Pelsall Village School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching and learning to secure better outcomes for pupils. Do this by ensuring that:
  • all staff have high expectations of what pupils can achieve, especially the most able pupils
  • teachers plan lessons that effectively challenge all pupils
  • teachers develop pupils’ writing skills across the curriculum
  • leaders monitor the progress of groups of pupils across the full range of subjects leaders identify and share good practice that exists.
• Improve the quality of the teaching of reading. Do this by making sure that teachers:
  • take pupils’ prior learning into account when planning tasks
  • effectively plan activities that develop pupils’ understanding of what they are reading.
• Improve the quality of teaching in mathematics by ensuring that:
  • teachers take into account information on pupils’ starting points so they plan learning that meets pupils’ needs well
  • pupils are given sufficient opportunities to demonstrate their understanding by applying skills through problem solving and reasoning.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Leaders accurately identify the areas that need further improvement. The school’s plans for improvement focus on these priorities. Leaders have high aspirations for all pupils.
• The headteacher and his leadership team have been successful in developing a caring and nurturing culture which ensures that pupils attend well and are happy to learn.
• The leadership team has successfully supported teachers to develop their knowledge and expertise. Teachers have benefited from training opportunities, building on their knowledge and skills. This is helping to improve the quality of teaching, although it has not yet had time to have full impact.
• Senior leaders have planned a well-balanced curriculum that provides pupils with experiences across a wide range of subjects. The curriculum takes into account pupils’ interests. Their experiences are widened through purposeful educational visits.
• Leaders’ interventions to raise standards in writing across school have resulted in pupils building on their previous learning and acquiring new skills. This has led to pupils’ good progress in writing.
• Leaders use pupil premium funding effectively. They are determined to provide the best support for disadvantaged pupils across the school. The school’s approach to considering pupils’ learning and pastoral needs has led to disadvantaged pupils making better progress than in the past.
• As a result of leaders’ effective use of the sports premium funding, teachers’ expertise in teaching sport is developing well. Pupils are increasing their participation in sport and tournaments. Leaders evaluate and scrutinise the impact of this funding well.
• Subject leaders monitor their areas of responsibility effectively and set school improvement priorities. They have an accurate view of the quality of teaching and the impact this has on pupils’ achievement. However, this has not yet had consistently good impact on outcomes.
• Leaders’ monitoring of pupils’ progress is not consistently effective in identifying which pupils need additional support. This is particularly the case in mathematics.
• The vast majority of parents who spoke with inspectors were supportive of the school and the improvements they have seen. However, parents who gave their views via Parent View were less positive about the quality of the school’s work.

Governance of the school

• Governors understand their roles and responsibilities and are committed to the school. They make sure that all safeguarding requirements are met and arrangements to keep pupils safe are fit for purpose.
• Governors receive detailed information from leaders about pupils’ progress and attainment. They monitor closely how additional funding is used and ask leaders to show the impact of this expenditure on pupils’ outcomes.
• The records of governors’ meetings show that governors challenge leaders and contribute to the school’s improvement planning. They continue to develop their capacity and expertise to enable them to be even more effective in their roles.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The culture of safeguarding means that leaders act on concerns about pupils’ welfare in a thorough and timely way. The school has created a culture of ‘need to tell’ if pupils are concerned about anything.
• Staff, including those new to the school, are fully trained about potential risks to pupils and are clear about what to do if they have concerns about a pupil.
• Pupils, especially vulnerable pupils, are supported well. Leaders work with a range of external agencies to follow up concerns and put in place effective support for vulnerable pupils.
• Detailed checks are made on all adults who work or volunteer in the school, and visitors are supervised at all times. Appropriate procedures are followed to recruit staff safely.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Not all teachers have high enough expectations of what pupils can do. They do not set tasks that meet pupils’ needs consistently well. Some activities are not sufficiently demanding, which means that pupils do not have to think hard in order to complete them. This sometimes limits pupils’ learning.
• Teachers do not provide enough opportunities for pupils to develop their problem-solving and reasoning skills in mathematics. Pupils are expected to complete too many basic activities before they can move on to sufficiently challenging work. This slows their progress.
• The teaching of reading is not consistently effective, although leaders have reading as a key focus for the school’s improvement. While there is some strong teaching, it is not having a good impact across all year groups. In some weaker reading sessions, pupils read without a good understanding of the words in the text.
• Writing is taught well. Teachers plan sequences of lessons that build on pupils’ previous learning and help them to acquire new skills. Pupils have opportunities to write at length regularly, across a range of genres. However, there is insufficient attention paid to using these skills to improve pupils’ writing in subjects other than English.
• In lessons, behaviour routines are well established so learning can develop without disturbance. Pupils and staff treat each other respectfully and enjoy positive relationships. This helps lessons to flow smoothly and pupils remain focused on their tasks.
• Pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities benefit from good support with their learning. Additional help ensures that some individual pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make positive progress from their starting points.
• The teaching of phonics is effective because of the structured approach implemented by the school. Teachers have secure subject knowledge and accurately model sounds. There is a consistent approach to this when pupils move from early years into key stage 1.
• Teachers set homework regularly to promote home learning. Most parents say that the work given is appropriate homework for pupils’ age.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Senior leaders understand the needs of pupils’ families and provide effective care and support for them. The pastoral leader has developed a consistent and coordinated approach to supporting vulnerable pupils. The school’s work with external agencies is particularly effective to identify pupils’ needs and offer effective support when required.
• Pupils told inspectors they enjoy school and feel safe. They say staff are available to deal with any worries or concerns they may have. In lessons, pupils learn about how to stay safe. During the inspection, Year 6 pupils were learning about child sexual exploitation. They were able to articulate confidently what this is and how to recognise it.
• Pupils say bullying is rare. They are aware of the different forms it can take and who to report bullying to, should it occur. They feel that behaviour is good and say that when individual pupils misbehave, it is dealt with effectively by staff. Pupils spoke of the ‘need to tell’ rule in school if they are concerned about anything.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted well through lessons and assemblies. Pupils are engaged in a number of fundraising activities including raising money for a local dogs’ home. An ‘all equal all different’ display showed pupils’ understanding of tolerance and respect for others.
• Pupils talked to inspectors about their well-developed understanding of other cultures through recent topics on ‘The Modern European’ and ‘Asia’. They value the opportunities their teachers give them to learn outside of school. For example, they talked positively about recent visits to a safari park, think tank and local museums.
• The breakfast club provides a range of stimulating activities for pupils to engage in. Pupils have a positive start to their school day because the school provides healthy snacks.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils enjoy coming to school. They respond well in lessons and are enthusiastic about their learning. Even in instances where tasks are undemanding or too difficult, they behave well. Inspectors did not observe any incidents of misbehaviour or low-level disruption during visits in class and this is reflected in pupils’ typical experiences.
• Vulnerable pupils are supported well. The school works effectively with a range of agencies to ensure that additional support is put in place quickly.
• Pupils have a good understanding of the behaviour system. They understand the rewards and sanctions in place to support positive conduct. They believe the system is effective in ensuring that there is good behaviour in school.
• Pupils behave well at break and lunchtimes. For example, pupils queue sensibly and wait patiently for their food in the dining hall. They have polite, purposeful conversations with their peers and behave well when they are supervised. On occasion, a very small proportion of pupils’ behaviour falls below the school’s high standard.
• Pupils’ attendance is close to the national average. The school has effective and rigorous systems in place to work with families to improve attendance. Consequently, the proportion of pupils who are regularly absent from school is reducing.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Work in pupils’ books shows that not all teachers set tasks to move pupils’ learning forward from their starting points. This limits learning for pupils.
• The proportion of pupils who reached the expected standard for reading, writing and mathematics in 2017 at key stage 2 was significantly below national averages. This meant a significant number were not suitably prepared for secondary school. While there is evidence that current pupils’ attainment across the years is rising, pupils are not making good overall progress. This is confirmed in the work of pupils.
• The progress of the most able pupils varies too much across year groups and subjects.
• Disadvantaged pupils mostly achieve in line with their peers and while there have been improvements for this group of pupils’ outcomes, they also require improvement.
• While there has been a school-wide focus on developing reading skills, this is not consistently effective across school. Some pupils’ comprehension skills are not well-enough developed.
• Pupils’ basic number skills are developing well. They learn to use formal methods of calculation and their mental recall of number facts is accurate. Their application of these skills to solve problems, undertake practical work or investigate ideas is less well developed. This means they do not deepen their understanding of mathematical concepts as well as they could.
• The quality of pupils’ writing has improved. Teachers plan sequences of lessons that build on pupils’ previous learning and help them to acquire new skills. Pupils have opportunities to write at length regularly, enabling them to apply their skills. However, this is not consistent across all subjects.
• Pupils make good progress in developing their phonics skills as a result of systematic teaching. Consequently, the proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in the phonics screening check at the end of Year 1 is around the national average.
• Support for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is helping some individual pupils to make good progress.

Early years provision Good

• The early years leader demonstrates strong leadership of this provision. She has a detailed understanding of the strengths in the early years, but also where further development is needed.
• Early years assessment and monitoring are robust and accurate. Adults focus on individual children and design activities around the children’s needs and interests. Children show a high level of engagement and sustain concentration for lengthy periods because activities are tailored well to meet their needs.
• Children are well cared for and happy in the early years. They behave well because adults have consistently high expectations and are good role models. Children get on well with one another and have polite, purposeful conversations.
• Teachers accurately model letter sounds and allow children to practise these in lessons. Children read regularly in small groups while teachers ask them questions to check their understanding of what they have read. Children demonstrate high levels of engagement and perseverance with learning activities.
• The school has been proactive in improving provision to address identified priorities for the early years, namely speech and communication and writing. As a result, the proportion of children achieving a good level of development has increased and is now closer to the national average figure.
• Disadvantaged children make good progress because leaders ensure that additional funding is used effectively.
• Leaders have ensured that effective safety and supervision arrangements are in place, both indoors and outdoors. As a result, adults know where children are and if anyone needs help. The early years leader has identified that the outdoor environment needs further development to enhance children’s learning experience.
• Parents and carers receive regular information about their children’s life at school. However, the school acknowledges that more could be done to develop parental engagement.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 104214 Walsall 10047419 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Community 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 364 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Mr Garry Perry Mr Glyn Bagley 01922 682073/ www.pelsallvillage.co.uk postbox@pelsallvillage.co.uk Date of previous inspection 22–23 January 2014

Information about this school

• Pelsall Village is an average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is above average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is below average. The proportion of pupils who have statements of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is similar to the national average.
• The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is below average.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is below average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ progress in reading, writing and mathematics for pupils by the end of Year 6.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed teaching and learning in all year groups. Some of the observations were carried out jointly with the headteacher or senior leaders.
• Inspectors looked at work in pupils’ books with senior leaders and discussed aspects of the school’s performance including leaders’ self-evaluation and how well pupils are currently achieving.
• Inspectors reviewed attendance procedures and behaviour systems, and spoke with leaders about systems to safeguard pupils.
• Inspectors met with pupils, heard a selection read and observed pupils at breaktimes and lunchtimes.
• Inspectors observed phonics sessions in the early years and key stage 1 classes.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, safeguarding lead, special educational needs coordinator, subject leaders and pupil representatives.
• The lead inspector had discussions with governors and reviewed the minutes of the governing body meetings.
• The lead inspector spoke with a local authority representative on the telephone.
• Inspectors spoke with a number of parents at the school. They took account of the 44 responses to Parent View.

Inspection team

Khalid Din, lead inspector Kate Hanson Justine Lomas Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector