Stoke Lodge Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Increase the effectiveness of leaders by ensuring that:
  • leaders evaluate the use of additional funding more rigorously by checking that planned actions are having an impact on improving outcomes for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, particularly in mathematics and English
  • middle leaders and the leader responsible for SEND continue to develop their roles, so that they have a greater impact on improving the quality of teaching and outcomes for pupils
  • leaders take effective action to eliminate poor behaviour and reduce exclusions
  • communication with parents is more effective, so that parents feel that their concerns have been addressed appropriately.
• Strengthen the consistency and quality of teaching, learning and assessment in order to improve pupil outcomes by:
  • ensuring that teachers use what they know about what pupils can already do, to match work with greater accuracy so that pupils are sufficiently challenged, particularly in key stage 2
  • ensuring that pupils’ spelling, punctuation and grammar is accurate and contributes to improvements in the quality of writing across key stage 2
  • ensuring that the approach to the teaching of mathematics is consistent and effective across key stage 2.
• Improve the personal development, behaviour and welfare of pupils by:
  • eliminating low-level disruption in classrooms, so that pupils can concentrate more readily on their learning
  • continuing to work with parents so that attendance levels rise and fewer pupils are persistently absent, particularly disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND.
• Improve pupils’ outcomes by strengthening pupils’ progress so that they are at least in line with national figures in reading, writing and mathematics. 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

• Since her appointment, in September 2017, the headteacher has made clear her expectations of good-quality teaching. Staff are now being supported to ensure that their practice meets those high expectations. However, in too many classrooms, teaching remains not strong enough.
• Leaders’ checking of the school’s work overall has not been rigorous enough because the roles of senior and middle leaders are underdeveloped. Due to changes in staff, many leaders are new to their roles. The headteacher, supported by expertise from the Olympus Academy Trust, is now ably supporting leaders in influencing the quality of teaching and learning in their areas of responsibility. However, it is too early to see any discernible impact of this work.
• Leaders do not evaluate the impact of pupil premium with enough precision. As a result, pupils’ outcomes in writing and mathematics across the school remain variable. Consequently, by the end of Year 6, differences in outcomes exist between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils nationally.
• Leadership of SEND requires improvement. Parents of pupils with SEND are appreciative of the levels of care, guidance and support for their children. However, the support is not always effective, and large proportions of pupils do not make sufficient progress from their starting points. Furthermore, leaders’ evaluations of the impact of support provided through additional funds are limited. A recent SEND review, commissioned by leaders, aligns with inspection findings.
• A large majority of parents who responded to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, said they would not recommend the school to another parent. Approximately two thirds of these parents, and several commenting on the Parent View free-text facility, had concerns about the quality of leadership and the school’s communication. More recently, senior trust leaders have introduced a parent forum to listen and respond to parents’ concerns. Furthermore, support staff and governors from the trust are supporting and working closely with the school’s leadership team to improve the quality of their communication.
• Leaders have improved attendance. However, persistent absence for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND remains stubbornly high. Leaders recognise there is more work to do to ensure that the attendance of these pupils is at least in line with the national average.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is strong. This is because the school’s values prepare pupils well for life in modern Britain. Pupils are given a range of opportunities to learn about democracy. For example, they can be voted in as a house captain, school councillor or a bullying ambassador. Pupils take their roles seriously and recognise that they represent the voice of pupils. Displays around the school reflect pupils’ efforts and commitment.
• Leaders have ensured that pupils experience a broad and balanced curriculum. Leaders listen to pupils to ensure that their ‘curious’ curriculum inspires, motivates and engages pupils. Pupils who spoke with inspectors were unanimous in their views that the curriculum developed a wide range of knowledge, skills and understanding. For example, pupils in Year 5 were eager to share their strong knowledge of current world problems surrounding sustainability. The curriculum provides a wealth of extra-curricular activities which pupils also said help them develop a deeper understanding of their work. In Year 4, pupils were keen to recall how their visit to a Roman villa helped them understand life in the Roman era. This aligned with what inspectors found in pupils’ work books.
• Some of the concerns identified at the last inspection, for example to raise achievement in mathematics and writing, remain. This is because ongoing staff turbulence has hampered leaders’ efforts. Since September 2017, senior leaders from Olympus Academy Trust have stabilised staffing and ensured that the school has a stronger financial footing. There are now tangible signs of improvement, particularly in pupils’ outcomes by the end of Year 6 in writing and mathematics.
• The additional funding for physical education (PE) and sport is used effectively. As a result of well-thought-out actions to engage pupils in a range of extra-curricular activities, pupils experience a rich diet of opportunities, such as badminton coaching. Furthermore, teaching and support staff benefit from high-quality professional development and coaching from external sources. This ensures that pupils receive effective PE lessons.

Governance of the school

• Minutes from the local governing body meetings show that, until recently, governors have not provided leaders with sufficient levels of challenge. Governors were aware of the strengths and weaknesses in pupils’ outcomes but were too ready to accept leaders’ explanations for pupils’ underperformance. As a result, trustees from Olympus Academy Trust restructured and replaced the local governing body with a ‘standards board’, made up of experienced leaders from the trust board. There are early signs that this standards body is having a more positive impact.
• Members of the standards board are accurate in their assessment that the school has some way to go before it achieves their expectations. They are challenging leaders to bring about rapid change and use capacity from within the trust to provide support for leaders. Recently commissioned audits for SEND, mathematics and writing identified a series of areas for improvement that aligned with inspection findings. The standards board regularly uses the audits to check upon progress with planned actions.
• Over time, governors have not ensured that the school’s communication with parents is effective. As a result, large proportions of parents have been left frustrated with the school’s response to their concerns. Senior leaders and trustees are aware that improving communication with parents is a priority for improvement.

Safeguarding

• The school’s arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders provide staff with regular and up-to-date training, so they are well informed about the latest national guidance. Staff spoken to during the inspection knew what to do should a safeguarding incident arise. They were able to demonstrate a stringent understanding of radicalisation and extremism, peer-on-peer abuse, female genital mutilation and sexual exploitation.
• All pupils who spoke with inspectors agreed that they feel safe. A large proportion of staff who responded to the staff survey also agreed that pupils are safe. However, this view was not consistent with a large proportion of parents’ responses to Parent View. Approximately one third reported that their child does not feel safe in school.
• Pupils are taught, in assemblies and elsewhere in the curriculum, how to stay safe when outside school. Regular visits from local emergency services provide pupils with information that they need to stay safe. The computing curriculum reinforces for pupils how to stay safe on the internet. Pupils can articulate fluently the appropriate action to take should they have any concerns.
• Leaders work closely with other agencies to protect and care for pupils and families. However, if leaders do not feel that the response has been sufficiently swift or effective, they are quick to escalate their concerns further.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Over time, there has been a lack of consistency in the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. This has led to variable rates of progress across classes and subjects. Consequently, pupils have not made enough progress by the end of Year 6.
• Teachers do not use assessment information effectively to plan work that is matched to the ability of pupils. Work in pupils’ mathematics books in key stage 2 indicates that there are many occasions where teachers have provided all pupils, regardless of their different starting points, with the same level of challenge in their work. This has had a negative impact upon pupils’ progress from their different starting points.
• The effect of teaching assistants on pupils’ learning is variable in different classrooms. Where activities are well planned by teachers, additional adults have a greater impact on the progress pupils make.
• In most classes, pupils behave well. Where teaching is not as effective, pupils are more prone to be distracted from their learning. In lessons where pupils lack focus, teachers do not hold pupils to account for their actions. This disrupts the flow of learning.
• Where teaching is strongest, teachers are very skilled in questioning pupils to help them to learn well. Pupils use the interesting information displayed around the classroom to support their learning efficiently. Where teachers’ questioning is less effective, pupils have insufficient opportunities to think and deepen their understanding further. This inconsistency of teaching is also evident in work found in pupils’ books.
• Additional support for pupils with SEND is not effective and does not enable pupils to fulfil their potential. This is because there is a lack of strategic oversight of SEND and, too often, pupils are expected to complete work that is too easy or too challenging with little guidance from additional support.
• There are, across some classes in key stage 2, considerable gaps in pupils’ learning linked to their application of spelling, grammar and punctuation skills. Consequently, pupils’ writing skills are hampered, and pupils are not always producing written work at a standard similar to that of pupils of a similar age nationally. As a result, pupils do not make the strong progress they need to succeed in writing.
• Over time, pupils are taught well to read fluently using the skills in phonics they acquired in the early years and key stage 1. Pupils enjoy reading. The teaching of reading is improving across key stage 2. Year 6 pupils read suitably challenging texts and choose to extend their own enjoyment of books. In key stage 2, evidence from the inspection showed that pupils are making stronger progress than historically.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare requires improvement.
• Pupils said that bullying does occasionally happen. This is also the view of nearly half of the parents who responded to Parent View. However, pupils say that, over time, incidents have become less common. They say that this is as a result of the introduction of ‘bullying ambassadors’. Pupils also report that there is always an adult in school to talk to if anything is worrying them. They know what action to take if they feel that they are being bullied. Records reviewed by inspectors indicate a reduction in recorded incidents of bullying.
• Pupils are aware of the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle. Pupils who met with an inspector were able to articulate clearly how they translated the impact of their curriculum learning to their daily lives, so as to lead a healthy lifestyle.
• The school provides a well-attended breakfast club that gives pupils a settled start to the school day.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement. Most pupils conduct themselves well around the school. The classroom environments are typically calm. However, on occasion, standards of behaviour in key stage 2 are not acceptable. This view is also shared with a large proportion of parents who responded to Parent View.
• Behaviour is not positive when work has not been pitched at the appropriate level of challenge, particularly in mathematics. Some pupils switch off and this leads to instances of low-level disruption. As a result, pupils’ progress in lessons is restricted.
• Leaders have made concerted efforts to improve pupils’ behaviour and to ensure that approaches to behaviour management are consistent across the school. A number of parents who shared their views of the school with inspectors felt that systems in place in key stage 2 are not delivered consistently. Inspection evidence indicates that behaviour is better than some parents have indicated.
• Since 2016, exclusions have been above the national average, notably for pupils with SEND, including for repeat exclusions. Scrutiny of current exclusion information and behaviour records indicates that this area of the school’s work is improving. However, exclusions remain above the national average.
• Inspectors checked the quality of the school’s arrangements in detail. Inspectors identified that, in the past, leaders did not always respond successfully to issues that arose about pupils’ behaviour. Leaders now act to address issues with greater stringency, and senior officials from the trust make checks.
• Leaders and staff have successfully improved pupils’ attendance. Well-organised strategies and a sharper focus have improved attendance. Rates of attendance are now broadly in line with the national averages. However, disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND continue to have high rates of persistent absence. The school’s current assessment information demonstrates a clear link between pupils who are persistently absent and the progress pupils make.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Since the previous inspection, pupils’ outcomes in key stage 2 have remained low. Since 2016, pupils’ progress in writing and mathematics has been in the lowest 20% of schools nationally. Consequently, large proportions of pupils left key stage 2 not ready for the next stage of their education.
• The school’s own assessment information of the progress made by pupils currently in school shows that, overall, there are variations from one class to another, linked to the effectiveness of teaching in key stage 2. This is particularly evident for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND. As a result, pupils who are disadvantaged or with SEND do not make good progress from their starting points.
• The proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in phonics at the end of Year 1 is consistently in line with or above the national average.
• Outcomes for key stage 1 pupils working at the expected standard for their age in English and mathematics are broadly in line with the national averages and have been for some time. The proportion of pupils working at greater depth in English and mathematics is above the national average.
• There are noteworthy strengths in subjects other than mathematics and English. Inspection evidence found that pupils cover these subjects in depth and pupils are able to demonstrate a strong understanding. Teachers are providing highly stimulating learning which is helping pupils to learn well. Pupils make particularly good progress in geography, history, art and religious education (RE).
• Evidence gathered during the inspection indicates that there are improvements this year in both writing and mathematics. In writing, work in pupils’ books shows that pupils currently in Year 6 are making strong progress from low starting points at the end of Year 5. However, pupils’ progress has been hampered by gaps in their grammar, spelling and punctuation. In mathematics, improvements are not as strong. This is because, too often, pupils are completing work that is either too easy or too challenging.

Early years provision Good

• Most children enter the early years with a level of development that is below what is typical for their age in most areas of learning. However, because of strong leadership and effective teaching, the proportions of children, including disadvantaged children, achieving the early learning goals are consistently above the national averages. This ensures that children are ready for the next stage of their education. The early years leader has a clear strategic view of how to improve the provision further.
• Children have the opportunity to engage in a range of purposeful activities in well-designed learning areas. Children were observed being able to count and order numbers to twenty purposefully, using recycled wooden tree blocks. The free range of resources on offer enables children to experiment happily with materials. They engage in messy play, mastering gross motor skills while they work together to problem-solve and develop key personal social skills.
• Children in the early years make good progress in their knowledge of phonics. This is because teachers and teaching assistants have strong knowledge in this subject. Children use their phonics knowledge to develop the fundamental elements of early writing.
• Staff are effective in supporting children to reach their full potential. They intervene in a timely way to elicit children’s knowledge and understanding, and they use astute questioning to reshape the learning focus swiftly.
• All staff use the information they collect on children’s achievements effectively to review the activities on offer. In this way, they are meeting children’s needs well, reflecting their interests and maintaining curiosity. During the inspection, inspectors observed children’s interests being stimulated through their animal project, which led to strong writing outcomes.
• Children acquire good learning behaviours and routines quickly. They work and play well together. They are inquisitive and polite and sustain their attention well in activities. During the inspection, children were keen to share their puppet show with the inspector. They were confident and respectful towards adults and their peers as they performed their show.
• Children are safe and feel safe. Leaders ensure that the welfare and statutory requirements are met. Staff are vigilant and understand the procedures they should follow if they have a concern.
• Leaders quickly establish strong relationships with parents through visits and workshops throughout the year. Parents who spoke to inspectors are very positive about the early years provision.
• Leaders recognise that there are differences between boys’ and girls’ attainment. Nevertheless, there are positive signs that these differences are diminishing.

School details

Unique reference number 140259 Local authority South Gloucestershire Inspection number 10058309 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 converter 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 451 Appropriate authority Board of trustees Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Ed Bruford Nicola Antwis 01454 866772 www.stokelodgeschool.co.uk enquiries@stokelodgeschool.co.uk Date of previous inspection 13–14 September 2016

Information about this school

• The school is larger than the average-sized primary school.
• In September 2016, Stoke Lodge Primary School joined Olympus Academy Trust. Until September 2016, it was a member of Cosmos Academy Trust.
• The majority of pupils are of White British background.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is in line with the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals is below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is above average.
• The headteacher joined the school in September 2017.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in classes across the school. Some observations were undertaken jointly with senior leaders. Inspectors also observed pupils’ behaviour around the school and at breaktimes and lunchtimes. An inspector also visited the breakfast and after-school clubs.
• Meetings were held with the executive headteacher, headteacher and senior leaders, including middle leaders, the person responsible for safeguarding, and the leader with responsibility for pupils with SEND.
• The lead inspector held a meeting with three trustees, including the chief executive of Olympus Academy Trust.
• Inspectors spoke with pupils informally during their breaktimes and lunchtimes and in class. They also held a more formal discussion and listened to groups of pupils read.
• Inspectors examined a range of documentation provided by the school, including minutes of meetings of the governing body, the school’s self-evaluation document, the school’s improvement plan, external audit reports and documentation relating to the safeguarding of pupils.
• Inspectors examined a large sample of pupils’ books from across the school jointly with senior leaders.
• Inspectors spoke with parents as they brought their children to school in the morning. They also considered the 155 responses to the Ofsted online survey, Parent View, and the 31 responses to the staff survey. There were no responses to the pupil survey.

Inspection team

Matt Middlemore, lead inspector Emma Jelley Linda Rowley

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector