Queen Victoria Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Increase the impact leaders have on outcomes for pupils by:
  • making sure that rates of progress are equally good across year groups and for all groups of pupils, especially disadvantaged pupils
  • ensuring that teachers’ assessments provide an accurate reflection of pupils’ progress
  • ensuring that leaders have an accurate picture of strengths and weaknesses of the quality of teaching across school
  • develop middle leaders in their roles ensuring that they receive the support required in order to lead effectively their area of responsibility.
• Improve the quality of teaching so that it is consistently effective by ensuring that:
  • teachers plan and teach the skills needed in reading, writing and mathematics so that pupils are clear about their learning
  • pupils of all abilities have suitably challenging tasks
  • levels of presentation in books are consistently high across year groups.
• Improve the teaching of phonics in key stage 1 by:
  • using a high-quality systematic approach
  • ensuring that teachers use correct pronunciation when teaching letter sounds
  • ensuring that activities that pupils are given are purposeful and challenging.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• Leaders do not have a precise and accurate understanding of the quality of teaching and learning across school. As a result, some weak teaching has not been addressed and the quality of teaching and learning is inconsistent, resulting in varying rates of progress across school.
• Leaders have introduced a new assessment system. This has enabled leaders and governors to more effectively analyse school data. However, leaders acknowledge that teachers’ judgements about pupils’ progress are not always accurate, and therefore school data is not yet as reliable as it could be.
• Leaders acknowledge that, up until recently, they were sometimes slow to respond to concerns about pupils’ progress but are now more focused on raising the expectations of staff and pupils.
• Recently appointed middle leaders have provided an additional layer to the management structure. Some middle leaders have completed national training and are eager to have an impact within their role. However, they need clarity about their input into the making of decisions.
• Leaders and the local authority have provided training on the teaching of phonics in key stage 1. However, the teaching of phonics is still not strong enough.
• Pupil premium funding has been used to provide additional teaching capacity and target groups of disadvantaged pupils. However, leaders are not able to clearly identify the impact of this work and disadvantaged pupils are continuing to underachieve.
• Leaders have an accurate understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and a clear knowledge of the progress of these pupils. Clear next steps are in place in order to support pupils in lessons. However leaders acknowledge that they are still making less than expected progress across school.
• Parents are encouraged into school through workshops, assemblies and parents’ evenings. Parents say they appreciate the communication they receive from school. However, views received from the Ofsted questionnaire, Parent View, say only 65% of parents would recommend this school to another parent.
• Leaders use the physical education and sport premium effectively to employ specialist coaches to support teachers in delivering physical education lessons. This has enabled teachers to develop their knowledge of the importance of physical activity for pupils and improve the quality of physical education throughout school.
• Leaders ensure that pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is enriched through a creative approach to the curriculum and a wide range of extra-curricular activities. Pupils and staff evaluate the impact of each topic through a ‘pink poster’ which is monitored and shared with parents through the school website. As a result, parents are well informed about the topics their child has been learning.
• Staff do not tolerate discrimination of any kind. This prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain. Pupils say, ‘We all get on, we’re all friends it doesn’t matter what colour your skin is.’

Governance of the school

• Governance is effective.
• The recently appointed chair and vice-chair of the governing body have challenged leaders to raise their expectations further. This has led to a more rigorous approach to analysing pupils’ progress.
• Governors are enthusiastic and ambitious for the success of the school. Their challenge of senior leaders has resulted in more rigorous checks on pupils’ progress.
• Governors have revised the procedures for staff performance management. This has resulted in more rigorously holding the headteacher and other staff to account for pupils’ outcomes.
• Leaders inform governors about key areas of school performance through a ‘front page’ report. Governors can articulate the strengths and weaknesses of the school.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Staff know their role in relation to child protection procedures and are regularly trained in keeping children safe, understanding the ‘Prevent’ duty and other areas of safeguarding. There are clear systems in place for raising concerns and making referrals.
• The school’s single central record is up to date and covers all statutory areas. Leaders and governors check the accuracy of this termly, ensuring that all staff have appropriate safeguarding checks in place.
• Although attendance figures have been below national average over the past three years, school leaders are proactive in tracking attendance data and supporting pupils and their families. There have been a large number of attendance concerns referred to the local authority since September 2016.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Teaching requires improvement because it is too variable and not consistently good across the school. Pupils make varying rates of progress.
• Where teaching is not yet good, teachers do not plan or teach the skills they want pupils to learn. Learning is focused on completing an activity rather than learning a necessary skill.
• Where teaching is less effective, teachers are not responding to the needs of pupils. As a result, misconceptions are not being addressed or used to take pupils’ learning forward.
• Tasks set for pupils working independently are often easily completed and are not challenging enough. This results in groups of pupils making insufficient progress.
• Pupils’ recorded work is not presented to a consistently high standard throughout school. As a result, in some classes pupils do not take necessary care over their work.
• In Year 1, teachers do not have a secure knowledge and understanding of how to plan or teach phonics in a systematic way. This results in pupils working on learning tasks that are not appropriate and do not provide challenge.
• In some cases teachers are using incorrect pronunciation of letter sounds when teaching phonics. This weak practice does not support the development of pupils’ early reading skills.
• Where teaching is most effective, teachers’ subject knowledge is strong and pupils are encouraged to identify where mistakes have been made and how these can be used to further learning. This results in better progress.
• Teaching in Year 6 is of a consistently better standard. Teachers have strong subject knowledge, particularly in writing. Consequently, pupils produce high-quality pieces of writing of which they are proud.
• Teaching assistants are usually deployed well. They take an active role in teaching and ask pupils high-quality questions. This results in pupils staying on task in lessons for increasing periods of time.
• In some lessons, pupils are encouraged to work with a ‘buddy’ to edit and improve their written work. This results in pupils listening and responding well to each other and developing high levels of independence.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Staff have strong relationships with pupils and there is a caring atmosphere around school. Pupils say they feel safe and enjoy coming to school.
• The nurture room provides a warm and inviting environment for pupils that need additional support. Skilled staff use effective questioning skills which encourage pupils to communicate with staff and each other.
• Pupils have opportunities to take responsibility and contribute to the life of the school through roles such as the ‘pupil leadership team’ and ‘learning ambassadors’. Young leaders are articulate, confident and flourish in their roles.
• Pupils are provided with opportunities to contribute to their community through activities such as serving lunch to senior citizens at the nearby church and playing games with local residents. This gives pupils a developing understanding of the local community.
• Pupils have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe including when using the internet and around stranger danger. They are also clear about what to do if they are being bullied.
• Pupils in Year 6 talk knowledgeably about homophobia and prejudice. They report that there has been some homophobic bullying but staff are swift in their actions to address this and offer support to pupils.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good
• Pupils conduct themselves well around school with little intervention. Pupils are well mannered, courteous and respectful to visitors and each other.
• Leaders monitor behaviour incidents through the use of a traffic light system. Appropriate rewards and consequences are in place and monitored. As a result, there has been a decrease in after-school detentions.
• The social inclusion manager has a strong relationship with pupils and their families, who speak highly of her work and the support they are offered. One child described her as ‘like a miracle worker’.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• In 2016, outcomes for pupils’ attainment at the end of key stage 1 were below national figures in reading, writing and mathematics. The school is working to improve outcomes for pupils with support from the local authority.
• In 2016, outcomes for pupils’ attainment at the end of key stage 2 were below national figures in reading, writing and mathematics. Leaders’ evaluations and inspection findings show pupils in Year 6 are currently making better progress in writing.
• The proportion of Year 1 pupils who achieved the expected standard in the phonic screening check in 2016 was well below the national average. Disadvantaged pupils have performed below the national average in the phonic screening check for the past three years.
• Leaders use pupil premium funding to provide extra support in reading, writing and mathematics for disadvantaged pupils across school. In order to raise achievement, a national programme has been introduced. It is too soon to see the full impact of this programme. Currently, disadvantaged pupils are still not consistently making enough progress across school.
• The school’s current assessment information and inspection findings suggest that progress across the school, particularly in reading and writing, is showing some signs of improvement this year. However, the improvements are not always consistent.
• Staffing issues have meant current progress information is not available for Year 3. Inspection activities suggest that progress for this year group is not consistent and pupils are not making enough progress.
• Leaders have adapted Year 6 teaching groups to meet the needs of the most able pupils. This has ensured that pupils are suitably challenged and are writing to a high standard.
• Inspection activities indicate that additional provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is effective. The leader for this area knows that further improvements need to be made for this group of pupils. Current assessment information indicates that progress for this group in reading, writing and mathematics is still inconsistent.
• Assessment practice has been more focused this year and leaders are more confident about pupils’ starting points. Leaders are using information from tests to help address gaps in pupils’ knowledge and are confident that outcomes over time will improve.

Early years provision Good

• The early years leader robustly monitors the effectiveness of the early years provision. She has an accurate understanding of the strengths and development areas and has successfully addressed previous weaknesses within early years provision.
• Children generally enter the early years with skills below those typical for their age. Children benefit from the stimulating opportunities and effective teaching that are provided which means that by the end of the Reception year they are generally working above national expectations and are ready to enter Year 1.
• Children are confident, behave well and develop strong relationships with each other and practitioners. As a result children settle quickly into the early years and are happy at school.
• The leader for ‘Time for twos’ has a strong knowledge of child development and an understanding of what two-year-olds need. This results in high-quality provision within a stimulating and caring environment.
• The teaching of phonics in Reception is strong. Practitioners have high expectations and use effective questioning which means children make good progress.
• Partnerships with parents within the early years are strong. Staff visit children at home before they start school to begin developing relationships with families. High-quality learning journals provide parents with detailed information on what children have achieved.
• The outdoor area for Nursery and Reception has been an area for development. The improvements in this area have been strong; however, the outdoor area for the rising twos now needs developing in line with the quality of the rest of the early years.
• Disadvantaged children in the early years are provided with extra support to develop their speech and language skills. However, outcomes for disadvantaged children are still below national average and have been for the past three years.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 103826 Dudley 10032680 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 Maintained 2 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 705 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Tim Gallagher Wendy Rawlinson 01384 812 545 www.queenvictoriaschool.co.uk/ wrawlinson@queen-vic.dudley.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 27 November 2012

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• Queen Victoria is a larger than average primary school with a governor-led nursery on site and provision for two-year-olds.
• The majority of children are of White British heritage. Few pupils speak English as an additional language.
• The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged and receive support from the pupil premium is above average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is slightly below average.
• The governing body has recently appointed a new chair and vice-chair.
• In 2016, the school met the government’s floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for the attainment and progress of pupils by the end of Year 6.

Information about this inspection

• The inspection team observed teaching and learning in 39 lessons across the school, some of which were jointly carried out with senior leaders.
• Inspectors reviewed pupils’ recorded work and met with groups of pupils to ask them about their views on the school. Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour and conduct around the school and also listened to pupils read.
• Inspectors looked at a range of documentation including leaders’ evaluations of the school; information about pupils’ achievement and progress; training records; policies; attendance information; information related to governance and information on the school’s website
• Inspectors spoke informally to parents to ask them their views on the school. The 56 responses to the Ofsted questionnaire, Parent View, were also considered.
• Inspectors spoke to governors, a local authority representative and to school staff throughout the inspection. Evidence from 16 staff questionnaires was also considered.

Inspection team

Melonie Davies, lead inspector Susan Lowry Louise Minter Sofina Islam OBE Janet Tibbits

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector