Brockworth Primary Academy Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by leaders:
  • ensuring that the curriculum is fully implemented and that pupils acquire the knowledge expected for their age across a range of subjects
  • taking account of the full picture of teaching, learning and assessment across the school to evaluate better where improvements need to be made
  • developing plans for improvement that include addressing the achievement of pupils with SEND and children in the early years.
• Improve the quality of teaching so that it is consistently good and pupils make good progress by making sure that all teachers:
  • plan tasks in reading and writing that promote the progress of pupils with SEND and pupils who need to catch up
  • have equally high expectations of pupils’ attention and concentration in lessons
  • develop high levels of pupils’ accuracy in writing
  • respond to the emerging needs of pupils in lessons so their progress is supported and time is well used
  • fully implement the school’s scheme of work in science so that pupils, particularly in key stage 2, acquire the knowledge expected for their age
  • promote pupils’ personal development by strengthening pupils’ ability to concentrate in lessons and ensure that pupils show more pride in their work
  • in the early years, sharpen the information they hold about children’s achievement so that they can better plan children’s progress across the curriculum.
• Improve pupils’ behaviour and further reduce the rate of exclusions by leaders:
  • analysing and evaluating the full extent of incidents of challenging behaviour to secure a clear picture of what is improving and what remains to be achieved
  • embedding and developing the school’s new systems of pastoral care and mentoring so that all pupils with challenging behaviour are well supported
  • ensuring that all staff are guided in how to plan for and support pupils with challenging behaviour in the classroom and in the playground.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• Over recent years, the school has experienced changes to leaders’ roles. Within this year there has been high staff turnover. The executive principal led another school for the trust and the vice-principal led this school in her absence. Since the inspection last year, there have been further changes to leaders’ roles and more staff changes. This has had an impact on leaders’ ability to bring about consistently good-quality teaching. Consequently, not all pupils achieve well.
• Instability in staffing has led to inconsistencies in the delivery of the full curriculum. Leaders have sought to improve pupils’ achievement in English and mathematics. This has led to a lack of focus on ensuring that the school’s schemes of work in other subjects are fully implemented. Pupils achieve less well than they should in subjects such as science.
• As leaders’ skills have developed, they have increasingly monitored the school’s work increasingly effectively. Leaders’ evaluations follow through into short-term plans for improvement. However, the evaluation of the whole journey of improvement over time is not precise enough. Consequently, inconsistencies in teaching and pupils’ achievement and behaviour remain.
• The impact of the use of additional funding both for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND is too variable. While the most able disadvantaged pupils achieve well, too few pupils with SEND achieve well enough. Leaders have extended the pastoral support for the high proportion of pupils with social and emotional difficulties. This is beginning to pay dividends.
• The executive principal’s commitment to the community has been at the heart of maintaining the school’s stability during this period of change. She has swiftly targeted the teaching which has not been effective. Despite the changes the school has faced, the executive principal has maintained the confidence and morale of staff. She has ensured that teachers new to the profession are appropriately guided and they are positive about their roles. Although work remains to be done to improve the school, the staff show a willingness to take guidance on their teaching. New ways of teaching mathematics, for example, are being adopted wholeheartedly and are strengthening pupils’ achievement.
• The leaders for mathematics and English are knowledgeable about their subjects. Middle leaders work closely with subject advisors from the Academies Enterprise Trust to increase their own understanding of best practice in teaching. They support their colleagues through good professional development. Leaders at all levels are seen by teachers as being accessible and available to give them support.
• The curriculum for mathematics and English is well planned, with many new approaches to teaching now in place. These changes have, in themselves, been an additional challenge to the school when going through a period of turbulence in staffing. Nonetheless, they have been necessary and, as they become embedded, are strengthening pupils’ achievements.
• There are detailed curriculum plans, supported by schemes by of work, for all national curriculum subjects. These have been designed by the trust to support pupils’ developing knowledge across the school. Leaders have, in the absence of fully implementing the schemes of work, developed enrichment activities for pupils to extend their knowledge of the world. All pupils have regular opportunities to take part in visits and in-school activities such as arts week and outdoor learning.
• Pupils recognise and adopt values which prepare them for life in modern Britain. The school’s work supports pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development effectively. In particular, pupils highlight that the school teaches them to understand and value people from other cultures and religions. The recent election of the head girl and boy engaged pupils in a democratic process.
• The school and trust have worked hand in hand to bring about improvements. Leaders and teachers value access to skilled support. The trust has been timely in taking steps to secure the leadership of the school over the next term, when further changes will take place.
• Overall, parents remain positive about the school while expressing some concern about the level of change. A small number of parents indicated that they believe the school should address some issues around the needs of their children with SEND. The inspection showed that both these points are valid. However, most parents highlighted how much their children enjoy school. They value the commitment of staff to supporting their children’s learning.
• Leaders’ use of the sport premium is effective. Pupils are given opportunities to take part in competitions, but also have exposure to new sporting experiences. The school has recently offered marathon runs, cycling events, and a climbing wall experience, for example. Teachers and pupils benefit from working with experienced coaches.

Governance of the school

• The trust has recently reviewed the school’s model of governance. Planned changes have been fully implemented and the delegation of responsibilities is now clear. The skills of the governing body have been strengthened through new appointments, including from leaders holding professional roles in other academies. Consequently, governors’ minutes show that the rigour of review and challenge is strengthening.
• Currently, governors undertake reviews of the school’s work themselves, through focussed ‘governor days’. However, the limitations in the school’s self-evaluation mean that they do not hold a full picture of, for example, the impact of incidents of challenging behaviour on the good order of the school.
• Governors support the school’s effectiveness in safeguarding by meeting regularly with leaders to check the school’s procedures.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. The steps taken to recruit staff and volunteers are rigorous and all checks are securely recorded. Policies and staff training are underpinned by advice and support from the trust.
• Staff training is effective. The designated safeguarding lead works at two schools and is not on site full time. The executive principal and pastoral leader are fully trained to deputise in her absence. Staff are informed who will be on site and how to contact leaders in an emergency.
• Records of concerns that pupils may be at risk of harm show that staff in all roles contribute to the school’s culture of vigilance. Staff recognise their responsibilities and know how to report observations promptly and effectively. Leaders are confident to work with a range of agencies to pass on concerns. They persist to ensure that vulnerable pupils and families receive support.
• Leaders are knowledgeable about their local community. This supports them in maintaining good contact with families who are facing challenge. They recognise that the role of safeguarding is an extensive one in their community and demonstrate commitment to placing it at the heart of all they do.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• There is too much variability in teaching across classes and across subjects. Consequently, pupils do not all achieve well. The executive principal recognises that more needs to be done to bring about consistency. However, changes of staff have meant that embedding the school’s approach to good teaching and learning remains work in progress.
• Too frequently, teaching doesn’t take account of what pupils know and need to learn next. This limits the progress of pupils who need to catch up across both key stages 1 and 2. Pupils with SEND, many of whom are disadvantaged, struggle when work is too hard. Their workbooks show that in some cases they do not finish writing tasks. In reading, not all teachers maintain an oversight of the work of teaching assistants. They do not ensure that teaching is developing pupils’ skills effectively.
• Some teachers do not check promptly to see that pupils understand their work. Most pupils will readily seek help when they do not understand their task. However, often there are too many pupils seeking help for teachers to respond quickly. This is because teachers have not identified ahead of the lesson what pupils are likely to find difficult. Learning time is then lost because pupils have to wait.
• There has been purposeful development of the school’s approach to teaching writing. However, over time, many pupils have not developed secure basic skills of spelling, handwriting and punctuation. Not all teachers are addressing these gaps in pupils’ accuracy consistently well. Pupils in the current Years 1 and 2, including those of middle ability, repeat errors of letter formation and sentence punctuation from piece to piece of work. They do not apply their good phonic knowledge to support their spelling.
• Changes in staff have meant that continuity has been lost in delivering the school’s schemes of work in subjects such as science. Teaching is too sporadic across year groups to develop pupils’ knowledge consistently well.
• Teachers use the context provided by learning in history to promote pupils’ interest in writing. For example, the pupils in key stage 2 wrote for different purposes, using their knowledge of life in the First World War battlefields.
• The teaching of mathematics develops pupils’ problem-solving skills and basic fluency effectively. Pupils of middle ability, particularly in key stage 2, are diligent in lessons and enjoy their learning. The teaching of mathematics is particularly effective in promoting the progress of the most able pupils. They thrive on the level of challenge provided in the school’s new scheme of work.
• The most able pupils relish the wider opportunities now to deepen their knowledge of reading. Teachers in key stage 2 are developing pupils’ knowledge of how to interpret and respond to what they read.
• The school’s approach to teaching phonics is effective. Pupils of middle ability and the most able in Years 1 and 2 are able to use their phonic skills to decode unfamiliar words. This strengthens their achievement in reading.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development requires improvement. It is inconsistent. While some teachers promote pupils’ development as learners well, others do not challenge inattention or pupils’ carelessness in presenting their work. The school does not develop pupils’ ability to persevere or overcome challenges sufficiently well.
• The promotion of the personal development of pupils with SEND is not consistently effective. Leaders are not ensuring that learning is a positive experience for all pupils with SEND. Leaders and teachers are not helping these pupils develop confidence and resilience.
• Teachers and leaders are, however, promoting pupils’ aspirations for their future. They are developing pupils’ general knowledge through a broad programme of enrichment experiences such as visits and events. Pupils spoke enthusiastically about events such as the recent ‘Rock Steady’ musical experience. Pupils have regular opportunities to extend their learning in the outdoors.
• The school is increasingly effective in promoting pupils’ emotional well-being. Pupils are learning about mindfulness and being given opportunities to take part in yoga.
• Leaders are skilfully developing the role of the school council. Recently, they took the council to the Houses of Parliament to further pupils’ understanding of the importance of their role in decision-making. Pupils learn how to stay safe through, for example, the school’s regular practice of fire evacuation procedures. They are regularly taught how to protect information when using the internet. The school’s promotion of sport and activity is helping pupils to develop an awareness of fitness and a healthy lifestyle.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement. In a small number of lessons the behaviour of a few pupils, for example by calling out, disturbs the learning of others. Mostly, teachers challenge this effectively, but some pupils report that on occasions pupils continue this behaviour. They say that disturbances of this nature are not overcome.
• The number of pupils in the school with SEND is above the national average. A high proportion of the pupils with SEND have social and emotional needs. Over the past few years, incidents of challenging behaviour have led to rates of exclusion higher than those usual for primary schools in similar social contexts.
• The school has improved its provision for pupils with social and emotional needs by extending pastoral support and mentoring.
• Some pupils report that, on occasions, incidents of misbehaviour by a small number of pupils still occur in the classroom and playground. Although all incidents are fully logged, there is no analysis to substantiate a picture of current strategies being successful with all pupils.
• The very large majority of pupils in the school are polite and well behaved. They enjoy learning collaboratively with each other and share resources well. They respond promptly to teachers’ instructions and move around the school sensibly. Pupils play together harmoniously in the playground. They behave well in the school’s breakfast club.
• Pupils say that, overall, they feel safe and are confident to report concerns to members of staff who always listen to them. They agree that most pupils are friendly and that falling out about games is usually quickly resolved. The school responds promptly to allegations of bullying. A small number of parents are not confident of the school’s response when concerns are raised. However, inspectors found that when bullying was proved, the school’s actions were appropriate and robust.
• The rate of pupils’ attendance for last year was close to the national average and attendance is continuing to improve. Good safeguarding procedures and robust challenges when children do not attend well have reduced the level of persistent absence.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• The rate of progress of different groups of pupils and in different subjects is inconsistent. This is particularly evident for pupils who need to catch up from low starting points. Historically, standards at the end of early years and key stage 1 have been low. Consequently, there remain a significant proportion of pupils who need to catch up across key stages 1 and 2. Many of these are pupils with SEND and some are disadvantaged.
• Currently, progress in reading and writing is weakest for the least-able pupils, including when these pupils are disadvantaged or are pupils with SEND. There is inconsistent progress for this group of pupils, many of whom are not overcoming weaknesses in their spelling, handwriting and punctuation. This limits their achievement in writing overall, particularly at key stage 1. Equally, there are small groups of pupils across key stage 1 and lower key stage 2 whose progress in reading is too slow.
• The progress of pupils with SEND and who need to catch up in mathematics is improving across key stage 1. However, those pupils of similarly low ability in key stage 2 struggle with the reading demands of the problem-solving and reasoning aspects of the mathematics curriculum. They are, however, developing stronger skills in calculation and knowledge of multiplication tables.
• Science is not taught regularly enough for pupils to make good progress over key stage 2. Consequently, their standard of scientific knowledge is not well developed across all aspects of the science curriculum.
• Pupils of middle ability are benefiting from improved approaches to teaching mathematics and reading. However, in both key stages, they have inaccuracies in their writing which limits their achievement. Even so, their current work shows that they are developing good compositional skills. They know how to write for a broad range of purposes.
• Improvements to the curriculum in reading, writing and mathematics are having the strongest impact on the most able pupils, including those who are disadvantaged. Their achievement in problem-solving and reasoning in mathematics is strong. They take full advantage of the school’s promotion of reading and read frequently and widely. Their writing is increasingly accurate and they are developing a widened vocabulary to add interest to their work.
• The proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check has been consistently in line with the national average for three years. Current pupils are making good progress in Year 1.
• Recent end-of-key-stage assessments show that the school is beginning to gain ground in raising standards and securing pupils’ improved achievement. The rate of improvement is stronger at the end of key stage 2 than for early years and key stage 1. In particular, pupils’ achievement in mathematics at the end of Year 6 demonstrates the positive impact of improvements to teaching and the curriculum in this subject. The improvements mean that more pupils transfer to the next stage of their education well prepared.

Early years provision Requires improvement

• Leadership and teaching in the early years require improvement. Teachers do use assessment well enough to plan for children’s achievement. Teachers assess children’s skills and stages of development accurately when they join the school. They identify that the very large majority of children start school with knowledge of reading and writing below that usually found. However, teachers are not able to account for the progress that individual children are making currently across the year group.
• The information teachers hold about children’s achievement is too imprecise to guide teaching and enable children to catch up from such low starting points. Leaders cannot fully explain how the standards the setting expects to achieve this year have been reached. Recent professional development has supported leadership and teaching in the early years. The leader recognises the need to strengthen the assessment of children’s emerging skills. Currently, though, the school’s systems of recording children’s achievement are not supporting her in doing this.
• Teachers read with children regularly and encourage parents to join with them in developing children’s early reading. Teachers teach phonics effectively and children’s recently produced writing shows that some can apply their knowledge to write lists of words and simple sentences. Samples of work in number show that some children are able to combine two numbers to find the total.
• Children in the early years enjoy their learning. Teachers plan a wide range of experiences for children to learn, both indoors and in the extensive outside spaces. Children were seen planning to go on a bear hunt, following the structure of the story that had been read to them. The member of staff supporting them encouraged children’s use of the story vocabulary and her own enthusiasm helped to engage children in the activity.
• Pictures and photographs around the setting show the breadth of the curriculum and exciting opportunities children have had to learn, for example about Chinese New Year. Recent learning about insects has been explored through investigating the life cycle of a butterfly.
• Children behave well in the early years. They respond well to guidance from staff and this helps them to stay safe. The welfare of children is given a high priority. During the inspection, the children visited a zoo. A full risk assessment of the visit was undertaken and the school’s guidance on the use of volunteers was followed.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority 138674 Gloucestershire Inspection number 10053309 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 Academy sponsor-led 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 293 Appropriate authority Chair Principal Telephone number Website Email address Board of trustees Hilary Thompson Patricia Briggs 01452 862809 www.brockworthprimaryacademy.org contactus@brockworthprimaryacademy.org Date of previous inspection 30 January 2018

Information about this school

• Brockworth Primary Academy is larger than an average-sized primary school and is growing. Children join the school in one of the two Reception classes. Currently, the school is organised into mixed-age and single-aged classes across key stages 1 and 2.
• The school is part of the Academies Enterprise Trust. The executive principal leads this school and another in the trust. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) also leads inclusion across the two schools.
• The proportion of pupils in receipt of the pupil premium is much higher than the national average. This group of pupils includes some children of service families.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND, including those with an education, health and care plan, is higher than the national average.
• Mostly pupils are of White British heritage. However, the proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language joining the school is increasing.
• The school operates a breakfast club for pupils in the school.

Information about this inspection

• The inspectors observed pupils in lessons in all classes across the school. These visits were often accompanied by senior or middle leaders.
• Discussions took place with the executive principal, SENCo, subject leaders and the early years leader. Additional discussions were held with a representative of the governing body and leaders from the Academy Enterprise Trust. An additional meeting was held with a curriculum advisor from the trust.
• An inspector met with a group of newly qualified teachers to discuss the support they had in their professional development. They took account of the views of other members of staff through the 13 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.
• Inspectors looked at a range of pupils’ books to evaluate the current quality of work and standards in different subjects. An inspector heard pupils from Year 3 and Year 5 read. He discussed their reading with them.
• Inspectors took account of pupils’ views of the school through a meeting with a group of pupils. They also observed pupils in the breakfast club and held a discussion with pupils there. Inspectors talked to pupils in their lessons and in the playground and lunch hall. They took account of the responses of the 20 pupils who completed Ofsted’s pupil survey.
• Inspectors scrutinised information from the school’s self-evaluation and school improvement plan. They also reviewed internal assessment information. They took account of governors’ minutes and policies and procedures for safeguarding.
• Inspector reviewed information about pupils’ behaviour and also attendance and exclusion information.
• Inspectors took account of the views of parents through speaking to them at the start of day. They reviewed the 54 responses and additional comments recorded on Ofsted’s survey Parent View.

Inspection team

Wendy Marriott, lead inspector Geraldine Tidy Simon Bissett

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector