Whitfield Valley Primary Academy Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Build on the best practice that exists to maintain the current improvements to teaching in key stages 1 and 2 by:
  • ensuring that in all classes, teachers plan work and extension tasks specifically for pupils who have the potential to exceed age-related standards
  • providing more opportunities in lessons for pupils to correct mistakes when they write independently
  • adapting questions and the work planned to extend and deepen pupils’ knowledge and understanding, rather than going over too much old ground.
• Sustain the significant improvements to pupils’ achievement by:
  • building on the excellent start in the early years so that pupils in Years 1 through to Year 6 have more opportunities to read and write independently
  • making sure that the current focus on improving pupils’ handwriting and spelling is consistently taught in all classes
  • focusing more on improving pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding in subjects other than English and mathematics.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The headteacher is an inspirational leader. Since joining the school in April 2016, he has worked very effectively with senior leaders and other school leaders to transform the school. There is an ambitious and shared determination among all staff to continually strive for improvement. This is gathering momentum as leaders, staff, the trust and governors continue focusing on improving teaching and learning.
• Since the conversion to an academy in 2015, there have been many staff changes. Leaders have eliminated weak teaching and the school is now on strong foundations for sustained improvement. This is a very different and much more effective school compared with its predecessor primary school.
• The highly skilled senior leadership team of headteacher and three assistant headteachers is keeping the school on a sustained course of improvement. Staff morale is very high and is clearly reflected in the very positive responses from staff to the inspection questionnaire and during meetings with inspectors.
• The vast majority of parents who spoke with inspectors commented on how well they have seen the school improve. One stated, ‘This headteacher really cares for each and every child.’ Parents are right, as every leader and staff member puts pupils first. The school’s motto, ‘Be the best that you can be’, is very apt as leaders and staff provide a stimulating and positive learning environment that encourages ambition and aspiration. The staff value pupils’ efforts and achievements. The responses from parents to the online questionnaire also confirm that the large majority are pleased with their children’s education and welfare. Some responses are negative, reflecting some of the issues facing the predecessor school as it was moving towards removal from special measures.
• Teachers benefit from a wide range of support and training. The professional development of new or inexperienced staff is very effective in improving the skills of teachers and support staff. Teachers told inspectors that they felt very well supported by leaders in improving their teaching. The staff believe that expectations of them are high. The most consistently effective and strongest teachers and leaders are on hand to support and influence the work of other staff. This ensures continual improvement as staff pull together collectively towards sustained improvements to pupils’ learning and achievements.
• Senior leaders use assessments well to focus on individuals and groups of pupils to ensure that they make good progress. The assistant headteachers manage other staff and have very clear oversight of the coordination of subjects and aspects of the curriculum. Improvement planning is robust and is informed by routine evaluations that identify the right priorities for further improvement, particularly focusing on teaching and pupils’ learning.
• The headteacher is very skilled and knowledgeable about how best to assess teaching and pupils’ learning. Together with his senior leadership team, they carry out sharply focused and accurate evaluations of teaching. For example, after undertaking a range of monitoring, such as the scrutiny of pupils’ work in books and direct observations of lessons, they provided teachers with clear areas for improvement. Within three days of these evaluations, leaders revisited the same staff to ensure that they had implemented the improvements suggested. This and other forms of monitoring and scrutiny, such as regular analyses of assessment information, are effective in developing and improving teaching and learning.
• The pupil premium funding is used very well to make sure that the progress of disadvantaged pupils is accurately evaluated and that appropriate interventions, teaching and support are provided. Additional teachers and support staff are timetabled very effectively to meet the needs of disadvantaged pupils. As a result, they achieve as well as other pupils and the large majority reach or exceed age-related standards in every year group.
• The school makes very effective use of the primary physical education and sport premium. The staff are very dedicated to providing daily extra-curricular activities that include sports and team games. Teachers and support staff provide an excellent range of activities for pupils to participate in during lessons and in after-school clubs. A large number of pupils take part in physical activities outside of lessons and in extra-curricular sport. Swimming, athletics, dance and gymnastics are typical features of the activities provided.
• The headteacher is taking a lead on developing what he describes as an ‘innovative curriculum’. This is currently work in progress as leaders and staff know that there is still more potential for pupils to achieve as well in all subjects as they do in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils are enthused by the many and varied cross-curricular themes, topics and subjects they study. Work in science, geography, history and in a modern foreign language (French) is usually taught well, although standards could be higher. In some subjects, pupils do not learn enough in greater depth.
• Pupils find learning engaging, enjoyable and relevant as they apply their language and mathematics skills to other subjects and topics. Interesting themes and activities which have a strong focus on children’s literature help pupils to read widely and often. For example, in key stage 2, the current focus on C.S. Lewis’s ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ is improving pupils’ confidence and skills in reading and writing. This and other genres of children’s literature are helping to develop a love of reading and writing across the school. However, there is now scope to offer pupils opportunities to read and write more extensively and independently to sustain improvements to reading and writing standards.
• The management and oversight of special educational needs provision is effective. Support staff are being deployed very well and provide timely interventions and individualised support for pupils who have additional learning needs, such as speech and language difficulties. The small number of pupils who have previously attended some alternative provision off-site at a local special school, and who had education, care and health plans, benefited from this provision as they were easily reintegrated back into the school’s mainstream provision. The use of special educational needs funding is very effective and enables the vast majority of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities to make good progress towards their learning targets and to address their additional needs, including social and emotional needs.
• Interwoven throughout the curriculum is a core set of values that are integral to the British way of life so that pupils learn to respect and understand all major faiths, beliefs and cultures. The staff plan activities, including educational visits and the use of visitors or special themes, to support pupils’ outstanding spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. At the time of this inspection, a group of key stage 2 pupils were taking part in a residential visit abroad in Paris, France. This and many other special projects, including the use of information and communication technology, computers and mobile technology, have a significant impact on pupils’ personal and academic development. This prepares pupils well for the next stage of their education and life in modern technological Britain.
• Since becoming an academy, the trust, its leaders and governors have maintained close working partnerships with Stoke local authority. The local authority thinks highly of the school and, rightly, of its multi-academy trust. The authority’s school improvement officers, together with external consultants commissioned by the trust, provide an excellent balance of support, training and oversight of the school’s work. There are effective partnerships across all three schools in the trust and with other schools. Whitfield’s highly skilled senior leaders provide expertise, support and training to other schools. The headteacher is at the forefront of assessment and curriculum innovation and is a well-respected leader among his colleagues across the trust and local authority. The headteacher, for example, has been asked by the local authority to share the school’s assessment systems. The school’s assessments and the methods used to track information about pupils’ progress and performance are being considered by other schools as examples of outstanding practice.

Governance of the school

• The governing body is highly effective. Governors are very skilled and diligent in exercising their duties to oversee and manage the school’s work.
• Governors keep in regular touch with school leaders to hold them and the staff team to account for the standards achieved by pupils.
• Governors carry out routine and systematic monitoring alongside leaders. These reviews result in sharp and robust questions and evaluations of the teachers’ performance. Governors often challenge leaders to explain any relative weakness or decline in performance.
• Assessment information about pupils’ progress is linked to teachers’ performance. Accurate assessments enable the governing body to gain first-hand evidence of strengths and weaknesses in pupils’ achievements and the quality of teaching.
• Governors have a very clear and accurate understanding of the most important priorities related to teaching and pupils’ achievement. In order to maintain high standards in all year groups, governors and leaders recognise that the most immediate priority is to focus on teaching and the progress of the most able pupils.
• Governors bring a range of expertise and skills and are very committed to both the school and the wider community of schools across the trust. The management of financial and human resources across the trust is highly effective. This minimises any disruption to pupils’ learning when staff leave or join the school for a variety of reasons, including promotion, training and professional development.
• The lines of accountability from the governing body to the directors of the trust are very clear. The executive headteacher, senior leaders and governors are very focused on a sustained course of improvement. Very effective improvement planning is being informed by accurate in-house and external evaluations that pinpoint the right priorities for Whitfield Primary Academy to go forward.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• There is a vigilant culture of safeguarding. Leaders, governors and staff make sure that all safeguarding arrangements and policies are reviewed and up to date.
• Safeguarding procedures are followed through systematically and staff vetting is rigorous. Teaching, support and administrative staff diligently check and verify the identity of visitors.
• Both the governing body and staff keep up to date with legal requirements and undertake regular reviews of the school’s child protection and safeguarding policies. The safety and well-being of children in the early years are very well managed and the early years welfare requirements are fully met.
• Pupils and the parents spoken to by inspectors were unanimous in their belief that pupils are safe in school. Pupils say that the staff and other pupils make them feel very safe, valued and secure.
• All staff have been trained to keep children safe and are aware of the school’s arrangements for reporting any concerns they may have about pupils. Staff have undertaken first aid training, including paediatric first aid for early years children. Leaders, staff and governors are vigilant in protecting children from radicalisation, extremism and child exploitation.

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. Teachers have consistently high expectations for the way they expect pupils to work and behave in lessons.
• The large majority of parents who spoke with inspectors and/or responded to the inspection survey believe that the teaching is good. They are right. The quality of teaching is also reflected in the positive outcomes seen in the results of the most recent national tests in all three key stages. There is strong practice also in all three key stages which is influencing the teaching of less experienced staff and which is sustaining a consistent rise in pupils’ outcomes.
• Teachers and support staff often encourage pupils to check and improve their own work so that pupils become confident learners. Lessons typically provide a good balance of whole-class instruction, group work and direct intervention by teachers and support staff. However, there are occasions during lessons when pupils’ learning slows because they are not being challenged enough or they are completing work they already know and understand. This is more common in subjects other than English and mathematics.
• Typically, teachers make good use of their assessments of pupils’ attainment and progress to plan work that provides the right level of challenge for pupils. This is particularly effective for the most able pupils and those who have SEN and/or disabilities. There are instances, however, when the most able pupils complete work early because it is not demanding enough. The most effective practice ensures that both teachers and support staff are on hand to check that pupils are offered the right level of challenge. In a Year 6 writing lesson, for example, the teacher made sure that pupils had plenty of opportunity to edit their first writing drafts and incorporated demanding tasks and questions for pupils to consider that extended their learning further.
• The learning targets and planned intervention programmes for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities or additional learning difficulties are well matched to their needs and capabilities. Teachers and assistants are highly skilled in helping these pupils to overcome barriers to learning, such as help with reading or teaching directly the skills to write independently.
• Teaching is successful at developing pupils’ literacy and mathematics skills. Teachers and support staff are good at posing questions during class discussions to encourage pupils to answer and share ideas with their classmates. Pupils also make good use of word banks, dictionaries and thesauruses, which improves their vocabulary and writing skills. There are occasions, however, when teachers do not probe further when questioning to deepen pupils’ understanding, or adapt tasks enough to ensure that pupils learn in greater depth. This is more typically the case when pupils write independently.
• Pupils listen attentively when pupils read aloud to others or present their drafted writing by reciting extracts form their work to the rest of the class. There are good opportunities for pupils to discuss and share ideas about books and stories.
• The small number of pupils joining the school who speak English as an additional language do very well to improve their literacy and spoken English. Teachers carefully phrase questions and instructions and teaching assistants are very skilled at engaging these pupils in lessons.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• The many and varied curriculum activities, including annual drama productions, book and arts weeks, the Year 6 prom and musical events, planned for pupils to experience are all reflected in the high-quality displays of pupils’ work adorning the walls of corridors and classrooms.
• The school’s curriculum and teaching provide a very good balance which values pupils’ academic achievement and personal development in equal measure. Pupils are provided with a good range of experiences that develop humanities, linguistic, artistic, scientific, technical, spiritual and aspirational attributes. The daily after-school clubs include opportunities for pupils to socialise with older or younger pupils and learn new skills, such as cooking, problem-solving (puzzles) and how to play traditional board games.
• Pupils are respectful of each other’s differences and the school successfully promotes fundamental British values of tolerance, democracy and the rule of law. Elected councillors, play leaders, prefects, and head boys and girls, as well as other ambassadorial roles awarded to pupils, enable them to make an excellent contribution to their school and community. Pupils wear their uniform and badges of responsibility with pride.
• Staff and pupils tackle all forms of discrimination, bigotry and intolerance to promote a cohesive and supportive school, both within the local community and beyond. 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. Displays of different faiths, such as Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Judaism, demonstrate pupils’ broad understanding and appreciation of world religions. These studies, activities and educational visits, both home and abroad, make a strong contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
• The staff are vigilant and caring and have been trained to prevent pupils being exposed to racist or extremist views. Leaders and staff are very good at recording any concerns about individual pupils so they can offer help and support to them and their families when needed. The family support worker and senior staff are very alert and provide expert early help for families as part of the school’s willingness to reach out to its local community. This early help is particularly effective at supporting vulnerable or disadvantaged pupils. Any concerns about pupils 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.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Pupils are attentive, polite and keen to do well in school. They have many opportunities for quiet reflection in assemblies. Their thoughts, views and values are represented very well in displays and on the ‘thought tree’. Activities and opportunities like these make a significant contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral and social development. Pupils learn to appreciate and value the efforts of others when being rewarded for their work in lessons and assemblies.
• The school successfully fosters positive, warm and trusting relationships between adults and pupils and among pupils. Pupils are very mature, confident and responsible young people who respect each other’s views and who say, for example, ‘It is easy to make friends’ and ‘I can always rely on my friends and teachers’.
• Incidents of inappropriate behaviour and bullying are very rare. When they do occur, they are dealt with swiftly and effectively. Parents and pupils who spoke with inspectors confirmed that they trust leaders and staff to deal with rare incidents of bullying or name-calling.
• Pupils persevere and try hard in lessons. They appreciate the fact that staff value their work and efforts and this is often through rewards, stickers or special praise during celebration events. Pupils sustain an activity when they find the work challenging and are keen to answer questions or work out problems with their classmates.
• The school’s indoor and outdoor environments and resources are very well maintained, clean and stimulating. Pupils are encouraged to be active and healthy through sport and, for example, in activities such as cycling proficiency, which encourages pupils to cycle to school safely.
• The staff are visible to parents at the start and end of the school day. Parents told inspectors how much they appreciate this regular daily contact with leaders and staff. The staff keep systematic records and monitor patterns of absence well. Staff have worked well with parents to encourage pupils to attend regularly and to come to school on time. As a result, attendance is typically in line with the national average and there is little persistent absenteeism.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• The impact of planned work and interventions inform leaders’ core priorities for improvement. For example, the most recent national assessments in 2017 point to significant improvements on the previous year’s assessment results in reading and writing. This improvement has come about following thorough reviews and adaptations to the way staff teach phonics, reading and writing. There are, however, some inconsistencies in some lessons as pupils make relatively slower progress when not challenged enough.
• Most children join the Nursery or Reception classes with skills and abilities that are typically well below those expected for their age, particularly in communication, language and literacy. The standards pupils reach in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of key stages 1 and 2 represent good rates of progress in relation to these starting points in the early years.
• The proportion of children reaching a good level of development by the end of the Reception year has been high for the last three years. This represents outstanding rates of progress which is reflected in the high quality of provision in the Nursery and Reception classes. After completing the early years, pupils make good progress in Years 1 and 2 in literacy and mathematics.
• The most recent national test results in 2017 for key stage 1 are very encouraging and represent good rates of progress in both Years 1 and 2. The results show that the proportion of pupils reaching at least the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 2 was above the national average.
• In addition, the proportion of pupils in Year 1 reaching the expected standard in phonics was in line with the national average. Currently, children in the Reception Year and pupils in both Year 1 and Year 2 are on track to reach standards similar to last year. This prepares pupils well for the next key stage as children transfer from the early years to key stage 1 and pupils in key stage 1 move into key stage 2.
• The progress pupils make in writing in some lessons in key stages 1 and 2 is relatively slower than in reading and mathematics. Nevertheless, by the end of key stage 2, pupils make good progress overall. Leaders and staff are ironing out these differences through support, challenge and professional development of less experienced staff.
• The impact of leadership and teaching is having a positive effect on sustaining improvements to pupils’ achievements. This was reflected in last year’s national test results for Year 6 pupils, for example, which showed that pupils made good progress overall. In addition, the test results showed that some pupils made outstanding progress in reading and writing as the results placed their achievement in the top 20% of schools nationally for progress measures. In mathematics, results in 2017 show that the most able pupils achieved exceptionally well to reach the highest standards. This is reflected in some expert teaching and outstanding practice in Year 6.
• Leaders use assessment information about pupils’ performance very well to identify any dips in the achievement of disadvantaged pupils early, and to plan appropriate interventions and support so they can catch up quickly. The most recent assessments show that differences in pupils’ progress and attainment in reading, writing and mathematics between disadvantaged pupils and others have closed in most classes and are closing rapidly in others.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make good progress because they receive appropriate and timely support in class, when working separately as a group or individually. The expert management of this provision enables teachers and support staff to plan the right interventions for these pupils. Pupils in the early stages of learning English make rapid progress developing conversational English and learning basic reading, writing and mathematics skills.

Early years provision Outstanding

• Outstanding teaching, strong leaderships and effective support for children and families in the Nursery and Reception classes 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.
• Last year’s national assessments show that the proportion of children reaching a good level of development was well above average by the end of the Reception Year. Learning journals, children’s recorded work and current assessments indicate that this exceptional progress is being maintained.
• Indoor and outdoor resources are of high quality and accessible to the children. The outdoor areas provide stimulating environments for play and learning. These resources, and the excellent care offered by staff, provide the children with the right environment to improve their physical and emotional development in safe and secure surroundings. As a consequence, children are kept very safe and are extremely well cared for. Children are extremely well behaved and attentive. They listen to instructions and are polite to each other and to adults.
• Teachers and support staff in both the Nursery and Reception Years use their assessments and records of children’s progress to plan interesting and varied activities for the children. 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.
• Adults work closely with parents so that the school’s relationships with families are strong and trusting. Early help for some families helps to settle children quickly into the school so that their first experience of the early years is positive, enjoyable and productive.
• Teachers and support staff skilfully engage children in conversation. Questioning is focused on every child, so many gain confidence and learn to cooperate and communicate with other children. The children are learning to express themselves and ask questions. 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. For example, in the Nursery, the children hang up their own coats when they arrive in the morning or afternoon and soon settle to an activity of their choosing. In both the Nursery and Reception classes, the children sustain activities and persevere with tasks or activities. They have excellent opportunities to share stories, sing nursery rhymes and songs together or help each other solve problems when pouring water into containers or drawing shapes on large chalk boards, for example.
• There is strong leadership of the early years provision which ensures that all welfare requirements, including assessments, fully meet statutory requirements. The monitoring and support provided for staff by the early years leader is highly effective in helping the staff to continually improve their practice. The current focus on moderating assessments in Reception to achieve continuous or seamless provision into Year 1 is having a positive effect on the start children make in key stage 1.

School details

Unique reference number 141346 Local authority Stoke-on-Trent Inspection number 10042844 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 3 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 421 Appropriate authority Board of trustees Chair Anne Ballard Headteacher Adam Clewes Telephone number 01782 234570 Website www.whitfieldv.org.uk/ Email address aclewes@nmat.org.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• Whitfield Valley converted to academy status in April 2015 and this is its first inspection since conversion. The predecessor primary school was inspected in November 2013 and was placed in special measures. Two subsequent monitoring inspections took place in April and September 2014 and judged that the school was making reasonable progress towards the removal from special measures.
• The school is one of three primary academies in the Inspirational Learning Academies Trust (ILAT). An executive headteacher manages all three schools and each school has its own headteacher. The school’s senior leadership comprises the headteacher and three assistant headteachers. The headteacher was formerly head of school before being appointed as headteacher. One assistant headteacher joined the school in April 2016, another in September 2016 and the third joined in September 2017. There have been significant changes to staffing and leadership since conversion and most of the teaching and support teams were appointed after conversion to academy status.
• Each school in the ILAT (trust) has its own governing body and some members of each of these bodies, including the chairs, are members of the board of directors of the trust. The board of directors, through the scheme of delegation and funding agreement with the Department for Education, has oversight of the three academies. The board has direct responsibility for the management and devolvement of governance, finances and human resources for all three schools. Each school has a business manager who is employed by the trust.
• Whitfield Valley is larger than most primary schools. Most pupils are from White British backgrounds and others come from a range of heritages that include African, Caribbean, Pakistani and Eastern European. Very few pupils join the school learning English as an additional language.
• The school’s early years provision comprises a Nursery class for three-year-old children and two Reception classes for four- and five-year-olds. The children in the Nursery attend full time.
• The percentage of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is in line with that of most schools and includes mainly pupils who have moderate learning difficulties and/or speech, language and communication needs. The school has close links with an off-site alternative provider of special educational needs. A very small number of pupils who have education, care and health plans have in the past attended this special school part time as well as attending Whitfield Valley. Currently, no pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities attend this alternative provision.
• The proportion of pupils eligible for pupil premium funding is well above average.
• The school met national floor standards in 2017, which are the minimum requirements for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.
• Senior leaders and governors work in close partnership across the three primary academies in the trust and with Stoke local authority. In addition, they commission support from a range of sources, including the school improvement service of Stoke local authority which provides regular objective reviews of the school’s work. The partnerships are part of an extensive range of training and professional development for staff. These include opportunities to share best practice and moderate assessments of pupils’ work and progress.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors visited parts of lessons, some jointly with the headteacher or an assistant headteacher. They checked samples of pupils’ work in books. Inspectors observed some intervention sessions, including catch-up reading, writing and mathematics sessions. An inspector observed a school assembly.
• The inspection considered a range of documentation, including: leaders’ and governors’ own evaluations of the school’s effectiveness; the school’s improvement and action plans; information and assessment tracking data about pupils’ achievement, progress and performance; and documents or data relating to governance, teaching, behaviour, attendance and safeguarding.
• Inspectors spoke to pupils during lessons and met with three groups of pupils to hear them read and to discuss their work, behaviour and safety. Inspectors spoke to pupils during breaktimes and lunchtimes to ask them for their views about the school. Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour and safety on the playground and at other times. At the time of the inspection, one group of key stage 2 pupils were in Paris as part of an annual residential visit with staff.
• Inspectors spoke to a number of parents to seek their views about the school and analysed 19 responses to the online Ofsted questionnaire, Parent View. The lead inspector analysed the 34 responses from staff to online inspection surveys. Inspectors also talked to the staff members during the inspection to gauge their views about the support they receive.
• Inspectors held discussions with the headteacher, assistant headteachers and teachers responsible for managing a subject or aspect, such as the early years and special educational needs provision. The lead inspector held a meeting with six governors, including the chair of the governing body. Some members of the governing body are also directors of the trust. The lead inspector met with a one of Stoke local authority’s school improvement officers to discuss recent reviews and the advisory support provided for the school.

Inspection team

Charalambos Loizou, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Kathryn Hanson Ofsted Inspector Ben Cox Ofsted Inspector