Perryfields Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the impact of leadership and management by ensuring that:
  • improvement plans focus precisely on accelerating the progress of groups of pupils, particularly disadvantaged pupils, pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities and the most able pupils
  • improvement plans contain measurable success criteria to enable leaders and governors to evaluate the impact of actions on improving pupils’ outcomes
  • leaders’ checks on teaching focus on the progress of individuals and groups of pupils more sharply
  • assessment information is used to identify strengths and weaknesses in the progress of different groups of pupils so that those pupils who need targeted support receive it
  • pupil premium funding is used effectively to accelerate the progress of disadvantaged pupils so that the gap between the attainment of these pupils and others is closed in all year groups
  • governors receive appropriate training and support to enable them to hold leaders to account for school performance more robustly.
• Ensure that the quality of teaching, learning and assessment is more consistently good and improves pupils’ outcomes, by ensuring that:
  • teachers have high expectations of what all pupils can achieve
  • assessment information is used effectively so that pupils receive the right level of challenge to meet their needs, especially the most able and middle-attaining pupils
  • teachers’ explanations are clear and enable pupils to have a secure understanding of what they are learning, particularly low-attaining pupils and pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities
  • teachers receive training to support them in deepening and extending pupils’ learning, including asking questions that require pupils to think more deeply about their work
  • pupils are taught to use grammar, punctuation and vocabulary appropriate to their ability so that they make consistently strong progress
  • middle-attaining pupils are provided with regular opportunities to solve problems and develop their reasoning skills in mathematics
  • teachers have further opportunities to observe and learn from the best practice in the school.
• Improve pupils’ attendance by ensuring that:
  • further action is taken to reduce the absence and persistent absence of disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. An external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• Leaders are committed to improving outcomes for pupils. However, they have not been quick enough to address the issues that have led to a decline in pupils’ progress and attainment in reading, writing and mathematics in key stage 2 over the past three years. There remains too much variation in the quality of teaching across the school and pupils’ rates of progress are inconsistent.
• Leaders’ improvement plans do not sufficiently respond to the school’s key weaknesses. Priorities are too broad and do not focus precisely enough on improving pupils’ progress. Improvement plans do not contain measurable success criteria to enable leaders and governors to evaluate the impact of their actions. This hinders the effectiveness of leaders’ actions to accelerate pupils’ progress more rapidly.
• Senior leaders make regular checks on pupils’ attainment and progress. However, their analysis of this information lacks the detail needed to identify trends in underperformance across year groups, subjects and different pupil groups. This limits leaders’ ability to ensure that teaching meets the needs of different groups of pupils.
• Systems for checking the impact of leaders’ actions on improving the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress lack rigour. Leaders do not evaluate the impact that teaching has on pupils’ learning sharply enough when observing lessons and looking at pupils’ work. Consequently, the quality of teaching varies and some groups of pupils do not make good enough progress.
• The leaders for English and mathematics demonstrate strong subject knowledge. They have an accurate understanding of the strengths and weaknesses in their subjects because they make regular checks on the quality of teaching. These leaders have implemented a range of appropriate actions to improve teaching and accelerate pupils’ progress. However, they do not evaluate thoroughly the difference their actions are making. As a result, leaders’ actions are not improving the quality of teaching or pupils’ outcomes well enough.
• Leaders use pupil premium funding to provide small-group and individual support to address the academic, social and emotional needs of disadvantaged pupils. In some year groups, this support meets pupils’ needs well. Consequently, these pupils are making strong progress. However, in other year groups, support is less effective and disadvantaged pupils’ progress is slow. Leaders do not make regular checks to ensure that the support that pupils receive is effective and accelerates their progress. Leaders do not evaluate initiatives funded through the pupil premium against sufficiently clear and precise success criteria.
• The interim special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) has quickly developed a detailed understanding of the individual needs of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. However, teachers do not consistently plan work that closely matches the needs of these pupils. As a result, their progress varies across year groups and subjects. Leaders acknowledge that provision for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities needs to improve and have appointed a permanent SENCo to drive the necessary changes.
• The local authority has recently provided effective support for leaders in evaluating the school’s effectiveness and identifying areas for improvement. Leaders have responded well to this and have put in place actions that have the potential to improve the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress. However, much of this work is in its early days and so the impact is yet to be fully realised.
• Recent staff training and support is beginning to have an impact on improving the quality of teaching and learning. For example, ‘teaching trios’ are helping to improve the effectiveness of individual teachers. Staff value the professional development they receive and speak positively about the support provided by senior leaders.
• Leaders promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Pupils learn about different faiths and cultures and have opportunities to discuss and reflect upon the views and beliefs of others. As a result, pupils show tolerance and respect for others.
• The curriculum provides pupils with experiences that engage and enthuse them. Well-chosen topics appeal to pupils’ interests and enable them to make links between their learning in different subjects. For example, during the inspection, pupils in Year 3 proudly demonstrated the ‘shaduf’ (an Egyptian tool for lifting water) they had made in design technology, talked knowledgeably about life in ancient Egypt and shared their creative writing about Egyptian gods. Leaders recognise that the curriculum would benefit from further development to deepen and extend pupils’ understanding as they move through the school.
• Leaders make effective use of the primary physical education and sport premium to increase pupils’ fitness and participation in physical activity. Staff receive training from specialist coaches to improve their skills in teaching physical education.

Governance of the school

• Governors do not have a clear understanding of pupils’ attainment and progress. They do not know the searching questions to ask and, as a result, they do not challenge leaders about pupils’ outcomes with sufficient rigour. They have not held leaders to account robustly enough for the downward trend in pupils’ progress and for the variations in the progress of different groups of pupils.
• Leaders’ improvement plans do not contain measurable success criteria to enable governors to check on the impact of leaders’ actions. Consequently, governors are not able to hold leaders to account for the school’s effectiveness or to drive improvements sufficiently well.
• Governors know how leaders use additional funding. However, they are not clear about the extent to which additional funding is improving the outcomes of disadvantaged pupils or pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. This is because leaders and governors do not evaluate the impact of the funding thoroughly enough. As a result, the achievement of these pupils is not as good as it should be.
• There is potential to improve the impact of the governing body, but they are not yet rigorous enough in the way they challenge school leaders. Governors are committed and support the school. They make regular visits to familiarise themselves with different aspects of the school’s work. Governors are keen to improve and have recently reviewed how they work as a governing body to enable them to operate more strategically.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders ensure that all staff and volunteers are carefully selected, checked and do not pose a risk to children. Staff maintain records well and a link governor makes regular checks to ensure that statutory requirements are met.
• Staff receive relevant training, for example in child protection and the ‘Prevent’ duty. As a result, staff are alert to concerns regarding pupils’ welfare. They know the signs to look for that might indicate that a child is at risk of harm and are confident about the process to follow should they have a concern.
• Leaders make appropriate referrals when they have particular concerns. They monitor the cases they refer to ensure that external agencies take action. Leaders acknowledge that they could record their actions in more detail, for example to demonstrate when they have sought external advice.
• The majority of parents and carers who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, agree that their children are well looked after and feel safe at school.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inconsistent. This results in pupils making variable progress across year groups and in different subjects.
• Expectations of what pupils can achieve are not high enough. Teachers are not consistent in the way they use information about what pupils know, understand and can do to challenge them effectively. This slows pupils’ progress, particularly the most able and middle-attaining pupils.
• Most teachers have good subject knowledge in English and mathematics. However, there is a gap in some teachers’ understanding of how to deepen and extend pupils’ learning in these subjects. As a result, in some classes, tasks for the most able pupils lack sufficient challenge.
• Teachers use questioning to check pupils’ understanding of new concepts well. However, they do not always ask questions that encourage pupils to think deeply about their learning and extend their thinking. This slows pupils’ progress.
• At times, teachers’ explanations are not clear enough so some pupils do not have a secure understanding of what they are learning. They are unable to make a prompt and confident start to their work and do not know how they can improve it. This hinders pupils’ progress, particularly for pupils working below the standards expected for their age and pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities.
• Teachers plan interesting and purposeful opportunities for pupils to develop their writing skills. Work in pupils’ books shows that they write at increasing length. However, the quality of their writing is not good as it could be because teachers do not consistently challenge them to use grammar, punctuation and vocabulary appropriate to their capability. Expectations of the most able and middle-attaining pupils are often not high enough. Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities do not have enough opportunities to write independently and this limits their progress.
• In mathematics, teachers enable pupils to develop strong skills in number and calculation. The most able pupils apply these skills confidently to reason and solve problems. However, teaching is not consistently challenging and middle-attaining pupils do not have enough opportunities to solve mathematical problems.
• Teachers promote positive attitudes to reading. They provide regular opportunities for pupils to read at school and have introduced a new approach to the teaching of reading to improve pupils’ comprehension skills. As a result, pupils’ progress in reading is improving. Pupils enjoy reading and have a good understanding of what they read. As one pupil explained, ‘It fills my imagination and puts pictures in my head.’ Middle- and high-attaining pupils read with fluency and expression and tackle unfamiliar words confidently. Younger pupils and those working below the standards expected for their age are able to use their phonics skills to sound out and read accurately words they do not know.
• Teachers are enthusiastic and relationships are strong. All staff have high expectations of pupils’ learning behaviour in lessons. Consequently, pupils have positive attitudes to learning and apply themselves productively to tasks.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Leaders have developed a strong school ethos and set of values. Pupils have regular assemblies to promote their well-being, celebrate pupils’ achievements and learn about values such as ‘respect’, ‘kindness’ and ‘collaboration’. As a result, pupils speak confidently about the school’s values and understand how they apply to them. They value the praise they receive in assemblies and say that this motivates them to try hard because, as one pupil explained, ‘Maybe I’ll be up there one day.’
• Pupils have a good awareness of the different types of bullying, for example physical, verbal, cyber and homophobic bullying. They say that bullying is rare and know what to do should it occur. Pupils are confident that staff will deal with any incidents promptly.
• Positive and respectful relationships throughout the school ensure that pupils feel safe and valued. Relationships create a positive atmosphere for learning and support pupils in behaving well. Pupils show good manners when talking to staff, pupils and visitors. They work and play well together and show respect and sensitivity towards each other.
• Pupils have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe in a range of situations. For example, they learn about road safety and ways to stay safe online. Pupils know what to do and who to talk to if they have concerns.
• Staff teach pupils about ways to stay fit and healthy. They promote physical activity at breaktimes and pupils have a good understanding of the healthy foods they should eat.
• The breakfast club provides pupils with a calm and positive start to the school day. Pupils enjoy the opportunity to talk to their friends and engage in the range of interesting activities on offer.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Leaders set clear expectations for pupils’ behaviour and staff apply these consistently across the school. As a result, pupils have a good understanding the school’s behaviour system and know how to behave well.
• Pupils have positive attitudes to learning. They listen carefully to teachers and work hard. Pupils collaborate effectively and confidently share ideas with one another. They take pride in their work and present it neatly. This is because staff promote learning behaviours well.
• Pupils’ conduct is good. They move around the school quietly and sensibly and respond quickly to adults’ instructions. Pupils play energetically and safely at breaktimes. They are kind to one another and make good use of the playground ‘buddy stop’ to ensure that everyone has someone to play with.
• Leaders’ strategies to improve the engagement of pupils with more challenging behaviour have been successful over the past year. This has reduced the number of fixed-term exclusions considerably. Low-level disruption in lessons is rare.
• The proportion of pupils absent from school and those who are frequently absent from school is rising. This is because disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities do not attend as well as other pupils. The rates of absence of pupils in these groups have been higher than national averages for the past two years. The gap between these pupils’ attendance and that of other pupils is widening. Although strategies introduced by leaders to encourage pupils to attend well have made a positive difference to some individuals, they have not yet had sufficient impact on the overall attendance of disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Outcomes require improvement because not all groups of pupils make consistently strong progress from their different starting points in reading, writing and mathematics. This is due to inconsistencies in the quality of teaching, learning and assessment.
• Attainment in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 1 rose from below national averages in 2016 to above in 2017. The proportions of pupils working at greater depth also increased to above national averages. However, the school’s assessment information and work in books shows that not all groups of current pupils in key stage 1 are making good progress over time.
• Published information for 2017 shows that pupils leaving the school at the end of Year 6 made below-average progress in mathematics and well-below-average progress in reading. Pupils’ progress in writing was average, although rates of progress in this subject have steadily declined over the past three years. Inspectors found that current key stage 2 pupils continue to make insufficient progress.
• The school’s assessment information and work in books show that the progress of disadvantaged pupils varies across year groups and subjects. In some year groups, disadvantaged pupils are making strong progress in reading, writing and mathematics. However, in other year groups, these pupils are making slow progress. Furthermore, disadvantaged pupils are making slower progress compared to other pupils in almost all year groups over time. As a result, although the attainment of these pupils has risen this academic year, the gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers remains.
• The progress of middle-attaining pupils in reading, writing and mathematics in key stage 2 has fallen over the past three years. In response to this, leaders have taken effective action to accelerate the progress of this group of pupils in Year 6. Consequently, these pupils have made strong progress in writing and mathematics this year. Staff in other year groups have recently begun to provide additional ‘booster’ sessions for middle-attaining pupils who are not making the progress that they should. However, it is too soon to see the impact of these sessions and the progress of this group of pupils remains too slow.
• In almost all year groups, pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make slower progress from their starting points than other pupils. The progress of these pupils also varies across year groups and in different subjects. This is because learning does not match their needs closely enough.
• The most able pupils do not make good enough progress. This is because teachers generally do not have high enough expectations of what these pupils can achieve. Work is often not challenging enough and does not require pupils to think deeply. As a result, the most able pupils do not make the progress of which they are capable and too few reach the higher standards by the end of key stage 2.
• In 2016 and 2017, girls made less progress in mathematics at the end of key stage 2 than boys. Leaders have taken effective action to accelerate the progress of girls in mathematics. Consequently, in almost all year groups, girls are now making more rapid progress than boys. However, gaps remain between the attainment of girls and boys in some year groups.

Early years provision Good

• Many children start school with knowledge, skills and understanding below those typical for their age. From their different starting points, children make strong progress. As a result, the proportion of children achieving a good level of development at the end of the Reception Year has been just below national averages for the past two years.
• Leaders have created a positive learning environment. Consequently, children have strong attitudes to learning. They are motivated to learn and apply themselves enthusiastically to activities.
• Children learn and play extremely well together. Collaboration is a strong feature and children work confidently together to complete tasks. For example, during the inspection children worked happily in pairs and small groups to create a story map. One child explained, ‘We are working together’ while he watched his partner draw a section of the map and then praised her for what she had done.
• Staff know children well. They have a good understanding of individual children’s needs and interests. This helps staff to plan activities that engage children and enable them to make strong progress in their learning and development.
• Children have opportunities to develop their reading, writing and mathematics skills across the curriculum. For example, children were seen busily taking telephone messages and labelling packages to deliver to their friends in their role as a postal worker. Work in books shows that children are making good progress, particularly in writing and numbers.
• Effective questioning and clear direction support children in learning how to improve their writing. Children make good use of their phonics skills to support them in spelling words when they write.
• Clear routines support children in behaving well. They listen attentively and respond quickly to adults’ instructions. Relationships are warm and encouraging, which supports children’s personal and social development. As a result, children grow into confident and independent learners.
• Staff provide regular opportunities for parents to be involved in their children’s learning. For example, parents come into school to take part in weekly ‘challenge time’, where they work alongside their children and find out ways to support their learning at home. Leaders encourage parents to share their children’s home learning through an online system and the use of ‘wow cards’ so that staff can build upon these experiences at school.
• Leadership of the early years is good. Leaders have an accurate understanding of the strengths in the provision as well as what could be better. They make frequent checks on the quality of teaching and provide training for staff to improve their skills. Leaders monitor children’s progress carefully. They identify children who are not making the progress they should and provide extra support to help them catch up quickly.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 103953 Sandwell 10047453 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils Gender of pupils 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 363 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Carol Worsley Terry Jones 0121 422 2848 www.perryfields-pri.sandwell.sch.uk office.admin@perryfields-pri.sandwell.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 13–14 February 2014

Information about this school

• Perryfields Primary School is larger than the average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is in line with the national average.
• The proportion pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is above the national average. The number of pupils with statements of special educational needs or education, health and care plans is above the national average.
• The school has grown in size over the last five years. There are two classes in each year group from Reception to Year 4. There is one class in Year 5 and one class in Year 6.
• The school runs a before- and after-school club.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed pupils’ learning in parts of 24 lessons. Four of these observations were undertaken jointly with senior leaders. One inspector visited the breakfast club and an after-school club.
• Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and at breaktimes and lunchtimes.
• Inspectors spoke formally with two groups of pupils as well as talking to pupils in lessons and around the school.
• An inspector listened to a group of pupils read and talked to them about their reading.
• Inspectors examined the quality of work in pupils’ English, mathematics, science and topic books jointly with senior leaders. Inspectors also scrutinised children’s learning journals.
• Discussions were held with the headteacher, deputy headteacher and other school leaders. Inspectors met with two groups of school staff to gather their views on safeguarding, professional development and pupils’ learning. The lead inspector spoke to a representative from the local authority.
• The lead inspector met with the chair of the governing body, the chair of site, personnel and finance committee and the chair of the learning and progress committee.
• Inspectors reviewed a wide range of documentation, including the school’s self-evaluation and improvement plans, information about current pupils’ attainment and progress, records of checks made on the quality of teaching, records relating to safeguarding, minutes of meetings of the governing body and information on the school’s website.
• Inspectors took into consideration the 33 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. Two inspectors spoke to parents at the beginning of the school day.

Inspection team

Claire Jones, lead inspector David Walker Lindsay Nash

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector