Regents Park Community Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Accelerate pupils’ progress by making sure that:
  • teachers use what they know about pupils’ knowledge and understanding to plan learning activities that meet their needs, especially for the most able and least able pupils
  • pupils understand what they have read.
• Improve leadership and management, including governance, by making sure that:
  • leaders effectively track pupils’ progress from their starting points in order for teachers and leaders to use this information to quickly identify and support pupils who are falling behind their classmates with similar abilities
  • middle leaders use the results of their checks on the effectiveness of their actions to quickly identify and successfully address areas of weakness.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The school has been through a turbulent time over the last three years. The headteacher and executive headteacher have provided just the right balance of challenge and support to ensure that pupils now make good progress.
• Regents Park has suffered from reputational damage and this has affected the morale of the school and the wider community. Under the new leadership, this is changing and staff are proud to work at this school. Importantly, the overwhelming majority of staff think that the school is improving.
• Middle leaders are committed to improving provision but their actions have yet to impact fully. Further developing this key group of staff so that they have the same level of strategic overview of others will add capacity to the school for further improvements.
• Recruitment has been challenging for leaders but they have been both relentless and innovative in growing talent from within Regents Park. This has helped ensure that the supply of new teachers is ready to fill any vacancies and the use of coaching to support new staff has helped them develop the necessary skills to become effective teachers.
• The curriculum is both broad and balanced. The range of topics is enjoyed by the pupils and there are a range of other activities and extra-curricular opportunities that support pupils’ good progress.
• All staff work hard to ensure that pupils are prepared for life in modern Britain. The school’s curriculum and the contribution this makes to pupils’ understanding of tolerance, respect and knowledge of the differences of others is working well. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural aspects of the school also support pupils’ preparation for life beyond the school. Pupils regularly reflect upon the world and whether decisions are right or wrong. For example, posters condemning slavery demonstrate pupils’ thoughtful response to this issue.
• The school physical education and sports premium is spent well. The take-up of extra-curricular sport by girls has increased significantly. Engagement in extra-curricular competition and the use of a local athletics stadium to raise expectation and ambition is further promoting physical education.
• The school uses the pupil premium effectively to diminish the difference between the outcomes for disadvantaged pupils at the school and other pupils nationally. Leaders successfully identify the barriers that disadvantaged pupils face. For example, leaders use some of the funding to provide a breakfast club. This has ensured that pupils come to school ready to learn and that their social, emotional and health needs are met. The pupils who attend this club get a great start to the day and there is evidence that these targeted pupils are making accelerated progress because of this. A home/school reading initiative in the early years has helped to considerably diminish the difference in attainment between the disadvantaged pupils and other pupils.
• Leaders at all levels have successfully raised pupils’ attainment. However, the focus on rapidly accelerating pupils’ progress is in the early stages of development. The school’s system for tracking progress does not support leaders in the checking of the progress that all pupil groups make from their starting points. As a consequence, a few pupils do not make the progress expected of them. This is particularly the case for the most able and least able pupils.
• Special educational needs funding is used effectively to provide help and intervention for the majority of pupils who require additional support. The progress of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is well tracked. As a result, the majority of this group of pupils do well. However, a few pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities do not do as well as expected when staff do not effectively review their progress towards achieving their learning targets.

Governance of the school

• Governors effectively hold the school and its leaders to account. The local partnerships with outstanding schools and other providers offer both challenge and support. This has helped the school and governors to improve. Governors know the strengths and weaknesses of the school well and talk knowledgably about examples where they have supported leaders to make difficult staffing decisions to the benefit of the school.
• Through the governors’ committee structure there is now a much greater level of scrutiny, challenge and support. The new governing body has ensured that there is a broad range of skills and attributes balancing the governorship. First-hand visits to the school allow the governors to see for themselves the work of leaders and the impact on pupils’ progress. Governors have an awareness of the school’s data, including the data dashboard. They understand the importance of raising attainment but are less secure in understanding the greater importance of the progress made by all pupils, from their different starting points.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. There is a strong culture of promoting pupils’ well-being and safety in the school. Staff are committed to supporting the pupils and their families. All staff take this responsibility seriously and they look carefully for any signs that support is needed.
• All of the checks to help keep pupils safe are carried out thoroughly; for example, the recruitment checks on staff’s suitability to work with children. The site is safe, secure and the pupils’ survey confirms this. Staff are vigilant and the training they have received means that they are aware of the risks to pupils in their care. They have recently undertaken training on a range of issues including female genital mutilation.
• Every member of staff is trained and up to date with the latest guidance on keeping children safe in education. During the inspection, a visiting theatre group performed a powerful workshop aimed at helping pupils to understand and recognise the dangers of radicalisation and extremism. This demonstrates leaders’ commitment to ensuring that the school meets the requirements of the ‘Prevent’ duty.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Leaders have successfully supported teachers so that their expectations of pupils are now high. Teachers provide pupils with well-planned lessons that excite their interest.
• Classrooms provide a good range of resources to support learning and there is a wide range of pupils’ work on display that celebrates the high expectations of the school.
• Teachers use intervention well for those who need to catch up. A mixture of senior leaders and teaching assistants deliver a range of programmes to accelerate pupils’ progress. This supports the least able in catching up.

• Phonics is taught well. As a result, pupils’ reading skills are well developed in the early years and key stage 1. Pupils needing to catch up in key stage 2 have appropriate phonics support to help them.
• Pupils apply their phonics well in reading and writing. However, a few pupils are unable to read or write complex words. Consequently, when they are reading and they encounter challenging words, some pupils do not have the skills to work out the meaning of these words. When writing, the consistency of pupils’ spelling of the commonly needed words is not always accurate.
• Relationships are strong in the school and the ethos within classrooms and other breakout spaces supports the pupils in making good progress. Low-level disruption is rare. Occasionally, pupils do not push themselves hard enough to engage as fully as they might in their learning.
• Staff are consistent in their application of the school’s policy on marking and feedback. Questioning of pupils is effective because staff take care to use precise language and pupils respond well.
• The most able pupils are usually challenged well but this is not always consistent across the school. Occasionally, the match of the work to pupils’ needs prevents them reaching a greater depth of understanding.
• The large majority of parents who responded to Parent View or free text agreed that their children are taught well. The majority of parents who responded to the questionnaire were pleased with their child’s progress. A larger survey sample from a school parent survey confirmed this.
• Pupils agree that teaching is good and one pupil represented the views of many when they said: ‘The school is better than it used to be because of the headteacher, he’s made learning more fun and enjoyable. Nothing is impossible but you have to work on it.’
• Assessments made on the progress that pupils make are accurate and they have been moderated both in school and by other partners. The tracking of these assessments does not always help teachers and leaders in knowing about the progress of all of the groups of pupils. This means that in some lessons the challenge for all pupils to work hard could be sharper because the work is not always matched to learners’ needs.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils enjoy coming to school and they are keen to learn. They work well together and listen to others’ views carefully.
• Pupils said that they feel safe and the pupil survey shows this. The curriculum supports the pupils in understanding the broad range of ways in which they need to keep themselves safe and pupil discussion confirms this.
• Pupils have a good understanding of the dangers of radicalisation and extremism. They understand how to recognise the signs and protect themselves and others. A visiting theatre group helped make this issue clear and understandable to pupils.
• Playground behaviour is good and pupils talk confidently about the role of other children as peer mediators in helping them to fix problems.
• A minority of parents who responded said bullying was not dealt with well by the school, but this was not supported by other parents, by the pupils or staff or by the inspection evidence.
• The school’s work on helping the children become effective learners has resulted in the children feeling less anxious about changes between year groups.
• The school’s curriculum for supporting the pastoral and emotional care of pupils is also making a strong contribution to this aspect.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• The recording and tracking of behaviour incidents shows a decline and behaviour over time is improving.
• There have been no exclusions or fixed-term exclusions.
• Despite the large number of pupils in the school, pupils are able to enjoy their breaktimes. Pupils speak highly of the role of peer mediators who actively encourage others to get along well.
• Pupils are courteous and polite around the school, including in the corridors and at lunchtimes.
• Attendance and punctuality is good and compares favourably with the national average. The proportion of children who are persistently absent is also low. The school’s checks on those who go missing from education are robust and the local authority has been involved in following up on pupils. This has ensured that pupils missing in education are safe.
• The pupils’ view of their behaviour in classes and around school is lower than the records and inspection evidence would suggest.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• The maladministration of previous end of key stage tests adversely affects the school’s published progress measures. The good progress evident in the school is not fully reflected in the published progress measures.
• In the most recent tests and teacher assessments there is a year-on-year improvement in the attainment of those children in the early years. Here, rapid progress has significantly diminished the difference between the disadvantaged pupils and other pupils nationally.
• The school’s result in the Year 1 phonics screening check was below the national average but because of the current good teaching, pupils are using phonics well to read and write.
• The proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard at the end of key stage 1 is in line with the national average.
• By the end of key stage 2, pupils over time have not reached high enough standards. They are currently making good progress and standards are rising.
• The most able pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, are targeted through additional support by senior leaders. Pupil progress meetings show on an individual basis the improving progress for these pupils.
• The large majority of parents who responded to Parent View or free text agreed that their children made good progress.The progress in reading of the most able and least able pupils is improving. The school’s organisation of the teaching of reading is supporting good progress because most children have adult support during guided reading sessions.
• Pupils’ workbooks show that they are frequently making rapid progress in a range of subjects. All groups of pupils are making good progress; for instance, in English pupils’ progress from simple noun phrases to using figurative language is evident.
• In subject areas beyond English and mathematics, pupils are making good progress in their knowledge and understanding of, for instance, science and history, and in their application of skills. Opportunities to write at length in other subjects supports accelerated progress in writing but there were fewer opportunities to develop and apply their mathematical skills.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are making good progress because of well-targeted additional assistance in lessons to back up the good teaching. The teacher responsible for special educational needs uses the additional funding well to accelerate progress.

Early years provision Good

• Leaders have an accurate view of the strengths which exist. Effective intervention and quality teaching have resulted in children making good progress.
• Pupils get off to a good start in Nursery from their below-typical starting points so by the time they leave Reception they are broadly in line with the national average for the proportion of children who reach and achieve a good level of development.
• The school’s use of home/school resources to support language development has supported good progress in developing children’s language acquisition.
• Relationships between children and adults are strong and this supports with turn taking, sharing and building resilience.
• The assessments made in the early years are now accurate and these are checked both in school, cross-school and across the local authority.
• Over the last two years, the difference in outcomes for disadvantaged children compared to other children nationally has rapidly diminished.
• The curriculum is being tailored to engage all pupils well and leaders have a good understanding of the cohort of children’s strengths and weaknesses. They use this knowledge to plan activities that support children’s good progress, for example by planning a high language focus and opportunities to develop balance and core-strength to support writing.
• Leaders are also using their greater knowledge of the children to target the most able to attain even more highly at the end of Reception by exceeding the good level of development.
• Leaders have ensured that all staff are well trained to ensure that children are safe. This means that the welfare requirements of the early years are met.
• Parents have the opportunity to contribute to their child’s learning journey; however, the school recognises that greater engagement would support home/school partnerships.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 103193 Birmingham 10019995 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 Community 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 622 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Paul Toomer Jo Jones (Executive Headteacher), Alan Beale (Headteacher) Telephone number 0121 464 6746 Website Email address www.rgntpark.bham.sch.uk a.beale@rgntpark.bham.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 12–13 November 2014

Information about this school

• Regents Park is above average in size for a primary school.
• The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium funding is above the national average.
• The majority of pupils are of Pakistani heritage followed by Bangladeshi then Black African.
• The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is well above average, as is the percentage who do not speak English as their first language.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is in line with the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have a statement of special educational need or an education, health and care plan is below average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ progress and attainment in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed 20 lessons or parts of lessons, of which two were jointly observed with the headteacher or executive headteacher. In addition, inspectors made a number of short visits to lessons and other activities, for example to look at pupils’ books and talk to pupils.
• Inspectors heard pupils read.
• Inspectors held meetings with the executive headteacher, headteacher, leaders, members of staff, parents and groups of pupils. The lead inspector spoke to two members of the governing body, including the chair, and a representative from the local authority.
• There were 53 responses to Parent View free text and 36 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, to enable inspectors to take account of parents’ views.
• Inspectors observed the school’s work and scrutinised a number of documents, including monitoring of teaching, governing body minutes, improvement plans and school information on pupils’ recent attainment and progress.
• Inspectors considered the current progress demonstrated in pupils’ books.
• Inspectors also considered behaviour and attendance information, policies and procedures including for special educational needs, pupil premium, physical education and sports premium funding, safeguarding and child protection.

Inspection team

Richard Kentish, lead inspector Stephen Cox Janet Satchwell Katy Kent

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector