Tuffley Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

In accordance with section 44(1) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Urgently improve teaching, learning and assessment in all subjects and key stages, and therefore improve outcomes, by:
  • improving the precision of assessment so that teachers understand pupils’ starting points and plan challenging work which is matched to pupils’ ages and abilities
  • developing teachers’ subject knowledge so that they know exactly what pupils should be learning in subjects
  • ensuring that teachers’ questioning routinely helps them to probe pupils’ understanding so they know when to adapt teaching to move pupils’ learning on
  • making sure that additional teaching, particularly for middle-attaining pupils, disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities, is sharply focused on helping pupils’ progress accelerate so that they catch up
  • ensuring that teaching assistants are well deployed consistently to challenge and support pupils and help them to achieve well.
• Rapidly improve leadership and management by:
  • making sure that development plans are monitored and evaluated effectively so that they have a positive impact
  • providing all leaders and teachers with high-quality training that leaders evaluate to ensure that it is having a positive impact
  • improving leaders’ monitoring of teaching, so that they hold teachers to account more effectively for ensuring that pupils make strong progress
  • developing a rich and engaging curriculum in which teaching consistently supports pupils to develop a wide range of skills and knowledge
  • ensuring that the use of additional funding for disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities has a positive impact
  • improving governors’ understanding of how to check the school’s effectiveness, so that they can support and challenge leaders and hold them to account routinely
  • rectifying administration errors in safeguarding documents, so that policies and procedures are clear to staff.
• Improve personal development, behaviour and welfare by:
  • continuing to improve the attendance of pupils, particularly pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities
  • ensuring that leaders make rapid and sustained improvements to teaching which support pupils’ personal development and prepare them well for the next stage of their education.
• Improve the early years by:
  • developing the role of the early years leader and improving the monitoring of children’s progress so that leaders know when to take action to improve teaching
  • improving the accuracy of assessment so that teachers plan learning that effectively meets children’s needs and develops children’s knowledge and skills across all areas of learning
  • improving the resources in the indoor and outdoor environment, so that children are able to access stimulating activities that promote their curiosity and sustain their interest regularly
  • ensuring that the teaching of phonics supports children’s fluency in reading and writing. External reviews of governance and the school’s use of pupil premium funding have not been recommended because the school has commissioned these already.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

• Leaders have been too slow to take concerted action to tackle weak teaching and stem the decline in standards over time. This has been compounded by changes of staff and staff absence. Consequently, far too few pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities, achieve the expected standards at the end of each key stage. Very few of the most able pupils achieve higher standards.
• The school has a fragile leadership structure that is restricted to very few people. Some leaders hold leadership titles without being given the necessary support to develop their monitoring of teaching. This hinders them from taking effective action to improve outcomes with the urgency that is required.
• The local authority has taken decisive action to alert the school to the need to take rapid action to reverse the decline in standards. Advisers have identified the main priorities and helped leaders to draw up plans for improvement. The school is also collaborating with leaders from a local school to develop effective practice. However, the support in place is taking too long to take hold and, consequently, teaching is not improving rapidly enough. Staff who responded to the online survey confirm that there are inconsistencies in leaders’ actions and say that initiatives are not followed up in a timely manner.
• Leaders do not monitor and evaluate the targets in their development plans with sufficient precision. For example, the school’s self-evaluation is overgenerous and fails to take account of the fact that teaching has failed to provide an acceptable standard of education for a long period of time. As a result of leaders’ inaccurate evaluations, they fail to identify that teaching is not improving quickly enough.
• Leaders’ expectations of what pupils can achieve are too low and assessment is often inaccurate. This results in poorly planned teaching that is not routinely pitched at the correct level to meet pupils’ age and stage of learning. This results in inconsistent progress, particularly for middle-attaining pupils, pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities and disadvantaged pupils.
• The pupil premium is not allocated effectively and, as a result, disadvantaged pupils rarely make sufficient progress to catch up or achieve expected standards.
• Leaders’ implementation of the revised 2014 national curriculum was too slow. Two years after its inception, teaching did not reflect the new requirements. As a result, teaching did not routinely support pupils to achieve the expected standards.
• Opportunities to enhance pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development are not sufficiently well embedded. The school’s curriculum is narrow and does not afford pupils the chance to learn a range of knowledge and skills or make strong progress. There is scant evidence that pupils learn about other cultures or develop a secure understanding of British values.
• The school’s use of the sport premium is effective because sports coaches help teachers to develop their teaching of physical education. A range of extra-curricular activities such as street dance, tennis and football encourage pupils to participate in sporting activities and learn how to keep healthy.
• The recently appointed special educational needs coordinator understands pupils’ needs and is putting plans in place to support pupils’ learning more effectively. Specialist teaching in the communication and interaction centre helps pupils to make effective progress and almost three quarters of current pupils are on track to meet the standards expected for their age. However, pupils in mainstream classes who have SEN and/or disabilities do not make strong progress. As a result, only one third of pupils are on track to achieve the standards expected for their age.
• The school has commissioned external reviews of governance and the effectiveness of pupil premium expenditure. This will help the school to identify precisely what aspects of leadership need to improve.
• Actions taken by leaders within the last year are slowly starting to improve progress, particularly for older pupils. However, this is not happening swiftly enough. Consequently, pupils in several classes are still struggling to catch up.
• Leaders are gaining a better understanding of the school’s priorities and agree that their actions have been too slow to take effect. The deputy headteacher is an asset to the leadership team and is helping teachers and leaders to understand how to match teaching to pupils’ needs. Despite this, poorly distributed leadership means that there is insufficient capacity for leaders to check that teachers are taking heed of their support.
• Leaders are committed to pupils’ welfare and sensitively support pupils who are going through difficult times or have additional needs. Parents typically comment that staff are approachable and help them to sort out problems. Parents appreciate the support their children receive in the communication and interaction centre. Typical comments include, ‘My child has made huge leaps in confidence and self-esteem, and is happy.’
• Newly qualified teachers may not be appointed.

Governance of the school

• Governance is weak because there is not a secure governance structure in place. The chair of governors left his post in September 2017 and another governor held the post temporarily while the school tried, unsuccessfully, to recruit a replacement. The current chair of governors resigned from his post before the inspection and there are several governors who are new in post.
• Governors do not have a clear understanding of pupils’ progress, which means that they are not suitably equipped to check the school’s effectiveness. This limits how well they can support the school to improve outcomes rapidly.
• Governors do not challenge the school’s use of the pupil premium or physical education and sport premium effectively. Consequently, they do not hold leaders to account sufficiently for financial expenditure.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders provide staff with relevant safeguarding training. This ensures that they recognise their responsibility for keeping pupils safe. Adults can explain the signs that indicate that a pupil might be at risk and they know how to refer concerns. Leaders do not hesitate to enlist the support of outside agencies when necessary. This helps them to provide pupils and their families with appropriate care and advice. Leaders keep detailed records of safeguarding concerns and routinely follow these up to check that their actions are making a positive difference. Pupils say that they feel safe and know to whom they can turn if they have any problems.
• Leaders undertake risk assessments to ensure that pupils are kept safe on trips. They have clear procedures for administering medicines to pupils, when required. Leaders undertake regular evacuation and lockdown drills so that everyone understands the procedures to follow in the event of an emergency.
• During the inspection, some administration errors in safeguarding documents were identified. For example, some procedures and definitions are incorrect. Leaders recognise that it is essential to rectify these with immediate effect so that policies and procedures are clear.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

• Teachers’ assessment is not strong enough to determine pupils’ starting points. This hinders teachers from planning work that meets pupils’ needs. Too often, pupils undertake similar tasks that do not challenge them to make effective progress.
• Teachers’ subject knowledge is not consistently strong and learning objectives are often ambiguous. This means that pupils are not sure what is expected of them; this limits how well they can achieve.
• Learning is not planned well. Often, pupils undertake ‘one-off’ tasks or repeat skills already secured. Consequently, pupils do not build on prior learning to fully develop their reading, writing and mathematical skills.
• Teachers’ questions elicit pupils’ knowledge, but are not sufficiently probing. This limits teachers’ ability to deepen pupils’ learning.
• Teachers follow the school’s marking policy, but do not routinely provide pupils with the opportunity to improve their work. This means that pupils are hindered from rectifying mistakes and clarifying their understanding.
• Teachers do not always make the best use of teaching assistants. Therefore, pupils are not provided with sharply focused challenge and support. As a result, several groups of pupils, including middle-attaining pupils, disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities do not achieve well.
• The training and support that leaders provide to enhance teachers’ professional development is not having sufficient impact because teachers do not take full responsibility for improving teaching. Consequently, pupils’ progress is inconsistent.
• Homework is not provided regularly. This restricts how well pupils can practise and embed skills that they are learning. Several pupils and parents comment that they would like more homework.
• There are some early signs of improvement. For example, adults are starting to develop pupils’ phonics, comprehension and problem-solving skills more consistently. The progress of older pupils is improving. However, improvements are in the early stages and it is too soon to determine if they can be sustained.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare requires improvement.
• Although very recent improvements to teaching are leading to better progress, many pupils are still enduring weak teaching. This means that their personal development is hampered. Therefore, they are not prepared suitably for the next stage of their education.
• Pastoral provision is effective. Adults, particularly the family welfare officer, know pupils and their families well. They recognise that many pupils are going through extremely difficult times and provide them with bespoke support. This helps pupils manage their emotions and behaviour, which improves their attitudes to learning. Parents find this support invaluable, typically commenting, ‘Leaders go out of their way to help…concerns are dealt with promptly’ and ‘Tuffley breeds nurture and acceptance.’
• Pupils are well cared for in the school’s before- and after-school clubs. Adults provide a range of engaging activities, such as cake-making, which encourage pupils to interact sociably and cooperatively with others.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.
• Teaching does not meet pupils’ needs sufficiently well. This occasionally results in pupils becoming distracted and restless. Teachers do not manage this well so progress stalls. Some pupils confirmed that they find their too work easy and would like to undertake more difficult tasks.
• Some parents and staff who responded to the surveys believe that leaders do not manage behaviour well. Leaders have excluded some pupils to ensure other pupils’ safety. Leaders are committed to helping pupils resolve the complex reasons that lead to exclusions. As a result, they create behaviour management plans and provide pupils with ongoing support, such as counselling. Leaders’ actions are reducing the number of sanctions that they have to impose and pupils’ behaviour is improving.
• Leaders routinely follow up pupils’ absence and communicate closely with parents to emphasise the importance of regular attendance. As a result, overall attendance is improving. However, despite leaders’ efforts, some parents do not ensure that their children attend school regularly. Consequently, several pupils, including pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities and pupils who speak English as an additional language, are frequently absent.
• The majority of pupils are keen to learn, which means that usually they listen carefully, even when learning does not challenge them. Some activities inspire pupils to become fully involved in their learning. For example, during the inspection, Year 6 pupils enthusiastically popped balloons to retrieve mathematical problems.
• Pupils understand the school’s ‘pride’ values, which encourage them, for example, to show positivity and respect and work with determination. Pupils are motivated to collect paw prints to win ‘Willow’, the lion mascot. Pupils enjoy receiving medals for positive behaviour.
• Pupils come to school happily and purposefully and most pupils have a good understanding of expected behaviour. As a result, the majority of pupils work cooperatively during lessons and enjoy spending breaktime and lunchtime playing and chatting to their friends.

Outcomes for pupils Inadequate

• In recent years, teaching has not been good enough to ensure that pupils make effective progress. Consequently, outcomes have declined significantly. Far too few pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities, achieve the expected standards at the end of each key stage. Very few pupils, including the most able pupils, achieve higher standards.
• Leaders have not taken sufficient action to improve teaching and reverse falling standards. At the end of last year, between half and two thirds of pupils were working below the standards expected for their age. A large proportion of current pupils, including middle-attaining pupils, disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities, continue to make weak progress.
• The teaching of phonics is not consistently strong and past improvements have not been sustained. This means that pupils do not develop the skills needed to become confident, fluent readers.
• Pupils’ books do not demonstrate that leaders’ actions are having a strong impact in raising standards of teaching. The teaching of writing and mathematics is inconsistent because teaching is not sufficiently well matched to pupils’ age or stage of learning. Often, poorly planned sequences of teaching inhibit pupils from practising, developing and embedding their skills. For example, pupils identify prefixes and suffixes in words but do not use these words in their writing.
• The curriculum is too restricted and does not enable pupils to develop secure knowledge, skills and understanding in a wide range of subjects. There are limited opportunities for pupils to practise reading, writing and mathematics in other subjects. This hampers pupils’ chances of embedding these skills.
• Recent improvements in the teaching of reading are giving pupils the confidence to talk about their books and develop their comprehension skills. In mathematics, pupils are learning to apply their reasoning skills to solve problems. However, these developments are in the early stages and it remains to be seen if they can be maintained.
• Leaders’ actions have concentrated on supporting older pupils in the school and this is having a more positive impact on their progress. However, this is at the expense of younger pupils’ progress. They are still not taught effectively and are not achieving sufficiently well.

Early years provision

• Over the course of several years, early years teaching has failed to ensure that children, including disadvantaged children, make strong progress. As a result, too few

Inadequate

children achieve expected or higher standards. This pattern is set to be repeated this year. This means that children are not suitably prepared to make the transition into Year 1.

• Early years leadership is not established. The early years leader holds the title without the appropriate support to develop the role. The monitoring and evaluation of early years teaching is restricted and fails to help leaders pinpoint precisely what is needed to improve.
• Assessment lacks rigour. Teachers do not establish what children know and can do. This limits how well teachers plan learning that meets children’s needs. When teachers provide work that does not sufficiently challenge children, they become distracted and fidget noisily.
• Adults in the early years are not deployed well and do not model learning effectively. They do not elicit what children understand. As a result, adults are limited in their ability to improve children’s learning.
• The early years learning environment is uninspiring. The resources that teachers provide for children do not stimulate their curiosity or encourage them to explore. Consequently, children’s concentration is not sustained. Children sometimes flit from one activity to another, which inhibits them from practising and securing a range of skills across many areas of learning.
• There are some improvements to teaching this year, which are capturing children’s enthusiasm. For example, children watched with glee when ‘Freddy the frog’ was produced to help them practise their phonics. However, improvements have been implemented too slowly and it is too soon to establish whether they will promote strong progress.
• Adults provide a welcoming, safe and caring environment for children. Additional help is provided for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities so that they can be included in mainstream education. Adults in the early years communicate well with parents and build supportive partnerships with them.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 115602 Gloucestershire 10042686 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 Maintained 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 230 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher This position is currently vacant William Greenwood Telephone number 01452 526442 Website Email address www.tuffleyprimary.co.uk head@tuffley.gloucs.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 23–24 September 2014

Information about this school

• Tuffley Primary School is an average-sized primary school. There is a communication and interaction centre that provides specialist teaching for 20 pupils who have communication difficulties or autistic spectrum disorder.
• Most pupils are White British. There are very few pupils whose first language is not/believed not to be English.
• Approximately half of the pupils are known to be eligible for pupil premium funding, which is considerably higher than the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who receive support for special educational needs or have an education, health and care plan is far higher than that of pupils nationally.
• The school runs a before- and after-school club.
• Sunshine Corner Under 5’s, which shares the school site, is subject to a separate Ofsted inspection.
• In 2017, the school was deemed to be coasting.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors held several discussions with the headteacher, senior leaders and other staff. A meeting was held with members of the governing body and the lead inspector met with the local authority adviser.
• Inspectors observed learning across the school. Some lessons were observed jointly with the headteacher or deputy headteacher. An inspector observed teaching assistants listening to readers.
• Inspectors looked at pupils’ books in several classes and subjects. They carried out a joint work scrutiny with the headteacher and deputy headteacher.
• During the inspection, inspectors spoke formally and informally with groups of pupils about their views of the school.
• Inspectors considered a range of documents, including the school’s evaluation of its work, school development plans, attendance records and safeguarding documentation.
• The inspection team met with several parents at the beginning and end of the school day in order to gauge their views of the school. Inspectors considered 29 responses to the online survey, Parent View, and 11 additional free-text comments. Inspectors spoke with staff and reviewed 18 responses to Ofsted’s online staff questionnaire.

Inspection team

Catherine Beeks, lead inspector Faye Heming

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector