Beresford Memorial CofE (A) First School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Build on the best practice that exists and sustain improvements to teaching in key stages 1 and 2 by:
  • making sure that teachers use assessment information to plan specific tasks for pupils who have the potential to exceed age-related standards
  • refining, extending and adapting tasks during lessons to help the most able pupils develop knowledge, understanding and skills that help them learn in greater depth.
• Sustain improvements to pupils’ achievement in reading, writing and mathematics by:
  • building on the excellent start in the early years so that pupils in Year 1 through to Year 4 have more opportunities to read and write independently
  • providing more frequent and challenging opportunities for pupils to reinforce and extend their phonics skills in Years 1 and 2
  • continuing the current focus on improving pupils’ reasoning and problem-solving skills in mathematics to increase the proportion of pupils exceeding age-related standards by the end of Year 2 and Year 4.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• In addition to changes to the National Curriculum, assessment procedures and inspection frameworks, there have been significant changes to staffing, headship and governance since the previous inspection in 2010.
• The headteacher’s ambitious and strong leadership has managed these changes well. Together with a strong deputy headteacher and early years leader, senior leaders and governors have maintained good academic outcomes for pupils; improved and refined the curriculum; extended early years provision and maintained outstanding practice; recruited effective teachers; trained and supported staff very well; and maintained the school’s outstanding contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
• Senior leaders provide clear direction and purpose that is galvanising staff and the school community to continue focusing on raising standards and helping pupils to achieve as well as they can. The online survey, Parent View, shows that parents and carers overwhelmingly agree that the headteacher and staff make a real difference to their children’s education and well-being. Reflecting the views of most, one parent accurately stated, ‘The staff really care about our children and I know I speak for many others who believe this to be a great school.’
• The headteacher works closely with senior leaders, staff and governors to manage, monitor and evaluate the school’s work. The deputy headteacher and early years leader analyse assessment information with teachers to check pupils’ progress. Reviews of pupils’ progress and teachers’ performance are systematic and robust in striving to ensure that pupils achieve their full potential.
• The school’s development plan is informed by leaders’ and governors’ accurate assessments of what works well and what needs to improve. For example, leaders recognised that they needed to improve pupils’ phonic screening scores in Years 1 and 2, including the achievement of disadvantaged pupils. Following a detailed analysis and evaluations of the impact of the teaching, leaders used assessments to make sure that pupils were provided with work and interventions that met their needs. This helped teachers and support staff to give more individual attention to pupils with good success as current assessment show a significant uplift in pupils’ achievement in phonics.
• Changes to the way pupils’ progress are being measured under new arrangements without National Curriculum levels are well established. Targets in the development plan are realistic and achievable and already build on some immediate successes, such as the uplift in pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics in key stage 1. However, leaders recognise that more could still be done to improve the achievement of the most able pupils, especially those leaving the early years having reached high standards in literacy and mathematics.
• The curriculum is effective in supporting pupils’ academic and personal development. It includes a broad range of topics and subjects, including educational visits and special events such as the celebration of Chinese New Year, when pupils produced excellent art work and calligraphy depicting, for example, Chinese symbols, illustrations and writing. Beautifully crafted fine art of poppies adorns one part of a corridor commemorating National Remembrance Day and also reflects the way the school promotes British values of respect and tolerance. These and a wealth of other well-devised activities and events have a very positive effect on pupils’ personal development, attitudes and well-being.
• In addition to the school’s Christian ethos and commitment to British values, leaders and staff incorporate excellent opportunities for pupils to develop and thrive in modern multi-cultural Britain. This prepares pupils very well for the next stage of their education and for their future role in society as a whole. Racism, intimidation and intolerance are tackled directly by leaders and staff and the curriculum provides broad and relevant experiences for pupils. For example, at the time of the inspection, Year 3 and Year 4 pupils visited the city of Derby, including a visit to a mosque and other places of interest so that pupils experience contrasting localities, customs and cultures.
• Additional funding for pupils eligible for the pupil premium is targeted well at those that need to catch up, including funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Support for disadvantaged pupils is tailored well to meet their specific learning needs. Accurate assessments of pupils’ progress and teachers’ performance help leaders identify the achievement of disadvantaged pupils early to plan appropriate interventions and support so they can catch up quickly. The most recent assessments show that differences or achievement gaps are narrowing quickly in reading, writing and mathematics between disadvantaged pupils and others across the school and nationally.
• The primary school sports fund is used well to train teachers and deliver effective physical education and games lessons. The teacher responsible for physical education (PE) attends meetings and training events to share expertise and improve the way PE is taught. Pupils benefit from the many opportunities they have to be active participants in sports and games as well as learn to adopt healthy lifestyles when attending after school clubs.
• The local authority has been effective in supporting the school through one of its commissioned school improvement partners. Added to this, the headteacher and senior staff play a prominent role in the Leek local partnership of schools. This network enables staff to see and share best practice, as well as share assessment information and moderate pupils’ work and progress.

Governance of the school

• Good governance has been maintained and is effective because it oversees, manages and challenges leaders and staff to sustain improvements to the school.
  • The chair and vice-chair of the governing body keep in regular touch with the headteacher and staff with management responsibilities to hold leaders and staff to account for pupils’ achievement and staff performance.
  • Governors receive an accurate overview of the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement from leaders.
  • Governors have a good understanding of assessment information, enabling the governing body to challenge underperformance. This includes the achievement of disadvantaged pupils. Governors are fully aware of the improvements and priorities reported to them, including the way teachers and support staff are reducing the differences between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and that of other pupils nationally who are not disadvantaged.
  • The headteacher and governors make effective decisions about the deployment of resources to support pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. The governing body has good oversight of the school’s funding, including that allocated for disadvantaged pupils. For example, the appointment of a specialist attendance officer is helping to improve the attendance and punctuality of pupils from vulnerable and hard-to-reach families.
  • Governors have the necessary experience and skills to ensure that the school sustains improvement.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• All safeguarding arrangements are robust and fit for purpose. Staff recruitment and vetting procedures are rigorous. Leaders and governors have established a vigilant culture of safeguarding. Every member of staff, including supervisory staff at lunchtime, adults who manage the breakfast club and all early years staff, understand their roles in relation to child protection procedures. Staff and governors know what to do and who to ask to seek advice about the safety and welfare of pupils.
• The parents that spoke to inspectors were positive about the school and are pleased with the way that leaders and staff are committed to pupils’ well-being and safety. The school’s attendance officer provides support and help for vulnerable families. Leaders work closely with outside agencies and support teams, including local authority child protection teams, to make sure that pupils are safe when not in school.
• The safety and well-being of children throughout the early years is well managed. The early years welfare requirements are fully met and early years staff are trained in paediatric first aid.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Assessment information, pupils’ work in books and observations of lessons show that the teaching across the school is effective and, as a result, pupils make good progress in all year groups.
• Pupils’ recorded work shows that they are expected to do their best and teachers usually set high expectations in lessons for presentation, behaviour and learning. One pupil commented, ‘I like reading a lot and my teacher helps me with my writing.’ Teachers help pupils to achieve well, including disadvantaged pupils eligible for pupil premium funding and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Leaders have adapted assessment information well to transfer from previous national curriculum levels to the revised national curriculum measures that record age-related standards. Teachers use assessment information to check pupils’ progress towards age-related standards in reading, writing and mathematics. There is now room for further refinement and improvement to make sure that teachers and support staff identify the most able pupils and provide work that challenges and extends their learning in all lessons.
• The teaching is successful at developing pupils’ literacy skills. Teachers pose questions during class discussions which encourage pupils to answer in complete sentences. This enables pupils to improve their vocabulary, language and speaking skills. Pupils listen attentively when their peers read aloud to others, although workbooks and class displays show that pupils do not always write extensively or independently enough. This limits opportunities for pupils to practise their writing skills or to write for different purposes about a range of topics and subjects.
• The teaching of phonics is well organised and effective, although in key stage 1 pupils sometimes make errors when writing independently or struggle to break down unfamiliar words when reading independently. Leaders are aware of this and have put in place more focused phonics teaching for individuals and groups in Years 1 and 2. During phonics lessons, classes are reorganised so that adults can spend more time with individual pupils. Current assessments show that this strategy is working and needs to continue.
• Teachers carefully check that activities and resources, such as dictionaries and word banks, are accessible to pupils who have not yet fully grasped the meaning of words or phrases. In this way pupils can check their work and discuss with their classmates how to adapt sentences when writing independently. However, teachers do not always adapt tasks for the most able pupils during lessons. This limits their progress and explains why some fall short of reaching higher standards in reading and writing particularly.
• Teaching assistants are skilled at identifying pupils who struggle to keep up or who need additional challenges to extend their learning. Pupils listen attentively to adults, although they have limited opportunities to read aloud to others or present their independently drafted writing to the rest of the class. This explains why some pupils lack confidence when reading or writing independently.
• The teaching of mathematics is effective. In Year 4, for example, the teacher expertly taught pupils a step-by-step approach to understanding Roman numerals. The teacher’s instructions were clear and precise and the pace of learning rapid as pupils quickly grasped key facts about an unfamiliar number system. However, workbooks show that teachers and support staff do not always extend tasks to challenge pupils who have the potential to learn their mathematics in greater depth.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Pupils are very keen to do their best and respond very well to learning in lessons. Pupils have many opportunities to share ideas and to learn about the world’s major faiths, religions, customs and cultures. This makes a strong contribution to their spiritual and moral development.
• Pupils are keen to answer questions or contribute to discussions in lessons. During a writing lesson, for example, pupils in Year 1 offered suggestions and cooperated with other pupils to help them improve sentences. Pupils in Year 3 helped each other when looking up words in dictionaries to answer questions and this gave them confidence when contributing to the class discussion.
• The school is successful in tackling any form of discrimination in a cohesive and supportive school community. Special topics, cultural and religious festivals and celebrations, and the wide range of educational visits or visitors improve pupils’ knowledge and understanding of the different cultural, religious and ethnic traditions that exist in the United Kingdom and beyond. These activities make a strong contribution to pupils’ social and cultural development.
• Pupils are confident, mature and responsible young people who look out for each other, and many told inspectors it is easy to make and keep friendships. There are positive and trusting relationships between adults and pupils and among pupils.
• There are effective systems used by staff to record concerns about an individual pupil or group. These are followed up by senior staff and teachers so that any pupil at risk of harm or who may be worried about something has an adult they know they can trust. The staff are vigilant and caring and have been trained to prevent pupils from exposure to racist or extremist views. Pupils are respectful of each other’s differences and the school successfully promotes British values of tolerance, democracy and the rule of law. Elected school councillors, monitors and other helpful roles given to pupils enable them to make a strong contribution to their school and community.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Excellent behaviour has been maintained since the previous inspection. In nearly all of the lessons observed, the inspector found pupils to be attentive and well behaved. Pupils are keen to learn and do their best. They cooperate well when working in groups or with a partner. Pupils are enthusiastic and very positive about their school and treat each other with respect and care.
• Pupils behave very well and safely outside of lessons. School councillors make a significant contribution to their school community and come up with ideas and suggestions to improve the school. During lunchtimes, pupils are sociable and respectful of other pupils’ views and opinions. They tidy away after lunch without being prompted and help to keep the school environment clean and safe.
• Pupils really care for each other and their school. For example, during the inspection at lunchtime, one boy in Year 4 joined a younger child to see if she was being looked after. The young girl told an inspector, in her own way and words, that older pupils always help and look out for younger ones and that she found this comforting and helped her to feel safe and valued.
• Pupils have good manners, are polite and generally show respect for others’ feelings. They are helpful and courteous to adults and visitors, and are helpful and respectful to pupils with disabilities or when a child has an accident. In these instances, they are quick to volunteer to alert an adult or seek help.
• Leaders and staff keep robust records and monitor patterns of absence well. The school’s specialist attendance officer works very well with families to encourage pupils to attend regularly and to come to school on time. As a result, attendance is improving and is in line with the national average. The school is also using effective measures by working with some hard-to-reach families to reduce persistent absence rates. These are reducing significantly and are below average. The breakfast club also helps families, including those who travel some distance, to drop off their children early, helping to reduce late arrivals and increase regular attendance.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Most children join the school in the Nursery or Reception class with skills and abilities that are typically well below those expected for their age, particularly in communication, language and literacy. The current attainment of pupils by the end of key stage 1 represents good rates of progress in relation to these low starting points in the early years.
• The most recent national assessments at key stage 1 (2016) show that standards are broadly in line with the national average. This represents good progress. Most pupils reached age-related standards in writing and mathematics by the end of key stage 1 last year, although some pupils in Year 2 did not reach these standards in reading because of weaknesses in their phonics skills.
• Leaders have acted promptly to address weaknesses in the teaching of phonics. Current assessments, confirmed during inspection, show a significant improvement in the proportion of pupils reaching the required standard in phonics by the end of Year 1 and Year 2. Pupils are well on course to reach or exceed last year’s national figures for phonics. This trend is being sustained in both key stage 1 classes as teachers build on the excellent start made in the early years. Current Year 3 pupils (last year’s cohort in Year 2) have already caught up by developing and improving their phonics and early reading skills.
• Increasingly, pupils in Years 1 and 2 have more opportunities to read and write independently to reinforce their phonics skills in reading and their vocabulary and spelling skills when writing independently. Leaders are aware that this needs to continue as a core focus for literacy lessons.
• Pupils’ work and assessment information in Years 3 and 4 shows that pupils continue to achieve well and make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. It is difficult to compare standards at key stage 1 with previous years’ test results as the school, like others nationally, has adopted the revised national curriculum assessments without levels. Comparisons cannot be made because there are different criteria. In addition, there are no national comparators for Year 3 and Year 4 pupils as national measures for key stage 2 are made when pupils complete Year 6. However, pupils’ work and progress from the end of the early years through to the end of Year 4 show that pupils achieve well over time.
• Strong teaching and leaders’ robust assessments are quickly narrowing differences between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and others nationally who are not disadvantaged. In addition, the gap between the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and other pupils in reading and writing is closing quickly. In mathematics, there are no differences, including those between the most able disadvantaged and other most-able pupils.
• Pupil premium funding is being used very well to deploy resources and staff who work with disadvantaged pupils to help them catch up or to consolidate their learning alongside other pupils.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make similarly good rates of progress. These pupils receive appropriate and expert levels of support both with their classmates and when working separately as a group or individually. Teaching assistants and teachers plan the right interventions for these pupils having made accurate and detailed assessments of their additional learning needs.
• An increasing proportion of the most able pupils are exceeding age-related standards but there is still scope for more of these pupils to reach high standards or to learn in greater depth. Previous and current assessment information across classes shows some variation, reflecting some inconsistencies in the way teachers plan and adapt challenging tasks for the most able pupils.

Early years provision Outstanding

• Outstanding teaching, strong leadership and effective support for children and families in both the Nursery and Reception class enable the youngest children to get off to an excellent start. Children are very well prepared for Year 1 by the time they finish the Reception Year. This strong provision has been maintained since the previous inspection.
• Last year’s national assessments show that the percentage of children reaching a good level of development was above average by the end of the Reception Year. Learning journeys (written and pictorial records of children’s work and progress) and current assessments indicate that this year’s outcomes are similar to last year’s assessments. This represents a sustained profile of outstanding achievement throughout the early years.
• In both Nursery and Reception classes, indoor and outdoor resources are accessible to the children and provide stimulating environments for play and learning. The staff provide excellent care and exciting activities that improve children’s physical and emotional development in safe and secure surroundings. Children are extremely well behaved and attentive. They listen to instructions and are polite to each other and to adults.
• The teaching is highly effective. Teachers and support staff in both settings use their accurate assessments and records of children’s progress to plan interesting and varied activities. Workbooks, observations and assessments show that the teaching and support provided for children is usually of good or outstanding quality, enabling the vast majority of children to achieve extremely well.
• Leaders and staff have formed positive and trusting relationships with parents and families. Adults in the nursery are effective ‘key workers’ who form a trusting bond with every child and their family.
• Pupil premium funding is used very well to provide early help and support for families from disadvantaged backgrounds, helping their children to settle quickly into the school so that their first experience of the early years is positive, enjoyable and productive.
• The additional afternoon funded provision in the nursery for families to opt into adds more variety and flexibility that builds on the regular morning provision. Both morning and afternoon ‘wraparound’ provision help the youngest three-year-old children in particular to learn how to make friendships and to improve their self-confidence and independence. As a result, nursery children develop very good learning habits and settle into routines quickly, enabling them to thrive and improve their physical, emotional and social development.
• Teachers and teaching assistants in the Reception class skilfully engage children in conversation. Questioning is focused on every child so many gain confidence and learn to cooperate and communicate with others. Children quickly learn to become independent learners as they have many and varied opportunities to make their own choices in both indoor and outdoor areas.
• Early literacy and phonics skills are taught extremely well. The children soon learn to recognise and form letters and to recite stories, nursery rhymes and familiar songs. Counting songs and challenging activities, such as learning to count in fives and 10s using number squares in the Reception class, enable children to see patterns in numbers. Problem-solving and puzzles allow children opportunities to recognise the properties of simple shapes. These activities are of enormous benefit to pupils’ early understanding of number and their awareness of shape and space.
• Role play is very well structured in both the Nursery and Reception classes. The children learn about special people who help us such as the time when they role played a ‘traffic accident’ outdoors. The ‘police’, ‘doctors’ ‘ambulance drivers’ and ‘nurses’ were quick to respond at ‘the scene’ to offer comfort and help. Examples like these are common practice, enabling the children to improve their language skills and self-confidence when cooperating with other children.
• There is strong leadership of early years provision. All welfare requirements, including assessments, fully meet statutory requirements. Staff are very well qualified and trained in the early years and have strong expertise to deliver outstanding teaching and outcomes for children and their families. The monitoring and support provided for staff by the headteacher and early years leader is highly effective in helping the staff to continually improve their practice. The moderation of assessments with other schools across the Leek network enables leaders and staff to provide effective transition into Year 1. This lays strong foundations for learning and development in key stage 1.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 124340 Staffordshire 10032625 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 First School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Voluntary aided 3 to 9 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 167 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Katherine Burmeister Caroline Quinn 01538 483245 www.beresford.staffs.sch.uk/ headteacher@beresford.staffs.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 11–12 October 2010

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• This is a small first school that caters for pupils from Nursery through to Year 4. Nearly all pupils are of White British heritage.
• Early years provision comprises a Nursery class for three-year-old children who all attend in the morning, and a Reception class for four- and five-year-olds who all attend full-time. The nursery also manages and accommodates ‘wraparound care’ provision in the afternoons for three-year-olds. Families choose to pay for this provision on a voluntary basis. All the children currently attending this additional provision also attend the Nursery class in the mornings.
• A private provider uses the Beresford Family Hub for pre-school two-year-old provision. This is situated on the school site but is not managed by the school.
• The percentage of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is similar to that of most primary schools. There is no additional or specially resourced provision for pupils with special educational needs.
• The percentage of pupils eligible for pupil premium funding is well above the national average.
• The school manages a morning breakfast club and a range of after-school activities for pupils.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors carried out lesson observations, some of which were undertaken jointly with the headteacher. Inspectors spoke to pupils during lessons, checked samples of pupils’ recorded work, and met with groups of pupils to discuss their work, behaviour and safety, or to hear them read. Inspectors spoke to pupils during break and lunchtimes to ask them their views about the school. Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour and safety in the playground and at other times. One school assembly was observed.
• Inspectors looked at a range of documentation including: leaders’ and governors own evaluations of the school’s effectiveness; the school’s development plan; information about pupils’ achievement, progress and performance; documents and information related to governance, teaching, behaviour, attendance and safeguarding.
• Inspectors held discussions with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, the early years leader and other staff, including secretarial and support staff. The lead inspector met with the chair and vice-chair of the governing body and spoke by telephone with a school improvement partner commissioned by Staffordshire local authority to review, support and challenge leaders and staff. The lead inspector also spoke by telephone to a senior representative of the local authority responsible for school improvement.
• Inspectors spoke to a number of parents and carers to seek their views about the school. The 24 responses to the online Ofsted questionnaire, Parent View, were also considered throughout the inspection.

Inspection team

Charalambos Loizou, lead inspector Melanie Callaghan-Lewis Ian Beardmore

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector