Slade Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Continue to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils, especially the most able.
• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by ensuring that teachers:
  • raise expectations and the level of challenge for the most able, especially in writing and mathematics
  • address basic misconceptions in grammar, punctuation and spelling so pupils do not repeat mistakes
  • improve pupils’ handwriting skills through the correct use of letter formation.
• Further develop the quality of leadership and management, by:
  • continuing to provide middle leaders with opportunities to improve their understanding of pupils’ achievements in all subjects
  • checking that the provision for all disadvantaged pupils is enabling them to make rapid progress.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• Over the last three years the headteacher has developed an extremely effective leadership team who all have the same high aspirations for pupils. She has skilfully recognised senior leaders’ strengths and has brought them together to form a cohesive team to drive rapid improvements in all aspects of the school’s performance. This is not only improving academic outcomes for pupils but is also improving their future life chances in adulthood.
• The MAT has been instrumental in supporting the school’s development and has embraced the individuality of Slade primary. The trust provides high-quality professional development and guidance, but also checks that leaders implement this support to improve pupils’ outcomes. The MAT and the school’s leadership team form a very strong partnership which further supports the school’s improvement.
• The headteacher ensures that leaders at all levels have the support and guidance they need to enable them to lead their areas of responsibility with confidence. Middle leaders received support from the MAT to develop the wider curriculum. In developing the curriculum all leaders ensured that Slade pupils’ needs were considered carefully and incorporated into it. The curriculum is rich and broad and provides pupils with a wide range of high-quality learning experiences. Leaders also take every opportunity to involve parents in their children’s learning. As a result, pupils’ engagement and excitement in their learning has increased significantly.
• When planning sequences of learning, middle leaders ensure that teachers draw on pupils’ prior learning experiences to ensure that pupils’ skills and knowledge are developed over time. Leaders are involved in monitoring how well pupils are achieving in all subjects and this helps them to identify where further improvements in the curriculum can be made. However, while their understanding of pupils’ overall achievements is developing well, it is not yet sufficiently detailed to give a fully accurate picture of their achievements in all subjects.
• The headteacher’s understanding of each teacher’s individual strengths and areas for development is remarkable. She has ensured that monitoring systems take into account every aspect of a teacher’s performance. A range of leaders then provide highly individualised programmes of support to help teachers to improve their teaching further. All staff appreciate and speak very positively about the support they receive.
• The headteacher ensures that the ethos of the school is centred around teamwork and as one member of staff commented, ‘It’s OK not to have all the answers.’ Staff eagerly seek support and guidance and show a true desire to improve their own practice, so they can help improve pupils’ outcomes further. This whole school culture of striving for the very best has led to significant improvements in the quality of teaching since the last inspection.
• The leadership of special educational needs is also of a very high quality. Leaders identify the needs of pupils with SEND with great precision. Where support and training to meet these pupils’ needs is identified, it is provided swiftly, both at whole school and individual level.
• Leaders expect all teachers to plan for the needs of pupils with SEND within their class and to ask for guidance if needed to enable the pupils to be fully integrated with the learning. The school’s ethos of ‘There are no outsiders at Slade’ is fully embraced by all staff.
• Leaders work with a wide range of external agencies to ensure that the right support is in place to help pupils with complex needs. Leaders also ensure that parents are fully involved in all aspects of their children’s special educational needs provision within school. Additional funding to support pupils with SEND is used wisely and to great effect. As a result, these pupils make strong progress in all aspects of their learning.
• Leaders’ use of the pupil premium funding is highly effective, including in the early years. Support provided to disadvantaged pupils in the nurture provision is a notable strength of the school. It is highly successful at integrating pupils into school, meeting their individual learning styles precisely. The pastoral team provides support to families and has successfully encouraged them to ask for help and guidance when needed. While the funding is targeted well to meet disadvantaged pupils’ pastoral needs, there is more work to be done to ensure that more disadvantaged pupils, especially the most able, achieve highly in their academic learning.
• The strength of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development is exemplified through pupils’ views, for example: ‘In this school there are lots of different races and religions, so we learn to respect each other’ and ‘Whatever religion we are, we are a family.’ These are just two of many examples of how pupils are taught to understand how we all fit into one society. Leaders, teachers and all staff take every opportunity to promote pupils’ SMSC development. Consequently, pupils are exceptionally well prepared to be responsible citizens in modern Britain.
• Leaders use the physical education and sport premium creatively to improve pupils’ health and well-being. For example, fortnightly markets on the playground provide parents with an opportunity to buy healthy foods and promote healthy living to the whole school community. Leaders have increased pupils’ participation in competitive sports, ensuring that pupils’ resilience to losing is also developed as part of this so they remain engaged in the competition, whatever the outcome. The pupils’ sports council is involved with helping leaders to decide how best to spend the funding. For example, pupils suggested games such as ultimate Frisbee to encourage them to be more active at playtimes. All the initiatives are successfully helping pupils to lead healthier lifestyles.

Governance of the school

• All leaders, governors and trustees share the same vision for the school and strive relentlessly to ensure that pupils get the best possible education. Governors understand their delegated responsibilities, including their responsibility to safeguard pupils, and report directly to the hub governing body. The MAT’s accountability structure is clearly set out and all governors work exceptionally well together to ensure that the school’s improvement journey continues.
• Governors hold leaders to account robustly for the school’s performance and the use of the additional funding received. They check carefully that the information that leaders provide to them accurately reflects the school’s performance. Where areas for improvement are identified, they track the progress of them carefully to ensure that they are improving pupils’ outcomes.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective and are of a very high quality. Staff are highly vigilant and act swiftly if they have any concerns about a pupil’s safety or welfare. All staff have a strong understanding of the school’s safeguarding policies and procedures. Their knowledge of safeguarding is updated regularly, and leaders check that any training is understood. The whole school community has pupils’ safety as the highest priority.
• The pastoral team provides exceptional support for all pupils, especially vulnerable pupils, and goes to great lengths to ensure that pupils and families receive help and support where needed. The team, along with teachers, help pupils to understand how to keep themselves safe inside and outside school. For example, pupils are taught about gangs and how they can prevent themselves from being lured into dangerous situations. In addition to this, leaders ensure that all possible measures are taken to protect pupils from radicalisation and extremism, engaging with external agencies when needed. Pupils say that they feel safe in school and that there is always someone they can go to if they are worried about anything, however small.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers embrace all support and professional development and continually seek ways to improve their practice. They are highly reflective and adapt their teaching to meet the needs of the pupils their classes. Consequently, teaching is now consistently good, or better, across the school.
• Teachers use questioning effectively to check pupils’ understanding. This enables teachers to spot quickly when pupils need help to consolidate their learning, but also when they are ready for further challenge. Teachers use clear and precise vocabulary when modelling the learning, which helps pupils to grasp the key points quickly and move forward in their learning.
• Teachers have very strong subject knowledge, especially in mathematics. Teachers ensure that pupils are taught and provided with a range of strategies and resources to help them tackle mathematical calculations. They then give pupils the opportunity to apply these mathematical skills in problem-solving and reasoning activities. This approach to the teaching of mathematics has developed extremely well over the last three years and is enabling current pupils to make much stronger progress in mathematics.
• There are positive relationships between all staff and pupils. Teaching assistants are very skilled and provide pupils with excellent support. They work alongside teachers and are a key part of helping pupils to make progress in their learning. All adults sensitively support pupils, using encouragement such as ‘Believe in yourself’, which inspires pupils to ‘have a go’.
• Teachers provide pupils with a range of opportunities to develop their writing skills, including in subjects other than English. Teachers model carefully the key aspects of different styles of writing, so pupils have a secure understanding of how to write in that style. In addition to this, teachers also ensure that pupils’ reading skills are developed in conjunction with their writing.
• However, teachers do not address basic mistakes in grammar, punctuation and spelling well enough, which leads to pupils repeating the mistakes. Teachers also do not pay enough attention to how pupils form their letters or present their work. This does not enable pupils to make as much progress as they could in writing.
• Teachers and teaching assistants have a strong understanding of all pupils’ learning needs. They plan carefully to meet these needs, ensuring that every pupil is fully integrated into the learning, especially pupils with SEND and pupils who speak English as an additional language. However, some teachers do not challenge the most able pupils sufficiently, especially in writing and mathematics. This limits their progress and does not enable them to reach the higher standards.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Every member of staff has pupils’ welfare as their highest priority. Staff strive relentlessly to ensure that pupils have positive learning experiences, feel safe and secure and receive any support they need to help them succeed. There are very positive and warm relationships between staff and pupils, and pupils show a genuine respect towards all the adults who help them. The exceptional welfare support that pupils receive ensures that they value and engage fully in their education.
• The school puts the community at the heart of everything it does. Leaders and all staff seek every opportunity to engage parents in the life of the school and to provide them with any support or guidance they need. For example, the school provides parents with educational opportunities and actively encourages them to be part of their children’s learning. This increases pupils’ engagement in learning at home as well as at school.
• Staff and pupils also work outside the school in the local community in schemes such as clearing and planting in local parks. This inspirational work led to the school being nominated for, and achieving, a Stockland Green Community Award for its outstanding contributions and services it provides to the area. The work that pupils participate in outside school is helping them to understand the importance of helping others and being a responsible citizen.
• Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe throughout the curriculum. Leaders identify the potential risks pupils could face within their local community and ensure that they teach pupils how to keep themselves as safe as possible from dangerous situations, such as becoming involved with gangs.
• Pupils show a strong understanding of what bullying is, including cyber bullying. Pupils say that any issues are dealt with quickly by teachers and rarely happen again. Teachers also help pupils to deal with potential bullying issues themselves and pupils say: ‘We are learning that we can have words to stop bullying.’
• The breakfast clubs provide a great start to the day for many pupils. Staff provide a range of exciting activities in a welcoming and caring environment which helps pupils to settle quickly at the start of the school day.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Published information from 2014 to 2017 shows high levels of absences, and particularly persistent absence. This figure rose year on year to 2017. From 2015, leaders have taken robust action to tackle these high levels of absence. They work with a wide range of agencies to support and help pupils to attend school regularly. Positive attendance is rewarded. For example, pupils with 97 to 100% attendance at the end of the year attend a trip to the beach with their parents. The reward systems have successfully encouraged pupils to aspire to attend school every day.
• Leaders and the pastoral team have nurtured and developed strong and positive relationships with parents to engage them in the life of the school and to help them to understand the importance of high attendance so that their children’s learning is maximised. Parents appreciate this support and the vast majority have responded positively. While attendance has improved, and leaders are taking every possible action to address the persistent low attendance of some pupils; it still remains below the national average. However, current attendance is moving rapidly towards the national average.
• Published information to 2017 also shows an increase in exclusions to levels above the national average. When the headteacher was appointed in 2015, she quickly recognised that there was a high level of unacceptable behaviour across the school. Leaders immediately established and embedded a new behaviour system, putting clear rewards and sanctions in place. They go to great lengths to promote positive behaviour. Pupils understand the behaviour systems and say that any inappropriate behaviour is dealt with quickly. There is now a calm and extremely orderly atmosphere around the school, both inside and outside of the classroom. Pupils have exceptionally positive behaviours for learning.
• Leaders understand pupils’ individual needs in great detail. The nurture provision is of the highest quality and helps pupils to manage their own behaviour. Where pupils need further help to manage their behaviour, leaders ensure that this is provided. Bespoke support plans are in place to help these pupils, and leaders seek further specialist advice from external agencies when needed. Leaders also work very closely with parents to help pupils improve their behaviour.
• Leaders provide support, along with clear boundaries and positive reinforcement, to improve behaviour and their high expectations are never lowered or compromised. As a result of this exceptional work to improve behaviour, over the last year the rate of exclusions decreased significantly, and exclusions are now rare.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Leaders’ analysis of current pupils’ progress shows that the majority of pupils are making strong progress in reading, writing and mathematics. This progress is clearly evident in pupils’ books. Where teaching is strongest pupils make rapid progress. While pupils’ progress across the school is now improved, the progress of some pupils, especially disadvantaged pupils and the most able, is not as strong in all year groups.
• Pupils with SEND receive highly effective support which helps them to make good progress from their individual starting points. Leaders and teachers use a wealth of assessments to help them gain a detailed understanding of their individual needs. They then use this information to plan individualised support to meet their learning needs. Leaders analyse their progress in great detail. This information, along with work in their books, shows that in all year groups pupils with SEND make strong progress from their individual starting points.
• The school has a high number of pupils who speak English as an additional language. Teachers provide a rich language environment to help these pupils to develop their English. Pupils receive effective support which enables them to make strong progress in reading, writing and mathematics. At the end of key stage 2 in 2018, their progress was in line with the national average in reading and writing. Currently, pupils who speak English as an additional language are achieving as well as other pupils.
• The proportion of pupils achieving the required standard in the phonics screening check at the end of Year 1 rose in 2018 and was in line with the national average.
• In 2017 and 2018 pupils’ progress at the end of key stage 2 in writing was in line with the national average. Their progress in reading was well below the national average in 2017. However, pupils’ progress in reading improved in 2018 and was in line with the national average. Pupils’ progress in mathematics at the end of key stage 2 was well below the national average in 2017 and 2018.
• Disadvantaged pupils’ progress in mathematics was well below the national average at the end of key stage 2 in 2017 and 2018. It was also well below the national average in reading in 2018.
• The proportion of pupils at the end of key stage 2 achieving the expected standard in reading and writing in 2018, including the higher standard, was similar to the national average. However, in mathematics this proportion was below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard, including greater depth, in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 1 in 2018 was similar to the national average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils at the end of key stage 1 achieving the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics in 2018 was below that of other pupils nationally. The proportion achieving greater depth was also below other pupils nationally in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Teachers assess pupils’ achievements in science and ensure that pupils build on and develop their scientific skills from one year to the next. However, leaders do not have a precise understanding at this point of how well pupils are achieving in other subjects such as history and geography.

Early years provision

Outstanding

• The leadership of the early years is highly effective. The leader monitors all aspects of the early years provision in great detail. The leader quickly identifies where further improvements could be made, implements support and guidance to drive the improvements and then reviews the effectiveness of the actions. Consequently, the early years provision has improved significantly since the last inspection.
• Teaching in the early years is of the highest quality. All staff know children’s needs in great detail. Staff allow children to show what they can do and encourage them to explore their learning, but also intervene swiftly when they identify that children need support to continue learning. Staff provide engaging learning activities which are planned to meet children’s interests. This ensures that children remain focused on their learning for sustained periods of time. As a result of this exceptional teaching, children build on their learning on a daily basis, make rapid progress, and are well prepared for the challenges in Year 1.
• Staff make detailed assessments of what children achieve. They moderate these assessments carefully to check that they accurately reflect what children can do. Children enter the Nursery Year with skills and abilities well below those typical for their age. However, the excellent early provision enables the vast majority of children to make outstanding progress from their different starting points.
• Children with SEND receive excellent support to help them settle into school. Staff ensure that they know what the specific needs of the children are, seek advice and guidance on how best to support those needs and then implement the support very effectively. This enables children with SEND to be fully integrated in the learning and make strong progress.
• Staff also ensure that disadvantaged pupils and pupils who speak English as an additional language receive support which is closely matched to their needs. All staff see every child as an individual and go above and beyond to ensure that they receive teaching which helps them to make rapid progress in all areas of their learning.
• Children in the early years are very confident and happy. Staff provide a warm and nurturing environment which helps children to feel safe and secure. However, staff also ensure that children are given clear structures and routines and have high expectations of behaviour. As a result, there is a purposeful and calm learning environment throughout the whole of the early years.
• All staff actively engage parents with their children’s learning. Every opportunity is taken to ensure that parents understand what their children are learning and how they can help them at home. For example, staff teach parents the correct sounds for letters, so they can help their children read at home. This further supports the great progress children make.
• Staff adhere to all safeguarding policies and procedures closely to make sure children are kept as safe as possible. Staff teach children to keep themselves safe, but also allow children to take risks in their learning and how to take care of themselves. For example, under close supervision, children were allowed to use hammers and nails as part of their outdoor learning.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 138590 Birmingham 10085746 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 sponsor-led 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 444 Appropriate authority Chair Headteacher Board of trustees Mr John Vickers Mrs Helen Hastilow Telephone number 0121 6750618 Website Email address www.slade.bham.sch.uk enquiry@slade.bham.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 26–27 June 2014

Information about this school

• Over the last three years there have been a number of staffing changes. A new headteacher was appointed in June 2015.
• Slade primary is a larger-than-average-sized school.
• The school is part of the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership MAT and is governed by the board of trustees. A local governing body is in place to hold leaders to account and this governing body reports to a hub governing body.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is above average.
• The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is above average.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is similar to the national average. The number of pupils who have an education, health and care plan is below the national average.
• A breakfast club is provided for the pupils.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed teaching and learning in all year groups. Some of the observations were carried out jointly with the headteacher, associate headteacher, assistant headteacher, the leader for special educational needs and the early years leader.
• Inspectors met with pupils, heard a selection of pupils read and observed pupils in the breakfast club, at breaktimes and lunchtimes.
• Inspectors met with the headteacher and associate headteacher, assistant headteachers, the leader of provision for special educational needs, the early years leader and senior leaders with subject responsibilities. The lead inspector met with a member of the governing body and the chief executive officer from the MAT. The lead inspector also had a telephone conversation with the chair of the governing body.
• A range of pupils’ books from all year groups and a range of subjects were looked at.
• Several documents were considered including the school’s self-evaluation and improvement plans. Inspectors also considered information about pupils’ progress, the use of additional funding, behaviour, attendance and safety.
• Inspectors took account of 173 responses on the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View, and spoke to parents before school. There were no responses to the online pupil questionnaire. Inspectors considered the comments made in 11 free-text responses. Inspectors reviewed the 42 responses to an inspection questionnaire returned by staff.

Inspection team

Ann Pritchard, lead inspector Kirsty Foulkes Susan Blackburn

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector