Sundridge Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Eliminate slight variations in rates of progress between groups of pupils and further accelerate their progress, particularly in mathematics, by:
  • increasing the amount of challenge for groups of pupils such as the most able
  • more carefully tracking the progress made by the most able pupils
  • providing more opportunities for pupils to explain their reasoning behind how they approach problem-solving
  • giving greater opportunities to use and apply mathematical skills in other subjects
  • increasing the volume of work pupils undertake in subjects other than reading, writing and mathematics.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Under the decisive and effective leadership of the headteacher and recently appointed deputy headteacher, a culture of high expectation is being promoted effectively throughout the school.
• The very best is always expected of pupils and teachers. These high expectations are shared by staff. Everyone takes collective responsibility for school improvement. This has been instrumental in the improvements which have taken place since the previous inspection.
• The arrival of the deputy headteacher has brought much additional strength to leadership and management. She is working with colleagues on improving their teaching further by using her coaching skills to good effect. This is improving teaching well.
• School leaders and managers, including governors, have a clear understanding of the many strengths and minor weaknesses in school. They are taking decisive action to reduce these weaknesses.
• Teaching and learning is effectively led and managed by a group of middle leaders who are passionate about further improving pupils’ achievement. Provision for special educational needs is effectively led. The impact of additional support is carefully measured to ensure it is improving the achievement of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities well enough.
• The curriculum is well matched to pupils’ learning needs and interests. It promotes effective learning and is very creative. In one lesson, pupils participated enthusiastically in a mathematics and science investigation involving writing as well, where they were plotting heart rates to helping identify who may have carried out a crime, after watching an engaging video clip. This exemplifies how successfully, and creatively, teachers are using the curriculum in promoting effective learning.
• The curriculum is enriched by visitors to school, who speak to pupils about a wide range of topics. Recently, for instance, Paralympians visited school to speak to pupils about how they conquered their disabilities. The curriculum has a good breadth and balance, although pupils’ books show that, in some classes, too little time is given to learning in subjects other than reading, writing and mathematics.
• British values are taught well in school so pupils are well prepared for living in modern Britain. In a key stage 2 class, pupils were asked in a lesson to consider British values such as tolerance and mutual respect when writing a piece of poetry.
• There is a clear strategy for the spending of pupil premium funding. It is used effectively to support disadvantaged pupils in their learning. The impact this has on learning is carefully tracked and measured. Pupil premium funding is being used exceptionally effectively in the early years and key stage 1.
• Additional funding for school sports is being used effectively to provide a wide range of extra sporting activities in which pupils participate. These include activities such as cheerleading, Zumba, gymnastics and rugby. Governors check carefully on the uptake of places and there are waiting lists for some sports because of their popularity.
• High-quality support and expertise provided by the Learning Trust for Excellence has helped the school to improve well since the previous inspection.

Governance of the school

• Governors are working diligently with school leaders to continue improving the school. They are not prepared to rest on the improvements made since the previous inspection. Governors are constantly demanding more of leaders and staff. They forensically unpick school performance information which helps them to understand how well the school is performing compared to other schools nationally.
• Minutes of governing body meetings show governors are asking challenging questions of school leaders about pupils’ achievement in their quest to improve pupils’ outcomes further. No stone is left unturned as they seek to make this a school where an outstanding education is provided. Governors are assiduous in carrying out their statutory duties.
• The performance of staff is overseen rigorously by governors.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective and robust. A rigorous approach to safeguarding is taken by all staff. They have an up-to-date, and clear, understanding of safeguarding requirements.
• School leaders and staff, such as the pastoral achievement coordinator, work successfully with parents and a wide range of agencies to ensure that pupils are well supported and kept safe.
• A secure culture of safeguarding pervades all aspects of school life. The site supervisor is exceptionally vigilant in his approach to ensuring that pupils are safe at all times on the school premises. He diligently patrols the site, ensuring that all pupils are safely in the school building as the school day begins. Each week he undertakes an intense scrutiny of the perimeter fencing and wider aspects of the site to ensure that there are no potential risks or hazards for pupils.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• In classrooms and throughout the school, pupils’ high-quality work is celebrated. Displays are stimulating, well designed, regularly updated and supporting learning well. Working walls contain information which helps pupils to remember what they should include in their work, such as in Year 1, where pupils are reminded to include capital letters, full stops and finger spaces in their writing.
• Planning for learning is carried out skilfully so lessons are exciting and helping pupils to learn well.
• A wide range of homework is undertaken by pupils ranging from learning spellings and times tables to undertaking exciting and engaging activities based on history topics, such as finding out about life in the iron age. Older pupils report that they expected their homework to be more difficult, a challenge which their teachers will be endeavouring to achieve for them. All homework contains a requirement for pupils to read regularly. Inspectors listened to the most and the least able pupils reading and agree that reading is taught well throughout school.
• Teaching assistants play a key role in supporting learning. They withdraw small groups to boost learning or address misconceptions before pupils return confidently to rejoin their classes. Pupils report that this helps them to catch up well.
• Disadvantaged pupils are effectively supported by well-targeted interventions carried out by both teachers and teaching assistants. One disadvantaged pupil in key stage 2 was observed successfully completing a guided reading task faster than other pupils in the group because of the effective support provided.
• Assessment systems are developing well in school. They are used effectively in helping teachers identify pupils who require additional support to accelerate progress in their learning. The progress of most-able pupils is not currently tracked as well as that of other groups of pupils and so opportunities to provide them with greater challenge are missed.
• Most-able pupils are not challenged as well as they could be in a small number of classes. This is particularly the case in mathematics, where pupils are not given enough opportunities to explain their reasoning behind how they approach solving problems.
• Creative curriculum books show pupils have limited opportunities to use their mathematical skills in other subjects. Teachers’ high expectations are not always replicated when pupils are given work in other subjects so that less work in subjects other than mathematics, reading and writing is visible in pupils’ books.

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 benefiting from being taught in an exceptionally caring and nurturing environment.
• Teachers see it as key to learning that pupils are given the tools to enable them to become resilient and successful learners. This was observed in Year 2 where pupils are becoming skilled at learning from their mistakes and not giving up.
• Pupils were observed at lunchtime caring for their peers when minor bumps and scrapes occurred on the playground. The injured parties were taken, with care, to the medical bench in the school hall where their cuts and bruises were tended to by a member of staff.
• Great emphasis is placed on educating pupils to stay safe. This is clearly working well. Pupils reported they are highly confident about the actions they take to stay safe when using the internet. They would never consider giving their personal details to anyone.
• Pupils have a well-refined understanding of what constitutes bullying. In discussions with inspectors, they explained that bullying happens occasionally but it is resolved rapidly, and to their satisfaction, by adults in school.
• Pupils report they feel exceptionally safe in school. They are content that there are no areas of the school site where they feel unsafe and now feel much more secure on the playground and school field following the erection of a new school fence.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Around school pupils are polite and well mannered. They are respectful of each other and towards adults. Pupils regularly hold doors open for each other and for adults.
• Pupils are smartly turned out in their neat and tidy uniforms. They display a strong sense of pride in their school community which comes from the culture of high expectations which permeate school life.
• The pastoral achievement coordinator, in conjunction with the business manager, successfully plays a key role in reducing the number of pupils who are regularly absent from school. Attendance is higher this term because school leaders are taking a harder line with parents who take their children on unauthorised holidays thus disrupting their education.
• Inspectors agree with pupils, staff and the parents who responded to the questionnaire circulated by the school and many of the parents spoken with that pupils’ behaviour is good.
• In the vast majority of lessons, pupils sit attentively and listen to their teachers. Pupils display positive attitudes to their learning. They participate enthusiastically in their learning tasks and learning proceeds without interruption. Very occasionally, one or two pupils do not participate as fully in their learning tasks as they could.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Pupils currently in school are making rapid progress in their learning in a range of subjects. This is seen clearly in pupils’ books, during lessons and in the latest school performance information, which inspectors find to be accurate. The proportion of pupils making even faster progress is increasing.
• Most-able pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are making similarly rapid progress in their learning compared to other pupils in the school.
• The proportion of pupils at the end of Year 1 in 2016 reaching the expected standard in the phonics screening check is about average. At the end of Year 2 it is just short of 100%, which is above average.
• At the end of Year 2 in 2016, the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard was above average in reading, writing and mathematics. Disadvantaged pupils reached similar standards to other pupils in reading, writing and mathematics. These were above other pupils nationally because pupil premium funding is being used effectively to support their learning.
• The impact of pupil premium funding on disadvantaged pupils’ achievement was stronger in key stage 1 than in key stage 2 last year. The school is now helping to improve disadvantaged pupils’ progress more strongly in key stage 2 through more support.
• Pupils’ attainment at the end of Year 6 in 2016 was slightly below average in reading, writing and mathematics, as shown in the latest published school performance information. School leaders have taken rapid action to improve attainment of the pupils now in school. Inspectors noted more rapid progress is being made in reading, writing and mathematics.
• At the end of Year 6 in 2016, pupils made sufficient progress from their individual starting points. Pupils’ progress was slightly greater in reading and writing than in mathematics, particularly for the most able.
• The latest school performance information shows there remain slight variations in rates of progress made by groups of pupils such as the disadvantaged and those who are most able.

Early years provision Good

• The early years is effectively led. Children get off to a good start to their education at Sundridge School because of how well their needs are met in the bright, stimulating and exciting classroom and outdoor area.

• From joining the early years with knowledge and skills below those typically expected for their age, children make fast progress to the end the year in the Reception class because of good teaching. This leaves most children well prepared to join Year 1.
• Girls and boys were observed participating in a challenging lesson on shape, space and measure where they were successfully using mathematical terms such as vertices and faces to describe properties of three-dimensional shapes.
• The proportion of children who are well prepared for learning in the next stage of their education has increased over the last three years. Last year, nearly three quarters of children progressed well from their individual starting points to reach a good level of development. This is above the national average, although around a quarter of the group were not well enough prepared.
• Disadvantaged children are making similar rates of progress to others because additional funding is used well to support their learning.
• Behaviour in the early years is good. Children enjoy each other’s company and are happy to take turns and share toys and resources.
• Children settle quickly into the Reception class because of the close relationship school builds with the parents and children before the autumn term begins. Early years staff also work closely with staff from the children’s centre next door to the school to aid transition.
• Effective arrangements for safeguarding are in place to keep children safe and secure in the classroom and outdoor area.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 103266 Birmingham 10012382 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 Maintained 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 205 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Steve Wall Jo Brudenell Telephone number 0121 464 7720 Website Email address www.sundridge.bham.sch.uk enquiry@sundridge.bham.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 8–9 July 2014

Information about this school

• This is a smaller than average-sized primary school.
• Most pupils are of White British heritage.
• The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium funding is above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have statements or education, health and care plans is below average.
• The school met the government’s floor standards in 2015, 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.
• A new deputy headteacher took up post in February 2016.
• Since the school was inspected previously it has been supported by the Learning Trust for Excellence which is a cooperative trust formed of seven schools in the Sutton Coldfield area. The support has been overseen by the headteacher of Little Sutton Primary School, who is a national leader of education.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in lessons and parts of lessons. Some of these were observed jointly with the headteacher or deputy headteacher.
• Meetings were held with senior leaders, school staff and three governors including the chair of the governing body. The lead inspector also spoke with a representative of the local authority.
• Inspectors held discussions with more than 20 parents and groups of pupils. Inspectors spoke informally to pupils in lessons, during breaks and lunchtimes.
• Inspectors scrutinised the pupils’ work during lessons and work produced over time in a wide range of their books. They also listened to a small number of pupils from Year 1, Year 2 and Year 6 reading.
• Inspectors closely observed the work of the school and looked at the latest school performance information showing the progress pupils currently in school are making.
• Other documentation scrutinised included: plans for school improvement, safeguarding information, behaviour logs, attendance records and minutes of governing body meetings.
• Inspectors took account of 16 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View). Inspectors considered 16 freeview text responses from parents, 32 responses to the pupil questionnaire and the 13 responses to the staff questionnaire. Inspectors also considered the 80 responses to the school questionnaire from October 2016.

Inspection team

Declan McCauley, lead inspector Chris Wright

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector