Green Meadow Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching so that it is consistently good by ensuring that teachers:
  • adapt their planning to support the learning of pupils from their different starting points and set tasks that are appropriately matched to pupils’ needs
  • have sufficiently high expectations of the most able pupils, and provide appropriately challenging and demanding activities
  • provide pupils with opportunities to apply their spelling, grammar and punctuation skills in longer, independent pieces of work based on real situations
  • give pupils more opportunities to use their mathematical skills and knowledge in reasoning and problem-solving activities
  • insist upon high standards of presentation in pupils’ work, especially in key stage 2.
• Improve the impact of leadership and management by:
  • ensuring that school improvement planning is sharply focused on the most important priorities for the school to bring about the necessary improvements in outcomes for pupils
  • ensuring that improvement plans have clearly defined success criteria, timescales for actions and systems for monitoring and evaluation
  • ensuring that teachers’ performance management targets are effective in bringing about specific improvements in learning for pupils
  • improving provision for disadvantaged pupils by accurately identifying their barriers to learning and implementing actions that address pupils’ specific needs. An external review of the use of the pupil premium funding 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

• Leaders have not focused precisely on the most pressing and important priorities for the school. The school improvement plan does not identify sharply what actions need to be put in place to address the weak progress that pupils make in writing, or the need to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. The plan is too wide ranging, lacks tightly defined and quantifiable success criteria, and does not state when actions will take place. There is no clear indication of how, or by whom, actions taken will be monitored and evaluated to measure their impact and effectiveness. This limits leaders’ ability to make rapid progress in bringing about the necessary improvements.
• Senior leaders are realistic about the decline in outcomes that have occurred over the past two years. They recognise that teaching has not been consistently good enough so that pupils have not been making sufficient progress from their starting points. While they have taken action to address the least effective teaching, as yet they have not ensured that all teaching is consistently good.
• Leaders have not made sure that the pupil premium funding is used effectively to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils in school. They have not accurately identified the specific barriers for learning for all the disadvantaged pupils. As a result, they have not matched additional support and interventions accurately to the individual needs of pupils. They have used the funding to address the emotional and social needs of some of the disadvantaged pupils and have ensured that disadvantaged pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported. However, a large number of disadvantaged pupils, including the most able, have not been provided with appropriate and well-matched support and challenge, and this has hampered their progress.
• Leaders use performance management and career stage expectations to hold teachers to account for the progress of their pupils. However, as the targets for teachers are derived from the school improvement plan, they are not closely enough aligned to the actions that are required to improve individual teachers’ effectiveness or to have sufficient impact on improving outcomes for pupils.
• The headteacher has ensured that there is a strong sense of community in the school. Pupils’ well-being and safety are at the heart of the work that she does. Pupils are encouraged to show respect and consideration for others, and are expected to behave well. Where behaviour has not been of a sufficiently high standard, leaders have been quick to address the issues. As a result, the school is a harmonious and calm place. Leaders have also ensured that the learning environment is stimulating and well resourced. The outdoor play equipment on the playgrounds and school fields are of an exceptionally high standard and pupils greatly value these facilities.
• Leaders have recognised the value of working with other schools and using external consultants to support them in their work to improve the school. These links are being used to allow teachers to observe good practice and implement appropriate strategies in their own teaching. Leaders are clear that this must continue in order to accelerate the improvements required to ensure that all pupils receive high-quality teaching. Newly qualified teachers receive support and advice from colleagues which is helping them to develop their skills.
• Leadership of provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is effective. Leaders make sure that the additional funding is used well to support individual pupils, several of who have complex needs. Additional support from trained teaching assistants is used well to help these pupils access their learning. Good use is made of outside specialists, including educational psychologists and speech and language therapists.
• Leaders have focused on improving assessment processes in school. They now have access to a good range of assessment information and are using this more to track progress and attainment. This is heightening their awareness of groups of pupils who are not making sufficient progress or are not attaining highly enough.
• The curriculum is broad and balanced and is well planned to engage pupils’ interest and enthusiasm. Topics, such as ‘Space, the final frontier’ and ‘The world around me’, are enhanced and supported by trips and visits, including those to the Sea Life Centre and the National Space Centre. There is a strong focus on learning outside the classroom. Teachers provide pupils with good opportunities to develop an awareness and appreciation of the environment, including through activities based in the school’s recently refurbished sensory garden.
• A wide range of extra-curricular activities, including a choir and a dance club, support pupils’ development and allow them to learn new skills and extend their abilities.
• Leaders promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Pupils are taught about other cultures through their topics and learn about democracy through involvement in the school council. The school’s values emphasise the need for tolerance and understanding, and support pupils in their development as citizens in modern Britain. Leaders ensure that pupils develop respect for other religions and beliefs, including through visits from leaders from a range of different faiths.
• The primary physical education (PE) and sport premium is used to widen the range of sporting activities available to pupils, including through rugby, multi-skills and cricket clubs. Sports coaches provide daily games sessions to increase pupils’ participation in physical and sporting activities. Opportunities for pupils to take part in competitive sports have been extended through the partnership with a local secondary school.

Governance of the school

• Governors provide high levels of challenge and support for school leaders. They use the range of information available to them, including comparisons with other schools nationally, to ask pertinent and appropriate questions of the headteacher and other leaders. They know that pupils at the school are not making sufficient progress and are rightly concerned about the decline in outcomes, especially during the previous academic year. Governors are ambitious for the pupils at the school and are making good use of their wide range of expertise to be a powerful force in driving improvement.
• Governors also recognise the strengths of the school and are keen to ensure that pupils continue to thrive emotionally and socially. They make frequent visits to school and take opportunities to talk to pupils to gauge their views about their learning. They have a clear understanding of the changing context of the school.
• Governors fulfil their statutory requirements. They oversee the use of the resources available to the school diligently and monitor the impact of spending on pupils’ outcomes. Governors know that the pupil premium funding is not yet having sufficient impact on the progress and attainment of all disadvantaged pupils.
• Governors make appropriate checks on the school’s safeguarding arrangements. The chair of governors uses her expertise effectively to review procedures, ensuring that pupils are safe and well cared for.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders have ensured that all staff are well trained and aware of their collective and individual responsibilities in protecting pupils from harm. Training is regular and up to date. Leaders have provided training for staff in the ‘Prevent’ duty and have made sure that they understand the threat from extremism and radicalisation in all its forms.
• Leaders make sure that policies and procedures are up to date and that all staff read and understand them. Leaders review practice regularly and make appropriate changes if required. Regular fire evacuation practices are carried out and visitors are made aware of the school’s safeguarding and evacuation arrangements when they arrive at the school.
• Recruitment checks and the vetting of staff employed by the school are thorough and carried out diligently. The headteacher and other staff ‘go the extra mile’ in ensuring that the protection of all pupils from harm is at the heart of the school’s work.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching is too variable across key stage 1 and 2. As a result, pupils do not make consistently good progress as they move through the school.
• Teaching in too many classes is not well matched to the different needs and abilities of the pupils. As a result, teaching often does not deepen pupils’ understanding or provide sufficient challenge, especially for the most able pupils, including those who are disadvantaged.
• Teachers too often set tasks that are not accurately based on a precise understanding of pupils’ different starting points. Commonly, all pupils in classes undertake the same task, regardless of whether it is too easy or too hard. For example, scrutiny of pupils’ work showed that higher-ability pupils in a key stage 2 lesson had undertaken significant amounts of mathematical work that they could already do. This did not allow them to make the progress of which they were capable.
• Teachers ensure that pupils develop a good understanding of spelling, punctuation and grammar. However, teachers do not provide pupils with enough opportunities to apply these skills in longer pieces of independent writing. As a result, pupils’ writing is not reflective of their true ability. It is often superficial and over-focused on the skills rather than the content.
• Teachers make sure that pupils are secure in computational skills, such as addition and multiplication. However, opportunities for pupils to apply these skills in problem solving using reasoning are not yet well embedded across all classes. This means that pupils are not confident in applying their mathematical knowledge to problems that require them to think deeply and investigate different approaches to finding a solution.
• Teachers do not insist upon sufficiently high standards of work in many of the key stage 2 classes. This results in work that is often untidy and poorly presented.
• There is a whole-school, systematic approach to the teaching of phonics, and this helps pupils to make better progress in reading than in writing and mathematics. Pupils are encouraged to read for pleasure and consequently develop a love of reading. Teachers ensure that books are appropriately matched to pupils’ abilities.
• Teaching assistants are used effectively to provide support for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. They ask relevant questions and provide guidance to the pupils on how they can undertake the task they are set.
• Where teaching is more effective, pupils are engaged, keen to ask questions and make more rapid progress. For example, in a key stage 2 science lesson, pupils discussed the properties of different soils and made predictions about which were the most permeable. Questions required the pupils to explain their thinking. The high expectations from staff of what should and could be achieved by pupils within the lesson were explicit and helped them to make good progress.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Leaders and staff place a high emphasis on ensuring that pupils’ welfare and well-being is central to the work that they do. As a result, leaders have ensured that there is a nurturing environment where pupils feel safe and secure. Pupils are confident, friendly and caring individuals who show consideration for others. Relationships between adults and pupils are positive and supportive. Lunchtime staff provide good pastoral care for pupils and take time to talk to and listen to the pupils.
• Pupils welcome the opportunities to take on responsibilities, including those of prefects, eco councillors and class representatives on the school council. Pupils are also given opportunities to contribute their views on the future development of the school.
• Pupils’ physical health and emotional well-being is supported well. They make good use of the wide range of equipment available to them at lunchtime and breaktimes, including the high-quality ‘trim-trail’ and fixed climbing apparatus. This allows pupils to be physically active and to develop their own skills in assessing and managing risks.
• Pupils have a good understanding of how to keep safe when using the internet. They understand the need not to give out personal information when online. Pupils also learn about keeping safe in the community, including road and fire safety.
• Pupils say that there is little bullying and that they know that if it were to occur then adults would act swiftly and decisively.
• The majority of parents who responded to the online survey, Parent View, and all the parents spoken to during the inspection said that they felt their children were safe and well cared for in school. Parents valued the support that the school provided for their children and this was reflected in a parental comment, saying that ‘They’re happy, so we’re happy.’
• At times, pupils, especially in key stage 2, do not take sufficient care with the presentation of their work.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils have a clear understanding of the expectations of how everyone should behave in school. They know that good behaviour is acknowledged and rewarded but that there are also sanctions if they do not behave appropriately. As a result, pupils behave well, both during lessons, and at lunchtimes and breaktimes. During the inspection, all of the key stage 2 pupils who took part in the competitive sports afternoon enjoyed themselves and behaved responsibly and maturely.
• Pupils are polite, well-mannered and courteous. They say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and hold doors open for each other and for visitors.
• Attendance is above the national average. There are good systems to encourage and celebrate high attendance and also to act swiftly if attendance rates for any pupils drop. Leaders are aware that the attendance of some disadvantaged pupils has been below that of pupils nationally, and have reacted appropriately to address this aspect.
• Occasionally, when teaching is less effective, some pupils lose attention and become disengaged from their learning.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Outcomes require improvement. Pupils do not make consistently good progress from their starting points across key stages 1 and 2, particularly in writing and mathematics. Too few pupils reach the higher levels in writing by the time they leave the school.
• In 2016, the proportion of Year 6 pupils who made expected progress in writing was well below the national average. Pupils of average and high abilities made the least progress. School assessment information and evidence gathered during the inspection, including scrutiny of pupils’ work in books, show that pupils currently in school are making less progress in writing than in other subjects. The proportion of pupils working at the expected levels for their age is also lower in writing than in mathematics and reading.
• The proportion of Year 2 pupils in 2016 who attained the expected standard was below the national average in reading, writing and mathematics. Provisional assessment information for 2017 indicates that there has been an improvement this year and that attainment for the majority of pupils in Year 2 will be at or above the expected level for their age. However, too few pupils are working at greater depth in writing.
• Provisional assessment information for current Year 6 pupils indicates that attainment is not high enough in reading, writing or mathematics. The proportion working at the higher level in writing indicates that the most able pupils have not made enough progress in this subject.
• Disadvantaged pupils’ attainment was below that of other pupils nationally at both key stage 1 and key stage 2 in 2016. There have been some improvements in the rates of progress for disadvantaged pupils currently in school, and gaps with other pupils nationally are diminishing. However, this is not consistent across all year groups and in all subjects.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are making better progress in school as the result of interventions and support that are well matched to their individual needs. Progress for these pupils is particularly strong in Year 1 and Year 4. The majority of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities have achieved their personal targets this year.
• Attainment in the Year 1 phonics screening check was well above the national average in 2016. There has been a slight fall in the proportion attaining the expected standard this year but attainment is still high. Disadvantaged pupils’ attainment is above that of other pupils this year, and this shows a good improvement. All the Year 2 pupils who undertook the phonics screening check met the expected standard this year. This result indicates the impact that the effective teaching of phonics is having on pupils’ reading outcomes.

Early years provision Good

• The majority of children enter Reception with skills and knowledge that are broadly typical for their age. However, children’s communication and language skills on entry are considerably lower than in other areas of learning. Good use is made of external agencies and support, including speech therapists, to help children make rapid progress in this aspect of their development.
• As the result of effective teaching that is well matched to children’s interests and abilities, and a strong focus on developing speaking and listening skills, children make good progress. By the time they leave the Reception classes, the majority are well prepared for their move to Year 1.
• Teachers and other adults use questioning well to encourage children to talk about what they are learning and increasingly to give answers in extended sentences. For example, during the inspection, a group of children were engrossed in tasks that were well planned to develop their understanding of living things. They discussed in depth the differences between various plants and decided what they would need to do to ensure that seeds that they were planting would grow successfully. The teacher paid specific attention to children’s language development, including ensuring accuracy of pronunciation of words such as ‘water’. As a result, children’s interest was stimulated and they made good progress in developing a wider understanding of the world around them.
• The teaching of early reading is good. Regular phonics sessions help children to develop skills in building words, and they then apply their knowledge in spelling words in their writing with increasing accuracy.
• Progress across all areas of learning is good. This is because staff in the early years provision plan relevant and exciting activities that allow children to undertake investigative learning independently. Staff also are skilled in knowing when to intervene if children are not applying themselves appropriately in a task.
• Children settle quickly into the routines in the classrooms and develop good social skills. They willingly share and take turns and their behaviour is good.
• Links with parents are strong. Parents are involved in the initial assessments and are seen as valued partners in their children’s education. Parents of Reception children who spoke with inspectors commented positively about communication with staff in the early years provision and appreciated the ‘open door’ policy.
• Teachers carry out baseline assessments effectively and use this information well to match learning to individual children’s needs.
• Staff in the early years, as in the rest of the school, ensure that children are safe and well protected. All statutory welfare and safeguarding requirements are met.
• The early years leaders have an accurate understanding of the priorities for how teaching and learning for children in the Reception classes can improve further. They recognise that disadvantaged children do not consistently achieve as well as others. The leader is aware of the need to identify the barriers to learning more accurately and ensure that the additional funding is used more effectively so that disadvantaged children’s progress can be improved.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 141610 Birmingham 10039232 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 Academy converter 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 420 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Judith Dickens Helen Setchell 01214 754505 www.greenmeadowprimaryschool.com enquiry@greenmeadow.bham.sch.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.
• Green Meadow Primary School is larger than the average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is above average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is broadly in line with the national average.
• The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is broadly in line with the national average.
• The school opened as a stand-alone academy on 1 January 2015. When its predecessor school was last inspected by Ofsted, in September 2006, it was judged to be outstanding.
• The headteacher took up her post in 2012. Eight teaching staff have left the school during the past year and a similar number of new staff have joined the school.

Information about this inspection

• The inspectors observed pupils learning in 23 lessons or parts of lessons. A number of these observations were undertaken jointly with the headteacher.
• The inspectors looked at work in pupils’ books and listened to pupils read. They met with a group of pupils, including members of the school council. The inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour at lunchtimes and breaktimes, as well as in lessons.
• The inspectors looked at a range of documentation, including the school’s checks and records relating to safeguarding, child protection and attendance, records of how teaching is managed, and the school improvement plans.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, an assistant headteacher, the early years leader and subject leaders. The lead inspector met with five members of the governing body, including the chair.
• The inspectors took account of the 35 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. They also talked to parents at the start of the school day.

Inspection team

Adam Hewett, lead inspector Marie Conway Kate Hanson Rebecca Nash Collette Higgins Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector