Welsh House Farm Community School and Special Needs Resources Base Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Further strengthen teaching and learning so that academic standards continue to rise by:
  • improving the quality of teaching at the beginning of key stage 2 so that pupils build securely on their key stage 1 achievements
  • continuing to develop and refine the academic support given to those pupils who arrive suddenly during the school year.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Leaders, governors and the staff team demonstrate an informed and caring understanding of the school community and the families they serve. The school’s motto of ‘inspired to grow and flourish’ very much describes leaders’ approach to the school curriculum. They are committed to providing pupils with subjects and experiences that inspire a love of learning and improve pupils’ knowledge and skills.
• To this end, leaders have devised and implemented a broad curriculum, which is enriched by trips to places of interest, both near and far. Teaching and extra-curricular activities in different subjects motivate pupils, open their eyes to the wider world and help them to develop the knowledge and skills they need for their next stage of education. Many such enrichment activities are made possible through the use of pupil premium funds, which are spent wisely. Leaders have, quite rightly, identified that broadening pupils’ horizons is an important part of their work to raise aspirations and lift standards.
• Leaders have taken effective steps to improve the quality of teaching, learning and standards in the school. They have taken advice from the local authority and external advisers and devised an effective school improvement plan. As a result, the quality of teaching, which dipped after the previous inspection, has now strengthened and is good. Standards are heading upwards but are still not where they could be and are below national averages.
• Subject leaders make effective use of their time and expertise. They regularly visit lessons, look at books and provide feedback and support to teachers about what is working well and what needs to improve.
• In addition, the school takes part in numerous collaborative events that help to raise expectations for staff and pupils. For example, the school is part of an external project to develop the science curriculum and teachers’ subject knowledge. Activities are challenging, informative and interesting. Pupils learn specific scientific vocabulary and make meaningful links between learning in different curriculum areas. Pupils in Year 4, for instance, recently learned about hydroponics and used their mathematics skills to record the information they gathered.
• Leaders responsible for pupils with SEND provide effective leadership and ensure that SEND funding is spent appropriately. Staff receive regular training to make sure that they understand pupils’ various, and often complex, learning needs. For example, following recent training on attachment disorders, staff are now more mindful of potential ‘triggers’ and how to manage difficulties in constructive ways.
• Parents and carers express positive views about the school and appreciate the workshops and information events provided for them. A notable feature of the school’s work is the extensive range of services and support that the school helps parents to access. Many families arrive suddenly, often with little understanding of English. The school leadership works hard to help newly arrived parents understand the school’s expectations and how they can help their children to cope with change and overcome difficulties.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral and cultural development is very well supported. Pupils learn to respect others and celebrate diversity. As part of a project with Birmingham University, for example, pupils made maps and information leaflets about the local area for asylum seekers and refugees. Another initiative, called ‘cultural coffee mornings’, involves families coming together in school to share information, food and drink as they chat to one another about their culture and lives. All of this helps to build trust, communication, interest in others and a sense of community.
• Additional funding from the primary physical education and sport grant is spent well to promote sporting opportunities and an enjoyment of sport.

Governance of the school

• Governors know their school well. They have clear areas of responsibility and are developing their roles within these. Over the last two years, they have established a new and effective leadership team, which is raising standards across the school.
• Together with the headteacher, governors monitor and review the school improvement plan and ensure that appropriate priorities are identified.
• Governors receive regular reports and presentations from the headteacher and other leaders. While governors understand the school’s weaknesses and development areas, records from meetings show that some of their questions could be even more probing to hold leaders to account.
• Leaders provide governors with assessment information in an accessible format. Governors do not take this at face value. They make visits to the school to find out about teaching and learning for themselves.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders have created a positive culture and adopt an ‘it could happen here’ approach to safeguarding processes. Staff receive appropriate training and regular updates and understand how to follow the school’s procedures and processes. Pupils are kept safe and feel safe at school.
• School leaders, including governors, have adopted Birmingham local authority’s safeguarding policy. They have recently begun to personalise the policy so that it reflects the school’s practices more closely. Leaders have recently introduced an electronic system for recording concerns, which they believe will make record-keeping even more robust.
• Leaders and staff know and understand the school community very well. The curriculum ensures that pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe in school and outside. During this inspection, pupils spoke confidently about what they had learned and how they can keep themselves safe online.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Improvements in the quality of teaching are leading to better progress and outcomes for pupils. Teaching in most classes is effective. In upper key stage 2, it is very strong. In a few instances, particularly when pupils first start in key stage 2, teaching is not pitched quite right, and time and resources are not used to best effect. Leaders are aware of this and additional training and support are in place.
• Teaching throughout the school promotes an interest in reading. Every classroom is well resourced with reading books, which pupils regularly take home.
• Teachers are skilled at teaching pupils the phonic skills they need to help them with their reading and writing. Highly effective guided reading lessons take place each day, with well-matched reading books and activities that assist pupils’ progress in reading. Teachers provide many opportunities throughout the curriculum for pupils to practise their phonics skills.
• Overall, writing is taught well. Pupils develop the skills they need to improve their writing effectively. They have many opportunities to write at length in different subjects across the curriculum.
• Systematically planned lessons in mathematics enable pupils to acquire knowledge in a logical sequence. Work in books shows that pupils regularly apply what they know to solve challenging mathematical problems. Consequently, they are developing their skills and their progress is improving. In addition, pupils say they enjoy the extra mathematics activities that run during lunchtimes. These ‘maths clubs’ help pupils to catch up with aspects of learning and develop their competence and confidence.
• Most teachers are skilled at planning support for individual pupils who have specific learning needs. Capable and informed teaching in the resource base enables pupils with SEND to move on in their learning at an appropriate rate.
• Teaching assistants are deployed effectively to support pupils in lessons and in small groups. They work well with teachers and pupils and make a valuable contribution to learning.
• Homework is set regularly across a range of curriculum subjects. During this inspection, pupils proudly told inspectors about their homework, which they clearly enjoyed completing and found helpful. Parents, too, value the support they are given, such as that provided in workshop events, to help them understand the school’s approach to homework and learning.
• A significant proportion of pupils arrive suddenly during the school year. Teaching has to respond quickly to these pupils’ many and varied needs. It is largely successful in doing so, and the pastoral support for pupils with little or no spoken English is an evident strength. Nevertheless, there is still room to refine aspects of teaching so that these pupils’ academic needs are met with the same efficiency as their welfare needs.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• The school provides pupils with an exceptional level of pastoral care and welfare support. Pupils who have experienced upheaval, trauma or conflict in their lives receive bespoke programmes of support to help them and their families make the most of schooling and develop resilience. The school’s ‘young interpreters’ work, for example, enables pupils to develop leadership skills, assist others and feel valued and successful.
• Indeed, leaders have created a huge range of opportunities for pupils to develop leadership skills and work on projects that help them gain feelings of self-worth and respect. Furthermore, the school has invested time and resources in projects and activities that promote pupils’ mental health and well-being. A sanctuary workshop and recent work carried out during a ‘refugee week’ helped all in the school community to consider the hardships that others can face and the impact it has on their lives. Consequently, pupils develop empathy and compassion and are prompted to think about what they can do to help others.
• There is a very active school council and a well-established buddy system. Pupils act as sports leaders and science ambassadors. Pupils make real decisions about the school life and are proud to take on these roles, which they carry out with evident enthusiasm.
• All staff and governors understand the importance of providing pupils with experiences that help them develop their personal and social skills and a deeper understanding of the world around them. Pupils benefit from an extensive and carefully planned range of educational visits and regular music tuition funded by the school.
• Leaders arrange participation in numerous external projects. Through these projects, pupils learn to respect other people’s ideas, cultures and points of view. For example, during discussions with an inspector, older pupils helped younger pupils to express their opinions in a sensitive and respectful way.
• Pupils learn about different types of bullying and how to act responsibly to keep themselves safe. They feel confident about reporting any concerns of bullying to an adult and know how to keep themselves safe online.
• Pupils throughout the school are confident. They are polite and interested in others. Consequently, the school is a warm and welcoming place in which to work and learn. absent.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils are eager to come to school, get along well with one another and are rarely
• Pupils take pride in their work and themselves. They enjoy wearing their new school
• Pupils also helped to develop a new behaviour policy and are confident that this will further improve behaviour in the school. They understand the school’s rules and follow them. As a result, behaviour in school and at playtimes is good. Pupils come into class ready to learn.
• Most pupils attend regularly. Recent attendance figures are in line with the national average.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• A significant feature of this school is its transient pupil population. Many pupils start or leave the school at different times during the year. In the current Year 6, for example, only about one third of pupils have spent their entire primary education at the school, with two fifths joining during the key stage 2 years. Furthermore, pupils often enter the school with skills below those expected for their age and/or with little or no understanding of English. Currently, there are 32 different languages spoken in the school.
• On top of this, some pupils arrive suddenly from overseas or because they have moved to temporary housing in the area. In several cases, these pupils have experienced trauma or significant hardship in their lives. All these factors have an impact on the school’s results in reading, writing and mathematics, which are below average at the end of both key stages.
• The school’s published progress measures for recent years are also below average. However, inspection evidence shows that key stage 1 assessment in the past was not wholly reliable. This means that these measures are largely meaningless as they are based on inaccurate starting points.
• Unpicking the complex picture of pupils’ achievement at this school is, therefore, difficult. It is clear, however, that some pupils make good progress overall and reach the standards expected for their age. In fact, some pupils make excellent progress, often in a short space of time because they are only in the school for one or two years before they leave.
• In other cases, however, pupils’ academic progress is more limited. There are two main reasons for this. First, progress tends to slow in Year 3 and some pupils then find it hard to catch up. Second, in some cases, the school prioritises pastoral support to help pupils manage their feelings and deal with the difficulties they have faced, and their academic needs take second place. While this is understandable, there is still scope for the school to develop and refine academic support for pupils who arrive suddenly and in need.
• That said, school leaders have worked hard to improve the quality of teaching. As a result, pupils’ attainment at the end of key stage 2 in 2018 was higher than that seen in 2017.
• Work in current pupils’ books shows that standards are continuing to improve. In addition, by engaging in shared moderation activities with other schools and the local authority, leaders have ensured that current school assessment information is reliable.
• In the younger year groups, there is evidence of some sustained improvements. In the Year 1 phonics screening check, for instance, the proportions of pupils reaching the expected standard for their age were above national figures in both 2017 and 2018.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is significantly higher than the national average. Leaders use the pupil premium funding well to plan effective teaching and support for eligible pupils. Overall, there is little difference between the outcomes for disadvantaged pupils and other pupils in the school at the end of each key stage.
• Similarly, the proportion of pupils in school with SEND is higher than the national average. Highly focused support helps these pupils to access work and cope with school life.

Early years provision Good

• Many children start school with levels of knowledge, experience and skills well below those typically expected for their age. They quickly learn the school’s routines, become increasingly independent in their learning and play and make good progress. Relationships between adults and children are strong and children’s behaviour is good.
• Leaders monitor and review the quality of teaching and learning regularly. This is having an impact on raising standards. Last year, for example, teachers focused on improving children’s communication and language skills, which resulted in 84% of children achieving the prime learning goals in this area. Even so, and despite the good progress made in early years, the proportion of children reaching a good level of development and being ready for learning in Year 1 was below the national average.
• Teachers and teaching assistants record evidence of children’s progress carefully using an online system. Teachers use these assessments to plan and deliver effective lessons and support, which are well matched to children’s needs and interests. Parents receive regular information about their children’s progress and come into school to look at their work. Leaders are now planning to give parents access to the online system to improve the flow of information between home and school.
• Good teaching, supported by effective leadership, means that children make good progress. For example, children’s work in Reception clearly demonstrates their progress over a term from early mark-making to then being able to write their names independently. Children can use their phonics knowledge to spell simple words such as ‘cap’ and ‘mat’ in their free writing.
• The early years classrooms and outdoor spaces provide well-organised areas for children to develop their skills through play and other activities. During this inspection, for example, the outdoor stage was well used by a group of children who were singing number rhyme songs to other children, who were an attentive and appreciative audience.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 103295 Birmingham 10047411 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 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 246 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Sarah Freeman Bridget Jay 0121 464 4355 www.welshhousefarm.bham.sch.uk enquiry@welshhousefarm.bham.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 5–6 December 2013

Information about this school

• The school is a small one-form entry primary school. Pupils come from a range of heritages and backgrounds. English is a second language for many pupils in the school.
• The school has a transient population with an above-average proportion of pupils leaving and joining the school throughout the school year.
• The school has a cognition and learning additional resource base, which caters for 14 pupils with SEND. The proportion of pupils with SEND is above the national average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is higher than the national average.
• The school is supported by an education improvement adviser commissioned by the local authority.

Information about this inspection

• The inspectors, accompanied by senior leaders, observed learning throughout the school.
• The inspectors talked to pupils from different year groups and considered responses to the school’s internal pupil questionnaire. The inspectors talked informally to pupils at the beginning of the day, at lunchtime and around the school.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, the assistant headteachers and two members of the governing body.
• The inspectors, together with school leaders, scrutinised work in pupils’ English and mathematics books. They discussed how well pupils are learning and the progress they are making.
• The inspectors looked at a range of documents provided by the school, including the school’s self-evaluation, assessment information, intervention plans, improvement plans, and records relating to behaviour, attendance, admissions and safeguarding.
• The inspectors spoke informally to parents at the start of the school day. The lead inspector took account of the responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, including six free-text comments.
• The lead inspector considered the 33 responses to the staff questionnaire and spoke to staff to gather their views about the school.
• On 28 November 2018, one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors returned to the school to gather more evidence about the school’s effectiveness. He observed teaching in different year groups, looked at pupils’ work and assessment information, and spoke with leaders and staff. In addition, he examined school records and spoke with an external educational consultant.

Inspection team

Amanda Clugston, lead inspector

Martin Pye, lead inspector Susan Hickerton Ofsted Inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

Ofsted Inspector