below the national average in reading and writing at the end of key stage 2. At the end of key stage 1, no pupils reached the higher standards in reading and mathematics. Very few pupils achieved the higher level in writing.
• In mathematics in 2016, pupils’ achievement, including that of disadvantaged pupils, at the end of key stage 2 was higher than in previous years. The proportion of pupils reaching and exceeding the expected standards was above that of others nationally. Progress was also above the national average. This is because pupils have good opportunities to apply and practise their mathematical skills in a wide range of contexts.
• Over the past three years, the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in phonics at the end of Year 1 has increased. Last year, pupils’ attainment in phonics was above the national average. This is because leaders have ensured that phonics teaching is effective and challenging for children as soon as they join in the early years.

Early years provision Good

• Most children enter the early years with knowledge, skills and abilities that are below those typical for their age. Effective teaching ensures that children make good progress so that the proportion that reaches a good level of development is similar to the national average. As a result, the large majority of children are well prepared for Year 1.
• Leadership of the early years is good. Leaders have built on the strengths of the team over time, ensuring that all staff play a vital role in supporting the learning of young children. A strong team approach to assessment ensures that staff know where children are making most progress and where children need to improve. Staff use this knowledge well to intervene in children’s learning and help them take the right next steps.
• Disadvantaged children make good progress and rapid gains in their learning. Adults use a systematic approach to the teaching of key skills effectively so that this group of children develop their skills well.
• Both the classroom and the outside area provide children with varied opportunities to develop their skills, including their fine and gross motor skills. A range of activities, including the ‘mud kitchen’ and the ‘shop’ enable children to make good progress across the areas of learning.
• In the past, boys have tended to achieve less well than girls. Leaders have ensured that staff work effectively to reduce these differences by taking good account of the interests of all children when planning activities. As a result, children with a range of different needs achieve well.
• Children behave well in the early years. Staff set and maintain high expectations for their behaviour. When children need help resolving problems, staff intervene appropriately and help to equip children with the skills to work better together in the future.
• Adults know what to do to keep children safe in the early years. For example, when they provide children with opportunities to explore and practise their physical skills by creating obstacle courses, staff stay close by to ensure that children learn to recognise and manage hazards.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 131272 Southampton 10024842 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 Maintained 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 390 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Ken Whitmarsh Neil Parker 02380 776162 www.manselpark.net head@manselpark.net Date of previous inspection 9−10 October 2012

Information about this school

• This school is larger than the average-sized primary school.
• The vast majority of pupils are White British. The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups and who speak English as an additional language is below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged is well above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and receive school support is above the national average. An average proportion of pupils have an education, health and care plan.
• The school meets the government floor standards which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics.
• The school meets the Department for Education’s definition of a coasting school based on key stage 2 academic performance results in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

Information about this inspection

• The inspectors gathered a range of evidence to judge the quality of teaching, learning and assessment, including observing learning in all classes, some of which was jointly seen with senior leaders. The teaching of phonics was observed. Inspectors listened to pupils read. Inspectors also scrutinised pupils’ workbooks across a wide range of subjects, to take account of pupils’ achievement over time.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, senior leaders, the chair of the governing body and two other governors. A meeting was held with a representative of the local authority. Inspectors also spoke with pupils both formally and informally.
• Inspectors examined a range of documentation, including information relating to safeguarding.
• The inspectors spoke informally with some parents on the playground to gather their views. Parents’ views were considered from the 16 online responses to Ofsted’s Parent View questionnaire, together with comments provided on the free-text service.

Inspection team

Richard Blackmore, lead inspector Doug Brawley Deirdre Crutchley Brian Macdonald

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector