Blackwell Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Secure and sustain consistently effective teaching to accelerate progress and raise standards at the end of key stage 1 by:
  • raising expectations of what Year 2 pupils can achieve
  • meeting pupils’ differing needs consistently well, including ensuring that the most able are fully challenged and helping those that have fallen behind to catch up quickly.
• Strengthen the capacity of leadership and management by:
  • securing a full, effective and sustainable leadership structure
  • sharpening the school improvement plan to ensure that it focuses on the most important priorities and includes regular measures against which to check progress
  • diminishing differences across the school between the performance of disadvantaged pupils and that of others nationally
  • sharpening the focus of monitoring and evaluation on vulnerable groups, including those that need to catch up, disadvantaged pupils and the most able
  • ensuring that governors interrogate information about the performance of different groups of pupils to provide rigorous challenge for school leaders to improve outcomes.
• Provide more consistent opportunities to challenge pupils, including the most able, through problem solving and reasoning in mathematics.
• Reduce the number of pupils that are frequently absent to bring proportions at least in line with national averages, particularly for disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. 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 school’s use of the pupil premium 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 leadership team is not at full strength to enable leaders to drive improvements more rapidly and consistently. Although governors have recently restructured the leadership team, contextual factors mean that not all positions are currently operational.
• Leaders have used their broadly accurate knowledge and understanding of how well the school is performing to identify pertinent areas to improve. However, these are not sufficiently prioritised or sharply focused in the lengthy school improvement plan. Although leaders have identified some measures that they intend to use to check on their progress in securing improvements, these are not regular or precise enough.
• Leaders’ varied checks on the school’s effectiveness do not place enough emphasis on whether different groups of pupils are doing well enough, for example, evaluating whether teaching is stretching the most able pupils, or whether work in pupils’ books shows that differences for disadvantaged pupils are diminishing quickly enough.
• Leaders are moving the school in the right direction. A considerable dip in pupils’ outcomes at the end of key stage 2 in 2015 has been reversed. Staff training and a more systematic approach to teaching phonics mean that more current pupils are on track to meet the expected standards than in the previous Year 1 screening check.
• The acting headteacher has a secure grasp of the school’s current performance. She is not just caretaking, but driving the school forward with purpose and determination. She has earned the rightful support and respect of the staff team. As one staff member said, ‘[We are] on the path of continuous improvement with clear direction’.
• Monitoring records this year show a much clearer focus on the impact of teaching on learning and higher expectations of what ‘good teaching’ looks like at this school. The acting headteacher identifies the salient points quickly when observing in class, including what can be improved and how to do it.
• Effective leadership of provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities means that usually they make at least similar progress as their peers. The inclusion leader checks carefully the difference made by additional help sessions, including for disadvantaged pupils. In most cases, these accelerate pupils’ progress. However, remaining variations in the quality of teaching still limit the overall progress of these and other pupils.
• Newly appointed leaders for particular age ranges in the school (phase leaders) show passion, enthusiasm and drive. Through a mix of external training and working jointly with the acting headteacher and her mentor, they are developing key skills to enable them to be effective in their roles. Although plans are in place to reduce this support in order for them to work more independently as leaders, they are new to their roles and it is early days.
• Pupils benefit from a broad and varied curriculum that, alongside other opportunities, promotes their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development effectively. Pupils are encouraged to work together on purposeful activities, such as gardening and caring for the environment. Pupils learn about a range of cultures and religions, including those that they may not otherwise encounter locally. This broadening of their experiences is helpful preparation for their future lives in modern Britain.
• Effective use of additional physical education and sport funding has increased the frequency and range of physical activity on offer. The sport premium leader tracks carefully how active each pupil is in terms of their engagement in sessions. Through her analysis, she has identified that participation was lower in Years 3 and 4, so she consulted with ‘non-active’ pupils and targeted clubs specifically for them.
• The local authority has not provided effective challenge or support to the school to raise standards at key stage 1 more quickly. It admits that, until relatively recently, a lack of local authority capacity meant that this previously good school did not have full adviser support. Currently, the local authority is providing and facilitating effective support for the acting headteacher. This includes funding the headteacher of an outstanding school to be her mentor.

Governance of the school

• Governors’ use of data about the school’s effectiveness is not rigorous enough. They have not provided sufficient challenge to leaders about pupils’ outcomes at key stage 1 since the previous inspection.
• The governing body does not focus sharply enough on improving outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. It relies too heavily on school leaders to make the right decisions about how the money should be spent and to check what difference this makes. Differences between disadvantaged pupils and others nationally are not diminishing consistently enough across the school.
• There is healthy mutual challenge and debate between governors when decision making and an evident desire to provide appropriate challenge to school leaders. Minutes of governing body meetings show that governors also ask questions of school leaders. However, these are often to seek clarification, rather than to challenge leaders robustly about the school’s performance.
• Governors have sought and acted on expert advice to navigate sensitively the challenging context of the school’s current interim leadership arrangements.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Full checks on the suitability of staff are recorded on the single central register. The welfare and safety of pupils are taken very seriously. Staff are kept up to date with a range of relevant training. They know and use procedures for identifying and sharing concerns and show vigilance for low-level signs. Leaders keep careful records and share information appropriately with other professionals to safeguard pupils. Parents are overwhelmingly confident that their children are safe and well cared for at school. Home–school communication is strong for potentially vulnerable pupils.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The variable quality of teaching, learning and assessment means that pupils do not do well enough by the end of key stage 1. Weaknesses in teaching over time have led to inconsistent progress for different groups of pupils, including the most able and those that need to catch up with age-related expectations.
• Teachers do not have high enough expectations of what Year 2 pupils can achieve. They do not challenge the most able pupils consistently well, or help those that have fallen behind to catch up quickly enough.
• Across the school, some teachers do not challenge pupils, including the most able, to use their mathematical skills, knowledge and understanding to reason or solve problems often enough.
• Intensive work between leaders and teachers means that much stronger teaching in Year 1 this year is enabling pupils to build strongly on their good start in the early years. Teaching helps most-able Year 1 pupils learn how to start to refine and improve their work, as well as new techniques to reach higher standards in their writing.
• Across the school, leaders and teachers place a strong emphasis on engaging pupils through the use of high-quality books and texts. They do this well to both inspire and improve pupils as writers but also to encourage reluctant readers.
• Teaching is more consistently effective across key stage 2, contributing well to pupils’ accelerating progress. Teachers’ higher expectations contribute well to raising standards, including for current Year 3 pupils, who are catching up quickly. Teachers ensure that most-able pupils are challenged to go beyond simply meeting age-related expectations, either to work at greater depth or reach a higher standard.
• Younger pupils are introduced to mathematical problem solving in a practical and accessible way, providing firm foundations for them. Teachers make effective use of mathematical apparatus and visual images to reinforce key concepts.
• Improvements to the quality of phonics teaching mean that more pupils than in the past are developing the skills that they need to read and spell. In Year 1 and Reception in particular, children draw on their skills readily and remember what they have learned.
• Homework supports pupils’ learning well. Pupils like the regularity of what in school is known as ‘out-of-lesson learning’.
• The current drive to break down tasks into manageable steps and make key learning points explicit is especially helpful for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, particularly as they move through key stage 2. In most cases, teachers use the additional capacity provided by teaching assistants well.
• There are clear strengths in teaching across a range of subjects. Teachers help pupils make links in their learning between subjects, but pupils also get a keen sense of subject-specific learning, for example, what it means to be a historian. During the Year 5 design and technology day, the teacher’s precise questioning and prompts encouraged pupils to work with precision and care towards their original design specification.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• A positive ethos, based firmly on agreed values, is evident throughout the school. The attractive environment conveys a strong sense of high expectation and raising aspiration. This was reinforced well during a celebration assembly, where ‘star achievers’ received awards linked to the school values, including for showing respect and taking responsibility.
• Pupils are very friendly and welcoming. Most pupils have positive attitudes to learning and are supportive of each other.
• The friendly atmosphere in the breakfast club gets the day off to a very positive start for those that attend. Older pupils look out for the younger children and there is a strong focus on safety and food hygiene. Leaders can show examples where access to the breakfast club has helped improve the attendance of disadvantaged pupils.
• Pupils feel safe and understand how to keep themselves safe. Demonstrating their own good understanding, pupils have designed posters about staying safe online to share the key messages with others.
• Bullying is rare and dealt with effectively should it occur. Pupils recognise clearly the different forms that bullying can take and have written their own child-friendly anti-bullying policy. Enhancing this further, they are currently making a video to go with it.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils conduct themselves well and their behaviour is typically good throughout the day, including in lessons. Occasionally, pupils lose concentration when they do not find lessons interesting or engaging, although they seldom distract others.
• At lunchtime, pupils play together harmoniously. Older children help ensure that corridors are calm and orderly.
• Most pupils attend regularly and overall figures are above the national average. However, although improving so far this year, the proportion of pupils that miss school frequently remains too high. This is particularly true for disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Compared with their starting points, pupils do not do well enough by the end of key stage 1. This includes disadvantaged pupils and the most able.
• Although improving now, progress across key stage 1 for current pupils is still inconsistent. Current Year 2 pupils still have a lot of ground to make up to reach the standards of which they are capable. Lower ability pupils make steady progress, but are not catching up as quickly as they could.
• Outcomes for disadvantaged pupils are variable. For example, in recent years, too few have met the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check. This means that they are not equipped as well as they should be with vital skills that will support their progress across the curriculum.
• Leaders’ tracking of pupils’ phonics shows that more current pupils are on track to meet the expected standard. Year 1 pupils use their phonics with increasing confidence to read and spell. Older pupils, whose phonic skills were less well developed, are catching up more quickly now through targeted additional sessions. However, Year 2 pupils are still hesitant in drawing on some aspects of their phonics, reflective of previous gaps in their learning.
• Work in pupils’ books and school assessment information show that stronger and more consistent progress across key stage 2 is lifting standards. Following a dip in 2015, most recent Year 6 leavers were well prepared for their secondary education because overall their attainment was in line with that of other pupils nationally. Relative to their starting points, most-able pupils made good progress to reach the higher standards, especially in reading and mathematics.
• Most-able pupils read fluently and use their inference skills to interpret the text. They enjoy their own lengthy, high-quality books. In key stage 2, most-able disadvantaged pupils make increasingly good progress, for example, in developing their writing style. Their writing is lively, engaging and well constructed, with increasingly skilful use of a variety of sentence structures.
• The progress of those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities mirrors the patterns seen for other pupils at both key stages 1 and 2. Consequently, they do better at key stage 2, where targeted additional support sessions are complemented by effective teaching.

Early years provision Good

• The early years leader is a very positive role model of effective practice. She has an accurate view of the strengths of the provision and aspects of practice that are not of the same high quality consistently across both classes.
• Children make good progress from their varying starting points. Those that start with skills below those typical for their ages catch up very quickly. The next steps that they need to take to achieve well are identified carefully on an individual basis.
• By the end of Reception Year, the proportion that are well prepared for Year 1 exceeds the national average. Most-able children make good progress from their higher starting points to exceed early years’ expectations in a range of areas. Numbers of disadvantaged children are low, but over time they have done similarly well as other children nationally overall.
• Phonics and writing have a high profile throughout the environment, inside and out. Vibrant role-play areas, particularly in the phase leader’s class and shared outdoor area, are imaginative, engaging and inspired by the class texts.
• Phonics teaching in the early years is good overall. Children were transfixed in the sessions observed. They engage enthusiastically in immediate opportunities to apply newly learned sounds and ‘tricky words’ in spoken sentences or writing. Adults’ modelling of the sounds is clear and precise and children are confident to ‘have a go’. They enjoy joining in with the games and songs. They build their knowledge well because they remember what they have learned before.
• Teaching assistants are very well briefed. They follow the teacher’s careful planning in focused tasks to ensure that their interactions focus on key learning points. Occasionally, some adults are not as adept at others at going with the children’s responses to keep them fully engaged.
• The outdoor area is used creatively to provide opportunities that may be trickier inside. For example, a group worked together to use giant construction blocks and tubes to build a spaceship, linked to the current theme. The excellent interactions between the teaching assistant and children showed how she was alert to opportunities to extend and challenge. She prompted children to use their current mathematics learning to measure different things and write down their findings.
• Children mix well and learn to resolve issues that may arise as they learn and play together. They showed considerable self-control in the outdoor area when they stopped what they were doing instantly in response to the teacher’s gentle jingle-bells. Their conduct and engagement show that they feel safe and secure in this positive environment.
• Staff build positive relationships with parents, including through inviting them into the class on a regular basis to engage in ‘early bird reading’ with their children. Leaders and teachers work in close partnerships with other professionals for the benefit of children that have particular needs. This includes working with speech and language therapists and the social communication team to get the support for individual children right.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 125963 West Sussex 10019406 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 341 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Stephen Cocks Penny Crocker (Headteacher) Sarah Murrell (Acting headteacher) Telephone number 01342 323906 Website Email address www.blackwell.w-sussex.sch.uk head@blackwell.w-sussex.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 16–17 November 2011

Information about this school

• This school has grown considerably since the time of the previous inspection. An additional class has been admitted annually to Reception Year to grow the school to two-form entry from the bottom up. The school is now larger than the average-sized primary school, with two classes in each year group, except for Years 5 and 6.
• Most pupils are of White British heritage.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is below average. In some cohorts, the number is exceptionally low.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is slightly higher than national figures. A much smaller proportion than seen nationally has a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan.
• The headteacher joined the school in September 2014, since the previous inspection. She was absent at the time of the inspection. The school has been led since May 2016 by an acting headteacher, who was formerly the school’s key stage 2 leader and became the substantive deputy headteacher when the leadership team was restructured in September 2016. There is no acting deputy headteacher.
• A local headteacher of an outstanding primary school has been mentoring and supporting the acting headteacher for approximately one day per week.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

Information about this inspection

• The inspection team visited all classes to gather evidence. Inspectors observed parts of lessons, looked at work on display and in pupils’ books over time and talked to pupils about their learning. The acting headteacher joined the lead inspector for many of these visits. The special educational needs coordinator also observed jointly with an inspector.
• Inspectors spoke with a wide range of people to find out their views and experiences of the school, including pupils, parents, staff, leaders, governors and the local authority.
• The inspection team gave careful consideration to 47 responses to the online survey, Parent View, as well as analysing 15 questionnaire responses from staff. No pupils completed the online survey. Inspectors considered all of the written comments added to these carefully alongside other inspection evidence.
• Inspectors observed the work of the school and reviewed a range of the school’s documentation, including scrutinising arrangements for safeguarding pupils.

Inspection team

Clive Dunn, lead inspector Rosemary Beattie Matthew Brown Christopher Donovan

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector