Grange Primary Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching and raise attainment so that all groups of pupils make at least good progress by:
  • sharing the stronger teaching practice that exists within the school
  • ensuring that teachers challenge pupils more effectively and intervene promptly to help them learn at a faster rate
  • ensuring that all pupils are fully engaged in their learning and that activities are better matched to their needs and abilities
  • raising teachers’ expectations of the standards of presentation of pupils’ work
  • developing opportunities for pupils to use and apply their writing and mathematics skills across a wider range of subjects.
• Improve leadership and management by:
  • building on the positive start that the headteacher has made to sustain improvements in teaching and learning
  • including more precise measures of success in the school improvement plan to help leaders to evaluate the impact of their actions
  • developing the skills of middle leaders so that they have greater influence on securing improvement in their areas of responsibility and enabling pupils to benefit from a richer curriculum
  • making sure that leaders, staff and governors analyse assessment information about pupils’ performance to respond more promptly if pupils make slow progress or fall behind
  • ensuring that governors hold leaders more effectively to account for pupils’ outcomes
  • sharpening school improvement and pupil premium plans so that they focus more on measurable pupil outcomes and include more specific time frames to check and evaluate improvements
  • ensuring the consistent use of school policies across all year groups. An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved. 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

• The new headteacher is moving the school forward through the implementation of numerous and appropriate initiatives. However, the impact of these initiatives is not yet embedded sufficiently to address variability in the quality of teaching and in pupils’ progress and attainment.
• Improvement plans prioritise appropriate actions for whole-school improvement. However, the measures set out in the plan identifying pupil outcomes are not specific enough to enable leaders to identify their impact effectively. Also, there are no specific time frames or stages in the improvement plan to identify how much progress is being made throughout the year, and not just at the end of the academic year.
• The use of the pupil premium funding does not have a consistent impact on accelerating the progress of disadvantaged pupils. The level of scrutiny by leaders and governors of the effectiveness of the pupil premium plans on improving progress has not been sharp enough. The headteacher has identified appropriate actions in current plans, but these plans require more measurable outcomes at regular points. As a consequence, leaders do not evaluate initiatives early enough to identify which ones are the most effective.
• The headteacher has established an effective system for monitoring teaching and this is strengthening the quality of teaching and learning. However, teachers have yet to apply all improvements required consistently and, combined with staffing absence and changes, this means that the impact of teaching on pupils’ learning is variable. For example, the implementation of the school’s feedback and marking policy varies between year groups.
• Middle leadership is not yet strong enough to monitor how well pupils learn across all subjects of the national curriculum. Leaders who manage each subject of the curriculum have not developed the range of skills, knowledge and understanding sufficiently well in order to deepen learning.
• Shrewsbury Academy Trust (the academy sponsor) has provided effective support and development opportunities for senior leaders, staff and governors through the use of the trust’s staff and other schools within the trust. Implementation of new systems is supporting the school’s improvement, but assessment information of groups is not processed or shared promptly enough. As a result, leaders have been slow to intervene where needed.
• Leaders have not ensured that the school website meets the Department for Education requirements, as the disability accessibility plan is out of date. Leaders have an up-to-date plan, but this requires governor approval before it can be published.
• The new coordinator for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities has quickly built relationships with external agencies to benefit pupils. The leader has already made a good start by carrying out an audit of interventions used for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. However, monitoring is at an early stage and there is still more to do to make sure that this group makes quicker progress towards their individual learning goals. Leaders’ recent decision to allocate additional staff, to enable more frequent interventions to take place, is benefiting pupils’ learning.
• The curriculum provides pupils with interesting topics and themes to study. In addition, pupils study some subjects discretely. For example, specialist music teaching is a strength and was rightly described as ‘a great asset to the school’ by a parent. Pupils undertake trips, enjoy performing to their parents and participate in special one-off themed days, as shown by the recent internet safety day.
• Leaders demonstrate the capacity for sustained improvement, despite staff changes and absences. Senior leaders are starting to demonstrate their influence over initiatives. For example, a reward system for reading has led to an increase in the number of pupils who now choose to read regularly for enjoyment at home. All groups of pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, are starting to read more frequently and enjoy reading.
• Pupils benefit from a wider range of physical activities at a subsidised rate, due to the effective use of additional funding for sport and physical education in primary schools. Consequently, pupils participate in more sport, for example skipping, and learn to develop healthy lifestyles. Pupils are also being offered more choices of after-school sport clubs.
• The positive and dedicated headteacher has, along with her staff, fostered an extremely nurturing environment for pupils. There is a real desire for staff and governors to work together to improve pupils’ lives at school. Staff have confidence in the leadership of the headteacher and the majority of staff state that the support they have received has had a positive impact on their professional development.
• The school keeps parents well informed through regular correspondence, attendance at school assemblies and through regular meetings to report on pupils’ progress.
• The school’s leaders and staff are committed to teaching pupils about British values, such as democracy, respect and tolerance of people from different cultures, races, beliefs and customs. Pupils were very clear when talking to inspectors about the importance of democracy and could link their school council elections to having the same principles of fairness as recent world elections.

Governance of the school

• Governance requires improvement.
• Governors gather information about the school through their visits. Although governors know the school well, they have not been effective in ensuring that the school improvement plan is checked closely in order to monitor improvements in outcomes for pupils. Minutes of meetings do not demonstrate where governors challenge school leaders and hold them to account for the amount of progress that pupils are making, particularly disadvantaged pupils.
• Governors are unable to evaluate the impact of the spending of the pupil premium grant alongside the previous planned actions for improvement. This is because of the lack of clear, measurable criteria in the improvement plan.
• Governors effectively challenged relevant external agencies when safeguarding did not meet their high standards and pupils did not receive the support required.
• Governors appraise the headteacher’s performance against agreed targets and they support leaders in effectively applying the performance management policy.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. There are detailed systems in place to track and monitor this aspect of the school’s work.
• The parents that spoke to inspectors were positive about the school and are pleased with the way that leaders and staff keep children safe. Teachers and support staff are well trained and follow procedures thoroughly. The trust works with the school to ensure that safeguarding records are kept in good order.
• Staff are vigilant in keeping pupils safe and secure. Induction procedures for new staff are effective. All staff collaborate well with each other to ensure that pupils are kept safe. The recent internet safety day was a success, with pupils being able to explain the importance of ‘Hector the Dolphin’ to keep themselves safe.
• Early years welfare requirements are fully met.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Teaching remains too variable across the school. Teachers do not engage pupils’ interest frequently enough in order to drive learning forward with purpose. This means that the quality of pupils’ learning and progress are inconsistent.
• While some teachers have high expectations and regularly challenge pupils to extend their learning, school assessments and work in some pupils’ books show that this is not consistent throughout the school. In some lessons, pupils become bored, lose interest and describe their work as easy. Teaching sometimes lack the necessary challenge, especially for the most able pupils because teachers do not plan or modify work to take account of pupils’ needs. Where this is the case, pupils work slowly and without any enthusiasm for learning.
• Teacher’s skills are improving and they have good subject knowledge. This enables them to ask pupils detailed questions using the correct vocabulary. This ensures that pupils’ learning moves forward at a faster pace. However, pupils do not have sufficient opportunities to fully develop their writing and mathematical skills, as there are too few quality opportunities to use and apply what they have learned in other subjects.
• Regular adult-led reading lessons are supporting most pupils to develop the skills they need to decipher words and understand the meaning of texts. However, when reading independently, groups and individual pupils make slower progress in reading due to the lack of challenge.
• Pupils are confident enough to apply their phonics knowledge to worksheets when reading in lessons. However, all groups, including the most able pupils, are hindered when the text provided for them is too hard or not matched well enough to their ability or stage of development. However, there are signs of improvement. Pupils who were chosen by inspectors to read from Years 2 and 6 were reading books at an appropriate level. There was sufficient challenge in these books and pupils said that they were enjoying reading them.
• In some year groups, teachers’ expectations of pupils’ writing is too low. The activities set for pupils do not provide enough opportunities to write extended sentences or to improve their spelling and punctuation. As a consequence, their writing is limited and teachers do not extend the learning. This slows the learning for all groups, particularly the most able.
• The majority of responses to the staff questionnaire and most of the parents spoken to during the inspection are positive about the impact that the headteacher has had on improving teaching in the school since she was appointed in June 2016.
• Teachers have worked hard to implement changes suggested by senior leaders and, as a result, improvements can be seen in the quantity and range of work, especially in mathematics. Improvements in the teaching of mathematics are helping pupils gain a better understanding of calculations, and pupils regularly apply what they know to solve written number problems. For example, in a key stage 2 class, pupils were encouraged to use more efficient methods and this helped them to make rapid progress.
• The teaching and support for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are improving. This is because the deployment and training of support staff are being more carefully planned to meet the specific needs of individual pupils. Inspectors saw some good examples of additional resources being used effectively in classrooms to meet pupils’ needs. For example, specific resources were used to meet the needs of pupils with dyslexia.
• Pupils receive regular homework. During the inspection, pupils in Year 6 were heard expressing good-humoured comments about how much homework they receive. While this opinion varies across the school, recent school initiatives have improved the volume of reading undertaken at home. The scrutiny of some individual case studies provided by the school show that pupils, including some who are disadvantaged, are now much more engaged in reading activities in school and at home.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils feel safe and secure. They enjoy being at school and speak with enthusiasm about their experiences of school life. Adults are approachable and supportive and pupils are confident that any concerns they have will be resolved.
• Leaders and governors have ensured that the school’s climate is very positive and the learning environment, both in and out of the classrooms, is bright and welcoming. Leaders promote and celebrate pupils’ good work, for example through ‘Star of the Week’ awards. Pupils respect each other, as well as the school environment, and are proud to attend the school.
• All staff care about the pupils and do their utmost to support their well-being. The support and care for pupils is a real strength of the school. Pupils are well supported in their understanding about safety, and speak confidently about how to stay safe online and eat healthily. Initiatives such as ‘Five a Day’ enable pupils to understand the benefits of regular physical exercise.
• Pupils can talk clearly about the opportunities they have to carry out additional responsibilities in the school. For example, older and younger pupils read together, which is particularly successful in fostering strong relationships, as well as giving older pupils opportunities to care for younger ones.
• Pupils learn about other faiths, customs and traditions through religious education, the arts and themed topics. The school is successful in promoting an emphasis on tolerance and equality, which prepares pupils well for life in a modern, democratic Britain. There is a strong emphasis on encouraging pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
• Leaders provide a breakfast club, which is much valued by parents. Pupils enjoy attending and a range of interesting activities is well prepared and organised.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.
• Pupils are very positive about the new clearly defined behaviour procedures in school and many told inspectors that behaviour is improving. However, they also identify that there are a number of times where behaviour disrupts their learning and enjoyment. In their opinion, behaviour needs to improve further.
• Although there is some good behaviour, there are too many occasions when pupils become bored, call out and lose focus. This is because the work provided for them is uninspiring. Teachers do not expect enough of pupils when they are working independently in their workbooks, as presentation is varied and in some cases messy, because of a lack of self-pride and care. Some teachers do not expect enough and do not consistently model how pupils should present their work.
• Pupils’ behaviour around school is improving and although there were some examples of low-level disruptive behaviour, pupils themselves acknowledge that the new headteacher is improving behaviour. Leaders have implemented appropriate systems to deal with incidents effectively. Pupils know that incidents of inappropriate behaviour are dealt with effectively. As a result, pupils are engaging in school activities more and enjoy taking on additional responsibilities. For example, school councillors listen to suggestions from their peers and organise suitable events. Year 5 pupils relish the opportunity to become play leaders.
• Parents are generally happy about pupils’ behaviour, although some commented that standards of behaviour are variable, depending upon the teacher.
• Pupils attend school regularly and overall attendance is in line with the national average. Leaders have put in place robust systems to ensure that attendance is celebrated and absence is challenged. Effective use is made of the trust’s educational welfare officer. The school works well to support families to help improve their child’s attendance.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Outcomes for pupils require improvement because progress is too variable across subjects and year groups. Inconsistent expectations of pupils’ performance lead to erratic patterns of progress and attainment. This is due to staff changes and inconsistencies in the quality of teaching over time.
• Unvalidated test results in 2016 showed that rates of progress made by Year 6 pupils were in line with national averages in reading, writing and mathematics. However, the number of pupils reaching age-related expectations by the end of Year 6 was below national figures in reading, writing and mathematics. Disadvantaged middle-ability readers were in the bottom 10% nationally for their progress in key stage 2, reflecting the ineffective past use of the pupil premium.
• The attainment of pupils in Year 2 in 2016 was below the national average. No pupils reached the higher standards in reading, writing and mathematics. Furthermore, disadvantaged pupils did not attain as well as other pupils.
• Although improving, pupils in some year groups are not making consistently good progress over time. The school’s own assessment information shows that pupils are making better progress in reading compared to last year. As a result, pupils are catching up on previously lost ground so that differences between the achievement of pupils currently in the school and those of pupils nationally are starting to diminish.
• The most able pupils make variable progress across the school. In pupils’ books there are indicators that some most-able pupils have started to make better progress. The majority of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make similar progress to other pupils, although this is slower in some year groups than others.
• The number of pupils making good progress to reach expected standards in writing is variable and in some year groups requires more rapid improvement compared with reading and mathematics. Most work in pupils’ books shows that progress in writing is improving.
• A greater proportion of the current Year 6 pupils, compared to last year, are now making more rapid progress, particularly in reading. Currently, pupils are on track to reach higher standards than previously, but there is still more to do to ensure that pupils achieve well in all classes across the school.
• The difference between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and other pupils is diminishing. However, this is uneven as progress is stronger in some classes than others. The school’s use of pupil premium funding to target and support the achievement of disadvantaged pupils requires improvement in order to achieve greater consistency across classes. Improvements are not yet consistent or even across classes, reflecting inconsistencies in the quality and effectiveness of teaching that still remain.
• Pupils’ achievements in other subjects also require improvement. Pupils are not given enough opportunities to use and apply their mathematical and writing skills in other subjects, such as science, religious education, history and geography. In addition, inconsistent expectations mean that the standard of work and presentation in pupils’ workbooks varies too much and also needs to be developed further.

Early years provision Good

• Children make good progress in early phonics, reading, writing and mathematics. Most children start school with skills that are below those typical for their age, particularly in language and communication. Good teaching and effective pastoral support for both children and families in the classes are getting the youngest children off to a good start.
• Outcomes are improving. In 2016, over half of the children reached a good level of development by the time they started Year 1. Although this is below the national average, this represents good progress in relation to children’s low starting points. Children’s books also demonstrate that they are making good progress.
• Nursery and Reception children learn well and, through the use of both indoor and outdoor areas, they have opportunities to mix freely. They improve their skills through role-play activities, dressing up, art and a wide range of activities that support the development of fine motor skills.
• The teaching and support provided for children in both the Nursery and Reception classes are of good quality, although adults do not always sufficiently challenge children after they complete an initial task. Children work well together to help each other during the activities.
• The majority of children are making good progress in phonics over time, including disadvantaged children. Their books show rapid progress, which is also reflected in the results of phonics assessments.
• Children form positive relationships with the adults and there is a warm and positive atmosphere within the classrooms. Adults have high expectations of the children, including of behaviour. Children share and cooperate together well and are confident enough to independently select their own resources and toys.
• There is a strong focus on ensuring that children are safe and secure. All statutory welfare and safeguarding requirements are met.
• The early years leader provides effective leadership through adapting practice in the light of analysis of the assessment information collected. Assessment information is detailed and comprehensive. Through the use of electronic portfolios, regular observations and careful consideration of work in books, staff usually plan work that meets the needs of the children. Parents contribute to the learning journals through their weekly drop-in sessions, when they can also review progress.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 139933 Shropshire 10025182 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Academy sponsor-led Age range of pupils Gender of pupils 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 266 Appropriate authority Academy Trust Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Date of previous inspection Claire Bilgic Charlie Summers 01743 462984 www.grangeprimaryshrewsbury.co.uk admin@grangepri.sat.coop 13–14 January 2015

Information about this school

• The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information on its website.
• The school does not comply with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish about its disability accessibility plan.
• Grange Primary is an average-sized primary school.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum requirements for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.
• Grange Primary is part of the Shrewsbury multi-academy trust, which comprises four academies in Shrewsbury. The chief executive officer oversees the management of all of the academies across the trust.
• Children attend part time in Nursery and full time in Reception.
• Most pupils are of White British heritage.
• The proportion of pupils who are eligible for support from the pupil premium is above average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is above average.
• There have been a number of changes in staffing since the previous inspection, including a change of headteacher.
• The school runs its own breakfast club and offers a range of after-school activities.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in a range of lessons and also made some short visits to classrooms. The headteacher jointly observed the quality of teaching in two lessons and undertook a learning walk with the lead inspector.
• Inspectors listened to a number of pupils read. The work in pupils’ books was also reviewed while on the joint learning walk with the headteacher.
• Pupils’ behaviour in lessons and during break and lunchtime was observed.
• Inspectors talked informally to pupils in lessons and around the school and met with pupils from the school council.
• Inspectors held discussions with the headteacher, other senior leaders, subject and other middle leaders, class teachers, governors, and representatives from the multi-academy trust.
• Inspectors scrutinised a range of documentation, including the school’s evaluation of its own performance, school improvement planning, documents monitoring the effectiveness of teaching and learning, minutes of governing body meetings, the school’s own policies, local authority reports, multi-academy trust reports and documentation relating to safeguarding and attendance.
• Inspectors took into account the views of parents using the 32 responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire (Parent View). Inspectors also spoke to parents at the start of the school day.

Inspection team

Mark Cadwallader, lead inspector Alan Prince

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector