The Park Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Continue to improve outcomes for pupils, particularly in reading, writing and science by:
  • firmly embedding recent improvements made to the quality of teaching in reading and writing
  • ensuring that teachers continue to be supported to make accurate assessments of pupils’ work in reading, writing and in science.
• Improve the quality of teaching and learning for the most able pupils across a range of subjects so that these pupils have the challenge they need in order to reach the higher standards of which they are capable, particularly in writing.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Leaders, including governors, are highly ambitious for pupils. They are resolute in their determination to support the very highest aspirations for pupils. The executive headteacher, head of school and deputy headteachers work cohesively and have developed an enthusiastic leadership team that share their ambition and drive to make the school as good as it can be.
• Senior leaders ensure that future leaders are nurtured and supported. Key areas of responsibility, such as the leadership of English and mathematics, are shared within teams. As a result, many teachers develop their leadership skills, which helps to secure consistency and good-quality leaders for the school into the future.
• Leaders are honest in their evaluation of the schools’ strengths and areas to improve, and this has led to urgent, rapid and effective action this year to improve specific aspects of teaching, learning and assessment following the disappointing assessments, particularly in writing, at the end of 2016 in key stages 1 and 2.
• Leaders are not afraid to set very high standards and staff are held to account for the progress of their pupils. Leaders also provide respectful, supportive feedback to staff on a day-to-day basis. Contributions and achievements are noticed and celebrated. This support is valued by staff and helps to keep morale high. Newly qualified teachers who come here to work are highly complimentary about the support they receive.
• A broad curriculum engages pupils’ interests and often takes learning outside, to the immediate school environment as well as into the local community. Learning outdoors is very much a priority, whether it is caring for chickens or looking after the vegetables growing in the gardens.
• Pupils are prepared well for the next steps in their education. There is a strong sense of values such as respect and responsibility threaded through the curriculum. Pupils learn about a range of cultures and countries. Pupils are respectful of staff and of one another.
• Pupils’ learning extends further as they are encouraged to take up individual interests and join the wealth of extra clubs that are available after school. There is a rich variety on offer such as cooking, photography, library, journalism, art and science alongside sports such as table tennis, rugby and cricket.
• Due to movement within the local community, a number of pupils leave and join the school across the year groups and across the school year. Leaders ensure that as pupils arrive at the school good support is given to them and that their progress and well-being are checked for some time as they settle into school.
• Additional funding, such as the physical education (PE) and sport premium is used very effectively. It helps to provide a very wide range of sporting experiences in and beyond school. Pupils enjoyed a recent awards ceremony, which celebrated pupils’ contributions and achievements in sports. Less active pupils are specifically encouraged to take part in clubs and leaders carefully check that this is having a positive impact on pupils’ physical health and well-being.
• The leadership of special educational needs and/or disabilities is a strength of the school. There is very careful and accurate identification of special educational needs. Strong partnership work with a range of support agencies and detailed checking of progress contributes to specific and effective adjustments being made within school. This ensures that pupils can be fully included in learning alongside their peers. Additional funding is targeted precisely to meet identified needs within school. For example, speech and language support for pupils across the school is highly valued by parents, who say that pupils’ confidence to contribute in school is enhanced by this extra help.
• Pupil premium funding is also used effectively. Early interventions such as daily extra reading from specially trained assistants help pupils to catch up quickly with their peers. There is also a range of teaching strategies used to support disadvantaged pupils. For example, pupils are introduced to new ideas and words before they meet them in their learning in class. Teachers say that this pre-teaching helps pupils to be ready for learning and contributes to the good progress they make. Teachers ensure that disadvantaged pupils have high-quality feedback, and should any misconceptions occur, there is rapid reaction with extra teaching given, often on the same day, to ensure that any misunderstanding is sorted out.
• Leaders look at the well-being of disadvantaged pupils alongside the progress they make in their learning. For example, teachers check how well pupils contribute to school through attending sports clubs or taking on responsibilities. Much effective work is done to ensure that disadvantaged pupils have the very best chance to become successful learners and to grow in confidence through their achievements as they move through the school and on to the next.

Governance of the school

• Governors are forward thinking and share the drive and ambition to ensure that pupils not only achieve well but also become confident learners, well prepared for their future lives. They ask appropriate questions of leaders to ensure that there is challenge alongside support.
• Following the low assessment outcomes in 2016, governors have pursued detailed information from leaders about the improvements made to teaching, learning and assessment and the impact this has had on pupils’ progress this year.
• Governors also check that additional funding that comes to the school is used effectively. They are pleased with the impact that the early reading additional teaching has had on the progress that disadvantaged pupils make. They are careful to check and challenge leaders about the progress of other groups across the school.
• Governors are kept up to date with safeguarding training and the governor who leads on safeguarding comes into school often and makes checks, such as assessing the procedures for recruiting staff.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• There is a strong culture of safeguarding and pupils say that they feel safe and secure. Pupils know who they can talk to if they have any concerns. A typical comment was, ‘I enjoy coming to this school. The adults care about me.’
• The team of safeguarding leads ensure that any concerns about a pupils’ safety or care are quickly responded to. They have recently introduced a more efficient system for the recording of concerns and for communicating any actions taken.
• Staff are kept well informed and up to date about a range of safeguarding issues including how to ensure pupils know how to be safe online and how to ensure they are safe from exploitation or radicalisation.
• The overwhelming majority of parents say that their children feel safe at school and that the school helps them with information about how they can help their child stay safe.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers know their pupils’ learning needs very well and they plan work that helps to build on what pupils know, understand and can do. Lessons are interesting, and as a result pupils show a keen interest and want to complete tasks to move on to the next.
• Due to the ongoing professional development that they receive, teachers have sound knowledge of the subjects that they teach. As a result, teachers’ questioning during lessons helps to develop pupils’ thinking. Learning environments are rich with words, symbols and examples of work that pupils use to help them with their work. For example, pupils often go to look at the clear examples of mathematical problems on the walls so that they can see how to complete particular methods.
• Teachers plan learning opportunities outside as well as inside, and pupils say this helps them to enjoy their learning. Performing poems outside, using map skills, and looking for shapes to inspire drawing are all typical types of activities that take place each day.
• Subject leaders have supported staff to improve the teaching of mathematics through more use of problem-solving and reasoning activities. Many examples of this are seen in lessons and in pupils’ work. Following an analysis of pupils’ outcomes in 2016, subject leaders have also led improvements to the quality of teaching for reading and writing. Teachers ensure that pupils are able to use a range of writing skills to create longer pieces of writing. Pupils write at length in a range of subjects. Sometimes, although they achieve well, the most able pupils are not challenged sufficiently to develop their writing skills even further.
• In reading, there has been an emphasis across the school on widening pupils’ vocabulary. Extra teaching sessions have been introduced to enable pupils to read books together in class and explore the meaning of words, phrases and ideas as well as the words themselves. The teaching of reading is good. Pupils enjoy their reading and read widely and with enthusiasm.
• Due to a constant review of what works, the quality of teaching is consistently good across a range of subjects and across the school. Leaders frequently check the quality of teaching and give feedback to teachers on what works well and what needs improvement. Any weaknesses are quickly identified and support provided.
• There has been a focus on improving teachers’ accuracy when assessing pupils’ work within the new national assessment system. Leaders have ensured that teachers have had support and guidance, including working alongside teachers in other schools as well as sharing their practice and looking at pupils’ books within school. As a result, pupils’ books show that assessments of pupils’ work are now consistently accurate across subjects and across year groups. Leaders are aware that this needs to remain a focus so that accurate assessment is secure over time.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding. Pupils are proud of their school. They enjoy and appreciate their learning experiences. Leaders ensure that pupils feel valued and trusted.
• There is an active encouragement for pupils to make contributions towards the running of the school. For example, a variety of pupil leadership teams hold responsibilities for areas such as the library or the environment. There is also an ‘entrepreneur’ leadership team. Pupils find ways of making profit from projects in order to support charities.
• Pupils take a real pride in their work and are confident and self-assured young learners due to the encouragement and support that staff provide. Pupils’ emotional well-being has high priority throughout the school. They are able to listen to different views respectfully and are polite towards visitors.
• Pupils are taught, and they understand, the skills and attitudes needed in order to be successful learners. For example, they can describe the importance of resilience, relating this to a tortoise never giving up.
• Pupils are given a range of useful information that helps them to be healthy and safe. Pupils can describe how to keep safe within their environment, and while online, and how to spot potential safety issues while using mobile phones.
• Pupils can describe forms of bullying and have a strong sense of right and wrong. Leaders robustly follow up the small number of bullying cases, which ensures that pupils continue to feel safe and secure at school.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. The high expectations of behaviour ripple throughout the school. There is a real clarity provided by leaders and supported by staff about the consequences of any weaker attitudes. Pupils understand these boundaries and this helps them to manage their behaviour successfully.
• Pupils move around the large school site sensibly and respectfully. Through the wide range of sports, outdoor learning and play activities provided at breaktimes, pupils develop a strong sense of how to manage risks, and how to share and to support one another.
• Behaviour during lesson times is good. Occasionally, pupils lose interest in their learning but these occasions are rare and do not result in poor behaviour.
• Pupils enjoy school and want to attend well. Leaders use a range of strategies to encourage good attendance; for example there is a large notice in the entrance showing the daily school attendance, celebrating successes. Overall attendance is consistently close to or better than the national average.
• Some holidays taken during term time mean that some pupils’ attendance is weaker. There are a small number of families who need extra help with attendance due to particularly complex challenges that they face. A family welfare officer helps to ensure that these families receive the support they need and there are a number of cases where attendance is improving as a result.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Children arrive at school often with skills much lower than expected for their age. During their first year, many children catch up due to the good teaching they receive and most are well prepared for learning in Year 1.
• Outcomes for phonics in Years 1 and 2 are consistently above national averages due to the good-quality, highly structured system in place. In 2016, however, the assessments made in reading, writing and mathematics in key stage 1 were considerably lower than the national averages particularly in reading, writing and science. Similarly, in key stage 2, although progress and outcomes in mathematics were at or above the national average, reading and particularly writing outcomes were far too low.
• Leaders, governors and staff across the school have carefully evaluated these disappointing outcomes and much work has taken place over recent months to ensure that pupils across the school not only make at least good progress from their starting points but also achieve high standards.
• An in-depth scrutiny of pupils’ books across the school demonstrates that writing in pupils’ books is now consistently of high quality and is at least at the expected standards. Extra support provided for disadvantaged pupils, through the use of pupil premium funding, helps pupils to catch up.
• Pupils are writing more frequently at length, spelling is generally good and the presentation of their writing is also good. Some of the most able pupils, including those who are also disadvantaged, could in fact achieve even more.
• The use of pupil premium funding to provide the extra reading that children receive in Reception and into Year 1 has led to pupils, particularly disadvantaged pupils, rapidly catching up with reading skills. Work throughout the school to improve pupils’ comprehension skills has also shown an improvement in the progress pupils make in reading.
• Teachers’ improved understanding of the new national assessment system means that the school’s data is now far more accurate, particularly for writing and science. As a result, leaders are able to show that progress across the school is now consistently at least good for all groups of pupils. Work in pupils’ books backs this up. Work is of high quality.

Early years provision Good

• The early years leader, as with the other leaders in the school, is ambitious for the children under her care and has carefully adapted the teaching and learning across the classes to ensure that children achieve well. The quality of teaching and learning is securely and consistently good.
• When children start in the Reception Year they often have skills that are much lower than expected for their age, particularly speaking and social skills. However, by the time they leave the Reception classes, the proportion of children with skills that are expected for their age is higher than the national average. This has been achieved over the last three years. The rapid progress that children make means that they are well equipped for learning in Year 1.
• Classrooms are calm and highly organised. Children are very clear about the routines and expectations of how things are done because adults make these very clear to them. During phonics sessions, for example, children move to their groups around the classrooms with no fuss or time wasted; they quickly settle to listening and learning. Within minutes of them moving to their places, you can hear a pin drop.
• There is a drive from leaders to ensure that children catch up very quickly if they need to in order to prepare them well for their learning across the school. Additional funding has been used to provide extra teaching for reading in the form of highly trained reading assistants.
• Children receive intensive reading teaching and their reading skills are carefully checked to ensure that they move rapidly forward and become confident readers. Children thrive under this care and attention. One child’s comment was typical when she said, ‘I just love my reading!’
• As a result, children, including disadvantaged children and those who speak English as an additional language, make rapid progress over their first year. To ensure that any remaining differences in achievement are diminished, the extra reading support continues into Year 1.
• Leaders value partnerships with a wide range of extra services in order to ensure that children get all the help they need both in and outside school. For example, as well as the extra reading teaching, leaders use additional funding to provide the school’s own speech and language therapist. Any issues are identified early and children have access to a personal programme of extra support to ensure that children make good progress in their speaking and listening skills.
• Parents say that staff make them feel welcome and included. They are full of praise for how much children enjoy their time at school and the progress their children make during their first year. A typical comment from a parent was, ‘I really cannot believe how well and how quickly he settled into school and how well he has done.’
• There is a noticeable determination to ensure that children achieve well and leaders are constantly evaluating what needs to improve next. They are aware, for example, that the most able children could be challenged even more so that they reach even higher standards, particularly in writing.

School details

Unique reference number 109017 Local authority South Gloucestershire Inspection number 10001048 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 596 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Pamela Casbon Executive headteacher Mark Dee Head of school Telephone number Website Email address Lizzy Meadows 01454 866536 www.parkprimaryschool.co.uk/ parkprimary.enquiries@sgmail.org.uk Date of previous inspection December 2011

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school is part of the Park Schools federation, which consists of two primary schools serving two communities.
• The executive headteacher provides support to another school.
• The school did not meet the current government floor standard in 2016.
• The school is much larger than the average primary school.
• The number of pupils eligible for free school meals is around the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is much lower than the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is well below the national average.
• The number of pupils who leave and join the school during the year is higher than the national average.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors had several meetings with the executive headteacher, the head of school and deputy headteachers, as well as with subject leaders and other senior leaders.
• Inspectors observed learning across the school at different times of the day, often with senior leaders. Lunchtimes were observed and inspectors talked to lunchtime staff.
• An in-depth scrutiny of pupils’ books from across the school was carried out over two days.
• A range of school documents was looked at including the school evaluation document, the development plan, information about pupils’ progress and a number of documents related to safeguarding, attendance, performance management and behaviour.
• Discussions were held with a number of staff including newly qualified teachers and support staff.
• Discussions were also held with pupils throughout the inspection. An inspector listened to some pupils read.
• A meeting took place with a group of governors, including the chair of governors, and a conversation was held with a local authority adviser.
• Parents’ views were considered at the start of each day and the 45 views given on the online survey, Parent View, were also considered.

Inspection team

Tonwen Empson, lead inspector Heather Barraclough Faye Heming Bradley Murray Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector